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If you are just discovering this novel click [here](https://steemit.com/fiction/@dreemit/today-again-prologue-part-one-of-two-a-novel-written-for-steemit-by-dreemit) to start at the beginning.

If you missed out on Chapter Seven click [here](https://steemit.com/fiction/@dreemit/today-again-an-original-novel-for-steemit-by-dreemit-chapter-seven)


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Chapter Eight
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Lissa drove into the now familiar town of Trumansburg with a huge grin on her face. It was her fifth day here in a row and it hadn’t even begun to get old. On the contrary it seemed to get better and better.  Especially after last night when she’d happened upon a group of people hanging out under a canopy in one of the off-site campgrounds.  Three of them were playing guitars, one on the bongos, and they were so talented she’d wondered if they were one of the bands playing at the festival.  And when they’d noticed her standing there they’d invited her to join their circle, welcoming her as if she belonged.  
	
The group was comprised of mostly guys with the exceptions of Missy and Lori, two of the nicest girls she’d ever met.  Missy was the girlfriend of the lead guitarist, Evan, and Lori was the sister of two of the other musicians, Aidan and Mark.  The guy on bongos was a giant red-headed Irishman named Shane, who seemed like a total sweetheart.  Actually they all seemed very sweet.  

She was finding it hard to believe there could be so many awesome people in one place.  Grassroots in general seemed to attract a large number of great people, maybe because the atmosphere was both electric and chilled out at the same time. Which seemed like a contradiction, but somehow it wasn’t.  Most of the people seemed ecstatic to be there, but there was none of the aggressive vibe you generally found in the midst of so much alcohol.

She’d learned by the end of the night that they were not in the festival-though they really could have been, they were that good-and they’d been coming to grassroots for years.  She could definitely see why, if she ever got out of this time loop it would become an annual destination for her as well.
	
She pulled up the dirt road that would take her to their campsite feeling a twinge of regret. They would not remember her, which meant she’d have to reintroduce herself.  It also meant they might find it a little strange when she parked on their lot-she’d noticed an empty spot the night before that she could fit the Mustang in perfectly-but it could also serve as her “in”.  She’d pull up and then go ask one of the gang if they minded if she parked there, introducing herself and hopefully spending the entire day with them. 
	
She pulled in to the space and flipped down the visor to check her appearance in the mirror, smiling at what she saw.  It was vain she knew, but also practical. Being attractive was a door-opener. She ran her fingers through her long hair, the color of milk chocolate…and froze with her fingers still combing at the sound of *his* voice in her head.  She had a sudden and vivid recollection of the day he’d said that. He’d made a comment about being the darker version of her…

*“Just look at us…your hair is the color of milk chocolate, my shade is the bittersweet kind, your eyes are the green of* the sea on a clear day, mine is the color of the ocean after a storm…and our personalities, well, come on that’s obvious little miss sunshine.”  

She’d elbowed him and laughed, conceding that no one would ever accuse him of possessing a sunny disposition. “Mr. Dark clouds,” she’d called him and he’d teased her for her lack of creativity.  They’d been about thirteen at the time, and remembering back now she realized his feelings for her had already been apparent.  She remembered commenting that maybe they could pass for actual siblings and he’d negated it. Immediately.  Saying that their 'small' similarities began and ended with their coloring.  
	
She sighed and pushed the thoughts away, concentrating on the here and now.  She adjusted her white top, then stepped out of the car and smoothed out her blue and green ty-dyed wrap-around skirt.  She’d bought it at a little shop in Ithaca on her way here, changing in the dressing room and bringing the tag up front to pay for it, wanting to wear something a bit more ‘grassroots’ than she currently owned.  It was a good choice, coming to just above her knees to show off her shapely calves and hugging her equally shapely bottom.  And her top was made of a clingy material, the kind that could be pushed up above her naval to expose her diamond belly ring if she so chose.  A nice ensemble if she did say so herself.  

She walked over to the canopy, immediately spotting Shane-he was kind of hard to miss being like seven feet tall.  There didn’t seem to be anyone else around at the moment, which suited her just fine. 

He cocked his head to the side and smiled as she walked toward him, “Hello?” He greeted.

“Hi, sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if it would be okay for me to park my car there,” she pointed at the Mustang.

“I don’t see why not…?”

“Lissa,” she held out her hand and he shook it with his large one.

“Hi Lissa, I’m Shane.  Are you here by yourself?” 

