Right in Front of You

03. Never Learn

By the time they got to Club A, there was nothing but awkwardness between Kathy and Donnie. A part of her wished she'd never left home and just told him to go to the dumb concert by himself.

But as they entered the venue, which was packed, the feeling ebbed away the tiniest bit. The guitar solo playing sent the crowd into a frenzy and Kathy found herself grinning and craning her neck to catch a glimpse of the band.

Donnie's grip on her hand tightened and he pulled her further away from the stage, towards the bar at the back of the club. Since everyone was trying to be as close as possible to the stage, the bar was fairly empty, so it was easy to spot Pete and Jackson waiting there.

The unease returned as her eyes fell on them. She didn't know they'd be here as well and she most certainly didn't want to spend her time with them. Especially when Donnie claimed he wanted this to be couple time.

"What?" he asked, noticing her hesitance to follow.

"You said this is for our anniversary. Do you really want to celebrate that with Pete and Jackson?"

He shot her a skeptical look. "You're telling me you didn't want to come here with Kelly?"

"I changed my plans when you mentioned you wanted to spend time with me."

Donnie didn't seem to have heard her, just continued pulling her along.

"They're our friends. We'll have fun."

Correction. They were his friends. But she sucked it up and tried to at least look excited to be there. She didn't need more snide comments from those two.

"Hey there," Jackson greeted them, a disgusting leer on his face. "So, should I pop out the cherry soda?"

Kathy's insides froze. She glared from him to Donnie, but he pretended not to take notice.

"Nah, I want something stronger," he mumbled. "Chug out the whiskey!"

"That bad, huh?" Jackson laughed, flashing his fake ID and ordering Donnie a drink.

Kathy took in a deep breath and answered Pete's wave with one of her own. She didn't want to believe what was going through her mind right now.

That Donnie had bragged to his friends that he was finally going to sleep with her and now they were discussing it, joking about it. Her fingers curled and uncurled. She knew Donnie, and even if he'd been going a bit haywire lately, he wasn't an insensitive monster. He wouldn't have gone that far.

And yet, she wanted to claw his eyes out. Don't make a scene. Not when you can't be sure.

Trying to distract herself from screaming bloody murder, she looked towards the stage again. Kelly must be right in the front row, cheering her crush on. For a moment, Kathy wished she could join her, but this was supposed to be her evening with Donnie. They could still have fun, make it romantic.

So she forced a smile on her face and turned to the boys. "Donnie, how about we--"

"Guess who I saw lurking around, asking for you?" Jackson cut her off, handing Donnie his second glass of whiskey.

"Who?" Donnie asked, swinging it back and draining it all.

"Donnie, we're driving home, remember?" Kathy yanked the third glass from Jackson's hand. How was he even getting them so fast?

"Gees, Kathy, why do you have to be such a killjoy?" Jackson said, rolling his eyes. "Unless you're planning to drink that up and dance on the bar for us, I suggest you give it back and leave Donnie alone. The man needs some fun." The words felt like poison, like blame for not giving Donnie what he wanted.