Page 13 of EverGreene
“Yes!” Katy exclaimed, pointing a finger at Jem. “Exactly. You can’t wait around for your stalker to come find you. You’re going to have to find him.”
“So, I have to become the stalker?”
“Right!” Katy’s hands struck the couch. The aggressive tone of her voice mimicked Ariana Grande’s in the song ‘Popular’ fromWicked. “Be the stalker, Ever. Turn the tables on that gorgeous, unhinged son of a bitch by beating him at his own game.”
I sighed. On the one hand, they had a point. To my masked stalker, I was nothing more than a sitting duck. But if he knew I was actively trying to find him?—
What? What would he do? Would I frighten him off? Would he quit? Did I really want him to quit? Yes, Ever, you shouldn’t want to have someone stalking you.
I glanced up from my phone to both Katy and Jem staringat me expectantly like children waiting for their mother’s approval to attend a sleepover.
“Fine.” I caved. “Let’s go.”
Katy’s eyes widened. “Really? Oh my God, Ever. This is huge. I’m so proud of you.” She lunged over Jem and threw her arms around me. “To the Corolla!” She exclaimed, pointing her finger at the door.
Jem looked up from her phone. “The concert doesn’t start for another three hours.”
“Then to the Corolla in two hours, fifteen minutes from now.”
We walkedinside Some Dive Bar, paying the cover to see Masked and Muscled in what promised to be a night of musical genius.
From the moment we stepped through the door into the bar with its distressed brick walls and exposed ductwork in the ceiling painted a trendy midnight shade of black, my eyes scoured the unexpectedly impressive crowd, looking for the masked face that had become etched in my brain. Perhaps coming as somewhat of a surprise, the amount of fans actually wearing masks was reduced to a handful wearing replicas of those worn by the band’s members.
“You want a drink, Ever?” Jem asked, spotting the actual bar through another doorway, separating itself from the stage.
Did I feel as though I needed a drink? Absofuckinglutely. Was I going to get a drink to calm my ass down? Absofuckinglutely not. I may be making strides with the whole showing my face in public again, but I wasn’t to the point where I felt safe getting drunk or even mildly buzzed in a room full of strangers, the majority of which were men I would go out of my way toavoid if I were to encounter them in the woods. “I’m good,” I answered her.
“Let’s move closer to the middle.” Katy grabbed my arm, pulling me with her whether I actually wanted to go or not. Nervous, my eyes searched the crowd of people, looking for the face that intruded in my dreams, twisting them into a horror movie that would disturb even Wes Craven.
“Say hi, Ever,” Katy said, bringing her arm around my shoulder and pulling me to her side. I looked up, spotting the phone in her hand, which she was holding out just enough to fit us both in the screen, while she was live-streaming.
“Shit.” I rushed to hide my face with my arms, pulling myself from Katy’s grasp.
“Oh, God, Ever. I’m so sorry.” Katy ended the livestream and tucked her phone in her pocket. “I should have asked you first. It’s just, I’d assumed since you were going out and back online now that you wouldn’t care.”
My heart thundered inside my chest as though it wielded a battering ram and was trying to make its way out in a Sigourney Weaver inAlienskind of way. Dizzy, I bent over, resting my hands on my knees as I took in a deep breath, letting it out after mentally counting to three. Some days, I felt like I could boss-babe the shit out of the world again. Other days, the simple sight of a social media video could force me to run home and hide under the covers for days on end.
“Whoa. Ever, are you okay?” Jem asked, returning with a rum and Coke for herself and Katy. “What happened?”
“I’m a fuck up. That’s what happened.” Katy leaned down to stroke my hair.
Jem snorted. “No, shit. I meant, what happened with Ever?”
I couldn’t be certain, but I was fairly sure Katyflipped her off when one of her hands left my head for a couple of seconds. “Let’s go,” she said quietly near my ear. “Really. We can leave.”
“No.” I exhaled another breath as the world around me quit spinning, “I’ll be okay. I have to do this. If I don’t, it’ll be years before I go back out again. He can’t control me anymore.”
Katy smiled, her blue eyes popping next to the fire engine shade of red she’d recently dyed her hair. “That’s my girl. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I joked, standing up straight again as my heart rate subsided.
“Now, now, if I were your mother, I would have told you to at least get the first name of the guy you let stick a part of his body inside of you. It’s only customary, after all. Now, because you didn’t, the three of us are going to develop mild addictions to softcore masked men porn.”
“I’m okay with that.” Jem grinned, raising her drink to her lips.
“Oh, absolutely. It may just ruin us for other men, is all.”
The lights dimmed as the stage grew dark and the silhouettes of the members of Masked and Muscled positioned themselves on their respective marks, creating a ripple of anticipation through the crowd who’d cheered when they first saw the black figures taking the stage. After a pregnant pause, the introductory note of an electric guitar reverberated throughout the room, and it was game on. Stage lights illuminated the members, casting an ethereal lavender glow on them as the lead singer began their opening song, which everyone in the bar seemed to know but Katy, Jem, and me. They had a Sleep Token vibe, which I appreciated, and I very well could have been enjoying myself if not for my body being in a constant state of anxiety.
