I'll be here if you ever come calling
By the ocean I'm a ghost of everything, everything
That we ever did, ever did
You got me caught,
got me hooked,
got me fixed up
You got me chained but I wouldn't
wanna change for anything, anything
Not for anything, anything

-Fixed, New Hope Club

14| Mason

Evelyn was riding shotgun with her legs up in the dashboard, looking outside as if she didn't give a damn about this world. She was humming a song under her breath and moving her head with its rhythm. She looked like she didn't even acknowledge his presence whereas she had looked like the world was ending only a few moments ago.

Mason wondered what actually went through her brain. She was hard to understand sometimes. Mason glanced at her sideways and then looked forward.

"So, the bad boy is taking us to his secret hideout," Evelyn commented as they drove on. The streets were mostly empty. This part of the town was green, covered with trees on both sides of the road. There was no residence around. Mason liked it here.

"I don't have any secret hideout." He replied flatly.

"That can't be happening. You are the school's renowned bad boy, you have to have a secret hideout to regret and rethink about the mistakes that made you a bad boy." She said still looking outside.

"Jack has one. Maybe I should take you there." Mason said. "But we have to climb up the hill for that. Dunno if Rosy can handle."

"You really don't have a hideout?" Evelyn asked again quite not believing.

"Told you, no," Mason said once again. He had no hideout in the town. Sometimes, he would go to Ethan's tattoo parlor. The shop had an attached room with a punching bag and some other equipment. Sometimes he would go to Hillfar, the town beside Fallholt, where Ethan lived with his family.

"Who are you?" Evelyn asked and Mason glanced her way.

"You don't know?" He asked mocking.

"You work in a garage, you go to the library, you get nervous before an exam, you study your ass off then again you glare at people, you fight, you act like a jerk, you drink." She said counting her fingers with each point she made. "You are a mysterious jerk, nerd, and a bad boy wrapped in one person."

"Nice biodata. I should write that up for my college application." Mason joked and continued to drive.

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, you are all the same. You are just pretending. The cover will fall off someday and I will see the same thing underneath."

"What do you expect to see?"

"All guys are the same. All of them." She said and looked out.

Mason couldn't believe his luck. It wasn't fair that Evelyn would not see him for who he actually was. He didn't know which guy she was referring to, but he could tell, he was being judged because of someone else's behavior towards her. She was still living in the past experiences of her life. The walls she had put around her to scare everyone away would not be that easy to break.

Mason drove the jeep towards the hill. Soon they were riding upwards. Rosy was rocking from side to side. He had been here several times on foot. But driving here was a new thing. Maybe it was not the very best idea. Sweat trickled down by the side of his forehead. He focused, hard.

"Stop! Stop!" Evelyn screamed and Mason pulled the brake with all his might. His hands felt numb.

Evelyn quickly unbuckled her seat belt and was out of the Jeep in a matter of seconds. Mason parked the Jeep at the side of the road and got out.

She was standing in a clearing on the hill they were driving on. There were no trees around. The whole city spread out in front of them. Far away on the horizon, he could see the line dividing the ground from the sky. As he looked down, he saw a canal running.

Evelyn was standing at one side closing her eyes, spreading her hands on her both side. Mason stood behind her and whispered, "Don't let go, Rose."

Evelyn shoved him with her elbow and a slight pain shot through his stomach, "Ow!"

He looked around them. The clearing was covered with grass on the ground. Wasting no time, he lied down with his hands on the back of his head. The sky was blue with a white mash of clouds floating all around and at one side there were thick black clouds that were moving.

Soon it was going to rain.

Mason glanced sideways as he felt Evelyn lying down beside him and looking up at the sky.

"Now I can call this place my hideout." He said.

"Nope. It's mine." She nodded her head no.

"It's ours," Mason said as he took in the view.

Evelyn didn't complain this time.

"What happened?" Mason asked. Evelyn seemed to be always moping around the school but today she outdid herself. Her confessing that there was nothing called home, made Mason wondering something had gone wrong.

He sat up and folded his legs. He looked back at Evelyn who was still glancing up at the sky. She didn't bother to reply.

Of course.

Mason honestly had no idea how to get her to talk. She always seemed so closed off and never talked about herself. He had a feeling a lot was going inside her brain but she would like to keep it all to herself and that was not a healthy choice. Mason wondered the emotional burst out that Evelyn had before was a result of this. She was keeping too much to herself.

"You know you can talk to me. I am here anytime." He tried to sound as trustworthy as possible.

She didn't reply. Instead, she sat up.

"You never give up, do you?" Evelyn asked looking at the horizon.

"It isn't in my blood. " He said.

"What college you are planning to go to?" Mason asked after a while. At least that was something he could talk about without Evelyn running away.

"Somewhere in New York. Maybe a college in Manhattan." She shrugged.

"You kidding?" He asked as he turned and looked at her.

"What?"

"So you are telling me you are not gonna try out for the top colleges?" Mason asked.

"Look, I don't wanna give myself high hope. I just wanna get into a college that's it," Evelyn said looking away.

"Good to see you don't wanna stress over it but," Mason said, "You should at least try. There's nothing bad with trying."

