Page 37 of Marked By Shadows
Alex gave a raised brow in question since he obviously had no idea what they were talking about. I’d fill him in later.
“What about the rest of you? Are you working on costume stuff? Micah’s stuff is pretty cool. Freya made him a gorgeous outfit too.” Alex said. Which reminded me I had yet to thank Freya for her work.
“Did it fit okay?” She asked me.
“I didn’t have a chance to try it on yet,” I told her feeling bad about that since she’d gone through so much work. Would she be upset to know I wasn’t sure I could wear it after all this time? I hated the idea of losing her friendship over my hang-up.
“We were focused on finding an outfit for me last night,” Alex said. “Micah was pretty excited to show me a few things.”
“In more than one way, I bet,” Jonah teased. Everyone laughed. Alex squeezed my hand and a touch of pink dotted his cheeks. Yeah, totally jealous that anyone else could make him blush like that.
“Let me know before you leave for the week,” Freya said, not seeming bothered I hadn’t tried on her creation yet.
“It’s beautiful,” I said. “The craftmanship is divine.”
Freya beamed. “I’m glad you like it, but again let me know if the fit is off anywhere so I can fix it. And be sure to send me your promo photos in it. I will start passing them around Instagram and my site. Build a little hype for you.”
“Sure,” Alex said, not really promising anything, I realized as he stood. “Let me run back to our cabin and grab stuff. I can’t wait to see all of you work magic.” He patted me on the shoulder, and I watched him walk toward the back of the house with a bit of a spring in his step. He seemed really excited to stay inside with a bunch of nerds working on cosplay costumes.
“That boy is fine,” Jonah said. “Do you all see how that shirt fits? The muscles on that boy…”
“And he’s super into you, Micah,” MaryAnn added.
“More than Tim ever was,” Nicole agreed.
“And really into your crafting,” Julie said.
“Sounds like a good match to me,” Freya smiled.
“We haven’t been together long,” I said. “But we seem to fit.”
“Bet he more thanfitsyou,” Jonah said.
Chad threw a napkin at him. “Not everyone wants dick. Stop being one.”
“Sugar, I’d even take yours right now,” Jonah offered. “Haven’t had one in a while.”
“I can’t believe you’re all messing around when Byrony and Joe are still out there,” Melissa said. She sat at the opposite end of the table, no food or anything in front of her, with her hands clutching the table. “We should all be out there looking.”
“You heard Freya,” MaryAnn said. “It’s better to let the police do their job. What do we know about finding missing people in the woods?”
Melissa’s gaze settled on me. “A lot.”
Only none of them had ever searched for me. They hadn’t left the comfort of their homes to traipse through the woods or grieve for a guy they made costumes with. And I understood, as I probably would have done the same for all but Freya. But it was far too early in the morning for me to be nice. There were parts of this group that had always carried a grudge against me. Whether it was my success, my youth, or something else, I didn’t know. Only that sometimes I really grew tired of defending myself. My disappearance had made me realize that maybe they weren’t my friends. And that was okay, they didn’t need to be. Spending time crafting with like-minded people brought enough joy that we didn’t need to be best buds. It did remind me of why I’d been so thrilled Alex had returned so I could drag him along. He might not have the same craft intensity of the rest of the group, but I liked his company enough for it to not matter.
“None of this is my fault. I didn’t send them out to play in the dark. I didn’t even invite them on this trip,” I reminded them.
“Right, you hate Byrony,” Melissa accused.
“I don’t hate her. I barely know her.”
“Barely know her but got into an online war with her over a couple pictures.”
“That was a long time ago.”
Byrony had copied a couple outfits I’d done. Not even some general character cosplay, but original designs. She’d never owned up to it, though my followers had been the first to alert me to the photo evidence and point fingers at her. She saw my switch to sex on film as defeat, and flaunted another half dozen designs she’d stolen. Then I’d vanished, only to return and find her slandering me wherever she could. She even told her followers that I’d made the entire disappearance up to get attention. I left most of the internet crowds, changed my business, and spent very little time with any of the original cosplay group. Only the once a year trip, and last year Byrony had not even shown.
Was I still bitter about her theft and slander? Yes. But it simply meant we were no longer friends, and I made a point not to share ideas in any space she was also in, but it didn’t mean I hated her enough to hurt her.