Page 27 of Absorbed

“Ew! You’re so sweaty!” Stacey squealed, but didn’t pull away.

Gabe laughed as he stepped back and put his shirt back on. “If you’re done acting insane,” he said, “maybe you could suck it up for the next set? We could go over by those speakers.” He pointed to the right of the stage. “It’ll be loud, but at least they make it kind of shady.”

She licked her bottom lip. “Okay. Yeah. That’d be good.”

He still wants me with him!

She took a few sips of water and offered the rest to Gabe. He downed the water in one gulp, then took her by the hand and led her to the front of the crowd.

The second band started and Stacey could feel the brass blast and beat of the drums in every bone of her body. She was sure her ears would be ringing for a week, but didn’t care. Gabe’s smile was infectious. They sang along and bounced to the rhythm, steam rising from the mass of bodies crowded in the cement quad. Her clothes were drenched with sweat, but Gabe was right: it was worth it.

Gabe was drawn back to the pit time and again, and he’d look over, waving for Stacey to join him. She’d shake her head, laughing, then Gabe would rejoin her to sing along and dance for a minute before he’d run off. It felt to Stacey like a game of hideand seek that neither of them was winning, yet they both were still coming out ahead. Every time he ran back to the mosh pit, she tried to make eye contact with anyone in her vicinity, hoping to catch an admiring glance from someone who assumed they were a couple. But the crowd was too caught up in the music to pay her any notice.

When the show ended at five, Stacey’s cheeks hurt from smiling, and there was a constant buzzing in her ears. She was exhausted, but happy.

Gabe wiped the sweat from his head with his shirt, then pulled it back on as they headed toward the parking lot. “Glad you came?”

Stacey nodded, her hot feet heavy with every step across the asphalt. “Did you have fun?” She did her best to ignore the blisters on her toes rubbing against the sweaty socks inside her boots.

“Sure,” he said. Then he turned toward her, and reached his thumb toward her left eye. “You’ve…got something…”

Stacey rubbed the area beneath her eyes with the backs of her pointer fingers. Both came away smudged with black.

Gabe cringed. “I think that made it worse.”

Stacey wiped in the opposite direction with the backs of both thumbs, and again both hands were smeared with makeup. “Better?”

Gabe curled his lips inside his mouth, stifling his laughter, and shook his head.

She leaned down and looked into a parked car’s side mirror. Both eyes had dark stains of black makeup beneath, and swiped toward her temples. The red on her lips was faded, smeared onto her chin and nose, and with dried red flakes poking up from the cracks in her chapped lips. “Geez! I look awful!” Stacey pulled the bandana from her head, and wiped as much of the makeup away as she could. “How long have I looked this bad?”

“Awhile,” Gabe laughed.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Stacey elbowed him in the ribs and they continued toward his car. “I can’t believe you’d even be seen with me like this!” As they walked she’d catch her reflection in the windows of cars, and pause, trying to fix what she could before hustling to catch up with him again.

“I still don’t get why you wore all that makeup and got so dressed up. You knew it was going to be crazy hot.”

“I wanted to look cute.” Stacey loosened the ponytail and ran the tips of her fingers over her hair to smooth it down, creating sweaty bumps and creases.

“Why?” There was an irritated tone to Gabe’s one word question that immediately humiliated her. She’d misread everything.

She stopped walking and looked down at her boots, embarrassed. Her feet were steaming, and her white knee socks, grimy from the dust and sweat, had slid down. She felt as disgusting as they looked.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean…,” Gabe said, arriving at his car, looking back at her. “It just… surprised me.” He unlocked the passenger door and opened it. When she didn’t walk over, he went around to the driver’s side and climbed in, turning on the AC.

Stacey dragged herself to the car and slumped into the seat. The vinyl burned her legs, but she kept quiet about it. She closed the door and pulled down the passenger mirror. She looked like a clown. She scrubbed vigorously with the bandana. After air blowing from the vents turned from hot to cool, she adjusted them toward her face and took deep breaths. Lifting her arms to fix her hair, she smelled a sour, musky stink, then saw damp, yellow pit stains on her tee and dropped her arms to her sides, horrified. She glanced at Gabe. A smirk crossed his face.This couldn’t possibly get any worse.

Gabe put on his 1995 Warped Tour cd and pulled his car into the line of cars filing out of the lot.

After a few minutes, she asked, “So, when’s the Warped Tour starting?” She knew the answer but hoped a shift in their conversation might turn the evening around.

“In about a week. I may try to go to Carson. It isn’t too far.”

“It’d be fun to take a road trip. See it someplace cool, like San Diego or San Francisco. Sleep in the car or something.”

“Yeah.” Gabe rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

“Why not?”

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