The next day, I woke up surprisingly early for a summer day. After getting my usual coffee (black-no sugar or cream) I lounged around the house until it was time to get ready and pick up Luke.

The car ride wasn't that awkward for two people who had just met each other. We talked about our different high schools (he went to a Catholic all boys school, I went to a private prep school), what we liked to do for fun (go to concerts), and about our families (I was an only child and he had a nine year old sister, Grace).

Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up to the concert, a small, intimate venue with a space that only filled about 500 people. I turned to Luke, with a grin plastered on my face.

“Are you ready for the best night of your life?” He let out a quiet laugh.

“That might be taking it too far.” I raised my eyebrows at him. This was my first-and quite possibly last (who knows if I'd get lucky again?) Wolff Brothers concert. I planned on making it as awesome as possible.

After getting our tickets checked at the door, we headed towards the front of the room, near the stage. On the stage, tech people were setting up for the band, and on the floor, throngs of people filled the room, making it impossible to get to the front. Looking at Luke, I let out a huge sigh.

“Damn it. I didn't realize it would fill up this fast,” he said, turning his blue eyes toward mine. I gave him a sly smirk as an idea formed in my head.

“Moving to the front is never hard for a girl. Follow me.” I held out my hand. He grinned back at me and took it. Slowly, I pressed through the crowd. Guys in front of me started to make way for me once they noticed a girl was trying to push through. I smiled at them, until one of them stopped Luke.

“Hey, I let the hot chick through, thinking she didn't have a boyfriend.” The tall, fleshy guy gave Luke an aggravated look. I put my hand on the guy's big arm, trying to act as sugary as possible.

“Can you let him come with me? He just broke up with his boyfriend. It was the first relationship he had since he,” I dropped my voice to a whisper, “came out.” The fleshy guy stepped back, stunned.

“Oh, uh, I'm sorry. I didn't-uh, sorry. Uh, go ahead buddy, have fun,” the guy stammered back. Once we were out his sight, Luke and I looked at each other and burst into laughter.

“I can't believe you told him that,” Luke said, looking at me with a new found admiration. I grinned back at him.

“And I can't believe it actually worked.” Luke turned to face the stage, which was now right in front of him.

“I have to hand it to you, when you asked if I was ready for the best night of my life, I thought it was a bit of a stretch. Now, I can definitely trust that this will be one for the books.” I laughed and already I could feel it. Tonight was definitely going to be up there, that's for sure.

The opening act, a solo male artist, had just finished his set when I turned to Luke.

“They're almost on!” I shouted in his face, already half deaf from standing in front of the stage. He laughed loudly, putting a finger to my lips.

“No need to shout!” Luke, unintentionally, yelled back at me. I giggled, discovering how funny he could be. Luke grinned back at me, showing off his slightly crooked teeth. Suddenly, the stage lights started to move around wildly.

“Ladies and gentlemen, ARE YOU READY FOR THE WOLFF BROTHERS?” shouted a bodiless announcer. The crowd cheered back and soon Beck and his best friend, brother, and band mate, Greg, appeared on stage. I couldn't help myself-I screamed. This could not be happening right now. Beck was inches away from my face, and I might have been imagining it, but he winked while looking right at me.

The next two hours were honestly the best two hours of my life. I never had a concert experience that amazing, especially with my favorite band. When Beck and Greg finally said good bye for the night, I wanted to collapse knowing that I had to go back to reality.

However, I didn't have to go back to reality, at least not yet. After most of the crowd had cleared out, a very official looking guy dressed in all black approached Luke and I. He drew a lanyard out of his pocket, revealing an all access pass attached to the end.

“I have a special order from Beck himself to bring you backstage,” he explained, looking at me. My eyes widened, and my voice was so hoarse from screaming and singing that I barely croaked out, “Me?”

The guy pulled out an iPhone and showed me a picture of myself in the crowd.

“This is the photo Beck showed me after the show. He took it himself during the opening act. He definitely wants you to come backstage, I know I'm not making a mistake,” he said, starting to sound annoyed. I looked at Luke, not sure what to do.

“Go,” he told me. “You've been wanting to meet Beck for a really long time. I'll wait here for you.” I immediately hugged Luke.

“Thank you so much for understanding. I won't be too long, I promise,” I whispered in his ear while embracing him. I turned to the guy and told him to lead the way.

He took me backstage, where I saw all the magic that happened before, during, and after concerts. Millions of people were running around, trying to pack up everything as quickly as possible. I even saw Greg walking around, shirtless, drinking some water. I waved to him and he nodded his head as he smiled at me.

