in the night | the weeknd

six

2 days later

Abel

This is the last place I want to be right now - in this strip club - but Lamar dragged me here.

I hope I don't see her again, even though there's a small part of me hoping that I do see her. I can't stop thinking about what happened the last time I was here with her.

"You looking for someone in particular?" Lamar asks.

"Huh?" I say.

"You keep looking around like you're searching for someone," Lamar replies. I didn't even realise that I was looking around. "You're looking for her, aren't you?"

I bite my lip. I told Lamar all about Jasmine and what happened between us. He was shocked to hear that she was even alive and that she was working as a stripper.

I just look at him now, nodding and he frowns. "She has a boyfriend," he reminds me and a sour taste fills my mouth.

"I know that," I say. "How could she not even tell me?"

"Maybe she was scared by how you would react?" Lamar suggests.

I shake my head. "We kissed," I say. "Twice. And she couldn't even tell me that she had a boyfriend?"

"Would you still kiss her if she told you?" Lamar asks and I smile and nod and he laughs, hitting me lightly on my head.

I know it's wrong of me, but I'm too attracted to her. How would I resist kissing her? I just wish she was mine. I think back to a memory.

"Is that your girlfriend?" some guy - I forgot his name, but I know he comes to my school - asks, nodding towards Jasmine.

I wish, I think to myself, but dont say it. Instead, I just shake my head. "No," I say over the loud music and the voices of the other people in the house. "Just a friend."

"Can I hit that?" he asks.

I shrug. "Go for it," I say, even though I don't want to. I smile to myself, knowing that Jasmine will reject him, like she's done with every other guy that seems to try it on with her. I wonder if she'd reject me. I can just imagine me leaning in to kiss her and her laughing at me. I'd hate for that to happen.

I watch now as the guy walks over to Jasmine, who is smoking a blunt, while taking sips out of her red cup. Her eyes find mine and she grins and winks. I smile back at her.

Lamar comes up to me, passing me a red cup. He follows my gaze to Jasmine, who smiles and waves at him. He waves back and turns to look at me again. "You got feelings for her?" he asks me.

I tear my eyes away from Jasmine and look at him. "No!" I say, a little too quickly.

"Yes, you do," Lamar says and I give up denying it. "So, tell me, what you doing over here, while there's another guy hitting on her? Go get your girl."

I shake my head and take a long swig from the cup, watching Jasmine and the guy talk. "I don't know if she feels the same way," I say simply.