She nodded, “Yeah, I’m afraid so.  It was a spur of the moment decision. I live in Binghamton and I was wondering what to do with my weekend, then I saw this festival on the internet and decided, why not?  So what about you, it looks like you came with a crew.” She nodded at all the chairs arranged around a fire pit.

His smile broadened, “Yeah, we always come with a crew.  They’re actually down at the creek right now, I was just getting the tables set up.”

“Oh…do you need help?”

“Uhh, no, I’m pretty much done, but you’re welcome to hang out here, the gang should be back soon.”

“Thanks! That would be great!” She grinned at him and he returned it, looking slightly flustered as his color heightened.
“Uh, would you like a beer?” He indicated a cooler behind him.

“Oh, no, actually I brought my own, I’ll go get it.”  He nodded and she could feel his eyes on her as she walked across the grass to the car.  She smiled to herself, yup it definitely helped to be attractive.  She pulled the keys from her purse and unlocked the trunk pulling out the cooler she’d also bought on the way here.  It was the kind with a handle and wheels so she rolled it over and parked it next to the one he had pointed to under the canopy, then opened it and pulled out a bottle. 

“So…you’re from Binghamton?” Shane asked.

“Um, well that’s where I live now, originally from Albany though.  You?”

“Buffalo.”

“Cool.” She tilted her head to the side, “Can I ask you a question?”
	
“Um, sure.”

“How tall are you?”

He laughed, a couple of short barks punctuated by a boyish giggle.

“Really freaking tall, that’s all you need to know,” came a voice from behind her.

She turned to see Aidan walking up with a towel slung around his shoulders, his longish hair still dripping making trails down his lean bare chest. He smiled at her and held out a hand, “I’m Aidan.”

She smiled back, switching the bottle to her left hand and took it, “Lissa, nice to meet you.”

He looked past her at Shane, “So whatcha doin’ bro, picking up chics while we’re gone?”

Shane laughed again and Lissa found she really liked the sound of it, genuine and innocent somehow. 

“Actually I invaded, I wanted to see if I could park my car over there,” she told Aidan, nodding at the Mustang.

“That’s your car?” he asked, “looks like a dude’s car.”

She bit her lip, “Yeah, actually it is a dude’s car.”

“Boyfriend?”

She made a face, “Yeah…”

“You don’t sound thrilled about that.”

“As you can see, he’s not here.”

“But he let you take his car?”

“Actually…I kind of borrowed it without permission.” 

Both Aidan’s and Shane’s brows shot up.  

“Yeah, but before you judge me you should know that he wrecked my car when he decided to take it on a drunken joyride and not only did he not offer to help me buy a new one he’s made it literally impossible for me to do so since he takes all of my money and spends it on alcohol and drugs…and that was way too much information, I’m sorry.” She felt her face heat.
	
“No, don’t apologize, your boyfriend sounds like a dick.” Aidan stated.

“Uh…will he call the police?” Shane asked.

She looked at him and shook her head slowly, “Doubtful since it’s registered in my name.  Besides, good luck finding me if he does.”

Aidan laughed, “True that. Well I gotta grab a shirt, be back in a sec,” he walked around the canopy and ducked into an orange tent set up behind it.


“I’m six-five.” Shane blurted into the silence.

She looked up and smiled.  “Do you like being tall?”

“Well we like him being tall,” Aidan interjected as he walked back under the canopy.
	
“Oh yeah?  Why’s that?” Lissa laughed.
	
“Because he can reach the top shelf for those of us who are vertically challenged,” he said, indicating himself.  
	
She grinned. 
	
“Actually, until this year his height made for the perfect Poo.”

She blinked, “The what?”

Aidan laughed, a kind of high pitched musical giggle.  It was charming, it made her want to laugh along with him. “P.O.O., it means Point of Origin-when any of us get separated from the group we look for it in the crowd…used to be this red-headed giant,” he nodded at Shane and then pointed at a wagon with a twelve-foot flag pole attached to it sitting to the right of the canopy.  “That’s our new poo.”

“I see,” she smiled.

“Although he still is the Shit even if he isn’t the poo,” Aidan added.

She giggled, “I can see that.”

Shane grinned, “Thanks.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” came another voice from behind her, doing a perfect imitation of Fat Albert. This was followed by a feminine laugh.  She knew without turning it was Evan and Missy, his extremely low voice was as distinct as his girlfriend’s giggle. Lissa was beginning to think this group had the corner on great laughter, which made sense given their character.  

They walked up and Lissa noticed that Evan was only a couple inches shorter than Shane. 

Aidan introduced her.

“Hiya,” Evan grinned, “welcome to grassruts.”

