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Message: <blockquote data-quote="maxfieldjadenfox" data-source="post: 4221997" data-attributes="member: 18003">Round 1, Match 8maxfieldjadenfox vs. MythagoSpring Break MaxfieldjadenfoxSarasota. Just the name alone conjured pictures in Allison’s head. Sandy beaches. Romance. Mangroves. It was everything spring break should be, and after months of dreary winter, bundled in a million layers of wool and still cold, she couldn’t wait to don her bikini and flip flops and soak up the sun. Even better, David and Robb were going with her. Gay guys are the perfect companions for such a trip. They are guys, so if things got uncomfortable in a bar, say, they’d bail her out. “Excuse me, but is he bothering you?” Of course if things got ugly, they might scream like girls and run… But, if she met someone yummy, they’d be happy to help her pick the perfect outfit, tell her she looked fabulous, and dish about the date later. It was a win win situation. She could count on them.So, Allison packed her suitcase with sundresses, bikinis, short shorts and tiny tees and dreamed that this year, she’d find Him. Allison had been on a relentless search for Him since the seventh grade and so far she had come up empty. She hadn’t told the boys, but the reason she picked Florida this year was because she had been talking to someone, a very nice someone she thought, online, and she had finally agreed to meet him. He hadn’t been willing to send a picture, which worried her a tad, but he said he was better in person. Since she was too, she’d chosen to believe him. She imagined him. He’d be tall and handsome, with a great smile and a great personality. Maybe he’d even have a job. Most of all, he would “get” her. Most guys didn’t. She was too smart, too geeky, too apt to quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And, as David and Robb often told her, she was a loser magnet. If there was a guy in a 50 mile radius of her who had no job, no prospects, maybe a little substance abuse problem, and an illegitimate kid or two, he’d find her. And it would be candy canes and puppies and rainbows until his unfortunate traits became obvious. Too often, she’d found herself curled in a ball on the floor of David and Robb’s apartment, sobbing as she looked at the two story red wall she’d helped them paint and stencil with Kanji characters and dragons. They fed her ice cream, commiserated about what a total bastard Joe, or Tom, or Jake was. They watched Princess Bride with her again, because she said it was the only thing that gave her hope. They called her daily to make sure she wasn’t offing herself, and then, she’d meet another loser and the whole sad tale would begin again.Allison shook her head hard. I will not start this trip with a negative attitude. I will have the boys with me. They will make sure I don’t end up with Mr. Wrong again.  She dropped some lacy under-things and her favorite little black dress into the suitcase and closed it. Just in case, she thought.  Besides, I may have already found Mr. Right, she reminded herself.The boys gave her the window seat. She sighed as she looked out at the clouds. “None of that, Missy,” David said, shaking his finger at her.“What?”“The sighing, oh dear, my prince will never come stuff. You can’t fool me, I’ve known you since we were 5.”“Well, that’s easy for you to say, you already found your prince.”David squeezed Robb’s hand. “You’re right. I’m so lucky,” he grinned. “And you, well, you’re hopeless, and will end up alone with your 15 cats. Unless you become a lesbian. Find a nice lesbian. They’re so nurturing!”“Geez, David, will you ever stop playing that tune? I keep telling you that I’m all about guy’s… junk.”David laughed. “Yeah, me too.” He looked at her. “Seriously, maybe this will be the time you meet him. The one. Your lobster.”“Well, I may have already…met him.”“What?!” Robb grabbed her wrist. “Was there a guy between this seat and the lavatory? Is that why you’ve gone twice?” “No,” Allison said, suddenly not sure she should tell them. “ I met this guy online…”Both of the boys groaned.“Fine,” Allison said. “I just won’t tell you anymore.” “Come on! No wonder you don’t have a boyfriend. You’re such a tease.” Robb batted his eyelashes at her and she giggled. “At least tell us his name.”“OK. His name is Draco.”David slapped himself on the forehead. Then he slapped her on the forehead.“Well, that’s his screen name. I don’t exactly know his real name.”“Pedophile,” David said under his breath.“I’m legal, dumb ass.” “Have you talked to this guy? Do you have his number?” “He has mine.”David and Robb looked at each other with growing dismay. