In the Dark, Part 2

David suggested they carpool, and Sean readily agreed. “You’re driving, right?” he asked. “I mean, you’ve been there before.”

“I can drive.” Then David warned, “No recording in the car, though.”

Sean shook his head, adamant. “What? No. The whole reason I’m doing this is for views. You better believe I’m going to be filming from the moment I leave my house until the moment I come back the next day.”

They were Facetiming again—this time not by accident. With less than a week left until Halloween, they had a few things to hammer out. Like, apparently whether or not they were actually going to bother to film anything after all.

If not, I’m out, Sean thought. As attractive as David might be, Sean didn’t want to spend the night watching the guy get spooked if he wasn’t even going to be able to laugh about it on YouTube later on.

That was his sole reason for going, wasn’t it? To disprove David’s ghosts? Just because the guy was hot didn’t mean he had any hopes of anything more happening between them, no matter how dark it might be.

Or how easy we seem to be together, Sean mused, at least over the phone. Something about David was likable, Sean had to admit, and he found himself unable to stop grinning as they talked. And talked, and talked. That first Facetime chat had lasted at least an hour, but Sean couldn’t have said what it was they talked about for all that time. It surely wasn’t ghosts. They just hit it off, what more could he say?

After he mulled it over a bit, David admitted, “Okay, you can record in the car but we’ll set the camera up behind us so we’re both in the shot.”

“Why’s that matter?” Sean wanted to know.

David shrugged. “I just don’t trust you not to troll me.”

“I can always cut you out,” Sean pointed out.

Another shrug. “Yeah, but that’d take too long. We’re doing this together, right? We’re going to post it to both our accounts. So we both need to be in it, to prove ghosts are real—”

“To prove you think they’re real,” Sean corrected. “So what, we let your sister hold the camera so she can record us both from the back seat?”

At first, David didn’t reply. He glanced down, out of view of the phone’s camera, but Sean got the impression he was smoothing his shirt in a distracted way. Then he cleared his throat. “She isn’t coming. I have a rig we can set up—”

“Wait.” Sean sat up straighter. Things suddenly got a whole hell of a lot more interesting. “It’s just us? You and me overnight?” In the dark? he almost added, but caught himself in time. “Why’s that?”

With a slight shake of his head, David admitted, “She doesn’t really like going.”

“Because she doesn’t believe in ghosts and thinks it’s all a waste of time?” Sean prompted.

But David laughed. “No, the opposite in fact. She gets spooked too easily—”

“And you don’t?” Now Sean had to laugh. “I mean, I’m sorry, but I’ve seen your videos. Sometimes you carry on worse than she does.”

In his defense, David didn’t deny it. “Yeah, well, we’ll see how you carry on when we’re locked in with a bunch of ghosts overnight.”

“Newsflash, I won’t,” Sean said. “Why? Because ghosts aren’t real.”

David smirked. “Keep telling yourself that.”

* * * *

They agreed to meet at the old Kmart on Broad Street, and when four o’clock in the afternoon on Halloween rolled around, Sean was parked in the far corner of the empty lot, waiting for David to show up. Personally he thought they were going to be a bit early, but David wanted to take the official Centre Hill Mansion ghost tour before they stayed the night for their own investigation. “Just to see if anything happens,” he explained.

Sean had scoffed at the idea. “Yeah, like any self-respecting ghost is going to show itself on cue to a room full of tourists. If ghosts exist—”

“They do,” David cut in.

“If,” Sean stressed, “then you’re more likely to see them on your own than with a group. And I’m pretty sure they don’t haunt on command. Going on this ghost tour thing is a waste of time.”

Well, the whole thing was a waste of time, to be honest. But why couldn’t they just show up after the place emptied out?

David had a ready answer. “Part of the agreement I made with them to do the overnight thing involved us paying for the ghost tour earlier in the evening.”

“Paying.” Sean rolled his eyes. “Of course. All the more reason why someone on staff there’s likely to fake any ghostly activity that might allegedly occur.”

As he sat behind the wheel of his car, glancing at the time on his phone every few minutes, he wondered why he was bothering with any of it. For the potential views his video would get? For whatever ad revenue he might earn from it?

