Fifteen minutes later, I’ve checked to make sure my parents aren’t awake. I turn off my light and slowly open my window, every muscle in my body tensing at the slightest squeak.
Once outside, I walk around the side of my house and run down to the corner. I already see a car waiting there and I pray that it’s Colin’s. I peer inside as I get closer and see that he’s looking for me. He smiles when he sees me and I open the door.
“Hey,” I say as I get in, suddenly embarrassed about asking Colin to meet me here. The longest conversation we’ve ever had was fifteen minutes ago via text messages.
“Hey,” he says. I can tell he’s a little nervous too. “So, I’m here. First part is done, now will you tell me what you need?”
I don’t know how to say it without it sounding incredibly creepy. It seems impossible to try and explain everything all at once. I take a deep breath and hope my explanation is enough.
“I know this is going to sound crazy. But maybe you already think I am crazy, so it won’t even matter at this point. . . . I just, I have to do this thing,” I tell him. I can hear the way my voice goes up at the end of my sentence. I’m irritated with how nervous I sound.
“Hey,” he says, “it’s okay. Whatever you need to do, we’ll do it. Okay?”
“Okay,” I say and I turn to look at him. “I just need you to hang out with me tonight, to have one night of adventure. See, I barely know you and that’s what makes it so perfect. Because I need to figure something out, and I think this is the only way to do it,” I tell him. “I basically just have to finish tonight. And there’s no backing out.”
He looks at me oddly. I know he wants to ask me what the hell that even means, but instead he says slowly, “Okay.”
I nod, relieved. “Okay then.”
“So where to?”
“The Stage.”
He raises an eyebrow, but says, “The Stage it is.” He shifts the car into drive.