All It Took

2.Alison

Everyday I Write The Book // Elvis Costello & The Attractions

We finish our nachos and funnel cake while engaging in some covert people watching at the festival. It's the most fun I've had in a long time. Jeff clears our trash, takes my hand and leads me to the creek trail.

"I think I see another one," I lean in to whisper. Talking about the variety of creepy clown make up seems like something to whisper about rather than shout. No telling how the clowns might retaliate.

"We're surrounded. What makes a person want to look like that voluntarily?"

We both laugh and shake our heads. I may have just averted six months of nightmares with this conversation. Jeff has helped take the sting out of the reality.

"Ugh I wish Misty had been into line dancing or something. That I could stomach."

"Do you go line dancing often?" Jeff asks as we wind through the brush toward the sound of rushing water. There is just enough of a full moon to see where we're going.

"I've been a couple of times with friends from high school but not recently." Not much in my life lately has been for pure enjoyment. "What about you? Line dance much?"

"Nah. Most of my free time is either working out or spending time with my family. We come up here with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins a few times a year."

"It's nice. I've never been here. I thought the venue sounded amazing." I glance around as the creek finally comes into view. Lush vegetation surrounds both banks of the rushing water. Here and there, breaks in the growth open to sandy edged shores, benches and fallen logs. The creek is dotted with smooth rocks, large and small. Off in the distance I can see stones large enough to step on leading to the opposite bank. "And it really is beautiful. Too bad the natural scene has been tainted with-"

"Murderous traveling entertainers?"

I laugh. "Exactly. I was really looking forward to Brianna Royce. That's more my speed."

Jeff squeezes my hand. "Yeah, she was the bigger draw for me."

I roll my eyes. "I'm sure she was." Every guy's fantasy. It figures he'd have the hots for a pop star, someone I'd never be like even if I tried. I'm a lump compared to her.

"Not like that." Jeff stops, stepping directly in front of me. "Her latest song, Rescue Me. That's why. It's really good. Soulful. There's more meaning in it than her usual stuff."

"Sure. Of course, that's why." I wish he wouldn't try to play off her sex appeal. I know she has it. And I don't. Friend zone buddy at your service.

Jeff steps closer to me, looking me dead in the eye, holding me hostage in this spot with his intensity. If the moonlight were brighter, I'm sure I could see the variety of golden browns making up his iris's.

"Do you know the lyrics? It's about finding the one person who really sees you. Accepts you for who you are. Loves you despite your faults. And rescues you from being lost in life."

I say nothing. I don't know what I could say or what Jeff is trying to tell me.

"That's what I wanted to see. To hear it live. I don't know..." He steps back, pulling his hand from mine and stuffing both of them in his pockets. "I guess she's singing about what I want to find."

"Oh." I don't know what else to say. But the vulnerable look in Jeff's eyes tells me he doesn't say these things to just anyone. Tonight, he's said them to me, and I want to be a safe place for him. Instead of responding verbally, I link my arm in his and walk us toward the water.