After AnimeCon: Farewells pt 2

    “Here we are again in luxurious Tionetta,” Emily murmured. “Population: what, six?”

    The petite girl with the bright blue pixie-cut had her feet up upon the dash once again, and now she was also resting her arm upon the rolled-down window. Emily had her hand held out to feel the steady wind across her palm, occasionally splaying her fingers to let it pass through them. The breeze tousled her bangs and made the sleeve of her shirt flutter, and Brian took a moment to glance over and appreciate her cute features, her slender neck, and her punkish disposition as she slouched in her seat.

    “Nah,” Brian chuckled. “Probably at least like, sixty? Right? They have a McBurger, and a gas station. A bar.”

    “It’s a truckstop town, you gotta figure most of ‘em are like, transient,” Emily argued. “Rather than uh, residents. Even Rebecca was saying all the hunting lodges and cabins and stuff out this way are just seasonal. Not like people’s main address.”

    “You can’t staff a McBurger or a gas station alone with just six,” Brian pointed out.

    “Sure you can,” Emily said. “Two people work at each; night shift and day shift. Then, you’ve got a bartender and a hooker for the bar. My count’s six.”

    “Riiight,” Brian rolled his eyes. “My guess is sixty.”

    “Sixty, no way,” Emily let out a pssh. “Definitely six. With Rebecca and Stephanie, and then us rollin’ into town? We just doubled the local population.”

    “Uh-huh,” Brian shook his head. “Well, should we stimulate the local economy? I am gonna get gas. You guys want lunch?”

    “Coffee,” Kelly spoke up. “Please.”

    “Are we hittin’ up the bar? Rudy’s, yea or nay?” Emily asked. “I kinda want to check it out.”

    “I vote yea,” Kelly said. “Didn’t I say something last night? We were gonna prove once and for all how hot Brian really is, see if the local skanks are all over him.”

    “I say nay,” Brian said. “Not interested in bar skanks, ‘specially not ones sleazing around a bar when it’s not even what? Two in the afternoon?”

    “It’s a town of six, where else are they gonna sleaze at this time of day?” Emily laughed. “The gas station? Hell nah. They’ll want to be drunk as fuck. Drinkin’ away their sorrows, ‘cause they’re stuck in some ass-end of nowhere town like Tionetta.”

    “Christine?” Kelly prompted. “We have two yeas and one nay.”

    “If Brian doesn’t want to go, then I don’t want to, either,” Christine answered in a soft voice. “I don’t think we have any reason to go.”

    “Probably not even open yet, anyways,” Brian said. “Ah—look, I see Rebecca’s car.”

    Rebecca’s hatchback was parked beside the big twelve-pump gas station, and both of its doors opened up as Brian pulled in behind them. They’d been separated for just a brief short while, but still a little surge of excitement went through him simply at seeing Stephanie again. Because, seeing her beaming smile just made him feel great. He turned off the ignition, and then they all piled out of the car together.

    “Hey—missed you,” Brian said, opening his arms as Stephanie bounced over into his embrace.

    “I missed you too!” Stephanie giggled. “What were you guys up to?!”

    “We were just following orders,” Kelly gave a small salute. “Christine got herself a spanking like you wanted. Then, Brian asked Emily to suck off my foot just like you wanted. It was definitely uh, therapeutic.”

    “Sucked off your foot?” Rebecca asked with raised brows, turning towards Emily.

    “Uhhh, well, yeah,” Emily admitted. “I gave her foot a nasty BJ. She came. Who know Kelly was such a dirty little footslut?”

    “Emily—ew,” Kelly swatted the back of Emily’s head. “I did not, and—gross.”

    “So uh, hah ha, bar?” Emily sheepishly changed the subject. “We have two yeas and two nays, over here. What do you think?”

    “I want to see!” Stephanie said, looking quite content from her position in Brian’s arms and showing no signs of letting go of him. “I’ve actually never been in a bar.”

    “Rudy’s?” Rebecca glanced down the single main street of the small town. “I’m not sure it’s open. I know my uncle’s been there? I’ve never been.”

    “Two more yeas, then,” Emily looked incredibly proud of herself. “Let’s see if it’s open!”

    “I didn’t say yea!” Rebecca teased. “But, I’ll go if you guys want to.”

    “Christine, how are you feeling?” Stephanie asked. “How did it go?”

    “It helped,” Christine admitted.

    “Pssh, she loved it,” Emily said. “Totes unlocked some deep secret sub fetish.”

