Calling from the Mist

Bonfire

It didn't take long for Misty to raid her best friend's closet in an effort to find an outfit. She opted to steal a pair of his jeans, rolling the cuffs up past her ankles. She was thankful that Micheal was fairly skinny, so the waist wasn't too bad.

"Give me a shirt you don't love!" She giggled, sipping her third drink as she continued to root through the poor boy's drawers.

Micheal ended up giving her an old Jersey from high school, to which she promptly cut into an off the shoulder crop top.

"Missy~ that's way too sexy!" Micheal was lounging on the bed in a nice Henley and his favourite skinny jeans. He was grinning like an i***t, shaking his head as Misty let her hair down, literally and figuratively.

"I can't help if I'm hot, although I probably just look homeless…" Misty turned around, giving Micheal a little twirl before she was completely satisfied. "Come on, let's go!"

Micheal wasn’t drinking since he had planned to drive, not as if Misty could have even walked in a straight line in her current condition. She was hanging onto her best friend and giggling like an i***t as they slipped into his red pickup truck and headed towards the lake.

“Whose idea was it to have the bonfire at Lake Sincoe? That’s where all the rich people live!” Misty grumbled although it was mostly to herself. She already had an idea of who had organized the event but that wasn’t going to stop Misty from enjoying herself. Micheal just sighed and turned up the radio to some dance station, which pretty much cheered up the brooding young lady.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, unless you counted Misty’s terrible singing voice as she tried to be louder than the radio. Micheal pulled up alongside lots of other vehicles, ranging from other trucks to fancy expensive beamers and the like. Misty scoffed as she slipped out of the car, automatically hooking her arm with Micheal’s and leaning her head on his shoulder.

“I missed youuuuuu~” Misty crooned loudly as they walked in the direction of the lake, which was easy enough with the loud music and rambunctious sounds of people.

“Missy… I missed you too,” Micheal sighed, patting Misty’s hand and shaking his head. She wanted to ask what the pause was for, if there was something he wanted to say but they had reached the head of the trail that would take them down to the lake and Misty needed to concentrate on the ground.

Micheal unhooked his arms from Misty, to which she nearly grumbled about until she realized that the athletic young man had instead wrapped it around her waist in order to help her down the slope. She might have had a couple of drinks, but she wasn’t that drunk yet!

“I can walk! No wait, I don’t wanna look stupid this is fine!” Misty whined before changing her mind with a mischievous grin. When they finally reached the bottom of the trail as it opened up onto a lovely stone beach, Misty grabbed Micheal’s hand before he could remove it. “Stay like that for a while, it’ll help keep me upright on the stones!”

She could have sworn she felt her best friend tense up for a few moments as he gazed down at her, but Misty was on a mission for more alcohol and to sit by the roaring bonfire. She started off before Micheal could say anything, heading for the three large coolers of booze open and ready for her to partake in their treasures.

But of course, things never did seem to work out for the unfortunate Misty.

“Well look who it is… the Mist-ake”

A shrill voice cackled at her own joke as Misty frowned, already knowing exactly who the owner was. Barbara Gunthers was the queen bee in high school, and apparently her insults hadn’t grown at all over the years. Misty looked over to find the blonde, to which she nearly burst out laughing at the sight of. Barbara had always been a ‘bottle blonde’ but the fact that her appearance hadn’t changed in three years was actually hilarious. Standing behind Barbara were her two bimbettes, Kandice with a K and Caren with a C, not that anyone needed a constant reminder of how to spell their names. They looked just as fake as they had back in highschool, with loud makeup and tiny outfits.

Misty frowned, then turned towards the closest cooler and grabbed for a beer. Sure, she was going to feel that in the morning, but present Misty didn’t give a crap.

“Hey! I’m talking to you!” Barbara nearly shrieked and actually stomped her foot until Misty looked back at her. She was smiling wickedly, never a good sign. “Hi Michael~”

It was a good thing that Misty hadn’t taken a sip of her beer yet or else she might have spit it out. She slowly turned in Micheal’s arms, looking up at him with wide eyes but what she saw was more of a puzzled confusion than anything else. Of course the nasty wench was just trying to stir up nonexistent trouble.

