New Beginnings: A Hessa Story (2)

Chapter 12: Tessa

"Kim, The Reckless Few! Really?!" I tug on her arm as the band begins to play.

"What? Isn't it so ironic that they were playing in New York City tonight!"

"Who are the Reckless Few?" Nora seems really confused. She wasn't around during that time in my life. Nothing ever happened between Jonah and me. He was my professor, nothing more.

"A band popular back in Washington. The lead singer was my old professor at WSU."

"Oh, no way! That's so funny!"

"Yeah..." I roll my eyes. Even though I like their music a lot, Hardin won't be ecstatic that this is the band Kim took me to see.

"I'm sorry, Tessa. I thought it would be fun to see them."

"It's fine, I just... I just wasn't expecting it to be them." I tell Kim.

"Well, I think they sound great!" Nora cheers with the crowd.

I realize my reaction to Kim bringing me to a Reckless Few concert was a little extreme. I didn't need to yell at her like that. Why am I being such a bitch today? My friends organized this awesome night for me, and all I've done is cause arguments with both of them.

"I'm sorry for acting like that."

"It's okay! I just want you to have fun."

I smile at Kim, and rise to my feet. "Let's go dance!" I tug on both of my friend's arms, and drag them to where a crowd is gathered in front of the stage.

"Yeah, now we're talking!" Kim squeals as we begin dancing along to one of the songs.

By the third song my feet are exhausted, but I am having too much fun to sit down. I feel like a teenager at a concert, jumping up and down and singing along to some of the covers of songs I recognize.

"I'm gonna go pee real quick. Just stay here." Kim yells in my ear as another song ends.

"Okay!" I move to nudge Nora and tell her that Kim went to the bathroom.

"How are we feeling tonight New York! Still with us!?" The guitarist screams into the microphone, causing the crowd to cheer.

"Good, good! Well, our lead singer Jonah here has something he wants to say. Jonah..." He points to my old professor, who proceeds to walk up to the microphone.

"Thanks Kev, well as all of you know... this is our first New York show..." The crowd cheers, interrupting him. "Yeah, very exciting, and if you don't know, we are a band that originally started all the way on the west coast in Washington..."

I laugh to myself as he continues his speech.

"Anyways, I have a special guest that wants to come on stage to make a shoutout." Jonah says, and signals to someone off stage to walk on. My heart drops as Kim struts onto the stage, taking the microphone out of Jonah's hand.

"Hi everyone! How awesome is this band, am I right!?" She gets the crowd cheering. "Well, my name is Kim, and my husband actually hired the Reckless Few to play at his nightclub back in Washington, so we're close friends..."

I look over to Nora who looks just as confused as I do. "Do you know anything about this?" I ask.

"I have no idea what's going on."

"Anyways, I am here with my two friends, and one of them is getting married tomorrow! Tessa? Where are you?" She looks out into the audience, searching for me, but I immediately duck down.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." I say to Nora, but she just laughs at me.

"Oh, there she is!" Kim points, and the spotlight shines brightly. I squint my eyes and look around at everyone staring at me.