Taking the spin Spencer had put onto my words, I jotted down more lyrics. This time it wasn’t for me up on the stage; it was in the same vein Spencer had sung in.
Maybe next time I saw him I’d give them to him. A gift for being my friend, even though I sucked at it. And hell, maybe the songs sucked too.
I went on the trip down memory lane, revisiting how hard it was to look back and realize you could never know in that moment how precious any of it was, and how we were destined to repeat the same mistakes with our present.
13
Keyton
The regular school buses idled in the meeting point parking lot. Quaint and kitschy was how everyone labeled them, they were also damn cheap, which meant more money toward the rest of SeptemberWeen and our initiatives.
As much good as tonight would do, it wasn’t on the forefront of my mind, which probably added another line to the “reasons I’m a terrible person” list. But tonight I’d get to see Bay. During the photoshoot, her anger had been unexpected. Even more unexpected was how I’d matched it so quickly and easily with a question I’d pretended hadn’t been rolling around in my head.
How close was she with Holden? I hadn’t expected her to feel the same way about Gwen. The air had been cleared, but as things always went with her, we hadn’t had any time.
Once I’d gotten back to the room where Bay and I had taken the pictures, she’d already been spirited away.
She wasn’t here yet, which meant I needed to play the gracious host. Greeting people and posing for pictures went with the territory. Gwen called my Men in Black costume a cop-out, but I hadn’t had to find one or add another thing to her list.
She’d been working with the Events Committee alongside SWANK, the event planning company brought in to handle the logistics and scope of an event with over six hundred guests.
Knox rolled in, almost knocking me off my feet with a hug. His wig tickled my face and neck. “Hell of a party you’ve got going on.” He surveyed the parking lot packed with cars.
“Glad you made it, man.” I clapped him on the back.
“I missed it last year, I wasn’t missing it this year.” He grinned, whipping his arms out to the side.
“Who the hell are you?”
He looked down at himself and back up. “I’m the Goblin King.”
“It looks like you’ve stuffed a goblin in those tights. How the hell did you even get them on?”
Adjusting the codpiece, he glared. British-aristocracy-meets-80s-glam-rocker squeezed into tights no football player should be squeezed into was a sight to behold. “It’s an authentic part of the costume and it took an entire mini bottle of baby powder to squeeze into it, but it was worth it. Check this out.” He pulled out a clear ball and rolled it over his palms. It was a palmed-sized version of a glass orb that would sit in the middle of a psychic’s table.
“How long did it take you to practice that one?”
He dropped his shaking head. “Hours. But without practices and games, I’m scrambling not to go crazy.” The ball—definitely not glass—dropped and bounced under a neighboring car.
People were dressed in costumes from unoriginal to insanely intricate. Some ghosts were sprinkled in amongst alien invaders complete with body paint and prosthetics.
His mini-performance over, his face sobered. “I saw Bay was going to be performing.”
I rocked back on my heels and smiled, and shook hands with some passing fans. “She is.”
He leaned in closer. “How are you feeling about that?”
“Is that why you came down here? To check on me?” Once again Knox was looking out for me. The old me would have gotten defensive or angry about it. Having people around who worried about me wasn’t anything I’d take for granted again. But I hated that he still felt like at any moment the new me might dissolve away, and there might have been a flash of annoyance.
“No, but I know how things went the last time you two were together.” And he’d been there to help me keep the pieces together just enough to make it through the worst of it. He’d seen how bad it could’ve gone.
“We had coffee a little over a week ago and saw each other at the promo shoot for tonight. We’re fine.” Less fine, more walking a tightrope of what-the-hell-was-happening. In the lead-up to seeing her again, I’d tried to pretend it wasn’t a big deal and I could handle it, but right now, I didn’t feel like I knew with any certainty how tonight would go.
“Whatever you say, just know I’m here, if you need me.”
“I know, man.” I grabbed his hand and locked thumbs before pulling him in again for a hug. “You’re my best friend, of course I know that.”
“Just making sure.” He eyed me.
Gwen, sporting a red wig and the perfect Miss Frizzle dress complete with a Magic School Bus purse for all her assistant needs, stalked over to me. “The first buses will leave in ten minutes. It’s a thirty-minute ride. Do you want to be on the first bus or the last?”
“I’ll take the last one.” Bay was supposed to follow the last bus there. Her schedule had been tight leading up to this evening, and rather than chance them getting lost on the way out to the secluded location, we’d offered to guide them.
All I was doing was making sure she made it okay. I’d have done it for anyone helping make this the best charity party of the year.
“Everest from SWANK and Gale are handling everything at the farm, so I’ll jump on one of the first few buses to see if there’s anything else they need.”
I leaned in closer. “You can have some fun tonight. Make sure you pencil that in.” Tapping on her tablet, I didn’t even try to hide my smile.
She cracked a smile—barely. “Don’t worry, you’re paying me double for the extra help.”
“That’ll make it even better when you grab a few drinks while still on the clock.”
“I’ll think about it.” She walked off toward the lines forming outside of the three other buses loading people, some with costumes so big they had to use step ladders through the emergency exit doors at the back.
“Hey, Keyton.” A familiar voice shouted across the packed parking lot, turning more than a few heads.
LJ and Marisa were dressed as matching zombies, complete with undead makeup, blood, and a bag of squishy brains. Berk and Jules were Captain America and Peggy Carter. They wove between the parked cars to get to me. “Guys, you remember Knox?” More waves and handshakes for my oldest friend and family, and my newest.
Berk hugged me, patting me on the back. “Where’s the VIP bus?!”
“Your chariot awaits.” I pointed to the yellow and black metal tubes idling half the parking lot away.
“Don’t worry, Keyton. I’ve got a can opener to pry him out of those seats.” Jules wrapped her arms around me before letting go. “You’ve outdone yourself this year. It must’ve been a lot easier planning all this from here instead of halfway across the country.”
LJ and Marisa hugged me too. He stepped back and wrapped his arm around Marisa’s shoulder. “I feel like it’s getting bigger.”