“Come on, let’s go sit by the fire~” Misty ignored the shrieking banshee and strode over to one of the large driftwood logs that had been placed around the bonfire.

She sat down, sipping her beer and staring off at the lake as Micheal took a seat beside her.

“I don’t know what that was about…” He began to sip his own beer, having grabbed one as Misty walked away.

“She was implying you saw her at some point, probably trying to make me think you two slept together…” Misty eyed her best friend for his reaction, grinning when Micheal’s face turned from shock to disgust quite comically. “I would have disowned you if you had!”

The pair just looked at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing, happy to just get to hang out again after so long. Unfortunately, like all good things they would inevitably come to an end.

“Dun-ky!!!!!” An excitable Barbara yelled across the beach as two figures emerged from the bottom of the trail. Misty could practically feel the eyes on her back, well, in addition to half of the other guests who had already been staring at her.

She turned slowly and watched as a *quite* angry Jake began to glide over towards where she was sitting by the bonfire, a dark look in his eyes that made Misty want to run away again, or possibly just jump into the fire. After that particular thought Jake stopped short, frowning before shaking his head as if trying to calm down. It was strange to watch, but for some reason Misty couldn’t look away.

“Misty…” Jake kneeled down in front of Misty, turning heads at the action as he reached out to take one of her hands. But it was Micheal that stopped him, pulling Misty closer and away from the Shifter who was just about to pounce based solely on how ridgid he went.

“Don’t, nobody make a move, let me drink in peace.” Misty’s voice was whisper quiet but deadly, she did not want to be messed with on a good day, and this was definitely not a good day for her.

As if some sort of invitation had been offered up, several people actually stepped closer to sit by the bonfire, watching and seemingly waiting for something? Misty tried to ignore them, but the strange pull deep in her chest was making it hard to concentrate.

“Hey! That’s *our* seat, Mist-ake! Go jump in the lake or something!” Barbara had wandered back over kicking stones in Misty’s direction. Her long fake nails were practically digging into the tanned flesh of the other person who had arrived at the party.

Misty rolled her eyes at Duncan, high school football captain and prom king, as he sipped on his own beer and bore holes through Misty’s entire body with his eyes. Of course those two were still together. A little itch seemed to form from the sight of the couple, but Misty pushed it down just like every other feeling and emotion she had been experiencing lately. Yes she wanted answers, but no she did not want people knowing her business.

“I said! Get up!” Without warning Barbara kicked her giant-ass heeled sandal out, probably to hit more stones in Misty’s direction, but the damn thing flew right off her foot and went straight for Misty’s head.

Two things happened at once; Jake caught the sandal with lightning quick reflexes, and at least ten people made a move to attempt the same thing. Misty had had enough.

“That’s it! Everyone that is a, *you know* Come with me right now! Not you Dun-ky, you take care of *that*!” Misty stood up and seethed, turning to march off towards the lake but not before reaching a hand out to drag Micheal with her when he didn’t make a move to tag along. “You too Micheal, you’re damn important to me and I need some support!”

With about half of the bonfire party in tow Misty wandered off down the stone beach for a while, just enough to get out of earshot. She was holding onto Micheal again, with Jake close at her other side and glaring daggers at her best friend.

“Stop that…” Misty grumbled as they continued to walk, only for Jake to ignore her for a moment, then think better of it. He bowed his head deeply towards Misty when they stopped walking, a little circle forming with Misty being the centre of attention.

“My apologies O Sacred One, but he is not worthy to touch you…” Jake trailed off when he noticed Misty fuming, only to have Micheal pat her hand to calm her down.

“It’s alright Missy, I sort of figured that would be the case but I’m not going to stop or apologize for it~” Micheal grinned cheekily down at the smaller young woman which seemed to instantly relax her.

Misty took a deep breath to calm herself, eyeing the group and making sure that no one else was trying to listen in, also trying her best to ignore how much closer Jake had gotten to her opposite side in some sort of effort to mirror Micheal’s comforting. She sighed, shaking her head but determined to get her answers.

“I have questions and you are all going to answer them, right here, right now…”

Misty started with the easiest, yet scariest question of them all.

~