Shane laughed and Aidan expounded.  “Dem hippies down d’ere at grassruts.”

“GRASSRUTS!” Came another voice and she turned to see *another* extremely tall guy walk into the camp, this one with platinum blonde hair. 

She was once again introduced, although this time it was actually her first time-to Jon-then stood there listening to them banter with a smile tugging at her mouth.  

It was obviously a private joke, but even not knowing its origins it was pretty funny.

“Do you got any G.G.B bro?” Aidan asked Evan in a tone slightly reminiscent of Gilbert Godfrey.

“Does Day got any G.G.B, what kind of question is that bro?” Jon said, matching his tone.

“Yeah bro,” Evan responded, squinching up his face, “What kind of question is that bro?”

Lissa laughed.  “What’s G.G.B?” She asked.

“She wants to know what G.G.B is bro,” Aidan said to Evan.

“Ganja green buds,” Evan answered scratching his blonde goatee and grinning at her.

“Ahh,” Lissa grinned back. “Gotcha.  And why did Jon call you Day?”

“Because he’s Day…Ay Day,” Jon jumped in with a scratchy New York accent.

Her brow rose, they were losing her now.

Evan smiled, “It’s my initials E.D. only said with an old Jewish woman’s inflection.”

“A chain-smoking old Jewish woman,” Aidan amended.

“E.D. is what my parents call me because we have a bunch of Evans’ in our family,” he explained, “it’s short for Evan Douglas…and my mom grew up on Long Island, so when she says my name it sounds like Ay Day, only not as exaggerated and minus the hoarse smoker’s voice.”

Lissa nodded, grateful for the clue in.  It was evident that this group had known one another for a really long time.  

“Hey guys!”  

Lissa turned to see two more guys walking up, both of them as short as Shane was tall, one with short blonde hair, the other bearded with long brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail.  Despite the hair she thought they might be brothers.

“Hey, it’s The Boy!”

“Chaunce!”

Lissa smiled at the nicknames and shook her head slightly. She actually got ‘the boy’ immediately, the cleaned cut one had one of those faces that would keep him at a perpetual eighteen for years to come. ‘Chaunce’ was lost on her, but she decided not to ask. She was starting to feel like a toddler with all of her questions. 

She mused that if it weren’t for the day repeating she wouldn’t even think to ask most of them. It was odd how fast her brain had adjusted to the idea that she was waking up on the same day over and over. Or how fast she’d accepted it.  

Lori walked up behind them a moment later distracting her line of thought. She took the initiative this time.

“Hi, I’m Lissa, the party crasher,” she held her hand out.

Lori laughed and shook it. “Cool, we love party crashers…did you bring beer?”

Lissa nodded and pointed at her cooler, “Help yourself.”

Lori grinned. “We especially love party crashers who bring their own beer.  You wouldn’t happen to have a cigarette?”

Lissa shook her head, “Sorry, I only smoke when I’m drunk.”

“That’s okay, I forgive you,” Lori joked, adjusting her glasses and pulling the rubber band out of her long blonde hair.  “I’m gonna go change, I’ll be back.”

Lissa nodded and watched her trot off to yet another tent, just as Missy reappeared and looped her arm through Evan’s. 

“Let’s go inside the gate and walk around,” Missy said, looking up at her boyfriend with obvious adoration. Evan smiled down at her.  “Sure Missy.” He said her name in a teasing way and leaned down to peck her on the nose.

“Awww, you guys make me wanna puke,” Aidan joked.

Evan pointed at Aidan in a theatrical manner, “Ya jealous bro?” 

“Hell yeah!” Aidan exclaimed.

Missy giggled, running a hand through her bouncy shoulder-length black hair, and 

Lissa noted that the entirety of her pretty Italian face was involved in the laugh. Yup, they definitely had the corner on laughter, this bunch.  She watched as Evan and Missy headed out of the camp toward the festival grounds.

“They’re an awesome couple, made for each other,” Aidan told her.

She smiled, “Yeah, it looks like it, how long have they been together?”

“About a year.”

“Nice. Hey I was wondering, where exactly is it that you guys go to swim?” She asked.

“Down at the end of this road on the other side…want me to take you?”

“That would be great, thanks!”

She saw Shane glance over at them. 

“Do you want to come too, since you didn’t go before?” She asked him.

“Yeah, I just have a few things left to do, but I’ll be down.”

“Okay, see you there.”

She walked down the dirt road beside Aidan, inwardly smiling. This business of repeating the day?  Not turning out to be such a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all.

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