Chapter 8
Evan
Lost & Found

”Evan! Sweetie, have you seen my cell phone?” my Mom called upstairs to me. I was on my laptop, perched at the head of my bed, looking for online classes I could take. Or maybe an actual college would cut it too.

I had started college at eighteen like any usual kid my age would have done if they wanted to become something in their future. The thing was though, three months into it and I was writhing in pain from the anxiety I was experiencing with work loads, worrying about my Mom and little brother, and having college debt pile up in six digit figures. I’d so badly wanted to become a psychologist type person for kids who suffered from deaths in their family. It was my dream to help kids who were like me at the mere age of ten who lost a parent, or even someone they loved. I wanted to be what I didn’t have at that age.

At the time, Mom was too self-involved with her own grief, and with little Greg on the way, therapists just weren’t in the cards for me. The budget wasn’t cut for therapist bills, because baby Greg still needed to be taken care of. So, as I grew up, I used my own self therapeutic ways to get me by. I would shoot things with bb guns in the woods with Aaron. At thirteen I developed an interest in heavy breakdowns and hardcore screaming music that I would blast all throughout the day. But, as I got older, I toned down the punk look and put down the mini guns and just started staring up at the stars in the field behind my house. That would probably sound incredibly pansy like to any guy that you told, which is part of the reason why I didn’t tell any of my friends aside from Aaron, but I did it to clear my head. I thought maybe, in some way, my Dad was up there, watching over what I was doing. Maybe he was leading in me in the right path or something.

Now, though, I’m trying to get back into school so I can make something of myself. I’m going to be twenty-one soon, a legal adult, and I have nothing to show for it but a piece of paper that says I completed high school. Who the hell would want to hire me with just that? I didn’t even know what I wanted to do at this point.

As much as I wanted to be a child psychologist, I knew that I just didn’t have the money for it right now, and seven or eight years of schooling would be a whole hell of a lot. Plus, that would mean that I couldn’t actually begin my career until well into my twenty-eighth birthday, which was a little too late in life for me. I wanted to start something early, that I could see myself doing when I was at a really old age. I wanted to become something my Dad would be proud, something I would be proud of. I wanted to earn my own living and have something to show for it. I just wish I could figure out what it was.

All I knew was that I needed to give my Mom back something. She’s done enough for me as it is, and it’s time I give back.

”No?” I shouted down to her. “I thought you’ve had it?”

”I haven’t seen it since…oh no, I think I left it at the theatre,” she said, sounding sullen. Someone definitely had to have picked it up by now. There had to been at the least ten shows since the Phil show, so someone could have taken it as their own by this point.

”Crap,” I said, getting up and setting my laptop on the sheets. I opened my door and walked to the top of the stairs. I looked down at my Mom who was contemplating on what to do.

”I need that phone for my work contacts. I can’t maintain all of the paper work without that phone,” she mumbled, mostly to herself.

My mother worked as a social worker from home, and kept most of her contacts in this special filing app that she had on her new phone. She said it helped her when she could just speak into the phone and tell them the name, so it would pop up and call it for her. She said it was a time saver or something, and it was better than a huge contact book in paper.

”Well do you want me to go look for you?” I asked, feeling like I needed to help her in some way. She’s always so flustered now.

Her eyes lit up as she looked up at me. “Oh, would you Evan? That would help me out a lot.”

”Sure thing. Just leave me the keys and I’ll go throw on some shoes.”

*~*~*~*

Twenty agonizing traffic filled minutes later, and I was at the theatre. I parked Mom’s car over in the abandoned parking area and clicked the switch to lock it up. There were no cars around, considering it was mid-morning and shows were usually happening at night. I walked through the familiar glass doors and looked over to see a girl with blonde, bouncy curls was wiping off a beer glass at the bar.

”Can I help you?” she called to me, looking up at the chime from the door I’d just walked through.

”Yeah, uh have you guys seen a random phone lying around here? It’s that new Nokia phone, all square and stuff with a pink case,” I said, making my way over to the bar. I remembered this girl. She’d served me the couple bottles of beer, while I flirted with her for a few minutes. The only reason I did was to get the beers, not get anything from her. But she was hot and around my age so I figured I could work to get what I wanted.

”Oh, I remember you,” she murmured, looking up at me, batting her heavily coated eyelashes. She had on a white button-up and black pants, but the buttons were a little too undone at the top, exposing a decent amount of her chest. She leaned over the bar, trying to gauge my attention in the best way she could think of. I looked down at her chest for a brief moment, a little distracted, and cleared my throat. I needed to remember why I was here.

”And I remember you,” I countered. “But, have you seen the phone?”

I leaned my arms on the bar, coming face to face with her. She blushed a little, not used to the close contact. I grinned devilishly, liking that I could make her blush.

”Someone must have found the phone you’re looking for. Is it your girlfriend’s?” she prodded, clearly asking for her own benefit.

”Nope,” I said, popping the ‘p’. “It’s my mother’s.”

”Oh, I see. So no girlfriend, then?” she asked, leaning closer, exposing more of her chest.

”Leslie have you seen the…” I heard an all too familiar voice coming from the door behind the blonde. I took my eyes away from the gorgeous girl in front of me to see who it was.

My eyes widened a little, matching hers. “Bailey?”

