“Peyton, give me the tickets … they’re in your purse,” Theo said when Max asked him about the gate number.
“What? No, they’re not,” Peyton unzipped her bag and rummaged into it.
“Yeah, I put the envelope inside your bag before we left,” he insisted.
Max had Hazel on hold on the phone waiting for the gate number, “Is there a problem?”
Theo was watching as Peyton searched for it in her small Louis Vuitton bag.
“Why didn’t you say something? I can’t find it,” she stressed.
“I did, I told you I put the tickets in your bag, you nodded, remember?”
“No, I didn’t, I thought you said you were asking me whether I had my tickets.”
“It’s there ….” Theo pulled her bag to see it for himself.
“It’s not!” she was getting frustrated. “I only have my tickets, see …” she took three tickets out of her bag and let Theo searched for the rest.
“Maybe you left them at the hotel room,” Max interrupted, and then he told Hazel he was going to call her back.
Theo looked at Peyton in the eyes, “Did you take it out at the hotel?”
“No, I didn’t take anything out of my bag … did you put it in my bag? Are you sure it was this bag?”
“Did you bring any other bag?”
“No.”
They were looking at each other in silence, all the others can feel the tension.
“I’m going back to the hotel … let’s hope it’s there,” he turned and ran back to the hotel, the others were compelled to follow.
Theo was sure he had put the envelope in Peyton’s bag as soon as he received it from Max. There was no way that envelope was not in her bag unless someone took it out.
They frantically turned their hotel rooms upside down, they searched in their bags of clothes even though Theo knew those tickets couldn’t be in there. They spent half an hour looking for them and their heart sank, the 5 tickets were nowhere to be found.
“Shit!” Theo mumbled to himself, the first thing that crossed his mind was how disappointed Hazel would be.
“Oh, man … you are so dead,” Max said.
“You’re kidding, right?”
The look on everybody’s face somehow convinced her that it was not a joke.
“Please tell me you’re kidding,” she said again, hoping that someone would start laughing and told her how stupid she looks.
“You can have my ticket,” Theo said.
“What? No! You’re coming in, Theo!” Peyton interrupted him before he went ahead with the idea.
By then, it was confirmed, it was really happening. She felt like the ground had collapsed on her. She was so fired up to go inside, she was so close to living out her fantasy. The day was already dark, it was close to 7 PM and the gates were already opened. But she stood outside of the arena feeling like the concert was now a whole world away.
“No, really, you can have my ticket, just go with Peyton and Mia,” he insisted.
Hazel looked at Theo, he was serious. She even thought about the offer for a fraction of a second.
Peyton pulled his shirt sleeve, “You are coming with us, Theo.” It seemed like she was ready to start a fight right there and then, but Theo wasn’t listening.
“Please, I’m sorry I lost the tickets, but you can have mine,” he put the ticket in her hand.
Peyton’s face was turning red. Hazel looked at her and then looked at Theo. He was desperately looking for her forgiveness.
She couldn’t form a single word, she knew she couldn’t take the offer. Peyton would be very angry and she will not have the time she wanted to have in the concert without all the others. She put the ticket back to Theo’s hand and cover her face with both hands.
She hadn’t cried like that in a long time. Not since she was little and lost her most favorite teddy bear at the supermarket. Everyone felt her pain, it was the most important thing in the world for her.
“Oh … no, please, Hazel …” Theo wanted so much for her to take his offer.
“Theo … please, you are not …” Peyton was at the end of her wits.
“Peyton!” he screamed so loud that everyone was stunned in silence.
“I don’t want to go to the concert! I want Mickey to go … okay? I lost her ticket, she should take mine,” he continued.
Her cry was even painful to watch, Lee walked over to her and hold her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed. Everyone else came closer and tried to console her too, except Peyton who was still shocked by how her boyfriend had yelled at her.
“It’s okay, we can go another time,” Lee whispered in her ear.
“Yeah, H. we’ll go next time … unless you want to take Theo’s ticket,” Max made sure.
She shook her head and continued crying in Lee’s embrace.
Peyton folded her arms in front of her, “Well … are you coming or not?” she was looking at Theo.
The thrill of the concert had already died in him, he only went because Peyton had asked him to, and after what happened he will never be able to enjoy it. Deep down in his heart, he knew he had put the tickets inside Peyton’s bag, what happened after that was a mystery. He couldn’t answer Peyton’s question.
“Are you seriously going to ditch me to go in by myself?” Peyton rested one hand on her waist.
All eyes were on Theo now, the couple was on the verge of a full-fledged fight.
“I can’t go … if everyone’s not going, then I’m not going,” he sighed deeply.
“I’m going,” Mia said.
There was one ticket left, Theo’s.
“Fine … anyone else?” Peyton held the ticket in her hand and looked around at the group.
Mia was staring at Max. Max stared at Theo. Theo had a look in his eyes that Max knew very well.
“Sure, I’ll go,” Max said. “Hazel … we’ll go again next time, okay? I promise,” he kissed his sister on the top of her head.
“I promise too,” Lee said.
“Yeah, babe, it’s gonna be okay … we’ll just do something else tonight, I mean … look around you, Hazel, we’re in Goldstone, baby,” Jan rubber her best friend’s back.
“I’m gonna go in, okay, Hazel? Will you be alright? Can you watch her for me, please?” Max said to the rest of the group.
Hazel nodded, “Just go,” she said to Max.
“She’ll be fine … right, babe? Come on … Harry can wait, we’ll go to his next concert, okay?” as if it cannot be repeated enough, Jan wanted her best friend to be okay too.
She nodded again, tears were still streaming down her face.
“Can you ever forgive me, Mickey? I know how much you wanted to go … I’m so … so … so sorry,” Theo groveled beside her.
Jan put her hand on Theo’s back, “Give her some time, we know you didn’t mean it.”
“I don’t want to talk to you,” Hazel said and looked away from Theo.
He was devastated, but he knew he was the villain at that moment, he wasn’t going to push his luck.
“Let’s go … we’ll go somewhere fun, Harry can’t be the only thing that’s happening here tonight … right?” Lee said.
Her cry finally subsided, her friends had somehow made her feel better because they were all in it together.
“I think you should leave this one out tonight,” Jan said to Theo before they all walked away to the opposite direction of the arena, leaving Theo standing all alone under the street lamp with his heartbroken from costing Hazel what suppose to be the best night of her life.