Evelyn

Chapter 3 - Gaslighted Hearing

Chapter Song: This Charming Man by The Smiths

                                         Evelyn
I've come to the conclusion that if my AirPods die, I will die as well.

I don't mean dead as in battery dead, which I'm not worried about since I always carry an extra charger, I mean dead as in stops working entirely. I think I'd die of cardiac arrest before I made it to the store to get a new pair.

I need music to function. Music makes everything better. Bad day? Put on some music. Good day? Put on some music. Any and every day is a music day to me.

But sometimes music is a little bit dangerous because I get so distracted listening to whatever I'm listening to that I can't hear anything and I don't pay attention to where I'm going and-

Collide with the person standing in front of me and cause both of us to go crashing down onto the concrete.

"Ow," I moan with my eyes squeezed shut. Shit, my head hit the ground hard. I think someone was saying my name, but all I could hear was I'm Still Standing by Elton John playing through my AirPods. Well that's ironic because I am not still standing.

Someone started shaking my shoulders gently. I pull out an AirPod to hear a voice I know so well yet almost never hear.

"Evelyn," Batman sounds concerned, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," I open my eyes and look at him. Oh God. His nose is practically touching mine. "Batman? Please tell me I'm not hallucinating and it's really you."

He blinks at me. "Yeah, it's me."

I smiled sloppily, still a little bit dazed. "Coolio Batman."

"I really hope you called me Batman because that's my nickname and not because you actually think I'm Batman."

I laughed, "No, mystery man, I know you're not actually Bruce Wayne. Unless your name is Bruce Wayne and you're just not telling me. Then this nickname is more fitting than I thought."

He shook his head and smiled. Oh wow, up this close I can see that he has freckles. He's so cute.

"What?" He asked.

"What?" Did I say that out loud?

"Yes."

Shit.

"You think I'm cute?" And suddenly the space in between us seems even slimmer. Our noses were practically touching.

"I do," I breathed. "Are you sure I said that out loud?"

He chuckled and rolled away from me. He sat up and held out his hand, which I took.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked as we started walking down the boardwalk towards the parking lot.

"I'm fine, my head just hurts a little bit. It's nothing a few Tylenol and a nice cup of hot chocolate won't fix."

"Hot chocolate? In the middle of summer?"

"Don't judge. Hot chocolate is a good choice at any time of day," I said, defending myself. "Besides, what are you doing here? I thought you hated all things joyful."