Never Hide

Chapter Fourteen

"I wouldn't say it was incoherent," I replied.

"Right. Just a little unhinged."

"No, I think my hinges were fully hinged," I joked. "And what are you wearing, by the way? You look good, I just don't know what I'm looking at."

"What?" He seemed taken aback by what I'd just said. "What do you mean you don't know what you're looking at?" He pointed toward his bright red, heart-shaped sunglasses and then his glittery, silver baseball jersey, and then one last time at the equally glittery baseball bat in his hands.

"Elton John. I'm Elton John," he clarified. "You really didn't recognize the outfit?" He paused for a moment before he nodded to himself. "Oh. Right. I keep forgetting you're not gay."

"Trust me, me not recognizing that outfit wasn't because I'm not gay," I said. "I'm just not really caught up with pop culture stuff."

"Well, then you've come to the right place, because I'm a pretty good teacher." He beamed.

"Yeah? What else can you teach me?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him close to my chest.

"I like this. I really, really do," he said blissfully. "But can we put a pin in it and come back to it later? If I'm late for karaoke night at Neon City, Briar is going to kick me out of the friend group."

"Briar wouldn't do that."

"No, he definitely would. I'm on thin ice ever since the Christmas party last year."

I raised my eyebrow. "What happened at the Christmas party last year?"

"Nothing!" Raven chirped, shifting out of my embrace. "Anyway, are you ready to go?"

"That depends. Am I supposed to be wearing an Elton John costume, too?"

He eyed me up and down, not saying a word. Then, he took the sunglasses off his face and gently placed them on mine.

"Perfect," he noted.

"Perfect," I repeated as I looked back at him through the sunglasses, as visions of white clouds in an impossibly blue sky wove their way through my mind.

* * *

As we stepped into Neon City, Raven and I were greeted with what seemed like a flood of people in costumes, some wearing heart-shaped sunglasses like me, others dressed in outfits I couldn't discern the significance of, even though it appeared that they'd put a lot of time and effort into the look.

I couldn't deny that I was both impressed and overwhelmed by the sight, unsure of where I fit in among the crowd. Thankfully, I never had to worry about where I fit in when I was with Raven. He confidently headed toward the bar, and I followed right behind him.

"You were almost late for sign-up," Briar warned, leaning against the bar. "Must I remind you of what happened at the Christmas party last year?"

"Ooh, are you guys talking about---" Laurel started to speak, standing right next to Briar.

But he was swiftly cut off by Raven. "I don't understand why everyone's so focused on something that happened last year! What happened to the past being the past?"

"You're the one who made a big deal about it," Laurel replied. "I still have that apologetic newsletter in my inbox, by the way."

"Newsletter?" I asked. "Wait. Did you have to mass apologize to people?"

"I plead the fifth," Raven said, walking toward the other side of the room. "I'll be right back. I need to make sure my name gets down on the competition list for the night."