The official-looking guy finally led me to a door that had a piece of tape with “Beck” scrawled across it. He knocked, and moments later, Beck answered the door. He smiled at me.

“I'm so glad you came,” he said, his voice surprisingly deeper than I expected. Without saying anything, the other guy left, leaving Beck and I alone.

“Come in, don't be shy,” said Beck, still smiling. “What's your name?” he asked. Somehow, I found my voice.

“Rhode. Rhode Collins,” I said. He laughed.

“Like Bond, James Bond?” I gave him a slight smile, still so nervous. Suddenly, everything that I wanted to say started to spew out of me, like a rushing waterfall.

“Beck, I can't tell you enough how much I love your music. I connect to it so much. Your one song, Scars, helped me a lot last year,” I babbled on. He watched me, an amused expression on his face. I decided to stop talking about his music, believing that it made me sound like a crazed fan. Instead, I turned the topic in a different direction.

“I've never been in a band's dressing room before,” I said, surveying the room. Beck let out a laugh, pulling me towards him.

“Trust me, it's nothing special.” He grinned, showing off a set of perfectly straight, white teeth. Looking into his eyes, I realized his were a dull brown compared to Luke's icy blue.

He pulled me to small leather couch and we started to make small talk about our lives and what we liked to do for fun. He was so sweet, just an innocent teenager who wanted an average life.

No more than ten minutes later, the conversation's topic unexpectedly turned in a different direction.

“Are you and that one kid a thing?” He was talking about Luke. I widened my amber-colored eyes and shook my head no.

“Oh God no...we're just friends,” I reassured him, not wanting to give him the wrong impression. Beck smiled at me and put his hand on my arm.

“Now that we've got that out of the way...I was wondering,” he blushed, “I'm sorry, this is so embarrassing to ask...” he trailed off.

“Go on, really, I promise I won't make fun of you,” I replied, encouraging him.

“Well...I was wondering how far you've gotten with a boy before.”

A weird feeling appeared in my stomach. Beck may have seemed like an innocent teenage boy just moments before, but after what he asked it was like something had changed in the air. I shook off the feeling. There was no harm in the question. He was just curious. So I answered truthfully, saying,

“I've never had a boyfriend but I've hooked up with someone once. That's as far as I've gone.” Beck stared at me, looking like he was about to confess something.

“You know, Rhode, you're not like the others girls. In a good way. You're different, and that's why I like you. Ever since I saw you in the crowd, I knew you were something special.” I smiled awkwardly. I wasn't good at handling compliments. He continued speaking.

“I was hoping you'd want to do something for me. I really like you.” My face blushed to a deep red. I couldn't believe what was happening. He smiled at me.

“I like you too, Beck. Maybe after we go on a couple dates, all this can turn into something.” Beck's smile turned to a frown.

“I don't know about that...I'm leaving for Chicago tonight and was hoping we could do this before I left. Have you ever given a blow job?” My blood ran cold and I suddenly became extremely uncomfortable.

“You know, I'm actually a little tired. So maybe I should find my friend and leave. I'm so happy we got to talk to each other.” He grabbed my arm, tighter than before, refusing to let me go.

“C'mon Rhode, you've got a hot body and I know you want it. It might only be a one time thing but maybe if you're lucky we'll make this a regular thing.” I felt gross, even hearing my name come out of his mouth made me feel violated.

“Beck, please, I just want to go back to my friend and go home.”

“There's no going home, not yet!” Beck became aggravated and started to unbuckle his pants.

“Get off me!” I screamed, trying to get out of his grasp. Suddenly, the dressing room door burst open and standing in the doorway was Luke.

“What are you doing to her?!” he yelled at Beck. Beck stopped undressing and turned around.

“It's none of your business asshole, get out of here,” he replied and turned back to me. This time, Luke ran up to the couch, and pulled Beck back around.

“Hey asshole, when she tells you to stop, you stop.”

“What the fu-” Beck was cut off when Luke punched him in the nose, making it bleed instantly. Immediately, Beck grabbed his nose, letting go of me and allowing me to escape. Luke held out his hand for me.

“C'mon, let's get out of here.” I took his hand to help myself up and then turned around to kick Beck right in the crotch. While running out of the dressing room, Beck was shouting, “You're gonna regret this, you bitch!” I couldn't care less.

When we eventually reached the car, almost completely out of breath, I finally spoke.

“How did you even get in there? And, more importantly, how did you know to come find me?” I glanced at him in the dark light before turning my eyes back to the road.

