Alison // Elivis Costello

"Please tell me you have the tickets." That's the last thing we need. The drive up here was long enough. I don't need to do it twice in one day. I grew up coming to Salt Creek with my family every chance we got. I know these roads like the back of my hand. Doesn't mean I like driving them.

"Yeah, I got 'em." Micah pats his pockets. "Right here, baby. Safe as can be."

I nod, leaning against the fence that blocks off the entrance. Micah's uncle helped organize this festival. He pushed it to be a mountain top version of Coachella, but I have my doubts. I'm not getting the vibes from this place. But that could be because I haven't been to a concert in forever. No time with school and football. I've had a job every summer since ninth grade. My dad insisted I take this summer off before college to relax a little.

I'm not sure I know how.

"Is your friend coming soon?"

"Yup. Charlie lives in town so it's only a ten-minute drive. Her sister's joining us." Micah wiggles his brows at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She can be your date."

"Hell no. I'm not doing a last-minute blind date. What kind of friend are you?"

Micah doubles over. "You shoulda seen the look on your face! I'm joking."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" This is why I don't go out. I'm too high strung for pranks. I think my blood pressure is skyrocketing. I can't end up on meds before I turn twenty.

"God, I love messing with you. You're so easy. Charlie's sister is like thirteen. She just wants to hang at the boy band stage.

Fuck. I need to calm down. There's a reason I'm a loner and this is it.

"How many stages are at this thing, anyway?"

"Four. Not as many as my uncle was hoping for. He really wants this to blow up, bring in revenue for his resort."

My parents are regulars at the Salt Creek resort. It's a weird coincidence that I met Micah at school and his uncle happens to own the resort. Small world. Even smaller because Salt Creek is a tiny town. Maybe six hundred people live here. The chances of one of them being on the same college team as me have to be miniscule.

Micah checks his phone for the tenth time. "Looks like they're here. Charlie and Syd should be walking up any minute now." He glances around so I do, too.

There's an eclectic mix of people milling around. Some tried to pull off the signature Coachella bohemian look with floppy hats and sloppy outfits. Like hippies with jobs. I've noticed a few people with odd face paint. They almost look like clowns with white paint and giant red lips. I squint at one guy a little closer. Is that...blood? I shake my head and look down at myself. Boots and a button up. For some reason I pictured a mountain vibe more than this mix of madness. Where's the flannel? Where's the beanies? Shouldn't a setting like this, with the rushing creek bordering the venue and the surrounding white capped mountains inspire a fireside vibe?

I'm confused.

I look back around and my eye catches a flash of blue. Somehow, I home in on it. Plaid. Not just a blue shirt, but a blue plaid flannel shirt. My peeps! I lean over to see around the tree that's blocking this other human of my same mind. The plaid is accompanied by long brown hair with streaks of gold that have to be from the sun. Jeans and boots complete the look and I wonder what else might be similar. Then she turns around.

The most beautiful smile beams at someone. I'm instantly awestruck and almost as quickly searching for whoever she's smiling at. Is she taken? I freaking hope not. I need to meet the only other person at this event that had the same thoughts I did. Even Micah is wearing some ridiculous shredded pants and t-shirt combination.

"You made it!" Micah throws his arms around a petit girl with short blond hair. A younger girl who looks exactly like her, minus the pixie cut, is standing beside them.

"Sorry. Syd took forever to get ready." Charlie winks.

"Hey! I had to get my hair just right. What if one of the guys pulls me up onto the stage! I can't be in front of thousands of people looking like a rat nested in my hair."

Charlie rolls her eyes while Micah and I laugh. I know sister drama all too well.

"It's fine, Syd. I'm sure the boys will zero right in on you and make you their official mascot."

"I don't want to be a mascot. I want to be a groupie."

I choke on my saliva, launching into a coughing fit.

"What the hell, Syd!" Charlie shouts. "Hell no am I letting you off to that stage without supervision, now."

Micah kneels down to eye level with Syd. "Honey, do you know what groupie means?"

It's Syd's turn to roll her eyes. "Duh. A major fangirl, of course."

