Kathy found a solution the moment she stepped out of the club and saw the crowd gathered in front of the door that lead backstage.

Kelly stood there together with what looked like half the audience who had lined up to see the band and mingle with them.

Greatful for a familiar, friendly face, Kathy headed towards her.

"Where are all the guys?" she asked the moment she reached her best friend.

"Oh, you scared me," Kelly said, clutching her chest. "Sonia and Dustin are together, so there's no point, you know. You decided to show up?"

"I was wondering if we could go home together," Kathy said sheepishly.

"Sure, after the party."

Ah, crap. "Could it be before the party?"

Kelly glared at her. "Wasn't Donnie supposed to take you home?"

"He's drunk," Kathy admitted, then bit her lip. And has lipstick stains all over him. Her eyes glazed over again and she fought back tears. She hated crying, hated being weak, but with the anger gone, all that was left was pain.

Kelly's expression softened and she seemed torn between helping her friend and hanging out with her crush. As if to save her from making a decision, the door opened and Joey came out, grinning like a maniac.

"After party at my house!" he yelled. "Just follow the yellow Camaro and you'll get there. We'll be leaving in five."

The crowd cheered and everyone rushed towards the parking lot and to their cars. Kelly didn't move, but stared at Joey with puppy-dog eyes. He stopped half-turned in the threshold and looked at her curiously. For a moment, they just stared at each other, and Kathy half-expected an avalanche of confetti to fall over them and the theme to Love Story to start playing.

Joey finally snapped out of his trance and smiled. "Aren't you coming?"

Kelly began to nod, but frowned and looked at Kathy. Kathy's stomach churned. Great, she now felt like she was standing in the way of true love. But she had to get home. It was close to midnight already and who knew how long the party would last? She really didn't want to have to call William or her parents and make them privy to her relationship drama.

"I'd love to," Kelly finally answered. "But my friend needs a ride home." Her voice was so pleading, Kathy wondered if she wouldn't be better off walking home. It would probably take her two hours, but maybe it was worth it.

"If I find a ride for your friend, will you come?" Joey asked.

Holy hell, Joey likes Kelly, too. Kathy shifted her weight, trying to decide what to do.

"Listen, if you can't find anyone, that's okay. I'll manage somehow."

"Oh, no, don't worry, I have the perfect solution. Come on in, girls!" Joey motioned to them and stepped inside.

Much happier, Kelly bounced in his wake while Kathy followed, dragging her feet. She felt like a complete intruder.

The room behind the stage was tiny and stuffed with couches, cabinets and instruments. The couple, Dustin and Sonia sat tangled on one of the couches, while the long haired guy was putting his guitar away in its case.

"Hey, guys, emergency," Joey said heading for a whiteboard in the corner. It was filled with what looked like lyrics, but Joey wiped it clean in seconds. "This is Kelly." He gestured towards her and wrote her name down for everyone to see. Kathy thought Kelly would faint with delight. "And her friend..." He tilted his head questioningly.

"Kathy," she said.

"Right." Joey wrote down Cathy.

"It's with a K," Kathy said, just as Kyle came in, the guitar case already slung over his back.

"Right," Joey said again, his attention turned to Kyle. "There you are. Are you sure you don't wanna come?"

"What, to your house?" Kyle asked. His speaking voice was just as melodious as his singing one, if a little less raspy. It also sounded vaguely familiar for some reason. "Since I didn't have a personality transplant in the last five minutes, that would be a hard pass."

"You're a killjoy, man!" Sonia said, throwing a drumstick at him.

Kyle caught it in midair and twisted it between his fingers. "If joy is watching you and Dustin eating each other's faces off, then yes, I'm a huge killjoy."

"Okay, if you're sure," Joey said quickly, throwing Kelly a sideway glance. "Can you help me out? Kelly's friend, Kathy with a K, needs a ride home. Could you drop her off?"

Kyle looked at Kathy, and for a moment, her heart thumped loudly, but he squinted at her and an amused smirk lifted the corners of his mouth, as if he found her funny for some reason. What the hell? She'd thought they actually had a moment out there.

"Not sure I should. Don't think I'm daring enough for her standards."

Kathy's cheeks caught fire even if she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Please," Kelly said, joining her hands in prayer. "Her boyfriend got drunk and left her without a ride."

"Gee, thanks, Kelly," Kathy mumbled. That's right, make everyone feel sorry for me.

Kyle didn't seem sorry for her. Instead, he rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

"And I should be getting her home, but I really want to come to your party." Kelly pouted and batted her eyelashes at Joey who returned her sappy gaze.

Kathy had no idea what was going on and why Kyle was being such an ass to her, but she wanted none of this. "Look--"

"Fine, I'll take her." Kyle's words shut her up instantly, even if he sounded exasperated. He passed his guitar to Joey. "My amp's already in your trunk. If I see a dent on any of my equipment, you're dead." He turned to Kathy. "Come on." And he walked past her and let himself out the door.