    “Speaking of subs,” Brian said. “You guys hungry? What do we want to do for lunch?”

    “Anything but McBurger,” Kelly said. “The convenience store doesn’t do made to order food, they’re just like a pocket grocery and then they had a little prep station for coffee.”

    “I know Rudy’s sells wings?” Rebecca said. “I don’t know that they’ll have much else, though.”

    “Wings!” Emily affirmed her vote. “Let’s check out Rudy’s!”

    “Does Rudy’s do coffee?” Kelly asked.

    “I… don’t think so?” Rebecca tried to remember. “When I drove through here for supplies in the mornings, they weren’t even open.”

    “Then, gimme one sec while I run in here,” Kelly told them. “And, I gotta powder my nose.”

    “Ya know, when Brian says that I think he’s joking about makeup, but when you say that, I think you’re joking about cocaine,” Emily teased, joining her to hurry into the gas station.

    “Rude,” Kelly snorted. “But not completely untrue. So, there was this one time—”

    “Are those two getting along?!” Stephanie asked in a whisper. “I did talk to them.”

    “They’ll be okay,” Brian promised. “We’ve all been playing nice. Well, except for me—I was a little hard on Christine, there.”

    “No, you were fine,” Christine shook her head. “That was good. Thank you.”

    “Christine, you can relax!” Rebecca took the girl by the shoulders and helped ease them down another inch. “We’re all friends, here. We’re all okay. Right?”

    “Of course,” Christine murmured.

    “She’s much better!” Stephanie said. “Whatever you guys did, it helped a lot, I think.”

    “It did,” Christine confirmed.

    “Maybe,” Brian was the skeptical one, this time. “Just, yeah. I don’t know how this is going to work.”

    “What do you mean?” Stephanie asked.

    “Like, she wanted punishment, but, she didn’t do anything wrong?” Brian said. “Doesn’t spanking her when she hasn’t uh, erred, set a bad precedent? Shouldn’t we be rewarding her, when she’s good?”

    “Oh, Brian,” Rebecca giggled, shaking her head.

    “Treating her with respect will make her feel guilty, so that’s punishment,” Stephanie said. “When you ‘punish’ her with spankings, that’s actually the reward! Kind of like that.”

    “What—because, then she doesn’t feel as guilty?” Brian arched an eyebrow. “I don’t want to ever mistreat her, so I’m not sure that’s how this works.”

    “It’s working so far!” Stephanie rubbed her nose against his. “You’re all doing fine. Right, Christine?”

    “Yes,” Christine lowered her head in obedience. “Thank you.”

    They waited a brief few minutes for Emily and Kelly to finish up in the store, with Stephanie very happy to be in Brian’s embrace. Then, the group all walked down the street together to Rudy’s. Tionetta was a small town and really featured just one main strip, so the little bar with its open sign lit up was just two places down from the gas station. The door jangled when Rebecca pushed it open, and they all filed inside to look around. It wasn’t a large place, with just a pair of tables and then a row of stools at the bar, and the walls were decorated with an eclectic mixture of football paraphernalia and large blown up photos of the local wilderness.

    “What the fuck, it’s super bright in here,” Emily observed. “No, no. Bars are supposed to be dark. Seedy. Neon lights. Smoke.”

    “It’s two o’clock in the afternoon,” Brian rolled his eyes. “It’s two o’clock, and they have big windows in front—the sun’s still out.”

    “You know what I mean!” Emily protested. “It’s all wrong. All wrong!”

    “Hey, good to see ya!” A middle-aged woman stepped out from the door behind the bar. “Oh my goodness, look at all your hair! Y’all are so pretty!”

    “Thank you!” Stephanie chirped.

    “I should get a picture—look at all those colors!” The woman chuckled. “Are you one of those, what do you call ‘em? Content creator teams, for V-tube? Out this way makin’ a video? You all look like models or influencers or whatever you call them. Are you camping? College students?”

    “We were just in the area camping,” Brian said, nodding. “They all saw the bar, and were real interested in stopping by.”

    “Well hey, glad to see ya! My name’s Donna, welcome to Rudy’s—we’ve got beer, and we’ve got wings,” Donna explained. “Lotsa folk grab stuff here to take to their cabins. We’ve got buffalo, garlic, BBQ. Oh, shoot—I don’t have the fryer on just yet, though. We just opened up for the day! I can get it goin’ right now, if y’all want somethin?’”

    “Wings!” Emily turned a pleading expression towards Brian. “Wings?”