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, his mind whispered, For the remote possibility something might happen between us?

His fingers froze mid-tap on the steering wheel. Was that what this was all about? Was he really hoping they’d…what, hook up or something? In a haunted house?

With a self-deprecating laugh, Sean shook his head and dismissed the notion. No, he wasn’t looking for a boyfriend at the moment. He didn’t need to get involved with another YouTuber, of all people. And he sure as hell wasn’t interested in a guy who got spooked by the make-believe.

No matter how attractive that guy might be…

The sound of an engine growing closer caught his attention. He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a two-door Mini Cooper convertible tearing through the empty parking lot towards him. No wonder David wasn’t bringing his sister. Did that thing even have a backseat?

As it pulled up alongside him, Sean got out of his own car, then reached in for his overnight bag on the passenger seat. It contained two cameras and two fully charged battery packs for each, as well as snacks and a few cans of soda for later. He didn’t plan on getting any sleep so hadn’t packed a blanket or pillow or anything like that. Once he patted down the bag, making sure he felt both cameras inside, he locked the car door, then tugged on the handle to double-check it. He studiously ignored the blaring music behind him, and didn’t even acknowledge David until he’d slid into the passenger side seat of the Mini Coop. Then, instead of hello, he asked, “Are we driving on the interstate with the top down?”

David’s smile faded. “Shit, you’re right. I just thought we’d look cool—”

“We do,” Sean admitted. “But if my camera blows away somewhere on 95, you’re buying me a new one.”

“I’m putting it up.”

Sean watched as he pressed and held a switch on the bar above the rearview mirror. The car’s top rose from behind them, and Sean had to admit he was a little impressed. “Nice car,” he grudgingly admitted.

“Thanks.” David’s smile flashed at him again full force. “I bought it for the color. It’s called Island Blue.”

Sean laughed. “You…”

“What?” David watched the convertible top lock into place. “What’re you laughing at?”

“The color?” Sean asked. “Literally nothing else about the car stands out to you?”

“Well, it’s a nice color,” David countered.

Sean gave him a hard stare. “It’s blue.”

“It’s a pretty blue,” David argued. Then, almost as an afterthought, he asked, “Wait, are you recording this?”

Now it was Sean’s turn to curse. “Shit. Hold on, let me get set up.”

While he got one of his cameras out of his bag, David leaned into the space between their seats. For a hot minute Sean thought the guy was coming onto him or making a move. “What are you…?”

“GoPro, right?” David asked, reaching behind Sean’s seat. When he sat back, he held out a black plastic clamp. It had a flexible gooseneck arm that could be angled in any direction. “Will this work?”

Alright, Sean was more than a little impressed now. A headrest tripod mount, how clever. His camera locked easily into the mount, which David then clipped to the back of Sean’s headrest. Sean turned on the camera, then twisted the gooseneck to aim the lens at David, who stuck out his tongue. “Looks good to me.”

“Put it behind us both,” David told him. “If you’re just going to record me, I’ll play Taylor Swift the whole way so you’ll get demonetized when you upload it.”

With a laugh, Sean shook his head. “Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” He adjusted the camera, then turned in his seat to address it directly. “For the record, Folklore slaps. Thus begins our ghost debunking adventure. I’m Sean Madison—”

“David Diego,” his cohort interrupted, “and you’ll be eating those words by the end of the night. Speaking of eating, do you want to grab a bite before the ghost tour?”

“What is this, a date?” The question came out harsher than Sean had intended.

David backpedaled quickly. “No, no, no,” he said, watching the road ahead and studiously avoiding looking at either Sean or the camera. “But it’s going to be almost dinnertime when we get there, and the tour isn’t until seven, so I just thought if you were hungry…”

Sean shrugged. “I can always eat. What are you thinking? A drive-through, or—”

“You are not eating in my car.” David gave him a side-eyed glance as they drove onto the interstate exit. “There are plenty of local spots near Centre Hill. This is not a date. We each pay our own way.”

Under his breath, Sean muttered, “That doesn’t necessarily make it not a date, but whatever.”

To be continued …