To Hell With The Letdown

“Chelsea, I’m stuck in traffic; there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ll get there when I get there; I’m sorry. I know, I know, ‘I better show up or I’ll regret it.’ What’s the big deal? ... Okay, okay, fine. I’ll call you when I get there.” I threw my phone into my purse and looked out the window of the taxi I had to take as a last resort to meet up with her.
Eventually, I gave up on the cab sitting in traffic, and chose to walk the remaining distance, and thankfully, it was only a few blocks away from the venue. Finally I arrived and ran inside while digging through my purse, all of my attention directed towards looking for my phone and my ticket. I didn’t even want to go to this show, but Chelsea insisted. I’m not a big partier, but Chelsea is, and seeing as she is my best friend, who else is gonna look out for her? I ran into the venue and ran straight into her waiting by the door.

“FINALLY. GOD DAMN YOU TAKE FOREVER. Here, put this on.”

“Chelsea, I’m sorry I’m late. I’m so pissed at ---“

“Shut up, you’re here now. C’mon, there are some friends of mine I want you to meet.” She slapped a backstage pass sticker on my chest and grabbed my wrist, dragging me behind her through the crowd towards a bouncer in a corner by the stage. We walked right past without a second glance from the guy and turned down a hall too fast for me to realize what was happening.

“There you are! I see your friend finally made it!” I stood awkwardly in the doorway as a boy with long brown hair jumped up from the couch headed straight for us. “Hi, my name’s Tarcy!” He beamed with an outstretched hand.

“Oh yeah, Holly, this is Tarcy obviously, and those are the rest of the guys.” Chelsea waved vaguely at the rest of the room indicating each boy in turn. “That’s Westbrook, Kirky, Craig, aanndd.. what the hell, where’s Jason?” I smiled at them timidly as Tarcy returned to the couch.

“He was catching the end of the first set side-stage, but he should be back soon.”

“AAAHHHHHHH!” About a second later, I was being engulfed in a big bear hug from behind, knocking us both over. “Uhh… you’re not Chelsea….” My attacker quickly realized I wasn’t who he was expecting, and scrambled to his feet.

“Wow Jason, you’re an idiot. Now apologize to my friend who you so rudely attacked thinking she was me.” Chelsea slapped him across the shoulder and reached out to help me up.

“Sorry, I thought you were Chelsea, my bad. I’m Jason.” He smiled a goofy grin in slight embarrassment, and I just stood there in awkward silence.

“I’m Holly, it’s nice to meet you?”

After everyone had migrated out of the room, heading towards either the bar or elsewhere, I decided I might as well see a set considering I paid good money for this ticket after all. I bobbed my head to the music, trying not to look out of place, considering I had never heard of this band before in my life and didn’t want to be rude. Truthfully, they weren’t half bad. Jason eventually wandered over, offering to buy me a drink, but I turned him down considering I wasn’t one to hold my liquor very well and I still had to drive home tonight. He settled for buying me a soda instead, and we moved our conversation over towards the couches in the VIP section, becoming oblivious to the concert going on stage across the room. It wasn’t until he got a text from Craig wondering where the hell Kirky had run off to that I realized I hadn’t seen Chelsea in a while.

“We should probably go look for them. Knowing Chelsea, she’s probably getting herself into trouble right about now…”

“Same for Kirky. Knowing him, he’s probably well on his way to being drunk off his ass right about now…” Jason quietly laughed to himself and stood up. I got up from my seat and followed Jason towards the back room.

“HOLLYYYYYY! THERE YOU ARE! I’ve been looking every---, actually, ahahaha that’s a lie.” Chelsea sauntered over to me with a drink in both hands, stumbling a little bit on the way. “I might be a little bit druuuuuunk right now…” She whispered to me, handing me the empty cup as she finished off the other. I could easily tell she’d had more than those two drinks before I had found her.

“I can tell… Let’s get you home, okay sweetie? I used my quiet motherly voice as I looked around the room for her things. As I started collecting our things, Craig poked his head in the door mentioning a party everyone was invited to after the show.

“A party! Oh Holly, let’s go! It’ll be sooooo much funnnn!” Chelsea jumped up and stumbled after Craig out the door.

I took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “Well, I guess we’re going to the party.” Jason stood up and held out his hand, helping me up and led the way out.