    “We can order wings, sure,” Brian said. “What kind?”

    “I’ll get the fryer heatin’ up!” Donna hurried off back to the back again.

    “So yeah, it’s just a sports bar,” Kelly observed, gesturing across the far wall to reveal football pennants and jerseys hung up. “Not like, some rural country bar.”

    “Mm-hmm!” Rebecca said. “Not many places out this way have cell coverage or can even pick up TV stations, but my uncle comes here to catch games. They must have satellite TV?”

    “Aww,” Emily’s shoulders sagged. “Was hopin’ it was like, a hick bar. Country. Rustic. Redneck cowpoke dudes in trucker getups, jukebox with twangy steel guitar.”

    “Oh, sure, and they’ll all wear cowboy hats? Snakeskin boots, six-shooters, cactuses and cow skulls on the wall?” Rebecca rolled her eyes. “It’s Tionetta not Tijuana! We’re in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. This is what rural bars are actually like!”

    “It’s cact-i, not cactuses! Or cactussy,” Emily stuck her tongue out at her friend. “I mean, yowch. And hey, c’mon—the gas station ‘cross the way sold coonskin hats! That’s totally country. C’mon.”

    “There’s antlers!” Stephanie pointed at one of the walls. “They do have antlers. Deer?”

    “Elk, actually, looks like,” Rebecca said. “White-tail antlers curl forwards. See how these ones go more to the back, instead? Elk.”

    “Do you hunt?!” Stephanie seemed awed by the prospect.

    “I do!” Rebecca nodded. “Well, I haven’t this year. It’s been so busy. Last year, though. It’s also why they sell furs and leathers here, Emily! Because, this is a hunting town! Hunting doesn’t mean hillbilly or redneck—”

    “I kept sayin’ it!” Brian laughed. “That you guys were just caught up in generalizing everything you thought you saw, out here. Being judgmental.”

    “Does ‘hunting’ not mean redneck, now?!” Emily held out her hands. “Girls. Back me up, here.”

    “That’s just a ‘Murrican stereotype,” Kelly remarked. “That hunting is all low class. Over in Europe, hunting is a rich people thing. Bein’ big game hunters with an entourage, having a kennel full of trained hounds. Riding after foxes on horseback, and all that posh shit.”

    “But, hey guess what? We’re not in Europe, sooo—”

    “I’ve never been hunting or fishing,” Stephanie admitted. “My family only went on one ‘camping trip,’ but we didn’t even really camp! We rented an RV, and drove out and then hiked through the woods up and down trails and we went in a canoe. But then, we actually stayed at a motel! We didn’t even spend the night in the RV we rented! It wasn’t real camping.”

    “This was my first time real camping, too,” Kelly admitted. “First time really being way out in the woods. It’s been cool.”

    “I used to go camping with Michael and Will,” Brian said. “But, whew, guess it’s been a while, huh? This here is the first time I’ve been camping in ages.”

    “Guys…” Rebecca let out a deep sigh of dismay. “This wasn’t real camping!” We had a nice cabin, right there! We were within forty feet of the road!”

    “That was a ‘nice’ cabin?” Kelly laughed. “Uhhh Rebecca no offense, but…”

    “It didn’t have running water!” Emily argued. “Didn’t have electricity. It didn’t have internet.”

    “That doesn’t make it real camping!” Rebecca said. “Just because—”

    “But, but we slept in a tent and everything!” Stephanie giggled. “We were in the woods! It counts! We had a campfire! It’s camping!”

    “Totally counts,” Emily agreed with a nod. “Rebecca’s just all gung-ho about it. S’not real camping unless you’re playing survivalist way way out miles away from your vehicles. Rejecting all of the trappings of civilization. Rejecting modernity.”

    “Hmph!” Rebecca let out a cute huff. “Hmph!”

    “Fryer’s goin’!” Donna returned. “Just be a couple minutes. What can I putcha down for? We sell by eight-piece, or sixteen. Can do them up in whatever flavors you like, s’no trouble to mix and match by whatever count. Drinks?”

    “Uhh,” Brian gauged his companions. “What do you think? Eight of each, so we can share and try a bit of everything? Sixteen of each? I can eat a lot, but Emily’ll have like, two wings.”

    “Hey!” Emily protested. “That’s not true. I can eat, like. Six? Eight? I can eat an eight-piece all by myself, probably!”

    “You’re not fooling anyone,” Brian said. “You’ll be stuffed full in a minute.”

    “Nooo! I feel fine~!” Emily groaned. “I want to go on a walk~!”

