Faster We Burn

cardigans.
    “Super cute,” she said, holding it up to me.
    “Hey, you’re stealing my makeover thunder,” I said, pulling the shirt I’d been wearing over my head and putting on the t-shirt.
    “Here, take these,” she said, handing me one of the only pairs of earrings she owned. “Will had a weird moment and bought me these last Birthmas.” They were dainty drop pearls, and not the cheap ones either. I had a pair that were pink, but I’d forgotten them at home.
    “There. You’re perfect,” she said after I’d added some make up. “Now get out of here, you crazy kid. Have fun.”
    I’d never been nervous going to Stryker’s apartment, so this was a first. I had to park on the street because his lot was taken up by an assortment of cars that all looked like something he’d probably worked on at one time or another.
    My heels clicked on the porch and I took another breath before I knocked.
    “It’s open!” a voice that wasn’t Stryker’s yelled down the stairs. Once I opened the front door I wondered how they’d even heard me knocking because of the noise that came from his open door at the top of the stairs. I wouldn’t exactly call it music. My mother would have been horrified.
    I took my time getting to the top step and poked my head into the open doorway. Five guys and three girls were crammed on and around the couch and on the futon, some of them with instruments, some of them with bottles, but all of them staring at me. Stryker was in the exact middle of it and smiled when he looked up from tuning his mandolin.
    “Hey, I hope I’m not late,” I said, waving and wishing I could just vanish. Or at least melt into the floor. It was just like that nightmare where you walk into class and realize you’re naked, only I could feel my heart pounding and my mouth went completely dry and I knew I was awake.
    “Hey, you’re right on time. We haven’t started yet,” Stryker said, getting up and stepping over a few people to get to me. “I’m glad you came. Everyone, this is Katie.” He dragged me into the room and eight sets of eyes gave me the once over.
    “Katie, this is Perry, Cort, Baxter, Ric, Pepper, Zoey, Allan and Theo. Yes, there will be a test on this later. Say hello everyone. I’ve told them to be on their best behavior.” The girl I thought he’d pointed out as ‘Ric’ rolled her eyes, but I thought I was the only one who noticed. She had two-tone black and blonde hair and was draped over the guy named Baxter, who had gigantic gauged ears and snakebite piercings in his bottom lip.
    “So this is where you’ve been when we called you to go out,” Allan said. He got up from his position on the coffee table and came forward to shake my hand. He bent over and kissed it and I met gray/blue eyes in a face with a crooked nose that had been broken more than once. “Nice to meet you, little lady.”
    “Hey, man. Hands off,” Stryker said, shoving Allan away so he let go of my hand. Then everyone else got up and shook my hand. There were definitely more piercings, tattoos and other body modifications than I was used to, which, I had to admit, was intimidating. I was also the only one wearing pink, but that was no shock.
    Stryker led me to the couch and shoved Perry aside so I could sit. I was still getting a lot of stares.
    “You don’t have to move,” I said, but he waved me off. I squished in next to Stryker and he gave me a little smile before picking up the mandolin again.
    “Okay, let’s take “Devil’s Tattoo” from the beginning.” Allan sat back on the coffee table and picked up a guitar, as did Perry and Baxter. Cort seated himself at the drums and Pepper had Stryker’s banjo. Theo went to the standing bass and they all waited for Stryker to count.
    “One, two, three…” They launched into a song I didn’t know, with Stryker, Allan, Ric and Zoey singing. Even with the mandolin, the song was raw and had a heavy beat that made me move with it. The group throbbed with the song and I was in the middle of it.
    It was like diving into a pool of music. It was everywhere, soaking into my skin and driving me crazy, consuming me.
    I’d never seen Stryker play in person, it had always been over the phone, so I watched him. He kept his eyes closed most of the time, but every now and then he would open them. Once or twice they searched and found me and he smiled a little.
    I closed my eyes too and gave myself over to it. They all played harder and faster, and the