Chapter 6 Hazel
Hazel
The beer in my hand sloshed back and forth, climbing the rim of each side of the clear plastic cup, but never spilling over as I followed close on Skylar’s heels.
Fifteen dollars for ten ounces of a light beer had me shaking my head, even now, and there was no way I was letting a drop of it go to waste.
Leading the way through the thick crowd in bedazzled cowboy boots and a little red dress, Genesis looked back at Skylar and me, making sure we were still in tow.
Skylar had long enough legs to keep up, but five-foot-three me had to double time my steps.
Genesis was even shorter than me, but the girl could speed-walk faster than I could jog when she was excited about something.
Her face when she’d found out about the tickets to the festival was nearly comical.
Theatrical even. But I’d come to expect an over-the-top reaction from her at this point in our friendship.
She’d peed her pants in excitement when I told her I finally filled out the divorce papers.
She said it was the best pre-wedding gift I could’ve given her.
And then, of course, she’d offered her support and gentle words.
“If she pulls my arm off, can you reattach it?” Skylar tried to sign back at me the best she could with her vacant hand.
Genesis had her fingers interlocked with hers in a vise grip.
I laughed and gave her a thumbs-up, carefully lifting my drink to my lips and taking a sip. The cheap beer was cold and delicious. I’d do a little dance of enjoyment if I wasn’t so scared of losing my friends in this crowd.
The lady at the gate entrance had told us there were over forty thousand people in attendance so far for the day. The sun was still high in the sky, the starting lineup of bands was only just beginning, and the place was already crawling with people in every direction.
I felt the bass drum sound off with five loud thuds at the nearest stage, and everyone nearby raised their hands or cups in the air, mouths opening with cheers.
“That’s that one band Cal—”
I couldn’t read the rest of Genesis’s words as she turned her head to look at the stage.
Skylar turned and filled me in, telling me the all-girl band called Aries Angels was one of Genesis’s fiancé’s favorite new bands.
Genesis spun and signed to me with concern, “I’m not sure if they’ll have interpreters at every stage.”
I shrugged and smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I didn’t expect them to. Everything will be so loud; I’ll still get to enjoy it, even if I don’t know the lyrics.”
My hearing wasn’t completely gone. I had what they called profound hearing loss.
With the help of my hearing aid, I could make out lower-frequency sounds when they were loud enough, so I was a huge fan of music with a lot of drum and bass.
Higher frequencies that were often made with guitar or vocals might as well be nonexistent to me.
“Let’s get closer, come on!” I insisted, nodding my head toward the front of the stage.
With some impressive weaving, the three of us managed to get a spot on the far-left side of the stage, near some of the speakers, before the crowd got too thick.
The air smelled of freshly cut wet grass, cheap beer, marijuana, and random perfume that came and went with the breeze and from whoever was nearby.
A girl with body glitter all over her chest, arms, and the apples of her cheeks got my attention in the growing chaos. A vein in her forehead strained as she told me, “I love your outfit!” clearly trying to make sure I heard her.
There were many reasons why I loved attending events like this, one of which was that everyone, in their own way, had to alter their way of communicating with one another.
Luckily, for me, that usually meant better enunciation from strangers, making it easier for me to read lips and make friends.
That was, until the liquor set in. Then all hope was lost in trying to understand anyone.
But that typically was the case for most people, hearing impaired or not.
You gave a girl too much tequila, and even she didn’t know what she was trying to say.
Thank you so much! I mouthed back, sheepishly shoving my hands into the front pockets of my black denim shortalls.
The two straps hooking together in the front hid my breasts well enough to wear this cute sheer top I’d thrifted beneath it without a bra.
The side boob I was giving was a little risky for my usual style, but the breeze felt amazing on a hot day like today.
Besides, everyone wore fun outfits to music festivals like this one.
Everywhere I looked, there were fishnets, rhinestones, asses on display, and heart-shaped pasties.