Micah looks up at Charlie. "Do you want to tell her, or should I?"

"I'll do it." With a shake of her head she leans down to whisper in her sister's ear.

"Are you for real?" Syd says, covering her mouth. "Um, no. That's not what I meant. I'm like, wannabe president of their fan club, right? Leader of their group. A groupie."

"Stop saying that."

"Ugh, fine. Can we go in, now? I want to go find Gabby. She and her dad are saving spots right by the stage."

"Do you have your phone?" Charlie asks.

"Yes, mom. I have my phone. And clean underwear. And pepper spray."

"Who gave you pepper spray?" Micah pipes up.

"Kidding. Let's go!" Syd grabs Micah's hand and starts to drag him to the security line. Charlie and I follow suit.

We make it to the check point. Syd, Micah and I finish emptying our pockets quickly and walk through the metal detector. I turn around to find Charlie standing with her open bag while a security guard rifles through it. It takes a few minutes. Once she finally finishes, Micah pulls out the tickets and we enter the venue.

"Did they remove any of the props?" Micah asks Charlie as soon as we are through the ticket collection.

"Nope. I have everything we need. This is gonna be epic!"

Something about the conversation between Charlie and Micah prickles my spidey senses. "What props?"

"Our costumes. Most people planning to attend the main stage later will have them."

"Costumes? You didn't tell me anything about that." My anxiety ratchets up. As if I needed something else to make me uncomfortable.

"Dude. You've been hyped up about Brianna Royce. I didn't think you needed to know."

"Brianna backed out," Charlie says causing me to whip my attention to her.

"What do you mean?" She was the only draw for me considering no other groups I follow were on the slate. I don't even really listen to her stuff. Too club sounding for my taste. But her latest, Rescue Me, has a great sound. Really soulful, sort of gets under your skin if you listen to it a few times.

Charlie shrugs. "I don't know exactly why. Something about exhaustion at the last minute. You know how those divas are."

"So, boy bands, some kind of indie no-names, and whichever group needs a costume party to attend?" I clench my fists then shove them in my pockets. I should have just stayed home.

"Yeah, basically."

"Gotta jet, people. Gabby's dad will take me home so see ya later." Syd waves us off and takes off running.

"Text me before you leave!" Charlie shouts after her to Syd's thumbs up response.

We start walking and I find myself noticing the proximity between Micah and Charlie. They are walking so close together I'm shocked his arm isn't around her shoulder. Come to think of it, his eyes did light up when she arrived. There's a quiet tension between the two, like magnets. Perfect. Looks like I'm the third wheel for these two and their unspoken sexual attraction. Damn, I hate my life.

I find myself looking around for the blue plaid flannel girl, instead of focusing on my repressed teammate. I scan the crowd, becoming more and more horrified, anxious about what the hell I just got myself into.

"Care to finally spill the details about this costume band?" I'm seeing more white painted faces with giant red lips. But the lips look sloppy, like deranged lipstick. Now I'm also noticing details around the eyes. Black circles or other various shapes. Its non-descript, a caricature of something that I can't put my finger on.

"Right, it's for The Circus Killers."

I stop dead in my tracks. "The death metal band? The ones banned from most radio stations because their songs are so violent that half the words have to be beeped out? The ones with like three copycat murder suspects?"

"Bullseye, that's them." Micah points his index finger at me, thumb raised, and shoots it. "Beggars can't be choosers. My uncle has to start somewhere. Eventually he'll be able to pull bigger names without rap sheets."

"Fuck."

"Choir boy cussed! Mission accomplished." Micah brushes nonexistent dust off his shoulders, grabs Charlie by the hand and pulls her toward the bathrooms. "Let's get our clown gear on and start this party."

This has to be the worst idea I've ever had, tagging along to this concert. To top it off, I don't see blue plaid flannel girl anywhere. I'm sure she has no interest in murder clown rock.

This is officially a bust. Let the countdown to my exit begin. I glance at my watch. Five hours.

Fuck.

***

We climb the stairs to our seats. Up and up, nearly to the last row.