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I can sit through Princess Bride one more time.”Allison turned angrily toward the window. She felt desperate. The boys had each other. What did they know about being lonely? By the time they reached the terminal, she had mostly forgiven them. They cared about her. They just wanted her to be happy. They bought her expensive airline margaritas. It was steamy hot in the tunnel to the terminal, and they had to wait for a tram to take them to their airport shuttle. By the time they got to the hotel, all she wanted was to take a nap, but the boys wouldn’t hear of it. “Didn’t you see the sign in the lobby? Black tie bikini party at the bar down the street! We can’t miss that.” The elevator stopped. “OK, fine. You guys go to your room and I’ll go to mine, we’ll make ourselves beautiful and meet up here in an hour.” She blew them a kiss and ran to her room. She took out her laptop, found the hotel’s wifi, and logged on. She had mail from Draco. Whenever she saw his name, her heart jumped. The message was short and to the point.“You’re here. I can feel you.”The phone rang.“Hi, beautiful,” he said. His voice was like black velvet, or dark chocolate.“Hi.” She felt shy all of a sudden. They were in the same state, maybe in the same city.“When can I see you? I can’t wait to meet you.” Damn, she thought, I’m already sounding too eager. I’ll scare him away.“I’ll send for you.” The line went dead.Allison’s hands were shaking as she flipped her phone shut.About an hour later, she met up with the boys in front of the elevator. David and Robb were wearing matching gold Speedos ala Rocky Horror, and black satin bow ties.“Where in the hell did you get bow ties?” she asked. “or gold Speedos, for that matter?”“You never know when you might need a Speedo or a bowtie. We were both boy scouts, remember.” Allison shook her head. “You never cease to amaze me. Now, tell me how fabulous I look.” She did look fabulous in her old-fashioned black and white polka dot two-piece. “You look like Marilyn!” Robb said. She didn’t believe him.They looked at the sign in the lobby once more to make sure they knew where they were going and took off down the street. The directions seemed simple, but soon they found that they were hopelessly lost. Picture: Shirtless guys in bowties.“It said right at Ringling, didn’t it?” Robb asked. David looked around.“I thought so, but we keep ending up at the botanical gardens. Weird.”After seven abortive attempts to find the party, and seven times ending up at the botanical gardens, they decided to call it quits. “This is just creepy,” Robb said, “like magic or something.”Allison smiled. “I love magic! Maybe we should just go inside since we’re here?” There was something about the place, something that made Allison want to see what was in there. It was like a physical pull from her solar plexus. The boys wouldn’t understand. “I can see the mangroves from here. They’re so beautiful, so ancient.”“Um, not really dressed for Shelby Gardens, hon.” David gestured at his outfit.“OK,” she said, “but I want to come back here before we leave town, OK?”“Sure. I guess I didn’t know you were so into plants…”It took half an hour to get back to the hotel, and Allison had a blister on one of her toes from her sandal. The boys were cranky and just wanted to change and get dinner. The evening ended on a sour note when Robb asked if she had heard from her ‘boyfriend.’” When she told him about the conversation, he said,“That is some seriously creepy caca. I don’t think you should meet him. He sounds like bad news.”“You just don’t understand!” she knew she sounded like a petulant teenager, but she didn’t care. “You don’t know about all the conversations we’ve had. All the things we’ve shared.”“Online” the boys said together.“No,” she was surprised to find a sob in her throat. “It’s more than that. He gets me. He really gets me!”“Like how does he get you?” Robb asked gently, patting her shoulder.“Like one time when we were talking about me coming here, I said I’d be here, but without bells because they’re too noisy. He thought it was hilarious. He said he had to look back over our e-mails to make sure he hadn’t said it to me at some point because it was just the kind of thing he would say. And it is.” “Oh, yeah, you can build a relationship on that.” David said.“You just don’t understand!” she said angrily. “Ally, you know we love you! We’d do anything for you! We just want you to be safe.” “Safe isn’t happy!” she cried. She tipped her chair over as she got up, but left it where it lay and went back to her room.Her phone rang as she closed the door.“You were so close to me today, why did you leave?”“Where were you?”“Shelby Gardens. You felt it, I know it. I called you, and you came.”“But how?” Allison felt a little hysterical. This sort of thing didn’t happen. She was tired. Maybe she was dreaming.