Skylar waved at me to get my attention and made a circling motion with her fingers, winking.
The tiny light bulb in my head went off, and I remembered why she wanted me to turn around.
I quickly did as she’d asked, and she dug out the folded-up sign we’d made last night from my small backpack.
She held it in the air. Bride-to-Be was written in beautiful script lettering, courtesy of yours truly, with a giant arrow pointed down to where Genesis was standing.
She had no idea we’d made a sign to attract attention toward her, but we were determined to go as long as we could without her noticing.
Standing at the front outer edge of the stage made it more difficult to catch the eyes of one of the band members, being just out of their central line of view. But after their sixth song, the lead guitarist made her way over for a guitar solo and blew Genesis a big kiss when she finished.
Genesis turned around to high-five us, making me and Skylar jump when we were too slow to hide the sign from her.
“You guys!” Her mouth dropped open when she saw it, but the glimmer in her eyes never left. “You’re both so sneaky! Stop that. Put that down!”
“You’ll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands,” Skylar told her, holding it even higher than she was before.
She towered a good six inches or so over the two of us in just her tennis shoes while we fought for more distance from the ground in our heeled boots.
“Jump, little shrimp!” She stuck her tongue out at Genesis playfully.
I giggled as Genesis craned her neck up at Skylar with narrowed eyes.
“Being a tree doesn’t help you if you’re ticklish!” Genesis quipped, quickly attacking Skylar before she could defend herself.
Her arms shot to her sides as she keeled over.
Fighting off Genesis, I recovered the sign and held it behind me, but she then shifted her attention to me, poking my sides where she knew I was the most ticklish. I tried my best to keep my composure and stay strong but lost the battle.
Before I could drop it, the sign was pulled from my hands. When I turned to retrieve it, my eyes met a large, manly chest. I flicked my gaze up to see who the cutoff T-shirt and muscles belonged to, and a dark-haired guy with a lip piercing winked down at me.
“I got your back.” I read the words from his lips, a silver ring puncturing through the outer edge of flesh. He shook our sign in his hand, flexing his bicep for show as he did so.
I felt the urge to roll my eyes yet refrained.
He had impressive arms that I was sure many girls would love to fawn over, but I wasn’t one of them.
If anything, the lip piercing was more alluring to me than the muscles.
But the thing was, men who had this incredible list of attractive traits—the strength, the height, the dark hair, the bad-boy body decor—never knew how to wield the power adequately.
All those things were easily depicted by the eye; they certainly didn’t need to shove it down our throats.
A little humility went a lot further than a peacocking display. At least for me anyway.
Uh, thank you, I mouthed to him, offering a small smile as gratitude.
“Cute ’fit,” he said, boldly running his pointer finger along the strap of my shortalls, dangerously close to my breast.
Touching me without my consent definitely wasn’t winning him any points either.
I nervously tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear, took my sign, and turned back around to face the stage.
Skylar and Genesis were smiling like idiots, and I did my best to ignore them.
“Watch the band, both of you.” I pointed at the stage, shaking my head and stifling a laugh so I wouldn’t encourage them.
Genesis wiggled with excitement. “He’s cute!”
Well, I knew that. I wasn’t blind. If that man’s occupation didn’t include modeling for literally anything, then he was doing something wrong with his life.
I shrugged, still vividly aware of how close he was standing. “Okay. And?”
Skylar swatted at my arm and quickly stole a glance at the man behind me. “Flirt with him a little.”
Admittedly, the brief attention I had gotten from him fired a tiny spark in the back of my mind.
Hope maybe? Being found desirable again by someone I also found attractive was something I could check off my list of future concerns.
But as flattering as it was, not a single cell in my body was pulled to lip-ring boy.
Did that mean something in me was broken?
Or was I not permitting myself yet to look at other men the same way I used to look at my husband?
Skylar gave me a soft yet knowing expression, as if she could see the thoughts swirling in my mind. “There’s no harm in flirting.”
