"Those words - they were so superficially familiar. But it was like they took on a whole new meaning the moment she said them."

"What did she say again?"

"I guess I expected too much from him." I paraphrase.

Tonya moves some of the auburn strands falling on her face to continue monitoring the Uber car widget moving on the map towards her house.

"I agree with her."

She doesn't even look up when I shake my head disapprovingly. Of course Tonya agrees with that statement. She hardly believes in love - she'll be the first to tell you.

"It's such a sad statement though. How can something as simple as fidelity be too much?"

Tonya's eyes freeze in place as her body remains still. Slowly, her lids lift to reveal her dark irises.

"It's not, right?" I ask.

"I think you're reading too deeply into this. He cheated on her; big whoop. She can join the two-thirds of the female population that already went through that and got the fuck over it."

I ignore her comment. She doesn't know Leona like I do. Leona doesn't break down - ever.

"I always knew there was something off about him. Even Mackenzie refuses to see him all these years later. You'd think that being his child would mean that she'd love him unconditionally, but she literally blanks out when his name comes up."

"She blanks out every two seconds."

I nod as Tonya's eyes circle back to her phone screen.

If there's something to know about my cousin, Mackenzie, it's that she makes a point of not caring about anyone or anything - even more so than Tonya. Her mother adopts the same attitude for the most part. But this morning, she was different. Receiving that cheque from Ivan had completely rocked her world. Her never-before-seen tears stirred up an anger in me - a true hatred for the first and only love of Leona's life.

That cheque was a slap in the face after the years of abandonment both mother and child had endured. I stayed there the whole morning, hugging her close from the right whilst my mother took left flank, trying to shoulder some of her pain. I listened to her ramble on about the havoc he wreaked in her life while remaining unaffected myself. But those words, when said, crawled under my skin and left me feeling uneasy.

After all, what is love but expectations and conditions? That's how people should pick their partners; by believing what they do, not what they say. That's why I still don't understand how Leona didn't see it coming. I haven't even lived half as much as her, but I'm already aware of the Ivans of the world. In fact, I had my very own Ivan. But he never got the best of me because I never expected anything from him. I knew he wasn't the one for me.

He never showed signs of wanting commitment, he barely cared about me and he never looked back once he left me. His actions told me everything about him, the way I'm sure the actions of the next man I'll love one day, will tell me everything about him. At least, the way I was sure. It's those words. They're threatening the very foundation of my belief in true love.

"McKay!"

I hear my name coming from the wide foyer of Tonya's house and hurry over. It's time to go watch my friends' favourite boy band with sixty-eight thousand other people in the biggest stadium the humble state of Ohio has to offer.

I find the cab parked by the sidewalk. Both Danatha and Tonya are inside, hollering for me to get in, but something in the sky catches my eye and winks at me. Is that a plane?

"Hurry up bitch!" screeches Tonya, forcing my palms to fly to my ears and my feet to rush into the cab.

Danatha pulls out her phone. She and Tonya are set to snap many pictures of their favourite band members. Tonya has the selfie stick and Danatha has all three of our phones fully charged as well as a power bank.

The two are beyond excited to see Lune Quartz play live for the first time ever in our state. Sure, between the four members, they only really watch for the unofficial lead singer and another guy known as Icy Eyes for obvious reasons. But unfortunately, it's a four-for-two deal.

Danatha scrolls through the pictures she's downloaded off the internet, gearing up to grill me.

"Who's this?"

I look at the picture of a guy with a sandy complexion and a tiny mohawk.

"You're really going to kid yourself like that? I don't remember their names. Sorry."

Danatha has continually told me about all the members, but I never care to remember them. I've never been a part of the huge fandom that is the Lune Qutees, even though two out of three of my close friends are. I'm only here as a favour to our other good friend, Sybil.

She's the one who came up with the idea of buying them tickets to the show. I opted out, knowing I'd be uncomfortable during the whole event. But then Sybil's parents asked her to not go to the concert; they were worried about her safety. We all knew that a suggestion from the Dillard couple was never really a suggestion, so Sybil immediately sold her tickets. Unfortunately, she also let it slip that she had bought the tickets to Danatha and Tonya.

In summary, Tonya found another way to get a hold of three tickets without checking whether I wanted to come or not. So now, I'm being forced to go despite feeling nauseated at the thought of breathing in that much communal air per square centimetre.

"Kay, you promised. I'm not going to explain who each one of them is during the show."

That's right, I did promise that I would make this experience as fun as possible for her. Since I didn't follow through with the other promise of listening to the band's full catalogue last week, I should probably show that my word does have value - at least sometimes.

