The five were walking into the small town of Telluride where they could rent their equipment. Tony had his arm around Anne, Tyrone was holding hands with Jennifer, and Evan had his hands stuffed into his jean’s pockets. He decided to break his silence and asked, “Did any of you guys get a weird vibe from Mel?”
Tyrone lifted his eyebrow inquisitively and responded, “Mel? Who the hell is that?”
Jennifer tapped his chest, “He’s the older guy who lives next to Evan. But what kind of vibe are you talking about, Evan?”
Evan bunched up his eyebrows and began rubbing his chin as he would so often do when he got lost in his thoughts, “I can’t really explain it. He kind of just freaked me out. Like, just the way he talked about stuff. I was watching Criminal Minds one day and…”
Tony interjected, “Look, Encyclopedia Brown, you have to chill out with that shit. You always analyze people way too much. You want the chance to profile someone dangerous so badly; this is why you’re still single. A cute girl can waltz up to you and be desperate for a little grind time and you’d be too busy trying to figure out if she has all the ticks of an average serial killer. Maybe she’s into white-collar crimes. Maybe she’s actually a man who changed genders just to track you down and kill you. You need to get out of your own head, man. That shit is going to leave you lonely. Makes you super distrustful too.”
“Tones, are you still mad at me cause I assumed you ate my burrito a couple of weeks ago?”
“No, but now that you mention it, that was a little fucked up on your part. The fat man doesn’t always steal the food. So quit profiling. At least for this trip, alright? Just like Jennifer promised she’d stop trying to figure out which Uncle molested us and why we really only emulate our mothers, or something.”
Jennifer spoke out, slightly offended, “You do realize I’m going to grad school in Boston, right? Besides, Freudian schools of thought have been outdated for like half a century at this point.”
Tony shrugged, “Ok, differing schools of psychological thought aside. You need that Master’s. You’ll get to be the therapist for fellow McDonald’s workers on your lunch break if you try going out in the real world with that Psych Bachelor’s. And you know I’m right.”
Tyrone chuckled, “Damn baby, dude is on a tirade right now. Evan, you know Tony’s right, though. You want to solve all these puzzles and mysteries even when there aren’t any. We’re out of school for a week. Our professors somehow managed to find their humanity and not bury us in work. Enjoy it. Hell, if anyone should be a little weirded out here, it should be me. I haven’t seen a brother since we got to Colorado. I don’t know where all the black dudes were escaping the South to, cause this place got more white than the snow around us.” The group laughed at this as they entered the rental shop. They all went about their business and before long were carrying their equipment back to the two story vacation home.
Evan spoke, “You know, we’ll probably just eat at home tonight. We’ve got enough stuff to get a good meal going. We’ll start eating out and blowing our money tomorrow. We’ll have fun tonight.”
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As they began to enter the home, a familiar neighbor came out of his house and called out, “Hey kids, want to eat out tonight? It’d be nice to get to know you guys!” Evan smiled weakly, remembering the plans they had made minutes ago.
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Tony spoke softly to Evan, “Hey, I think Anne and I are going to go inside. This is kind of awkward so we’ll let you deal with that guy.” The two scooted off.
Tyrone rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah man, I think Jen and I are going to let you handle this one. Maybe it’ll get those uneasy thoughts out of your mental. We’ll take your stuff inside with us, though.” Evan sighed and walked over to Mel’s property.
Mel flashed a big smile at Evan, “So what do you say, neighbor? Dinner for six in the town square? I read about this great place where a lot of celebrities go at night. I think just that would be worth the price that they’re probably charging.”
Evan took a breath inward, let out a small hesitant vocal croak, cleared his throat, and then tried again, “Actually, my friends and I are all kind of wiped out from the decently early flight here and just getting accustomed to the altitude and whatnot.”
“Early flight? You kids made it in town at 2, right?” This irritated Evan. Who was he to keep track of them? Who was HE to push the matter so far as to question what they wanted to do? Evan bunched his eyebrows and looked up but then immediately remembered why he was so intimidated by this man. Still, though, he had to stand his ground.
Evan gave a fake, albeit convincing, smile, “Well my friends like to get to the airport early. It’s a long and boring story, but they’re odd like that. It’s just a lot of money and I think we were going to just lay low for the night. Start being irresponsible with our cash tomorrow.”
“If it’s money that’s the problem, I don’t mind paying for this one.”
“Oh no, really, that’s very generous but you don’t have to do that.”
“No, I insist. I have a lot of money to spend, haha.”
“Yeah, I’ve already picked up on that fact, Mel.” The words came out as a snap. Evan didn’t think before he said it, but he knew it came off as aggravated and uninviting.
Mel narrowed his gaze, “Is there a problem…. oh this is embarrassing. What’s your name, son? You seem to have a better memory than I do.”
Evan bit his lip at this condescending remark, but remained calm, “Evan. My name is Evan, sir. We’re just really tired and we won’t be much fun if we went out tonight. We’ll be here for another six days, though. Maybe we’ll get together one of those nights.”
“Sure. Maybe we will.” Evan gave him a soft smile and turned around back to the house. He steadied his breath.
He thought to himself, “Holy shit. I thought I was about to get choke slammed by that guy. Where the hell does he get off being so pushy like that?” Evan stopped once he was a few feet from the front door and turned back around to Mel’s home. Their eyes met. Evan took in a small nasal gasp. Mel’s eyes were angry. His arms were folded and his mouth was closed, but it was moving as if he was shifting his lower jaw around. The way a fighter moves their mandible around before he gets ready to start swinging. Then his pupils enlarged a tad and he shook his head, as if signifying that he was simply in a trance. He gave Evan a big smile and waved at him as he walked inside.
Evan stepped inside of his own home, locked every lock, and let out a soft sentiment, “Fuckin’ creep.” He journeyed downstairs and was met by Anne.
She smiled and asked, “How did it go with that guy?”
Evan shook his head and chuckled, “Well we aren’t going to be eating dinner with him and I still don’t like him.”
“Well, maybe he just gives off a weird vibe. Maybe-”
Jennifer came up behind Anne, “Maybe he’s intimidated.”
Evan raised his eyebrow in a quizzical fashion, “Intimidated? The guy’s three times my width and like six and a half feet tall.”
Anne raised her index finger, “Actually he’s probably only about six-four. He’s around an inch taller than you. He is big, though. Muscular.”
Jennifer smiled, “You’re obviously not physically imposing to him, no offense, but maybe financially you are. I mean it’s you with a bunch of friends hanging out at an expensive skiing vacation home. Your parent’s vacation home. I bet you that he doesn’t think too highly of any of us. Maybe he feels like he needs to compete.”
Evan responded, “You know, he does bring up his money a lot. I was thinking maybe he’s just arrogant. I don’t know. I’m sure we won’t see him too much as long as we’re lucky enough to be here whenever he isn’t around.”
Jennifer gave him a thumbs up, “This is a big place. I’m sure we won’t be seeing too much of him. Unless he’s watching us.” The three let out chuckles as they went to their respective rooms.