Lacuna(1)

Chapter 1

"You ready?" Max asked from the driver's seat, parking in the gravel lot not too far from where the memorial was being held.

"Sure," Evelyn said, giving a closed-mouth smile as she climbed out of the car.

Because almost all of Fairview was there, it was easy to blend into the crowd, going unnoticed by the Bell and Singh families roaming around.

When Max and Evelyn lost each other in the crowd, Evelyn retreated to a far corner of the crowd, camouflaged in the suspiciously large group of other blonde people that infiltrated Fairview.

"Evelyn!" She heard shouted from the group of people. Soon, a darker blonde-haired boy, almost brown-haired, stepped out of the crowd, walking over to her.

"Hi, Connor," she greeted, offering a small smile compared to the grin that split Connor's face.

"How are you doing tonight?" he asked, acting a little too friendly.

"Normal, I guess," she replied hesitantly.

"I didn't know you'd be here. You said you weren't coming," he said, scooching closer to hear her better.

"Just changed my mind," she lied, not wanting to mention Max was also there.

"Well, do you have anything planned after? My family and a few others are going out to eat somewhere, and I thought it would be nice to bring a friend."

"I guess I can go. When do I really have any plans nowadays?" she asked.

Connor's smile fell, forming into a small frown. "That's a good question..."

"Anyway, sure I'll go with. Where do you want to meet?"

"Jump in the parking lot would be fine," he said, using his thumb to point over his shoulder at the lot behind them.

They then stood there for a few minutes, an awkward silence between the two of them.

"Well, I'll get going now," he said awkwardly, his volume lowered by the end of the sentence.

Evelyn waved, her eyes going back to the stage as someone took it. Evelyn couldn't recognize this person but they didn't last long. The next few came, sharing prayers and well wishes to the families and Sal and Andie themselves.

While one person was on stage, Evelyn watched as Jamie fled the crowd, walking toward a certain group of leaving teenagers.

Evelyn, being curious, decided to follow him. Maybe have something interesting in her life for once.

"Jamie!" she called, jogging to catch up with Jamie.

"Evelyn? Connor said you weren't coming," Jamie said lowly, startled by Evelyn's attendance.

"Just changed my mind," she lied again. "Where are you going?"

"Why do you need to know?" He rued her suspiciously.

"Because you're a twenty-four-year-old following a group of seniors to a party," Evelyn explained.

"Oh," Jamie replied, his gaze fixed on a certain student in the group in front.

"Who are you looking for?" Evelyn asked, trying to find any connection between Jamie and any of the students.

George was in the group, and George was friends with Ant who was friends with Connor. But why would he be so insistent on following him? Is Jamie a druggie now? Or is he buying for someone else?

"No one," he huffed out.

"Doesn't seem that way," Evelyn murmured, still following close to Jamie.

They walked and walked until they got to a house. A booming house, the amount of people basically bursting the wood holding it together. Jamie's eyes were still fixed, frantically searching when the group they had been following lost themselves in the crowd. His eyes shifted sharply, going from each corner and searching the very small view they had.

"Crap," he whispered, moving through the dancing, and stumbling, teenagers spilling colorful drinks all over the carpet.

"Can't even imagine what is in those cups," Evelyn said, her face twisting into disgust. "Never thought of this to be your scene."

Jamie's head flicked up, his eyes fixing again. Without warning, Jamie started pushing his way through the crowd, only losing focus to look down or exchange a few words with people he bumped into. Eventually, it seemed that he had reached his target, pausing to catch his breath. The crowd parted slightly and Evelyn could finally see who Jamie was after.

"Stella?"