“You were taking a really long time, and I overheard someone right after you left. They saw you walking with that one body guard and were talking about how Beck chooses someone to be brought backstage after every concert. I knew it couldn't be a good thing. As for getting backstage, all you gotta do to get in anywhere is to stand tall and act important. Besides, practically everyone that was back there dressed like a preppy douche-bag, so I just ditched my jacket and figured I would fit in.” I let out a laugh, my first one since before meeting Beck.

“Luke, I really can't thank you enough. Who knows what would have happened if you didn't come in right away. I don't even want to imagine that.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him shrug.

“It's no big deal. I just hate guys like that. Why do they think they can get away with shit like that? Just because a bunch of girls like your music doesn't mean you can get them to do anything you want them to do.” Luke's eyes flared and his jawline tightened.

“I can't believe I ever liked that guy. I'm such an idiot,” I said softly, the reality of the night finally catching up with me. After hearing that, Luke relaxed and looked over at me.

“Don't blame yourself for something like that. He's a douche-bag that doesn't know how to treat girls properly.” I couldn't control myself; I started to cry. Luke looked over at me again and this time I pulled over to the side of the road. “What's wrong?” Luke asked, a look of concern on his face. I shook my head.

“This night just brought up some bad memories. It's no big deal.” I wiped a tear from my cheek. Luke grabbed my hand, softer than Beck did before.

“Tell me.” I looked up and saw Luke observing me, waiting for me to say something.

“It happened last year,” I began, my story spewing out like blood from a cut.


I had just barely arrived at Vivian's party when she ran up to me, a look of excitement on her face.

“Rhode, guess who's here!” she exclaimed. I grinned at her, already assuming what her response would be.

“Derrick?” I asked, barely containing my happiness. She gave me a knowing nod.

“He said he's looking for you and told me to tell him when you came!” I grinned again. Derrick and I had been texting for a couple weeks now. In the first conversation we had, he told me how he had liked me since the moment we met but was too nervous to say anything until I eventually asked for his number. We wanted to hang out before doing anything serious, but never had the chance to since he was always busy with soccer.

Immediately following Varsity's hard loss on Wednesday, kicking them out of the state playoffs, Vivian offered to throw a party so Derrick and I could hang out. Of course, this wasn't the only reason Viv offered to throw it. Every couple months or so her parents would go on a weekend vacation and Vivian would jump at the chance to throw a party. Every party always seemed bigger than the last.

After hugging Vivian and having her wish me good luck, I went off in search of Derrick. Only minutes later, I found him in the kitchen, grabbing a red cup in addition to the one in his left hand. I walked up to him with a smile on my face. Before I could surprise him, Derrick turned around and saw me.

“Rhode!” he shouted. I could tell he was a little buzzed, but it was a party. Who doesn't drink at a party? He pulled me into a hug, his black stubble tickling my face. “I've been waiting for you all night, babe,” he whispered. I blushed a little. He liked to call me babe while texting but it still made me uncomfortable. I wasn't one for pet names.

“Why don't we go somewhere private. I just want to be alone with you,” he said, looking into my eyes. I brushed a piece of my long dirty-blonde hair out of my face.

“I know the perfect place,” I whispered to him. Vivian's room. I led him up the stairs and to the left to a tall wooden door. Opening it with my left hand and grabbing Derrick's hand with my right, I pulled us inside.

Viv's room was enormous. In the center was an already made queen sized bed with black and white sheets. To the right was her picture wall, consisting of shots of her and her friends and ones from her photography class. The photos almost filled the wall, with little cracks of the light blue wall peeking out. To the left was her huge walk in closet, taking up so much space that the whole wall was apart of the chestnut brown doors.

Derrick pulled me towards the bed right away. I smiled at him, looking into his green eyes.

“Isn't this the perfect place to talk? It feels like we're so far away from the party because Viv had her room soundproofed last year. You can't hear a thing from the outside,” I explained. Derrick's fingers grazed my face.

“I've been wanting to do this for so long,” he whispered, the smell of beer on his breath. Before I could ask him what, he kissed me. I was taken aback with his forwardness and drew away from him.

“I thought we were going to talk,” I said, looking up at Derrick's face, tan from long hours in the sun at soccer. He laughed a little.

“Babe, everyone knows that 'talking' is code for 'hooking up',” he stated. He pulled me closer to him and I finally gave in. I'll admit it, hooking up with someone I had only starting talking to a couple weeks ago seemed like a bad idea, but I wasn't thinking. I had a crush on Derrick since the summer, so getting the chance to do something about it made me intoxicated with excitement.

An hour or so into it, Derrick started to pull off his shirt and tried to tug off mine, too, until I stopped him.

“Derrick, I'm a virgin,” I whispered, hoping he'd take the hint and stop. He didn't.

