How The Allies of Old began: (Novella) BORN Chapter Fifteen "The Zydeco Tent"

Painting in Acrylic by @therealpaul

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12

Chapter 13 Chapter 14

For those of you who missed the post of the release, I briefly explained how the series began as an idea for a Young Adult novel, and that I had in fact written what amounts to a novella taking place the summer before REBORN begins, and I decided to release it here on steemit.

BORN

Chapter Fourteen

“Hey, were you at the main grandstand?” She asked Austin cheerfully.

“Of course we were,” Gina chimed in.

“So what band are you going to next?” Ty asked.

“John Brown’s Body, right babe?” Gina batted her eyes up at him and Anna’s stomach lurched at the endearment. Only the pained expression that flashed across Austin’s face as he nodded kept her from losing the sausage she’d just consumed.

“Cool man, maybe we’ll see you there,” Ty answered and propelled her past them.
She looked back and met Austin’s eyes. She managed a smile but he didn’t return it and she watched him turn and head in the other direction with a sinking feeling.

She realized Ty had asked her something and blinked up at him. “Sorry, what?”

“Not a fan of Gina’s?”

She made a face. “No, not a fan, never have been.”

“So is that the reason for the nauseated look or is it something else?”

She looked down and shrugged slightly.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two apart.”

She sighed. “Yeah. It’s a little weird. Especially because it’s her and not someone I actually like.” Oh that was a big fat lie, she realized. Someone she liked would be way, way worse at this point.

Ty didn’t sense the lie however. “Yeah, I get that. It must suck to have your closest friend dating someone you despise.”

She nodded slightly, frowning.

He peered at her. “Hey, sorry, didn’t mean to upset you…Come on, I know how to cheer you up.” He led her over to a beer tent telling her he’d be back in a sec. He emerged a couple minutes later with four shots, two in each hand.

“Goldschlagger,” he announced, handing them to her.

They drank them in quick succession and he went back in to grab a couple more beers. Whew, she thought, that’ll restart a buzz.

One hour, two more shots, and a couple of beers later she was with Ty in the Zydeco tent, all thoughts of watching the other bands forgotten as they gyrated to the absorbing music. He was an excellent dancer, and she couldn’t deny she was having fun. Even when he pulled her close to him and picked her up, dancing a bit more intimately than she would’ve thought would work with zydeco. She was in that position-with her legs wrapped around his waist- when she spotted Austin. He was standing near the back of the large canopy watching them, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked…pissed.

“Put me down!” She shouted at Ty over the music. He set her on her feet and she gave him a quick hug. “Be back!” She told him and spun around.

Now that she was no longer in the air she couldn’t see past the people to where Austin had been standing, but she headed in the general direction, squeezing past dancing couples. When she got to the back of the tent she searched the area thoroughly feeling a sense of de ja vu from the previous night when she’d also played “Look for Austin”. Frustrated she gave up and decided to find a bathroom.

It took her fifteen minutes to find the port-a-potties and when she was finished she realized she had no idea how to get back to the zydeco tent. She didn’t know how to get back to their campsite for that matter, which is what she really wanted to do. People were probably hanging out there again by now and it would be nice to sit in a chair and mellow out. She started in the direction she thought it was and got lost, then decided to look for the vendors tents and have them point her in the right direction; but she couldn’t find them either. Was she walking in circles?

And of course it was then, when she was all alone and beginning to worry, that she spotted several shadow men. She closed her eyes and “turned it off” but when she looked again they were still there. She tried several more times without success. It’s the alcohol, she thought, it’s screwing with my “off” button. She hurried away, but as she rounded a corner she saw more of them and began to panic, berating herself for leaving her cell phone in her tent.

Buy Your copy of The Allies of Old: Reborn HERE-

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=linnet+mclaughlin

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P.S. For anyone who hasn't heard zydeco music I decided to look it up on youtube and post a video here-- and one of the first vids to pop featured two friends of mine- hilarious- you can see Kyle and Adam at 3:20 seconds :)