"I don't want the headache." She said.

Mason wanted to tell her how she would regret it later. He wanted to tell her she was smart enough to try as he knew they were the only ones who got through the math test without having a nervous breakdown. She didn't even break a sweat about it.

Mason sighed.

"I know what I want," Evelyn said.

"Would you like to tell me?" Mason asked.

"I just wanna get out of here, get to a college in New York, finish college, get a job and cats. That's it. That's my life plan."

Mason stared at her. "I don't wanna break this to you but-"

"Go ahead."

"Sounds quite boring to me," Mason said.

"Boring, yes. Because I am boring. But there will be no high hopes, no risks but peaceful life."

"I don't blame Abigail for calling you eighty years old," Mason said jokingly.

Evelyn glared at him in reply.

"So you wanna be a cat lady?" He asked again sarcastically. Evelyn punched the side of his arm.

"And I wanna get into the best college around, specifically I want to go to Stanford, and then finishing my studies, I wanna take a while to go around the world and do things I wanna do before I die. And then maybe work for opening my own company," Mason said.

"Keep dreaming." She said looking at the horizon.

"Why won't I? Dreaming is what keeps me going. Without dreams, I am no one."

Evelyn shrugged.

"You asked me who am I? Now you got me. I am a boy from a small town with dreams that touched the sky."

"When you say it like that, trust me, it sounds wonderful. But also be ready for the reality to kick you in the butt."

"Whoa," Mason said and looked at Evelyn.

"Hasn't it already?" Mason asked and a confused Evelyn looked back.

Friendship is a two-way thing. As much as he could push Evelyn to talk about herself, he knew he had to do the same. If he couldn't trust his friend about his secrets, what he was dealing with, he couldn't expect them to do the same. So, Mason decided it was time to show Evelyn that he trusted Evelyn enough. Mason took a deep breath before he started.

"When mom and dad died, I used to think like that. " He said still rolling the word in his tongue. Died, they died. Yet, he still couldn't say it out loud without feeling heavy.

Evelyn looked at him with no expression on her face.

"I used to think there was no point in living. There was no point in hoping for anything good. There was nothing in this town, nothing that could pursue me to move on, to start over. I saw shit going on. I saw some things I never wanted to see. Knew something I didn't want to know." He took another breath.

"The people around me changed too. They started to treat me differently. As if I was someone who needed their pity. 'Oh look at that poor boy, lost his parents' and things like those I would hear whenever I would go around. Even people whom I have helped, who I was acquainted with, they took the most of their time pitying me.

"I was going down before I knew and then it hit me. My mom and dad would've never wanted me to live like this. They would never want me to give up. I don't know if I will be able to reach where they wanted me, but I am trying. And that's the best chance I got. I don't want to give up the dream they have rooted inside of me. So I am going to try."

It still hurt like shit to use a past tense with them. Mason let out a shaky breath.

Evelyn looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. After a while, she looked away.

"Nobody ever wanted anything for me. It was just me always." She said in a calm voice.

"I do," Mason said looking in front of him. Evelyn snapped her head his way. Narrowing her eyes she said,

"Why would you think if you want something for me I would give it to you?"

Mason looked at her, "Nothing much. I just want you to live a little."

Evelyn looked away.

"I want to you change your perspective. It won't be that easy, but you can take one step at a time."

"When did you started thinking you are my therapist?" She asked in a bitter tone.

"Call it a request of a friend."

Evelyn didn't reply. She looked up at the sky and Mason followed. The first drop of rain hit him on his face.

"We need to get out of here." He said as he quickly stood up. Both of them ran to the jeep and got in. Mason started the engine without wasting any time.

"So glad that you have a roofless jeep," Evelyn said.

• • •

Evelyn had agreed to stop in his house after the rain. They jumped down from the jeep. It was still drizzling and both of them were soaked in rain.

"If I catch a cold, Mason, I swear-" Evelyn stopped and let out a sneeze. Mason chuckled.

"What, this seems funny to you? All of this is your fault. If we didn't go to that stupid hill-"

"You seemed to like the place." Mason cut her off.

Evelyn puffed and said, "Whatever."

She shook her head violently while flipping her hair in the process. Water droplets from her hair hit him on the face like needles. Mason had the feeling it was intentional.

As Jasmine, the maid saw them all soaked, she came up with two towels. Mason was toweling his hair when he caught sight of Evelyn. She was rubbing herself like rainwater was going to spread a virus.

Mason turned to Jasmine, " Hey, is Carolina home?"

"No," Said the middle-aged woman, " She is out on her chamber."

"Oh okay. We were going to my room. Can you arrange some meal in the meantime?" He said smoothing down his hair.

"I am on it." She said and walked away.

Turning to Evelyn, he saw her hair all over her face like a bird's nest and her face red and she sneezed. Mason snorted.

Shaking his head he said, "Follow me."

"Never." She said and brushed the hair away from her face.

"Fine, then. Lead me to my room. Will you?" He said and stepped aside.

"Heh, now how hard that will be?" She said and took a step forward.

• • •

Edited.