“You’re not dreaming,” he said. “I’ll send for you tomorrow.”A storm blew in during the night, with thunder and lightning and sheets of rain. Allison could barely sleep, and when she did, she had odd dreams of ancient mangrove forests full of dancing boys in gold bikinis and a single red eye, watching her with a hunger that she could feel.The next morning dawned clear and sunny, and the boys came to her door with a peace offering of chocolate chip waffles and mimosas. They promised not to make fun of Draco, no matter how easy it was, and they promised to love her forever, no matter how many times she made them watch Princess Bride, and they all ended up in her bed watching All About Eve as they giggled and ate breakfast. When the movie was over and they had finished discussing Bette Davis’s formidable acting talents, and her fabulous wardrobe, Robb said,“Beach?”“Beach.” Allison and David agreed.It was a gorgeous day, hot enough to go in the water, but not so hot that you didn’t want to stay outside. They joked and watched men and had a lovely time.“I’m going to look for shells,” David said, “want to come with?” “Sorry, hon, I’m feeling lazy.” Allison said. Robb nodded. “I think I’ll just hang here with my girl.”“OK, but if I find something cool, you guys are out of luck.”A few minutes later, they heard David’s voice, carrying over the sound of the waves.“Hey guys, I think I found something.”Picture: On the beach with a plane.Allison and Robb stood up and looked around. There, in the ocean, was an airplane. An old prop job, maybe from World War Two. David was staring at it in amazement.“Can you guys believe this? It must have blown in during the storm last night! What do you think?”Allison couldn’t hear him. The plane was making a sound. It was like a heartbeat, or a cry or something. It made her want to run and jump into the cockpit. Before she knew it, she was clambering onto the wing and reaching to open the door.“Ally! No! It’s not safe!”The door flew open as soon as her hand touched it. As she settled in the seat, she heard a voice, Draco’s voice.“Hello, beautiful, buckle up.” David and Robb were running frantically around the outside of the plane, but when the engines started, they had to give up. She waved to them as the plane took off. It didn’t occur to her to question what was happening, it just felt so right.The flight took forever and no time at all. The plane touched down in a mangrove forest, one much larger and older than the one in Shelby Gardens. When she stepped out of the cockpit, he was there, waiting. He didn’t look at all like she’d imagined, but it didn’t matter. She knew who he was.Back on the beach, David and Robb were frantically looking for anything that might lead them to Allison. They checked her cell phone, abandoned in her beach bag, but Draco’s number came up unavailable. “Which direction did the plane go?” asked David.“You’ve got to be kidding me. How do we find a phantom plane?”“I’ve got to try. She’s my friend.”Robb nodded. “She’s mine too. Shall we try the botanical gardens?”The two of them started walking. They may have walked for minutes or days, but they walked with purpose and they walked with love. They found the garden, and inside the garden was a mangrove forest, and within the forest, they found a path. The path was lined with mangroves that stood like a row of teeth, each one like the one before, and the one after. The path went on for miles and led to a cave.Picture: Weird tree path.“Why do I feel like Prince Charming, going to hack my way through the brambles to rescue Briar Rose?” David asked.Robb squeezed his hand. “Because you are,” he said.When their eyes adjusted to the light, David and Robb were horrified to see Allison, tangled in the coils of an enormous black serpent, craggy scaled,  with one liquid red eye. Ally looked serenely happy, like she always did at the beginning of a new relationship. The eye extended and peered at them.“Draco?” Robb asked. "Um, is this when we scream like girls and run?" asked David."Nope," Robb answered.Picture: Red eyed thing.They could hear a voice in their heads,“What are you doing here? This is none of your concern. She is mine.”“No, she isn’t.” David said, grabbing Ally by the arm and dragging her from the creature’s coils. “Draco” Ally cried, trying to break free of David’s grip.Draco went mad, flailing and writhing, but he seemed incapable of doing any real damage. He didn’t have a mouth, so no teeth, no arms, no stinger, no visible weapons. Even his magic seemed to be gone. He was impotent.David and Robb dragged Ally from the cave, while Draco raged behind them. “Please, please let me go back to him. I know he’s not what you imagined, but he gets me! He gets me.”“Girlfriend,” David said, as the mangroves became smaller and the sounds of other people’s voices reached them from the botanical gardens, “every time, I think it’s impossible that you could find anyone worse than the last guy. And every time, you surprise me. I’m making an appointment for you with my therapist when we get back home. She’s a lesbian from Iran. You’ll like her.”</blockquote>

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