Crush4Two

Chapter 1

It was your average day on Harvey Street—or about as average as it was going to get since Lotta left. with her gone, nothing had been exactly the same as before; the Cul De Sac felt incomplete.
Audrey had tried to entertain herself with some of her usual activities, such as making gross food combos, climbing trees, and attempting new stunts, but the void was unfillable. Until...
"Dot! Guess what!" Audrey came running down the street toward her friend, grinning uncontrollably. She felt like she could burst of excitement.
"What is it, Audrey? For something to get you this excited, it would have to be—"
"Crush4you tickets for the concert on Saturday! Heck yeah!" Audrey whooped loudly and thrust her hand forward, showing off two impressive tickets. She bounced up and down as Dot examined her in awe. "I texted Lotsafun and she got a ticket too, obvinatrually. We'll all meet up!" She let out a squeal of joy and leapt into the air, doing a perfect somersault and landing on her feet.
Dot's amber eyes grew wide and excited as she clutched the ticket close to her chest. "Audrey! You're amazing!" The two shared a quick hug. "This is perfect." She punched in some numbers on her phone. "Though, from what I'm observing on your bank account, these spent up almost all your money."
"Uh, I won't ask how you got my bank account, but yeah. Anything for Crush4you." Audrey's eyes filled with sparkles. "I can just imagine J-frog's bad boy leather jacket now..."
"And mortimer's big, intelligent eyes..." the girls stood there for a couple seconds, swooning, but they then straightened up and grinned at each other.
"I have to go now, but I'll see you frimorrow." Audrey waved and ran back to her house. There, she was suddenly blocked by an angry-looking Zoe.
"Show me how you got that ticket," she pointed accusingly at the slip of paper. "Or I'm telling mom what really happened to your goldfish."
"Um, no." Audrey hissed. "Plus, I thought you didn't even like Crush?"
Zoe blushed promptly and looked away. "I don't." She huffed.
"Then you don't need a ticket. Byeeeee!" Audrey dashed into the corridor, laughing maniacally at her sister's flustered words behind her. 
She reached her room, which she had cleaned in a fit of loneliness after Lotta left, and opened up her Ipad. Her eyes widened. Five missed calls from her friend in Cincinnati, and a slew of texts. Audrey felt nervousness rise up inside her belly. She swiped to read the messages, and her heart immediately deflated.

Lotta: oh!
Lotta: I'm sorry Audrey, I actually have to miss the concert.
Lotta: I have a family vacation the exact day...
Lotta: I'm so upset right now. You can Dot can tell me about it after you're back.
Lotta: I'm giving the ticket to Richie.
Lotta: ugh... I'm so mad.

"Nooooooo!" Audrey wailed, throwing her iPad onto her bed. "How can this be happening?" She was counting on Lotta being there. They didn't get to see each other much anymore, and this would have been the perfect meeting...
She miserably replied to her friend and told Dot, who had a similar reaction. She then flopped down on her bed and struggled not to cry.
The next day, it got even worse.
"I have a really bad stomach bug," Dot mumbled, over video chat. "My doctor gave me antibiotics, but my dads are saying they don't want me to go." She sniffed loudly, and then blew her nose into a napkin. "You can give my ticket to anyone you like." She seemed to notice Audrey's stunned and hurt expression, so she smiled slightly. "Don't worry. I'm sure it will be fun whoever you go with."
"I know but..." Audrey's voice cracked. "I wanted to go as the Harvey Girls." She swiped angrily at a stray tear. "Get back in that eye, tear," she growled.
Dot's eyebrows creased sympathetically. "There'll be more chances, Audrey. Come by to pick up the ticket."
Audrey nodded numbly and ended the call. This was not going the way she wanted it to. She slumped out of the house toward Dot's porch, and rung the doorbell. Dot appeared at the threshold, nose red and hand clutching her stomach, "here." She thrust the ticket into Audrey's hands and promptly turned around to run to the bathroom.
Audrey stared at the ticket in her hands. A note was attached to it, written in Dot's neat, loopy handwriting.

Give this to someone special. -Dot

She glanced around the street. There was Stu...no, he didn't like Crush. Lucretia? Nah. Audrey wasn't really in the mood for obsessive fangirling right now.
She stomped. There was no one she could think of. She decided to go to the park and find someone.
Audrey walked until her feet hurt. She had ruled out almost everyone on Harvey Street. It was decided. There was officially no one who could take Dot's place. She found a tree and slumped down in front of it. She felt those unfamiliar tears prick up against her eyes and squeezed them shut, protesting the waterfalls she knew were hiding.
"Audrey? You 'ight?" A voice came from above. She glanced up to see none other than Melvin. She shook her head.
"Not really. I was going to go to a rad-tastic Crush4you concert with Dot and Lotta, but they both dropped out." Audrey buried her head in her arms and shut her eyes tighter to fend off " the tears. "Now I have a spare ticket and no one to give it to."
Melvin was quiet for a moment. Then, he sat down next to her and Audrey felt his arm brush her's. A jolt of electricity jumped through her. She met his gaze.
He blinked twice, and cleared his throat. "Well, I was going to say that shouldn't let this get you down. Just try to make the best of it."
Audrey sighed. "It's not that easy."
Melvin shifted so that he wasn't so close to her. "Sorry, Audrey. Sometimes things just don't work out."
Then, Audrey realized something. She pulled the ticket out of her pocket. "Melvin...how would you like to see Crush4you at the Harvetorium?"
——