“I know,” I agreed dismissively.
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t want to, okay?” My face morphed with indignation as I signed the words, and I immediately regretted it. I hadn’t meant to direct it toward her. “I’m sorry. I just don’t think I’m ready for that.” I took a breath and then interlocked my hand in hers.
“Okay,” was all she said.
And that was all I needed. Relief was already flooding my chest.
We moved around from one stage to the next after Aries Angels finished their set, wandering aimlessly with drinks in our hands and grins on our faces.
The sun had long set by the time the headliners began.
Stage lights left and right lit up the festival fields in various colors and flashing patterns, matching the performances.
It was hard to choose which one to watch, but since this was for Genesis, we let her lead the way, which proved to be more of an athletic choice than I’d anticipated.
Keeping up with her required stamina and coordination at a place like this, both of which were difficult to do when it was dark outside and I had alcohol humming through my veins.
“Oh shit! I think they’ve already started!” Genesis said, gesturing for me and Skylar to hurry toward the nearest stage.
“Is she ordering energy drinks with her vodka sodas and not telling us about it?” I asked.
Skylar snickered as I chugged the remaining contents of my fifth beer, and we both skipped after her.
The screen onstage read the band’s name, A Quiet Peril, which sounded vaguely familiar, but so did a lot of other bands here; it was hard to be sure if I knew anything until they started playing.
A Quiet Peril’s crowd was already massive and growing, more and more people flocking from drink tents and other nearby sets.
I could feel the vibrations from the drum and bass all the way in the back of the crowd, and I smiled. The warmth of my buzz made my hips sway to the rhythm and, apparently, my footsteps slow.
“Come on! Come on!” Genesis signed impatiently.
“Where could we possibly be going?” Skylar asked, staring out at the sea of people. “This crowd is thick as hell.”
“We’ll make it through. Hold that sign up, and let’s go,” Genesis ordered.
“Oh, now she likes the sign.” I raised my brows at Skylar.
She was insane if she thought a measly sign like this was going to excuse us all the way up to the front.
But I didn’t have a choice.
In the next second, I was being pulled through the sweaty crowd by the most determined woman in the world. I hoped Skylar was close behind. I was focusing too hard on the narrow pathway Genesis was leading me through to look back and check.
Our progress had very little to do with the sign—which I moved to cover my face to avoid the nasty looks I was getting—and had everything to do with the fearsome girl yanking me through the sea of sweaty limbs. It was honestly quite impressive.
By some miracle and countless disgruntled festivalgoers, all three of us ended up on the outer edge of the stage again. I felt a little bit like one of those balls in a pinball machine, being shoved and bounced around. Discombobulated but still in one piece.
Once I finished rolling my wrist back into place, I leveled Genesis with an unamused stare. “You know, you’re scary sometimes.”
She winked and pointed up at the stage. “You’re welcome!”
At first, I thought she was gloating about how close we were to the band, but then I saw the ASL interpreter in the corner, signing the lyrics to the song they were currently playing.
My mouth dropped into an awed grin.
Genesis rose on her toes, planting a kiss on my cheek and wiping away her lipstick afterward. “Now you can get to know their songs better,” she signed. “I think you’ll love them as much as I do.”
I hooked my arm around her neck and smooched the side of her head repeatedly in return.
She accepted all the praise and then flipped her attention to the dark-haired lead singer wailing into the microphone. The fangirl in her bubbled loose, and she threw her hands in the air, screaming.
Skylar leaned forward on the barricade beside me, watching the cute guitarist as he intricately worked his hands up and down the neck of his electric guitar.
The bright pink hair of the bassist at the other end of the stage caught my eye. She looked like a spitfire, dancing around in knee-high leather boots, mini shorts, and a sexy lace-up corset top. Her energy reminded me a bit of Genesis, which made her instantly my favorite.
That was, until my gaze landed on the man behind them all, hammering away on the drums.