Lose Control

1.

She didn’t know what exactly she wanted to do with her life, but at that exact moment she decided she could figure it out later. She was in the midst of her youth after all and what was worse than squandering such an opportunity to live? She had spent enough time thinking about the future and she knew that tonight would be the night that changed.

With a final twist of her hair she pushed in just enough bobby pins to keep the messy bun in place and smiled at the reflection of herself in the window. At her best friend’s insistence (and to her mother’s utter horror) she had dyed the ends of her long black hair a vibrant violet. With the addition of a few strands of red she was quite pleased with the result. Tonight would be the first time she’d be going out in public with her bold new look and she knew there was definitely no going back now.

Five minutes later, at exactly six thirty, she heard the rocks hitting the window she was standing in front of. She pulled it open to let her friend know she was coming and after a quick dash back to her bed to grab her purse and jacket she was climbing down the tree that grew just to the side of her room.

“Ky! Hurry up! If you get caught up in that tree we’ll never get to see Lips Touch live.” The pout was obvious in her friend’s tone and Kyler knew she had to pick up her pace just a little bit if she didn’t want to spend the night apologising. Even though the concert wasn’t supposed to start until nine o’clock that night, if they didn’t get there early there was no way they were going to secure a good spot in front of the stage.

“Yeah well if I rip my dress on the way down then we won’t be seeing anyone live tonight Chels. Especially if my mom hears you yelling. You know she confiscated my phone for two weeks just because I dyed my hair – can you imagine what she’d do if she caught me sneaking out wearing this?”

She heard the muttering below her and knew that her point had been accepted as valid. When she finally reached the ground she did a quick check to make sure her new dress was indeed rip-free and followed her friend to the car that was parked a block away. The dress felt so different from what she was used to wearing in that it was quite form-fitting and short but she figured it was exactly right for the night they had planned.

Chelsea’s sister, Francesca, had finally turned nineteen and she was ecstatic that she could finally drink legally without anyone catching on to the fact that her ID was a fake. Chelsea and Kyler had gotten the tickets and backstage passes to the Lips Touch concert as their present to her, though of course that was a mere pretence. All three of the girls had been obsessed with the band since their first album had come out and as die-hard fans didn’t really need an excuse to go see them. That it was a gift did make the two feel better about just how much they had spent on the tickets however and it helped that it was an all-ages show.

They found Frankie leaning against the driver’s door of her car with a cigarette against her mouth. Her hand fell to her side in surprise when she saw the girls approaching. “Holy smokes girl! Is that really you Kyler?” she asked in disbelief, a stream of smoke filling the air with her words.

Kyler smiled and did a little twirl as she walked past Frankie to get to the back door. “You like?” she asked with a laugh as Frankie emphatically nodded her head.

“I told you it was a fantastic dress Ky. Aren’t you glad you listened to me?” Chelsea sang as she got into the passenger seat and buckled herself in.

Because she honestly was happy that she hadn’t simply passed on the dress at the boutique she smiled at her friend and didn’t offer her a teasing remark. She was happy to sink into the familiar back seat and enjoy the song that was playing on the stereo too. After a few songs that she found she really enjoyed she realized that they all had a similar sound.