Snack Buddies

By: Rip

Some people have a knack for finding strange things. Strange things always seem to find Zane Legends.

It was the third meeting of the Midnight Striders Society; a rather cheesy name for a small group of people who got together once a month to take scenic walks under the full moon. Zane wasn't technically a member yet, as he'd only accidentally stumbled across the group during their previous meetup, sometime last month during a late-night snack run. Honestly, he would never have even considered actually joining such a group if one of the members hadn't stopped and complimented him on his taste in snacks. Surely someone who appreciated the combination of salt and vinegar potato chips, toffee and lemon-lime soda at 1am was a kindred spirit. Her being rather attractive didn't hurt much, either. That being said, though...

"Are you uh...are you sure this is, you know...legal?" Zane asked, sticking close to his snack-buddy (as he'd taken to referring to her in his head), partly out of nervousness and partly because she was the closest thing to an actual acquaintance in this group he had.

Sandra (his 'snack-buddys' actual name) laughed at his apparent apprehension.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Thomas is one of the groundskeepers here. I mean, it's still pretty against the rules, but it's not like we're breaking in or anything." She explained. Zane looked from the tall, wrought-iron gates of the cemetery to his companion, who flashed him a smile. Such sweet smile...

"Well if you're sure!" He exclaimed. What was the possibility of being arrested to the chance to spend a beautiful evening with a beautiful woman strolling through a...okay, he wouldn't go so far as to call a graveyard beautiful, but the point stands.

"Sooo, uh. What do you do when you're not wandering around in the dead of night by the light of the moon?" Zane asked as the group filed in and, to his pleasant surprise, fanned out, leaving him more or less alone with his snack buddy.

"Haha, wow, you sure have a way with words huh?" Sandra laughed. "I'm a grade-school teacher, for special needs kids."

Zane thought about this for a moment, trying to imagine any of his old grade-school teachers wandering through cemeteries in the dead of night. He shuddered, deciding that wasn't helping the situation.

"So what do you do then? Apart from wax poetic, I mean." She prompted in a teasing tone.

"Oh! Um, well, I..." Zane wracked his brain for a way to explain that he doesn't really do much of anything; rather, things just seemed to happen to him instead.

"...Iiiii think we should go this way instead!" As an immediate example of that thought he was presented with a convenient change of subject, in the form of a narrow staircase set into the path before them. Zane grabbed Sandra by the hand and dashed up the side of the low hill, thinking only to put as much distance between himself and the surprise stairs as possible.

The view from the top of the hill was astounding. Apart from the rows of tombstones and occasional low mausoleums, the grounds of the cemetery spread out before them; gentle rolling slopes tinted silver in the light of the full moon. Belatedly, Zane realised he was still gripping Sandra's hand, and moved to pull away and apologise.

Surprisingly, however, she didn't let him let go. Instead, she flashed him one of her bright smiles and moved a little closer.

"So...you wanna stop by the convenience store after this?"