Chapter 1
“We are now preparing for landing in beautiful, sunny West Palm Beach,” the captain of the plane announced during the tail end of my flight from Nashville. “Please keep your seatbelts fastened until the sign has gone off.”
The reason I was going to West Palm Beach was to reconnect with a childhood friend who had moved away in second grade. Her name is Lydia Martinez, and we’d been inseparable from the time we were still in diapers until she moved.
I let my mind wander as I thought about seeing Lydia again, and the next thing I knew, the plane had landed, and everybody was getting off with their bags. Smiling, I followed suit with my backpack and purse and weaved my way through the large crowds to baggage claim. Once I retrieved my suitcase, I picked up a rental car and drove to Lydia’s house.
“Hey, stranger!” Lydia exclaimed with a hug after she answered the doorbell. “I haven’t seen you in a hot minute! I thought you were bringing your boyfriend, though?”
I tightened my embrace, and then we finally pulled away. “Isaac has to work this weekend, so he couldn’t come.”
“Oh, that’s a shame.” She glanced at my belly and added, “And who’s this?”
“My twin girls,” I said. “I’m five weeks out.”
“Well, congrats! What are their names going to be?”
“Aveline Rose and Elodie Grace. That way, they have matching vowels in their names.”
“Wow, they do! Those are lovely names. Ava and Ella for short, right?”
“Nah, just Aveline is getting a nickname. I’m just going to call Elodie by her full name because it’s pretty and deserves to be used in full.”
“Sweet! Let’s catch up over dinner. I made fajitas!”
“Oh, yum!”
I followed Lydia into the kitchen, where she dished out two tortillas. After we assembled our fajitas, we sat down at the dining table and dug in.
“So, tell me about Isaac,” Lydia prompted
“Isaac and I had met in high school when he’d moved in from Ridgeland, Mississippi. We fell for each other’s accents and southern charm, and we started dating pretty much right away.”
“How long have you been together?”
“What have you been doing? You said you’re having trouble finding the right guy?”
“Yeah, it seems like every first date I go on has turned sour. One guy was just looking for a side chick, another admitted to having a boob fetish, and a third… well, that first date actually went pretty well, but his wife found out from a spectator, apparently a friend of his, and crashed our date.”
“Goodness gracious! So, you were the other chick?”
“I guess so,” Lydia said with a shrug. “That’s why I’ve been single for just over a year now.”
“I hope karma came and bit her in the butt – that’s pretty rude!”
Lydia chuckled. “Yeah, she got carded on the way out of the restaurant. Turns out she was an illegal immigrant, so they had to deport her back to her home country.”
“Oh, wow!”
“Yeah, I know.”
Our conversation ended up going on for two hours, and by the tail end, I was starting to get tired.
“Where can I sleep?” I asked. “I’m fixing to go to bed.”
“You can sleep in the guest room,” Lydia informed me. “And tomorrow night, we’re going to see 5 Seconds of Summer!”
“Who’s that? I’ve heard the name, but I’m not sure I’ve heard any of their music.”
“Oh, you’re missing out! You said you like All Time Low, right? They’re like them, but even better.”
“Oh, okay! How good are the seats?”
“First row, front and center; I won them in a radio contest.”
“Oh, I’m looking forward to it already; I haven’t had good concert seats in forever! Goodnight.”
“Sleep well.”
After I got ready for bed, I called Isaac to let him know I’d arrived.
“Jessi, did you make it?” he asked after he picked it up. “You said you’d call me as soon as you got to Lydia’s.”
“Yeah, sorry,” I apologized. “I got caught up talking with her. We spent all evening just chatting, and time got away from me.”
“It’s alright. What are y’all doing tomorrow?”
“She’s taking me to a concert by this band called 5 Seconds of Summer. She’d won backstage passes, so we get to meet them as well.”
“Oh, sweet! Well, I hope you have a good time, babe. Love and miss you!”
“You, too.”
The following evening, Lydia and I went to the stadium early enough to get our merch before the concert. There was already a line when we got to the merch station, but it wasn’t very long, and we made our purchases (we both got hoodies) within ten minutes.
We had barely turned around to go to our seats when I bumped into someone by accident.
“Oh, sorry,” I said to the guy I’d bumped into, who had a friend in tow. “I didn’t see you there.”
Both guys were about six foot tall and tattooed. The impacted one had shaggy, white-blond hair and an eyebrow stud, and his friend had spiky, golden blond hair and a lip ring.
“No problem,” he said in what sounded like an English accent. “I’m Michael, that’s Luke, and we’re with the band. And you are?”
“Holy fuck!” Lydia shouted in surprise. “It’s… you’re…”
“From 5 Seconds of Summer, of course!” Luke said with a smile. “What are your names, ladies?”
“Uh… I forget all of a sudden.”
I giggled. “That’s Lydia Martinez, and I’m Jessi Warren,” I answered on Lydia’s behalf. “Apparently, she’s a huge fan.”
“So, where are your seats? We can take you there, if you want,” Michael offered.
“Front row on the floor. Thank you so much!”
“Our pleasure!”
We started walking towards the stadium, and Luke asked, “Are you girls from here?”
“I am, but she’s not,” Lydia said. “She’s from Tennessee. Well, so am I, technically, but… yeah, this is where I live.”
“You sound cute when you’re nervous, you know that?”
“Well, what can I say? You’re my idols!”
“What part of Tennessee do you come from, Jessi?” Michael asked.
“Hendersonville; it’s just northeast of Nashville,” I said. “What part of England do you come from?”
“Jess, they’re Australian!” Lydia corrected me, making me blush.
“Oops… my bad,” I said nervously. “So, what part of…”
“Sydney,” Michael said. “It’s alright, we get England a lot because we lived there during the first part of our career.”
“Oh, I heard it’s gorgeous down there. Is that true?”
“Yes, very much so. The beaches are especially breathtaking, with white sand and the deep blue ocean. Maybe if we get married, we could go there on honeymoon.”
I laughed. “Maybe.”
“What about Hendersonville?” Luke asked. “What’s it like there?”
“Pretty boring compared to Sydney. There’s a lot to do in Nashville, though.”
“Yes, we were there earlier on the tour,” Michael said. We reached our seats, and he added, “There you are, girls; enjoy the show!”
“We sure will,” Lydia said.