"Sorry, I'll try to be excited."

"Thank you."

I wrap my arms around her, employing the fakest smile ever.

"Anything for my bestie!"

She sticks out her tongue before launching into her summary of the band for my exclusive benefit (maybe the driver's too - who knows).

"Cool, so first up we have the lead-"

"Adam!" I blurt out, drawing from a vague memory.

"No, his name is Aden - Aden Arrington. He's an incredible singer and a fan favourite. He's the more moody, broody member of the group but like in a dark, mysterious, sexy kind of way. You can't miss him; remember: green eyes, long brown, slightly curly hair.

"Wait, I don't even know why I'm mentioning that he has slight curls; he's the only one with long hair in the band anyway.

"Then there's Jude Llanelli. Uh! He is so sexy. I mean, I'm not a fan of the ginger, but he can pull off anything - he's that hot."

"No offence taken." Tonya says, still looking for the best filter on Snapchat even though she always settles for the flower crown. If she wasn't sitting by the other door, I would change it for her. But Danatha is stationed right between us.

"None intended." "You're not even a real redhead." I defend.

Danatha quickly moves on.

"Anyway, he's quite buff compared to the others and has those beautiful piercing blue eyes. Next we have-"

"The most boring parts of the show," Tonya cuts in. "Let's move on. We have more pressing issues."

Danatha rolls her eyes, but Tonya remains unbothered.

"Now, perk up those ears and listen. Here's the gameplay: when we get there, you'll wait in the protocol parking lot while I go backstage and talk to Jake. He'll hand over the tickets and we'll be seated in no time. I'll come get you guys there; got it?"

We both nod before Danatha continues.

"Then there's-"

But once again, she's cut off by Tonya.

"There's two more guys: shy guy Nathan Figueredo and eternal jokester Callisto Barnes - it's really not important that you know who is who. Anyway. Dan, Friday at Faust's. You in?"

"Stop calling me that!"

To be fair, that is one of Danatha's biggest pet peeves. But she happens to be friends with the most antagonistic girl at Dalton High. Their words fly right over my head as they continue their verbal sparring. There's no point in asking Tonya why she didn't ask me. We both know I avoid parties like the plague - especially parties that I know Mackenzie will be at - which are all of them.

My eyes drift to the window and I go back to thinking about Leona's words. I have a feeling they are going to haunt me for the rest of the week.

By the time we get to the backstage area, I need to pee, but I don't even dare complain to Tonya in the nervous state she's in. As she disappears into the back of the venue, Danatha and I go buy snacks, only to find that we can't do it without the tickets. On our way back to the backstage area, Danatha's phone rings.

She raises her brows at me and takes off. I already know it's JD (John Dale) - her long-time boyfriend. I heard Danatha in the backyard when she arrived at Tonya's house softly telling him that she didn't want to talk to him any longer. He's probably calling to apologize for whatever it is that he did in the first place.

The lot is jam-packed with cars of all sorts including four tour buses. My eyes are immediately drawn to the biggest one. I stare at the section that's visible from where I'm standing, letting curiosity overtake me as I absorb the features of the two members I least heard about from my friends.

One has gorgeous, wide, dark brown eyes and a brown side-swoop on his head that's a little too long for my liking. The other is mohawk guy. His features are more pronounced in the picture and his gold nose ring stands out on his face. They're not bad-looking at all. I wonder why they're overlooked.

A speck of sky above the bus starts glinting as a huge ball comes into view. I look around, bewildered. Am I the only one seeing this? A jagged-edged comet flies above my head, leaving a huge tail behind it. Wow. I've never seen anything like it. It's so beautiful.

In my contemplation, I fail to see a group fast approaching me. Before I can even react, I'm railroaded as they excitedly scuttle past me. The crowd carries me forward, even with my persistent attempts to break free of its grip. Eventually I'm sifted out of the group. I'm about to sigh with relief, when I'm instantly ushered forward by some woman.

"Come on, move that rump! We're already running late."

I grab her arm to catch her attention, but she doesn't even flinch. She's too busy shouting into her earphone mic.

"Yes, the guests are on their way, beverages and snacks have been placed along with gift bags at the exit." she rambles on.

I shove her off me, but she shoves me back into the group of girls who distractedly move me to the centre. Failing to turn, I walk backwards. The woman is nowhere in sight, so this should be my opening. But instead, once I'm almost out, a man throws something over my head. Puzzled, I look down to see a badge. I pick it up for a closer look. It says VIP access. Holy shit!

Author's Note:

For the sake of ease, I've cast

Nina Sobrev as McKay Da Silva

And

Ian Somerhalder as Aden Arrington