She's With Me

How Many Followers?

Evie was not sure what was going through her mind when she hopped into Josh's car. Stranger danger was obviously a very real thing still even though she was a grown woman. But for some reason, Josh felt trustworthy. As silly as that sounded. Life was meant to be fun and fun came with risks. What she was doing was incredibly risky. But he was smiling, giddy and practically leapt into the gray Jeep that was waiting in the parking lot. Surely someone this excited wouldn't murder her and leave her naked body in a ditch.

The interior of his car smelled like the inside of one of those crunchy mom shops that Kelsey bought her essential oils from. It wasn't any one particular scent; more like a hodgepodge of spices, herbs and fruits all colliding into one. Somehow those stores all had that odd earthy aroma that reminded you that you were in there buying crystals and elderberry syrup for wellness. It was comforting. Maybe he wasn't crazy. His car was clean, save for an empty can sitting in the center console cup holder.

"Have you ever been to the hall of fame museum before?" Josh asked as the car roared to life. Evie shook her head, "No, I haven't. Never had the time, honestly." Which was partially true. It was a tad bit on the expensive side to get into and Kelsey's interests were far from old musicians and guitars. Plus her social anxiety told her that it was weird to go to a place like that alone. It was more enjoyable when you went with someone. At least in her experience.

"I've been a few times," Josh said, "It's very pretty inside. It was one of the very first places I came to see when I first moved here. Music history is so fascinating. Do you have a favorite band? Musician?"

The vehicle merged into traffic and Evie watched out of the corner of her eye as her little red car grew smaller in the mirror. She couldn't believe she got in the car with him. "Um, you're gonna laugh at me if I tell you." Evie replied with a shy smile.

"I doubt that," Josh chuckled, "I listen to some pretty weird stuff."

"Well, I'm partial to Glass Animals, Jamiroquai, Bjork, and The Beatles. I like Nirvana, Pink Floyd and maybe some Metallica occasionally," Evie listed them out thoughtfully, "And then I just have a whole bunch of miscellaneous 'oldies' that I grew up listening to. I think my playlist is pretty mainstream."

"Naw, that's not boring!" Josh snorted, "I listen to pretty much everything too. But if we had to get serious, I'm more of a folk guy. I like Fleet Foxes, First Aid Kit— Mumford and Sons is kinda nice. I like a few songs from Zeppelin."

Evie's attention was suddenly piqued, "You like Fleet Foxes? I thought I was like... the only one."

Josh nods excitedly, the grin on his face growing, "Yeah! I saw you liked one of your songs in your Tinder bio. It was, ummm..." he snaps his fingers before his forefinger excitedly points in her direction, "White Winter Hymnal!"

A hard blush falls on her cheeks and she briefly adverts her shy gaze to the footwells, "Yeah, it's my favorite. It's like the most popular. I know it's totally normie of me."

"There's absolutely nothing 'normie' about liking one of their more popular songs," Josh replied, his voice softening, "Music making is art. You just happen to agree with a whole bunch of people that one song tickles your ears just a little bit better than some of the other ones do. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's still a beautiful song."

A strange feeling enveloped Evie's entire body as Josh spoke. It was a feeling that was familiar to her yet, foreign all at once. Most people referred to it as 'butterflies'. A weird, tingly sensation that she'd felt with so many other guys before whenever they complimented her in some way. But this was different. The way he looked at her as he spoke. It made her skin prickle with goosebumps all up and down her arms and legs. He made her feel good. Really, really good. She longed to return his words with something just as poetic but, all that could come out of her mouth was, "Yeah, I... I guess you're right."