She looked like a deer caught in the headlights, and she blushed at my voice. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. Leslie, I just need…” she looked over at Leslie, trying not to make eye contact with me again.

”How do you guys know each other?” Leslie prodded more. She looked between me and Bailey and raised a thin, blonde eyebrow.

”We met here the night of the Phil concert,” I exclaimed, never taking my eyes off of the red head in front of me. She was looking everywhere but at me, and keeping her fingers busy with rearranging beer bottles.

”Oh! That’s…cool, I guess,” Leslie’s voice faded, like she had been a little intimidated. She must have thought something was going on with Bailey.

”What did you need, Bailey?” she asked. Bailey raised her eyes to meet Leslie’s and she seemed at a lose for words.

”Um…the uh, extension cord,” she chirped, playing with the hem of her white button-up, similar to Leslie’s. “Dan said he needs it for some amp work or something?”

”Right here!” she exclaimed, searching under the bar for a couple of seconds to lift up the orange piece of wiring. “Here you go,” she said, handing it to Bailey. She still hadn’t looked me in the eye since she realized who I was.

”Thanks,” she mumbled. “I’ll leave you guys be, then,” she continued, turning towards the door and letting it swing shut behind her.

”So, I was thinking…” Leslie said, looking up at me with those flirtatious eyes again.

”Uh, I’ll be right back,” I told her, going around the bar, and following wherever Bailey had gone.

I heard Leslie yell something like, “Hey, you can’t go through there,” but I ignored her and kept on walking.

I made my way through a hallway, with a door that was opened, exposing a massive amount of sunlight. I figured she had walked through there, so I made my way outside, and noticed a small stage set up. A large man, who looked middle-aged, was knelt in front of an amp, with his back to me. I didn’t pay too much attention to him though, because I noticed the red haired girl I’d been looking for and I walked over to touch her arm. She jumped at the sudden contact and turned around, wide-eyed.

”Can we talk?” I whispered, not wanting to get the old man’s attention. She merely nodded and told the guy she was going on break for a few minutes.

”Just a few minutes, Bail. I need you to help set the rest of this stage up before tonight,” he told her in a gruff voice, not looking up from his place on the floor.

”Okay,” she called to him, as she guided me around the outside of the building, to a clear opening, with a field behind it. The grass seemed to go on forever, and there was a patio with a table and chair set propped on the cement.

”Damn, I didn’t even know this was back here,” I breathed, looking all the way down to where the grass expansion stopped at a river, with trees lining the sides of it.

”Yeah, it’s the ‘break room’,” she said, using air quotes. “It’s pretty nice back here.”

”It is,” I mimicked. I turned around to look at her eyes and she seemed like she couldn’t look at me.

”Okay, I’m sorry for being such a nosy asshole to you the day at the station. I’m not usually like that,” I rambled. I’d felt like shit since the day that I prodded into her personal life, even though I knew it wasn’t entirely my fault. I felt like she wouldn’t have run off so fast if I hadn’t been pushy.

”It’s fine,” she sighed. “I was the one being an ass,” she commented, finally looking up at me with those big, hazel eyes. Her freckles were more noticeable as the sun shone from behind me, onto her cheeks. Her light red hair was curled into waves around her face, and pushed to one side of her head. I hated her uniform though, because it was so generic and made her look a little bigger than I remembered her being.

”You weren’t. I mean, I shouldn’t have prodded into your life like that. We barely know each other. It’s none of my business,” I rambled on more. I just wanted this girl to talk to me. I’d never had trouble talking to girls before now, and she was making me want to speak to her more and more as the days went on.

”It’s okay,” she said, touching my arm. I felt a slight warm feeling creep up at the spot and wondered what the hell was going on with me. “Seriously. It’s over with.”

”Good,” I smiled down at her, noticing she was actually looking up at me for once with a grin playing at her lips.

”Now why are you here?” she asked, crossing her arms.

”I feel like this is a repeat from a few days ago,” I laughed. She smiled at me, but waited for my response. “I’m here to find my Mom’s phone. It’s a Nokia with a little-“

She cut me off. “A little pink case around it?” she finished for me. I widened my eyes.

”You have it?” I asked, releasing a breath, knowing I wouldn’t have to go home empty handed, with a brooding, freaked out mother on my hands.

”Mhm,” she stated. “It’s in the owner’s office though. I can tell you where it is,” she went off, giving me directions on rights and lefts, with which door to look out for.

”Thanks,” I stated, grinning. I went to walk around her, silently hating myself for not wanting to leave just yet. “Hey, Bailey?” I asked, turning back around to her again.

”Yeah?” she asked, looking up at me with those big eyes again.

”Would you want to maybe…hang out sometime?” I asked, warily. I was anxiously awaiting her answer as her eyes bulged. Crap, she probably thought I was completely ridiculous. We barely even knew each other, why would she want to hang out with someone like me?

”Uh, sure,” she said, nervously. She bit down on her lip and I refrained myself from looking down at it. What the hell was going on with me? “Meet me at this spot tomorrow night at around 9?” she finished.

”Sounds good to me,” I grinned at her, liking the blush I put onto her face. “See you then.”

”Yeah, see you then,” she smiled, waving at me before I walked back around the building, and back inside.

Things might turn out alright after all.