"Wow, your uncle really hooked us up." I can't contain my sarcasm. This is one case where knowing someone has not helped us out at all. Our seats suck. The bands suck. The people surrounding me with their freaky face paint suck. I hate this festival.

"He's not one for nepotism. He didn't want to overplay his position by giving me floor seats."

I should actually thank him. The floor section of a killer clown death metal psychopath concert has to be life threatening. No thanks. I guess these nosebleeds are pretty good after all.

We find our seats, on the end thank god. I insist that Micah and Charlie take the first two so I can stand on the aisle in case I need to make a quick escape. I don't want to squeeze past these crazy fans. I'm getting a case of the creeps. I'm constantly thinking, 'don't stand so close to me' as I pass by these people. I need to clamp down on my filter, so I don't say anything rude. That would be incredibly stupid considering the crowd.

"We should have grabbed snacks," Charlie says. "I'm going to be hangry soon."

"You've been stuffing your face since we got here." Micah ruffles the top of her head. But it's not done like a friend or a brother. I get the distinct impression he used that as an excuse to touch her. He's been doing that for the last three hours. Touching her constantly. Her hand, her shoulder, rubbing her back. It's all disguised as playful, but I don't know about that. He seems...smitten.

Smitten. Jeez, what an old man I am. I shake my head and roll my shoulders. Gearing up to get my eardrums blasted with shitty music. We've spent most of the festival at the no name indie stage. Not an undiscovered talent in the bunch. Sucked. And now here we are at this travesty.

I should have grabbed some napkins to stuff in my ears. I may slip out and do just that as soon as the stairs clear out.

The moment I glance at the stairs to gauge the density of the crowd, I see her.

Blue plaid flannel girl.

She's following a girl up the stairs. Her friend keeps looking back to check on her, yelling something I can't hear clearly. My girl has wide eyes, gripping the railing tightly.

My girl. Shit I need to stop those thoughts right now.

But she's here. Same section as me. What a freaky coincidence. The only two people not dressed like killers and in the same section of a music festival with four stages.

Okay, it's not that big of a coincidence considering that this is the main stage and the headlining band.

But still.

She's here. I'm here. Now I just have to find my opening.

And there's the catch. I never find an opening. I'm not a pickup artist. Not that I want to pick her up, but I do want to talk to her. Find out her name. See if the draw I have from a distance is the same up close and personal.

I want to look into her eyes.

I want to know.

I tell myself not to get my hopes up. I tell myself to chill out and focus on the stupid band. I tell myself a bunch of things that I don't bother listening to.

Because halfway through the horrendous concert, the girl literally trips into my arms.

And damn if she isn't the cutest thing I've ever seen.

My boy, Jeff, is finally here!! I am so excited to tell his story...and I have to give a massive thank you to Wattpaders Squeaks7 and ScarletteDrake for jumping in to help me with plotting and development. Both of these ladies are amazing romance and fantasy writers. I'm so excited about the direction of this story now that they've offered their ideas. Squeaks7's hubby jumped in as well, and I CAN'T WAIT to tell Jeff and Alison's story.

About her name: originally I had it spelled the traditional way, but I chose her name because of this Elvis Costello song so I decided to spell Alison his way. My nod to his inspiration. The playlist for this story will still be retro 80's and 90's as in the rest of the series, however, I've gone with a softer mood to reflect Jeff's and Alison's personality. You'll hear Shania Twain, The Police, Sting, Billy Joel...that feel will be the vibe. HOWEVER this story is anything but soft!

In the other three stories for the series, we had some heavy, dark themes: harassment, abuse, unplanned pregnancy, grief...this one will not be any different in that sense. Lots of feels, probably tears, and my favorite type of cinnamon roll hero.

THANK YOU FOR JUMPING IN TO ANOTHER FALLBROOK HILLS STORY!!

https://youtu.be/XTtopI620ZU

If you need MORE spice, WAY MORE angst, jump over to Amazon and grab a copy of Broken Lullaby, free in Kindle Unlimited and now priced at $2.99 for the ebook.