The surprise of meeting Freddy was enough to send us to the water station. Between the trauma of the memory and Freddy showing up right at that moment, it still felt hard to breathe but the water was cool enough to keep me grounded. I couldn’t shake the emotions as easily as I could slap a smile on my face and Sebastian almost seemed mad at me for what happened, more so than it felt like he cared about what had happened to me. With everything she’d been talking to Laburne about, maybe it was still happening, maybe she was still projecting the trauma onto him and not living in the present the way she was supposed to.
“…aye, you feel better? You haven’t talked much since that little episode.” Seb’s voice was kind of far off like my head was under water or inside an empty fishbowl.
“You know calling it that isn’t going to help anything, do you even know how to take care of her when she gets triggered like that? Or do people like you only know how to traumatize others in this type of matter.” An old familiar voice spoke gruffly over Sebastian’s as she tuned back in upon realizing she was too focused on the inner dialogue, she’d been hyper-focused on her emotions every time she had a “bad moment” lately and it was all that owl-eared, librarian of a therapist.
Freddie Mack had been ‘friends’ with her for a couple of years now since she’d met Wolf and the rest of The Clan, but she hadn’t expected to see him here or anywhere else close to Dorchester. If you asked him he’d tell you his attitude was justified by the stupidity of the recipient’s offense, not that anyone else saw it the same way that he did. Since even the teachers refused to acknowledge his choice of spelling for his first name, she had always figured it was some sort of self-pride complex causing him to want to rage against the machine that is the The Man. Kaeri was also completely convinced he had some napoleon syndrome and daddy issues to figure out, again that was all thanks to spilling her life to the handsome Dr. LaBurne, and born in the wrong era with his interests and beliefs.
“Come on Freddie, you’re being a Fred right now and it’s not his fault, he knew there was a possibility we would run into Him.” Her tone coming out irritated, she wanted to cry but she wasn’t going to let anyone see her being weak or useless again. So instead she got mad and shook herself free of the damned sick feeling and all the memories, she didn’t care to remember how many times he’d thrown her away and came back to rope her in. It was easy to tell him he was being too big of a dick and had bothered her, use his dad’s name, his name as he was a junior, but he hated it. “I thought you said you’d never come back to the middle of the boonies after vacation ended, that there was nothing important enough up here. Right?”
It was a bit more scathing than she wanted it to be but even if he didn’t like her romantically he could have been nicer about answering her. Kae was the type to hold a grudge and she would admit it because it didn’t matter if you ever apologized sincerely, it had hurt, and she wouldn’t let it go. At least, again that was what the ‘loving’ Doctor would tell her about it, didn’t matter it had made a lasting impression on her so it would stick around and haunt her for the rest of time. The worst of the worst was any time she’d stay friendly with them, and then acted like they’d never hurt her before, exactly the reason she felt so hostile towards him now. Gesturing to the venue, “Last thing you texted me was the link to this forum and you haven’t texted me since, so you don’t get to yell at him for not knowing what to do for me when he was at least here the whole time.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Kaeri! I also told you I was an asshole and not interested in getting to know anyone or dating so I didn’t care what anyone thought of me. But you don’t need to be that big of a cunt to me.” Freddie had a naturally sharp tongue and it only served to remind me that I Did care what others thought of me and didn’t need anymore attention brought to us, especially tonight. I still wouldn’t let him get away with giving Sebastian shit for something he used to cause and then never truly apologize for it, only ever saying the infuriating “I’m sorry but you just make me crazy sometimes.”
“Practice what you preach roadie. But You don’t get to say anything about handling my triggers to anyone, especially not Sebastian.” Kaeri narrowed her eyes in a scathing look before she stepped up to refill her water bottle again and they made their way back to the main stage, feeling the music almost resonating with her skeletal system as comfortingly as a massage the closer they got. Seemed the boys had stopped bickering for the time being not wanting to make her attitude turn even more sour than it already was.
The opening band was still setting a pleasant vibe for the warehouse space they were in and almost seemed to have been built to be used for this exact purpose, though it was probably just the metal walls giving the added reverberation. It happened to be a favorite and she did her best to use festival etiquette as she made her way to her favorite place in any live music event. Just behind center front stage, no crushing bodies to worry about because they were all in front of you but it was the best place to feel the music from every direction. Grinning from ear to ear she was long over moments past and began melting into the crowd following her own dopamine high from the energy pulsing through the crowd of fans. Raising her voice, she acknowledged the awkward quiet between the boys and chose to ignore it. “This is my favorite song right now! I’m gonna get closer, come on Sebastian!”
Kaeri had no clue what her friend said as she grabbed his hand and moved forward, gently swaying onlookers and the casual listener gave way to more energetic bodies as they made their way. His hand never left hers and it felt warmer than usual against her palm, but she held Seb’s hand fast. She pushed until just before the crowd became a manic jumble of bodies thrashing to a song that lamented the horrors of hiding your true self for society’s sake when they’re no different, inhibitions be damned and let your violence out to the heart pounding song. It was her favorite song to play when she had had a bad day and needed nothing more than a few rounds of pure unadulterated grinding away in one of Otherworld’s many rifle frolics. A big reason the band was here performing for this special crowd, after all you had to have league status with a top guild to even know about the forum that held the invite information.
Letting that thought fade into the background she turned to Sebastian still grinning widely and held their hands up with a come here motion from her free, it was very near impossible to hear each other from this position in the concert venue and she knew it. When he didn’t seem to get her meaning right away Kaeri pulled him closer by their held hands and spoke in a solid tone next to his ear. “Dance with me? Just don’t let go, okay.”
There was a sharp intake of breath from him as she squeezed his hand and she pulled away enough to see his face looking odd, not funny but off like he might feel sick to his stomach, embarrassed maybe. Sebastian’s eye’s changed so quickly though it was hard to tell the two emotions apart in that moment. In a mere blink it seemed he had changed it back up to just a surprised expression and gave me a nod before I could even convince myself I had actually seen the first expression. Before I could follow the thought to ask we were swaying with the rollercoaster melody that could insight the occasional mini head bang or fist pump and finished off with a mild ego lifting air drum. Kaeri’s heart felt light and her chest felt a little tight as she realized how much she had been moving, it had worked up a little bit of heavy breathing for her but it felt amazing and freeing to let her body move with the music.