'The Weeknd' it is.

Your mind is practically made up. You’re going to see ‘The Weeknd’. There will be other school dances you can go to. Ones where you’re actually more organised and have remembered to buy a suit for it and not just said you did. You’ll tell Rebecca tomorrow that you weren’t feeling well and just stayed in. She’ll get over it. She can never stay mad at you. Katherine was acting really weird when you said that thing about jeans and a band shirt. What was up with that?

Mr. Walsh’s voice in Biology is enough to put you to sleep. You zone out and think about something more interesting than the structures within cells. The tune of Double Fantasy by ‘The Weeknd’ becomes an earworm in your mind. As you often do, you start to daydream about Rebecca. It had been swelteringly hot. You, Rebecca and a bunch of friends from school had gone to the local swimming pool to cool, sunbathe and ride the water slides. Michael, Lyndsy as well as Katherine and Carla had headed towards the slides as soon as you’d all arrived. Rebecca had wanted to sunbake a little and work on her tan. You’d been teasing Katherine that week in school that she looked like a ghost she was so pale.

Rather than joining the others, you offered to stay and keep Rebecca company. Michael and Lyndsy had shared knowing looks but you hadn’t noticed being more focused on Becca. The swimsuit she’d worn that day was a new one. It was a one-piece but it had two large cutouts that reached across the stomach area that made it practically a bikini. It was mostly black but with some splashes of lime green.

You’d laid out next to Rebecca on a deck chair as she rested upon her towel sunbaking. Dark glasses protected her eyes from the sunshine. Rebecca had looked so good. The sun had been so warm. You remembered the glorious feel of the sun on your skin. It had been so relaxing.

You fall asleep in class….

The bell at the end of class woke you with a start. Holy shit! You can’t believe you fell asleep in class like that. What had you been thinking about beforehand? It didn’t matter, just two more periods to go and then you’ll be off home and on your way to see The Weeknd!

It’s close to 4:30 pm by the time you get home after riding your bike all that way. Your family only has the one spare car and your sister Heather gets to use it before you do. College takes preference according to your Mom, not that Heather even goes most of the time. At least it’s in the driveway when you make it home and drop your bike inside the garage.

Mom and Dad won't get home from work until late so it’s just you and your sister home most afternoons. You can hear loud music coming from Heather’s room. ‘The Weeknd’ no less! You should tell your sister about the ticket and rub it in her face. You don’t knock as you enter the room. Inside is your sister along with her tempting best friend Trish. Between the two of them they’d still struggle to manage a passing grade.

“Oi, Hoe.” It bugs Heather so much when you call her that, because it’s true. “You might be listening to this music but I’m going to be seeing them live!” As you say that, you produce the ticket from your back pocket and wave it around in the air proudly.

“What? No way you little twerp! Let me see that,” Heather springs from the bed and tries to snatch it from your hand. You’re too quick for her.

“Back off it mine. I’m keeping it.”

“Trish is going to that concert tonight and I couldn’t get a ticket. I’ll buy it from you. Three hundred bucks.”

On seeing that you have the ticket, Trish’s eyes light up with something. If your sister wasn’t distracting you, you might have seen that there was hope in her eyes. Hope that Heather would be able to buy the ticket or not, you don’t know.

“No way. I don’t care if it was three grand, I’m still going.”

Heather growls in frustration and returns to the bed, picking up the bottle of nail polish she and Trish had finished using on themselves and chucking it at you. You duck and it crashes into her neglected study desk but doesn’t break. You dart back outside your sister’s room, exultant in how much you’ve managed to piss Heather off.

You go to your room and start digging through your wardrobe and chest of draws looking for what you want to wear tonight. You have an old grey ‘The Who’ shirt that you want to wear. It takes you forever to find it, tucked away in storage at the bottom of your cupboard. You’ve just pulled your school shirt off and are about to put ‘The Who’ shirt on when you hear a knock at the bedroom door.

“Come in,” you say thinking Heather has come to make you another offer for the ticket.

It’s Trish dressed in a white ‘Fleetwood Mac’ shirt and frayed denim jeans. It’s the sort of thing you were going to wear. With her dirty blonde hair and petite body, she looks really cute you think. Standing shirtless before her, Trish’s eyes roam down onto your stomach. There are the ghostly outlines of abs and a small snail trail of body hair. Trish seems distracted by your shirtless body before she shakes her head to regain her senses.

Trish clears her throat before speaking. Her voice caught for just a second. “If Heather can’t go tonight and you do, she doesn’t need the car. If you wanted to drive, we could go together?”