Tell Me What You Hate About Me

11: Ends and Means

Not your best work, Lindsay.

Jack knocked again. "Lindsay?"

After the failure known as Trailfest, what was I supposed to do? Telling him that it was a ploy to form a subgroup in the fellowship was only going to hurt him, but no matter how nice he was, he was my closest friend and that was all.

What was happening to me? Was this talisman siphoning IQ points straight from my brain? I paused. No, that wasn't possible. Probably.

"Give me one more second." I grabbed the artifact in question and stuffed it into my purse.

He laughed. "You don't have to fuss over this. It's just me."

"I don't fuss, Jack." I opened up the door, and while he usually reminded me of a lumberjack with the way he dressed, the plaid was gone in favor of a button-down and tie. Like a classy lumberjack.

"You only care enough to fuss when something is really important to you. I've known you for long enough to know that," he said. "You look beautiful."

I gave him a small smile. "Thank you. You look good too."

"So where do you want to go?"

"I really don't care. Anywhere we can talk."

Jack chuckled. "Well, that really narrows it down, doesn't it?"

I smiled. "I know. I'm very helpful."

"Have fun," Sierra called after us as I shut the door behind me.

Since the campus itself was almost like a small city, there really wasn't much of a need to leave it very much. Jack had been in Tillamook longer than me, and with his band, he had played at several cool places around town.

"So what about Three Arch Bar and Grille? Remember that place?" Jack suggested.

Not too far away was where he played one of his favorite gigs. Unlike Trailfest, it was a pretty casual and fun place where I watched him play while I was eating (and contrary to his version of the story, I was not alone—my temporary friend was just in the bathroom), and there was something about the vibe that drew me in. It was the same kind of force that convinced me to buy the metal detector that got us into this mess. Even after a year, I still didn't know what it was about him that made me wait hours for a moment to introduce myself, especially since everyone else in the band wasn't my cup of tea.

Most of the time, people wore out their welcome very quickly with me, but a year hadn't changed that feeling for me at all.

"Why wouldn't I remember the place we met? Don't be ridiculous." I smiled and shook my head. "So if you knew you were going to pick there, why didn't you tell me not to bother wearing a dress?"

He smiled. "Well, I couldn't let the Trailfest dress go to waste, could I?"

"I told you that I didn't buy anything new for that."

"Given your spending habits, I find that hard to believe."

I wasn't lying, but he had a point, and I couldn't help but let out a little laugh.

The inside was much quieter than the last time we were there. Without a band, none of the appeal was gone, though. Dull string lights dangled from the beams that ran across the room, and the walls had maps and artifacts from the Oregon Trail, even though Tillamook was not a town on it. It was too far south, but that didn't stop Trailfest either.

Until we would be left alone for more than five minutes, I couldn't mention anything. While the main idea was to keep Dominic and Sierra out of the loop, I couldn't rope the rest of the world right into it.