I turned back around, and we walked out.
Mallory looked partially in shock. "Wow. You just slapped Aaron."
"And it felt good. I don't feel scared. I don't even feel angry. I just feel good."
"I'm really sorry about this. I wish I'd know he was coming." Juliet put an arm around me.
"It's not your fault. I actually think it's good. Maybe that was the closure I needed."
"Are you going to tell Chase?" Mallory asked as we slipped into the back of a cab.
"Yes." Keeping this kind of thing from Chase would just blowup in my face. As much as I didn't want to make him worry, I needed to be open. "I'm sorry the girl's night didn't work out."
"It's not your fault."
When the cab pulled up along the curb at the house, Juliet paid, and we all hopped out. "So, what happened? What did he mean by rescue you?"
"I was being questioned by an undercover cop. Aaron vouched for me."
"Wow. Are they cracking down even harder?"
"I don't know, but I'm retiring the fake for a while."
"We all should." Mallory punched in the code to the house. "It's too early to turn in though. What should we do?"
"Is Reed working tonight?" I asked Juliet.
"Yeah, why? It's a girl's night."
"Yeah, it's also one of those nights I wouldn't mind a guy around for. Let's go to Al's. Think Colton would walk us?"
"Sure. He was just hanging out at the house tonight."
"I never would have pictured that Colt would have gotten so into Kappa. I guess moving in as a freshman helps."
She shrugged. "I know, it surprised me too, but he still spends time with his other friends a lot."
Colton showed up a few minutes later. "How you doing, Cara?"
"I'm doing really well." I was. Despite the rough night, I was feeling better than I had in ages.
"Aaron showed up tonight though," Mallory said softly, but the anger in her words came right through.
"Oh. That sucks. He's been keeping his distance usually though, right?" Colton watched me worriedly. I had to give it to my friends, they both picked caring boyfriends.
"This was the first time I'd run into him since the incident." Incident. It sounded so clinical, but it was the only way I could describe what happened without using some less than appropriate words.
"Did he bother you?"
"In a way, but I took care of it. I think he's going to leave me alone now." He didn't want the Cara who would slap him in the face and take care of herself. He wanted someone dependent, and that wasn't me anymore.
"All right. Just let me know if I can do anything else."
"Thanks." I smiled. It felt so good to be independent. It felt equally good to know I'd be with Chase in less than twenty-four hours.
Chapter Nineteen
Showing up at a festival by myself in a place I'd never been wasn't something I was particularly excited to do, so I was more than happy when Jade and Kyle agreed to go with me.
My friends were more excited about the music than I was, but my single-minded determination to see Chase more than made up for it. I was relieved that Kyle agreed to drive to Savannah, because I was pretty positive I would have struggled to stay within my usual rule of five miles over the speed limit.
Kyle parked in a large field, and we got out. We left our bags in the car before heading over to where the crowds were congregating.
I'd never been to a festival before, so I didn't know what to think. I was just relieved the weather had warmed up. I'm not a fan of the cold.
"Wow, it's crowded." I tried to stay close to my friends. All I needed was to get separated from them.
"You should see the really big festivals. This one has a great line up, but it's kind of off season." Jade tied up her long hair.
"Oh. I think this is plenty big for my first time."
"I won't make the dirty comment I want to make." Kyle grinned.
"Please don't."
Music poured from the main stage, and I tried to identify the folk-style tune. After a few minutes I gave up. It was definitely not someone I'd heard of.
"Where are you supposed to meet Chase exactly?" Jade asked, glancing around the crowd.
"He said to call when I got here." I glanced down at my phone. "I've called twice already."
"Hmm, well. I guess we might as well go watch whoever's performing while we wait then," Kyle suggested. He had this uncanny ability to take charge when the moment demanded it. He wasn't pushy as much as he was just the leader type.
"Good idea." Jade took my arm, and we walked into the crowd.
We listened to the couple on the stage. They had to be a couple. The way the two members of the duet were looking at each other only came from one thing-intimacy.
I love folk music because of the lyrics. A folk song is generally a story set to music, so I could relate to it. I could sink my teeth into it so to speak.
The duet, appropriately called the Love Doves, finished their set and left the stage. I checked my phone and saw a missed call. How had I missed it? I went to listen to the message, but my phone said unable to connect. Perfect. No signal.
"That might complicate things," Kyle said calmly. "But we'll find them. Don't they play at nine tonight anyway?"
"Are you suggesting we just hang out and wait?" I hit send a few more times on my phone, but it was no use.
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Kyle put an arm around my shoulder. "Think of this as an eye-opening learning experience. You do work on a radio show now."
I laughed. "Fair enough."
The next act was another folk group. I liked them, but not as much as Love Doves. I decided it was a good sign that I was starting to distinguish between what groups I liked and didn't like within a genre. Kyle was right. I did work on a radio show now, and it would be helpful to actually know the music we were talking about.
We listened for another hour, all the while I obsessively checked my phone, before three very familiar people walked on the stage.
"Whoo hoo! Pearberry!" Jade yelled. A bunch of people in the crowd turned to look at us.
I laughed and joined in with the cheering. It was really fun to know a band that almost no one had even heard of.
They didn't start with an introduction. They did what a lot of artists had been doing and jumped right into one of their songs. I remembered it from when they opened for Maddox.
Afterwards, Ava started to talk. "Hey everyone! Hope you're all enjoying yourself today-or really tonight." She stopped for applause. "We're Pearberry. I'm Ava, this is AJ, and Jimmy is our newest member."
I expected her to break into a song, but instead it was Jimmy's turn to talk. "Hey, everyone. It's amazing to be here." He also stopped for applause. "We're going to play a new song next. It's one I wrote about a girl I can't have now, but will have later."
Jade nudged me. "I wonder who he's talking about."
"Chase should be jealous." Kyle teased.
I ignored them both.
Jimmy had a surprisingly good voice, and if the song was any indication, he was also a good song writer. I actually preferred it to the rest of the Pearberry music, although I wouldn't have admitted that to Ava and AJ. As his intro explained, it was all about imagining being with someone you couldn't have. There was an edge to it that left you wondering if the singer knew how inflated his dreams were, and that no one could live up to those imaginings. Maybe I didn't give the guy enough credit.
He finished the song, and then he went and ruined it all. "Oh, and if anyone's wondering, that's called Cara's Song."
AJ took over and they finished off their set. The crowd seemed to love their sound, and I was so excited for them. As weird as Jimmy was, the girls were pretty cool.
I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket and grabbed it, picking up immediately when I saw Chase's name. "Hi!"
"Hi! I've been trying you forever. Where are you?"
I glanced around, looking for some sort of telltale sign of where I was.
Noticing the confusion on my face, Kyle gestured for the phone, so I gave it to him. "Hey, it's Kyle." He paused and smiled. "Yes, that same one, and I'm holding you to those tickets." He laughed. "Okay, we'll be over there in a few."
He hung up before handing me my phone back. "I know where he is."
I bounced up on my toes. "Oh my gosh, I could kiss you right now."
"Yeah … probably not the best time since we're about to see your boyfriend, but if Jade here wants to do it for you." He wriggled an eyebrow and laughed.
Jade kissed him on the cheek. "That's the best you're getting."
"I'll take it."
I trailed behind Kyle as he meandered toward the stage. The crowd was dense, so it took some work to even stay together.
I saw Jessa first. She'd dyed a strip of her hair blue, and it was the kind of neon blue you couldn't miss. As I picked up my pace to get closer, Chase looked up.