Curate, connect, and discover
sinclairss:
the hideaway wasn’t usually at the top of lucas’ list of places to hang out, but after the carnival, he was looking for just about anything that might take the edge off. he’d been attacked by the doppelganger. max had been taken by the monster. the older kids had nearly gotten blown up. any of those things would be traumatic enough on its own, but add on the fact that five people -including mr. clarke- had died, and it left lucas with a lot to think about. according to his therapist, he’d gotten to the anger portion of his grieving process when he’d vandalized his middle school. showing up at the hideaway when he was supposed to be at physical therapy? that was squarely in the depression part. it wasn’t that he didn’t drink, but lucas didn’t usually drink alone.
which was probably why lucas’ first instinct upon walking into the dimly lit bar was to find a drinking buddy. relief loosened his shoulders when he spotted cole montgomery sitting at the bar. ever since the guy had fallen into an open grave trying to help lucas out of one, he’d felt a strange sort of camaraderie with the other. he wondered if cole’s doctors knew he was spending his time drinking at the bar before realizing he probably didn’t care if they did. “same as you,” he answered with a humorless smile. “needed a drink.” he nodded as he slid into the seat to cole’s left and ordered a beer.
the good thing about this bar was that they rarely ever carded, especially not after tragedy struck town. again. he remembered that his dad came here the night will’s ‘body’ had been found. and he and the basketball team had spent time tucked into a corner after…something had happened to jason’s girlfriend, right? lucas couldn’t remember. either way, the bartender passed over a glass and lucas thanked her with a smile, lifting the beer in cole’s direction in a mock toast. “thanks.” he took a long sip and wrapped both hands around the cool glass as he turned in his seat to look at cole properly. “so…” his eyes flicked back to cole, one side of his mouth quirking in the shadow of a grin. “what’s new? seen any good movies lately?”
xx.
Needed a drink. Cole certainly couldn’t argue with Lucas’ logic, enough had happened to warrant everyone in town taking a load off, especially Lucas. Cole absentmindedly wondered if Max knew Lucas was here. He hadn’t exactly gotten an update from her in a while, so he didn’t know what was going on between the two of them, except that there was something. There had always been something. “Well, cheers.” Cole raised his glass to Lucas’ and took a long drink, barely stopping himself from downing the whole glass in one gulp. Best to reign it in, in case Lucas relayed anything to Max.
Not that they were exactly talking right now, anyway. Things had been weird ever since Tessa Calloway’s funeral, which Cole only attended because Adam wanted to, for the record. He’d been torn up about the whole thing since then-- partially because he’d fought with Max, but also because he couldn’t help but wonder: How many others were afraid of Adam? How many others wouldn’t hesitate to restrain him or hurt him, even though none of this was his fault? Cole took a long look at Lucas, the other’s words processing somewhere behind the alcohol-induced haze of Cole’s mind. Was Lucas one of them, too?
The side of Cole’s mouth quirked over the glass at Lucas’ joke. “Hmm... Dirty Dancing? I’ve watched that like, six times with Adam’s youngest sister now. Or Hairspray,” he added, laughing at his movie choices. He knew Lucas wasn’t the type to make fun of him, but still, couldn’t he have at least seen a Star Wars movie or something? Then, it clicked. “The Lost Boys. Max really liked that one,” he smiled fondly, but his smile faltered after a second. “Is she... doing okay? It’s been a minute.”