Let's Not Meet Again

I Hope He Didn't Mean What It Sounded Like He Said

I live in the deep south in a small rural town. We are near towns that border the Gulf of Mexico, so we have public beaches. One night, my husband and I and our favorite couple friends decided to go to one of the public beaches in our area, throw some chicken on the grill and party into the wee hours of the morning. This was always one of our favorite things to do on a Friday or Saturday night during the warm months of Spring and Summer.

So to describe this particular public beach, it's pretty isolated, but it is just off a main highway. At night, the occasional 18 wheeler and other cars pass, but not a steady stream, just vehicle's here and there. But the picnic tables are in a long straight line, with a building housing the restrooms, kind of in the center. past the tables, there is a wide expanse of white sand and then the beach past that. (So the beach is on 1 side, the road is on the other). I hope that gives you somewhat of a visual.

So soon as the four of us get to the beach, our hubbies want to drive into the next town to buy beer. (It's part of the ritual of this). So, they leave and my friend Jana and I are sitting on top of a picnic table, catching up on gossip, laughing, occasionally turning the chicken on the grill, etc. I have stayed here before (while they made the "store run") and have never thought anything of being afraid, it's always been safe and most of the time, nobody stops here at night, unless they are going to use the public restrooms. Anyway, our husbands had not been gone long, when a van passes by. The van slowed down as it was passing the beach (you can see everything from the road, as the area where the picnic tables are, is well lit). We just glanced at the van and kept talking, but after a minute or so, the van came back. I'm a little nervous, because from the time I was a child, I've had quite a few creepy encounters, but I kind of shrugged my nervousness off, thinking maybe it was just someone coming to use the public restrooms, or even possibly someone we know.

So, the way the tables are situated, they each have several parking spaces in front, where you pull in, the front bumper of your car would be facing the tables, but they pulled in sideways (taking up several spaces), where the passenger side was facing us. My friend Jana and I just looked at each other, kind of wondering what's up with this.

This guy gets out of the driver's side and walks around to where we were. The side door slides open and a guy climbs out and just kind of leans against the side of the van. I could see another guy in the back seat, but didn't get a good look at him. The guy in the passenger seat did not get out, but kept looking around nervously. So, the driver walks around to where we were sitting and says "good evening, how are you lovely ladies doing?" or something goofy like that.

All the guys had longish hair and the guy leaning against the side of the van, looked like a biker. He was tall, kind of chubby, had long brownish hair and had a bandanna tied around the back of his head. (I'm not good at guessing ages, but I would guess they may have been from mid thirties, the driver looked a little older, with grayish hair, beard, etc. So, we are trying to be polite, without encouraging anything. The driver was the only one that talked to us, (which I thought was strange).

 The guy standing by the van, had his arms crossed and just looked mean. The driver asked why such lovely ladies as ourselves were doing here all alone, of course we explained our husbands had gone to the store, and should be back any minute. He invited us to go partying with them and of course, we told him thanks for the offer, but we were going to wait for our husband's. At this point, Jana and I were both feeling really nervous.

A highway patrol car passed by at that time, the guy on the driver's side looked like he was freaking out then. He had been nervously looking behind them and stuff. He finally said, "Hey Cal, y'all get them in the car and let's get out of here, man!" Thank God, my husband's familiar vehicle drives up just a few seconds later. The guy leaning against the van got back inside, "Cal" shook hands with my husband, looked kind of self conscious and kind of politely got back in the van and they drove away.

My creepometer that let's me know when something or someone's not right, was rising to the top. My friend Jana, had this wonderful protected childhood and she doesn't always get a weird sense like I do, but she said, they made her nervous. I hope they didn't mean it like they said it, but it made me feel as if they were thinking of forcing us into the van. Later, in retrospect, I wonder if the guy in the driver's seat was the lookout and Cal and his buddy leaning against the van were thinking of forcing us to go with them.
I won't say Let's not meet, because i know there are people that don't like it, but I hope I never see them again.