    “Let’s do sixteen of each,” Kelly produced a debit card. “We can take whatever we don’t finish with us. This one’s on me.”

    “I can pay,” Brian said.

    “No, I can pay!” Stephanie fumbled for her pockets. “Let me. Please!”

    “I can—” Brian tried to persist.

    “Let me—” Kelly pursed her lips.

    “No!” Stephanie swatted them both. “Bad. No. I’m paying. You guys did lasagna, and then Rebecca did French toast. It’s my turn—I insist!”

    “Okay, okay, sheesh,” Brian chuckled. “Thank you.”

    “Thanks!” Emily said.

    “Thank you, Stephanie,” Kelly smiled.

    “Thank you Stephanie!” Rebecca said.

    “Thank you,” Christine said.

    “You’re welcome!” Stephanie beamed at them, presenting her card to Donna. “Sixteen wings of each flavor, please. Um, I don’t drink, but if anyone else wants beer, or?”

    “We do have soft drinks in cans, and bottled water,” Donna informed her. “Or sure, I can getcha beer, but I will need to see ID.”

    “Water for me,” Brian said.

    “Water for me as well!” Rebecca winked at him.

    “I… would love a beer, but,” Kelly scowled down at the cup in her hand. “I’ve quit drinking! And, I already have coffee. So, yeah, I’m good.”

    “Mr Spice or Dr Maple or yeah, whatever brand you have’s fine,” Emily lifted her whole arm for a big thumbs up.

    “We do have Dr Maple. We carry Soft sodas—Soft Cola, Diet Soft, Dr Maple, Citrus Lite, Mountain Dawn…” Donna listed off.

    “Then, um, two waters, two Dr Maples, and… ?” Stephanie looked towards Christine.

    “She’ll just have a strawberry-flavored pedia-lite,” Rebecca teased. “We still have a couple bottles from that pack!”

    “Ooph,” Christine’s cheeks bulged for a moment and she covered her mouth. “No—please, no. God. I, I don’t ever think I can ever again—”

    “Or, we can get her blood?” Emily looked around. “S’a hunting town, they gotta drain the—”

    “Two waters, two Dr Maples, and then a Diet Soft for Christine,” Brian said, swatting Emily’s arm. “Christine always went with Diet Soft. You should remember that, by now.”

    “Nah,” Emily sniffed. “She wasn’t mah girlfriend.”

    “Well, she is now, so—”

    “Y’all are a hoot! I’ll get your wings dropped, then I’ll be right back with yer sodas and everything,” Donna promised. “Wings’ll be ten, fifteen minutes or so.”

    “Y-you wouldn’t ever drink blood again, right?” Stephanie whispered.

    “I…” Christine seemed to need to pause to think it over. “I don’t think I’d mind it. After all of that, I’m not sure blood will ever be… unappetizing to me? Does that sound weird?”

    “Yes,” Emily answered immediately. “That’s super weird.”

    “It’s a little weird,” Brian admitted.

    “Well, we’re not gonna give you blood ever,” Kelly said. “Too risky, and yeah. Just, no. Weird.”

    “I’ve had blood before!” Rebecca chimed in. “It’s not that weird. I drank a cup from my first kill, you’re supposed to—”

    “S-so let’s grab a table!” Stephanie interrupted, waving her hands to grab everyone’s attention. “Before uh, before the dinner rush or whatever comes in! Please.”

    “Rebecca, do you really still have strawberry pedia-lite?” Emily asked. “I coulda just grabbed one of those. Instead of runnin’ up Stephanie’s card even higher.”

    “Eh, they’re probably buried way back in there behind everything,” Kelly waved Emily off. “Just siddown.”

    “Napkins?” Brian started pulling them out of a napkin holder.

    “Ooh, if we’re having wings, I should go grab my thing of wet wipes?” Rebecca tapped her lip. “And, if you want while I’m in there, I can grab the remaining strawberry—”

    “Please don’t,” Christine blurted out. “I. I don’t think I can even bear to see them.”

( Previous, Farewells pt 1 | After AnimeCon | Next, To be Continued... )

/// Want to end off this book on a happy note, so wanted to try to lean into the friend group banter. The last section I'm working on next will be a little more serious but still steering clear of angst or drama or conflict, really. Want to imagine readers've had their fill of that with the After AnimeCon content and will be okay with a mellow comfy get together of friends as our send off point.

If you guys feel otherwise I can always pen in some last minute trouble, though. Let me know!