Half a World Away

8 - Cassidy

Friday afternoon, as Cassidy was leaving her final lecture for the week, her phone began to ring. She pulled it from her bag and saw Jasmine's name flashing on the screen like a bold neon sign. She answered the call to be blown away by her best friend's shrill and high-pitched squealing.

"Cassidy!" Jasmine was so loud, Cassidy had to quickly pull the phone away from her ear and she could still hear her with ease.

"Jasmine," Cassidy said calmly, embarrassed that everyone around her could probably hear Jasmine too, "You don't have to scream at me."

"Oh yes I do!" Jasmine replied at a more conventional sound level. "And you will be screaming to when I tell you why."

"Tell me what?" Cassidy stopped and leaned against a pole, waving goodbye to some students from her class heading home.

"I entered a competition during the week on the radio and I won!" Jasmine's excitement was clear.

"That's awesome," Cassidy responded, she was happy for her friend but had no idea why she thought Jasmine would be over the moon excited.

"What's awesome is the prize," Jasmine interrupted on before Cassidy could continue, "Two front row tickets to Zack Masters concert in two weeks, with two nights' accommodation in the city for the weekend of the concert."

"Wow," Cassidy was genuinely surprised at the magnitude of the prize. The most she had ever won from the radio was a CD and when she went to collect it they couldn't find it so gave her a different one which she didn't even like. Cassidy couldn't remember what happened to that CD, it was probably at the bottom of a box back at her parents' house.

"You have to come with me," Jasmine didn't skip a beat, "We'll have the best time. So, make sure you get the time off work."

"Jasmine, what about uni?" Cassidy questioned, unsure that she really wanted to even go, "Wouldn't you rather take someone who would enjoy it more?"

"It's on a weekend and you're always ahead in your assessments anyway," Jasmine argued. "Please say you will come, it will be a great girls' weekend."

"Fine," Cassidy admitted defeat, she knew there was no arguing with Jasmine when she had her mind set to something. "I'll ask Geoff for the time off."

"Excellent. It's going to be so much fun, I promise you." With one final high-pitched squeal from Jasmine, Cassidy hung up the phone, shaking her head at her friend's excitement.

* * * * *

That night Cassidy decided to message Solo_Track. She began to wonder if he felt the same about her, wanting to see messages from her when she sent them. Cassidy opened her phone and checked to see if there were any unread messages. Nothing. She slumped in sadness but decided to message him anyway.

C45510Y: My best friend won a radio contest today. It's a pretty big prize; concert tickets and two nights' accommodation in the city. I've been roped into going with her.

It wasn't much, but it was a conversation starter all the same. She put her phone down and started reading through her textbook, studying for an exam she had coming up the following week.

Cassidy stopped studying to take a break for dinner. It was Dean's night to cook and he was a fantastic chef. It wasn't really fair for him when he had to eat the stuff Cassidy cooked up. On the menu was Chicken Cacciatore and it was delicious. He had made it completely from scratch whereas Cassidy was more of a premade-jar-mix kind of a chef on her nights. Even then it was hopeful she didn't undercook it or burn the food. It was always one way or the other, there was no in between.

PING! Cassidy's phone rang loudly from her bedroom. She jumped from surprise and leapt from her chair, racing to read the reply to her message.

Solo_Track: Sounds like a win to me. Who's the concert for?