in the night | the weeknd

one

Abel

I walk into the strip club with Lamar, Hyghly, Hawk, Cash and a couple of others. The neon lights make my eyes hurt and I blink repeatedly, trying to adjust my eyes. The music blares out, causing my head to start pounding. It's probably not the music that's making my head pound though, it's probably the drinks I had on the way here.

We sit down at one of the empty sections. I look around the club. There are girls everywhere, stripping and pole dancing. I look around, trying to see if any catch my eye, but none do.

A blonde-haired girl comes up to us immediately and starts dancing. My eyes end up tearing away from her and I just turn my attention back to my phone, not interested.

"You okay, man?" Lamar asks over the loud music. 

"Yeah." I look back at my phone and scroll from some old pictures, until one catches my eye. I click on it and just stare at it, my throat going dry. 

Lamar leans over to look at the screen. "You still staring at that photo?" he asks.

"It's her birthday today," I say dully. My fingers brush against the screen over her face. I look at the photo of Jasmine and I from the last night we were at together - the night that we first kissed and slept together. 

In the photo, Jasmine has her arms wrapped around me and she's leaning on my shoulder, smiling. 

I would do anything to see her smile again. Or to even see her at all. She's been missing for the past seven years - she would be twenty five now, just two years younger than me. Where the hell did she go? And why did she take off without telling me? Is she even alive?

I ignore the thought. When I first heard that she was gone, a part of me thought that she was lying dead in a ditch somewhere - after all, she was addicted to drugs. She couldn't go a day without getting high - well, neither could I. I think that's why I was attracted to her - she was like me.

A memory comes to mind:

Jasmine leans forward to pry the blunt away from my lips. Her fingers brush lightly against my face and my body freezes at the touch. I watch as Jasmine takes a hit from the blunt, before passing it over to me. "What are you staring at, starboy?" she demands, breathing out a big cloud of smoke. Her eyes go red and she looks at me. The redness of her eyes seem to stand out even more because of how pale her face is.

I shake my head and smile at the nickname she's given me. I haven't got a clue about why she calls me that, but I like it - it sounds nice, especially coming from her. I take a hit from the blunt. "Nothing," I say. I smoke the rest of the blunt, while we sit in silence. Nervousness starts to creep up inside me. I've been meaning to talk to her about something for a very long time, but never plucked up the courage to do so. "Jasmine," I say slowly.

"Hmm?" she murmurs, eyes closed. Jasmine opens her eyes again and looks at me, a far away look in her eye. "Spit it out." Instead of using words, I lean forward and grab her face, kissing her. Jasmine kisses me back, our mouths moving in sync. My heart jumps a little at the fact that she's actually kissing me back. I pull away from her after a couple of minutes of making out and she stares into my eyes, breathless. "I've been waiting for you to do that for a long time," she whispers and I smile at her.

"And I've been waiting to do that for a long time," I reply, leaning my forehead against hers. I lick my lips and close the distance between us by kissing her again. The kiss becomes desperate and Jasmine climbs onto my lap, straddling me. I break the kiss and  trail kisses down her neck and she throws back her head, giving me better access. She grabs my chin and smashes her lips against mine again, almost throwing me off balance.

I grab the hem of her shirt and pull it up, but she stops quickly stops me. She breaks the kiss and looks at me, her hand brushing the back of my neck. "I don't want to move too fast," she whispers against my lips. 

I nod, disappointed. "Okay," I say and then stare at her. "Hold on, are you a virgin?" She's never mentioned to me that she's had sex before and she hasn't had a boyfriend, either.

A pained expression spreads across her face, but it quickly disappears when she smiles weakly. "No," Jasmine says quietly. She looks down at her hands, her cheeks burning and I lift her chin, making her look me in the eye.

"Okay. We can wait." Jasmine nods and climbs off my lap. She sits beside me and leans her head against my shoulder and I wrap my arms around her.  "Are you tired?"

"Mm hmm," she hums. 

I scoop Jasmine up in my arms and place her down gently on the bed. I lay down beside her and pull the covers over us. I wrap my arms around her and she lays her head on my shoulder, instantly falling asleep.

I smile as I listen to her light breathing, my fingers brushing against her smooth skin. This is the first time that I've ever felt happy. Maybe it's because she's the one - I can see a future with her. 

I end up falling asleep too and when I wake up, she's not there.

The happiness inside me is now full of darkness and cold.

"Abel? Abel!" Lamar shakes me, returning me back to reality. I look at him, a confused expression on my face. "You want anything to drink?"

I shake my head. "Nah," I answer. "I think I'm just going to go."

"Abe," Lamar says quietly, so that the others don't hear. "It's time to move on. Jasmine's been gone for seven years now. No one's seen her. For all we know, she might be dea - . . ." He trails off when he sees me glaring at him.

I shake my head. "I'm leaving," I mutter. I get up and walk to the exit.

"You're late again, Laura!" a male voice snaps from the left of me.

"I know, I'm sorry," a female voice says.

I turn to look at the two. The guy is the owner of this club, I realise and the girl has her back turned towards me. Her blonde hair - which looks like a wig - falls down her back in curls.

"You're done here," the guy says.

"Just give me one more chance!" the girl protests. "Please! I need this job!" The guy shakes his head and walks off and the girl lets out a frustrated groan and pulls off - as I suspected - her wig, revealing black hair.

When she turns around, my throat goes dry and my eyes grow wide. My heart starts thumping heavily against my chest. She looks just as beautiful as I remember. There's tears in her eyes and when her eyes lock with mine, her mouth hangs open. "Abel?" she breathes.

"Jasmine."