Everly.

Rhythm.

We meet everyone by the front of the park and make our way toward the concert. The place is packed with people by now, so we have to fight our way to see anything. We grab multiple drinks in the hour long line in hopes that it will last us awhile. As the sun sets and the volume of the music rises, so does the ecstasy in the air. By this point we have drank enough to let loose, and we begin to dance and sing the night away. The way her eyes roll back to the sound of the instruments through the muggy air, and her hair flying from shoulder to shoulder, literally has me melting from the inside. Everything seems to be going in slow motion, the music, the laughter, the movements. Through all the laughter and fun, she stumbles her way into my arms. "Oh my, I am sooooo sorry sir, I did not see youuu standing thereeee." She over exaggerates her words. Beautiful, plumped up lips pausing for a response. "Well, now you owe me a drink, since you just spilled mine all over my new kicks." I say pointing down, half joking, half irritated. Her eyes widen, " Oh my god, I really am so sorry, I did not mean to do that, I seriously suck." Now I am the one feeling guilty, because it really wasn't even that big of a deal. "Hey, I am just kidding, come on let's go get me a drink and you something to snack on." I take her arm in mine, and we head up the hill toward the lines of people. "Hayden!" I hear a raspy, high pitched voice say from behind us. I already know why it sounds familiar and I don't even want to turn around to know I am correct. Just when I thought I had seen the last of her, she finds her way right back in. "Margot...how have you been?" I really don't care for her answer, but I am trying to be polite in front of my new found favorite. "Just fine, I see you brought a friend? You always had so many "friends"." Now there was the Margot I remembered, and hated. She will never let you forget the reasons to dislike her, trust me. "Yeah, well good seeing you we're just on our way out." Everly shoots me a confused look, and I take her in my arm and basically fly out of the park. "What is your deal? Seriously, I was having a good time back there, and who was that anyway?" She really had no right prying into my business, and frankly I don't really feel the need to explain anything to her. I know I am just extremely heated at the moment, but for such a large place you sure do run into your past an awful lot here. "She is no one, and I was over it. I'm ready to go home now. I will take you back to where you are staying." I can already see the tears well up in her eyes when she darts past me and stays a few feet ahead the entire walk back. I know I should not have taken it out on her, but right now I need time to calm down, and her being around only gets my adrenaline going.

Every time I seem to get my eyes to stay closed for more than five minutes, my past comes back to haunt me, leaving images burning into the backs of my eyelids. I have yet to fall asleep, and the sun shall soon be rising. I feel horrible for what I did to Everly tonight, and she won't return any of my messages, so I am not sure if she'll even want to see me the remainder of her stay here. Why did Margot have to show up right at that moment? Is the universe trying to pull some sick joke on me, throwing it in my face that I will never be happy and move on? I may have done a lot of things I certainly am not proud of in my day, but I am trying to get past it and be a better version of myself. At least I thought I was, until last night.

When it came to the point where I knew I wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight, I slipped my shoes on and head out the door. I slowly traced the path back over the where she was staying. I stood outside for a couple of minutes contemplating what I was even doing here, especially at this hour. Before I could even finish my thought, my finger was on the buzzer and a shaky voice came through the intercom. "Damon if that is you I swear to god..." "Uh, hello my name is Hayden and I am here to see Everly." The most annoying buzzing sound rang through my ears and I head up the three flights of stairs. While I am surprised when I enter the apartment at 1. how big it is, and 2. how many people are still up hanging around. I skim the room quickly and it doesn't take me long to find her. When she catches my look, she almost runs to the back bedroom. "Hey, what the hell?" I say aggressively chasing her through the place. "What do you want? Why did you even show up here?" Ouch, really? "I know are you are upset with me after tonight, but there is a lot you don't know about me, and I don't think I am ready to get into it yet..." She finally looks up toward me, frustration and anger clear in her eyes. "Well maybe if you were more open and actually tried to give me some reasoning instead of running off like that, we wouldn't be in this situation now." I know she is right, but I am not willing to admit it. "Well I am not used to having to share anything with anyone really. " She points behind me, "Well there is the door, feel free to exit at anytime then." My heart sinks immediately and I can feel the color drain from my face. I guess it's now or never, I knew someday I would have to come clean with all of this.