Kathy threw one last look at Kelly, who waved to her before getting lost in Joey's hazel eyes once again, then followed Kyle out, wondering why she was going off with him. Sure, he was an awesome singer, but she couldn't say she was a big fan of his personality.

When she stepped out of the club, he was already in the parking lot, waiting for her. Once she reached him, he headed out without saying a word and stopped in front of a red and black Ducati Monster. Kathy's eyes widened.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no.

"Hop on," Kyle said, straddling it and pulling out two helmets and a pair of gloves. His helmet was black and red to match the motorcycle and had a black visor.

Kathy stared at the motorcycle, then at him. There was no way she'd ended up hitching a ride with Cecily Howard's ex-con boyfriend. The guy who saved Donnie and who she'd called a jerk instead of thanking him. She couldn't be that unlucky.

"You coming or what?" Kyle had already put on his helmet and gloves and was holding the other helmet out to her.

"I... You don't have to take me."

This time, he actually flipped the visor up so she could see his face. "I said I would. Now unless you have something personal against me, I suggest we head out. It is pretty late and I have somewhere to be."

Jail? Cecily's house? Doing more crime? What had he even been in for?

"It's nothing personal," she stammered. "I've just never been on a motorcycle before."

He tilted his head, once again looking amused. "Really? Evel Knievel never took you out on that dope moped of his?"

Just thinking about Donnie and what happened that day made her want to cry and scream with both pain and embarrassment. She just wanted to go home already, so who cared if she'd have to ride on a motorcycle with a rock star ex-con?

She took the helmet and put it on with shaky hands before settling in the back of the motorcycle. The seat was raised and forced her to slide against Kyle's back. Ugh, she hated this position and wished she could actually sit up straight. To his credit, Kyle didn't seem to give a crap that she was pressed against him. He either really respected his relationship with Cecily or was way too used to girls rubbing up against him.

For a fleeting moment, Kathy wondered where Cecily was, but all that flew out of her mind when Kyle started the engine and the motorcycle roared to life beneath her.

"Don't go too fast," she said quickly.

"Where's the fun in that?" Kyle mumbled. "Just hold on and it will be over before you know it. Where do you live?" Kathy gave him the address. "Pfft, that's not even a proper detour."

You rude ass. She wanted to nudge him, but wound up wrapping her arms around him as the motorcycle shot forward. It was fast. Too fast. And the roar of the engine seemed to buzz inside her. She tightened her grip and buried her head in his back, all sense of propriety replaced by her primal need to survive. She wasn't sure she liked this. It felt so unsafe. And yet it kept going and going, forcing her to relieve all the bad choices she'd made in her life.

I'm going to die. We're going to crash and they won't even be able to identify my body. Her fingers dug deeper into Kyle's stomach. And I'm going to die with him. How can he drive so fast and not be scared? How can he--

Her thoughts screeched to a halt as Kyle slowed down and stopped. Kathy lifted her face and noticed that they'd stopped outside her house. She hardly managed to unclench her fingers from Kyle's t-shirt and sat up straight, trying to regain at least a semblance of dignity.

"Thanks," she said, her voice sounding annoyingly like a mew. She took her helmet off and passed it to him.

"No trouble." He took it from her and put it back under the seat, while she climbed off the deathtrap.

She took a few steps towards the door, but turned around. There were things left unsaid and she didn't want to owe him anything.

"Look, I wanted to say... um, thanks. For helping Donnie out and for taking me home, I guess."

He smiled, and this time it wasn't laced with sarcasm. It made her body heat up for some unfathomable reason.

"That's okay, Goldilocks. We're cool."

"Please don't call me that."

He bowed his head in acceptance. "Fair enough. You don't look like you eat a lot of porridge anyway."

She pursed her lips not to laugh and gave him a small wave before heading back towards her house. A few steps later, she turned around as the night stayed silent. Kyle sat on his motorcycle, forearms crossed over the handlebar, watching her.

"Um, aren't you driving off?" Kathy asked.

"I wanted to make sure you reached your door safely."

Oh. "You don't have to do that." Hell, Donnie never did that. "Goodnight."

He shrugged. "Yeah, you're three steps away from safety anyway." He put his helmet back on and kicked the beast back to life. "Goodnight, Kay."

And in a roar of engine and screeching tires, he was gone.

🧩🧩🧩

Greetings! Thanks so much for reading another chapter of this piece of bumbling art I call a story.

So... Kyle talks (again, but with a name put to him this time). And he actually recognized Kathy. What's your first/second impression of him? And how do you feel about Kathy's behavior at this point?

Thanks for reading (again) and don't forget to vote/comment if you liked it.