“Don't worry babe, I'll make sure you're okay,” he replied, trying to pull my shirt off again. I pulled my shirt back down.

“I want to wait until marriage,” I explained to him, and this time Derrick actually stopped.

“You wouldn't even do it with me, Rhode? I thought you wanted to get together with me.” Derrick gave me a look, his black hair slightly messy from earlier. I started sweating. I was not ready for this.

“Not like that, or in the very least, not this fast,” I told him. He smiled at me.

“I respect you too much to make you do something you don't want to do,” he assured me. My heartbeat started to return to normal as I calmed down. “I'm sure I'll be able to change your mind down the road, though,” he said, still smiling.

“I think I'm pretty solid on my answer,” I replied nervously.

“I respect that,” Derrick rebutted.

“Maybe we should go back downstairs. People are going to start worrying about us,” I suggested. He agreed, and we returned to the party together.

I didn't dare tell Vivian what Derrick had said, for fear of what she might say. Viv and I shared the same views on a lot of things, sex being one of them. She would immediately disapprove of Derrick and tell me to stop talking to him. I didn't want to stop, though. Although Derrick had said some things that made me feel uneasy, I still liked him and felt that this could become my first serious relationship, maybe more. I wasn't about to give him up because of sex.

I went home that night, so happy that things were finally moving forward with Derrick. The next morning, I texted him. Instead of texting me back quickly like he normally did, he responded three hours later. We made light conversation for a while, talking about our favorite movies and books. Suddenly, the conversation turned around.

“I just want someone who I can hook up with anytime, ya feel me,” he texted me. I was confused. The weeks before, he had been completely different. He constantly talked about how he just wanted a girlfriend and someone he could talk to. Wanting him to explain, I replied back with “what are you talking about?”. He texted me back right away.

“I want a friend with benefits...someone hot and someone that wants me. I know you want me rhode.” This feeling composed of intense heartache and anger engulfed me, now that I knew that everything he told me before was a complete lie. Immediately, I called him and he answered right away.

“You told me that you wanted a girlfriend,” I began, choking back tears. Derrick didn't seem to care.

“I just want someone that will hook up with me and give me what I want,” Derrick replied. I couldn't hold back my tears.

“You...used me. You fed me lies just so you could get what you wanted,” I cried.

“You should just delete my number if you don't wanna be with me,” he said, his voice completely monotone. He hung up on me before I could say anything. I couldn't believe that he could be so evil. He was one of those kids that went to church every Sunday and did volunteer work over the summer. He wasn't supposed to be this cruel. I couldn't accept it.

Not wanting to stare at my phone any longer, I went to my laptop to see if Derrick had posted anything on social media. I clicked on his profile on Twitter, but his tweets were locked. Only yesterday, I was apart of the selected few that could see those tweets.

I immediately went to another social network and noticed that Derrick was off my list of best friends. I went to message him, but he wasn't there. It was like he was never there at all. A sense of finality hit me hard, and I cried, knowing that things between us were over and I would never see or hear from him ever again.

Once I finished with my story, I looked up at Luke. I knew that I looked terrible, with streaks of mascara covering my cheeks. He broke the minutes of silence between us.

“F*** him. Don't even think about him anymore. He's below you, and you don't need him for s***,” he said angrily. I couldn't stop crying; I was a mess. Luke took my hands in his.

“Rhode, you are going to meet someone that is a million times better than him. Honestly, any guy could be a million times better than him. Trust me, the right guy will respect you and actually want to be with you, not just sexually. You have to believe me on this. Not all guys are screw ups.” I looked up at Luke, not knowing what to say. A few seconds later, I spoke.

“I don't know why I attract all the sleazy perverts. What's wrong with me?” I whispered. Luke sighed.

“You don't only attract sleazy perverts. Listen-” Luke stopped speaking and instead looked at me.

“What are you doing?” I asked, staring back at his pale face, clear of any facial hair, unlike Derrick.

“Something I've been wanting to do since yesterday morning,” he replied, grabbing my face and kissing me. Instantaneously, he pulled back. “Is this weird? Do you want me to stop?” Slightly surprised, I laughed softly, answering him by pulling him closer.

“This is perfect,” I breathed. I could feel Luke's muscles forming a smile on his face as he kissed me back.

“Before we start anything, I promise to call you tomorrow. And to go on dates with you. And to not ever ask you to do anything you don't want to do. And-” Before Luke could continue, I cut him off.

“Oh, be quiet. I think you'll be very good for me,” I whispered, smiling as I pulled him into another kiss. This was one for the books alright.