Sabrina's flight has been scheduled for next Monday. The original plan was for her to fly during the weekend, which means today, but she heard somewhere about this crazy thing about ruining weekends by saying goodbyes on Fridays or Saturdays. Apparently, it gets ruined because the one who travels loses her weekend in the trip; and those who stay lose it weeping and mourning for that person.

What a bunch of bananas. The whole travelling idea is making her bonkers.

So, since she's not travelling today, I decided to go out with her as a sort of goodbye party.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"I really have no plan. I just want to go out with you once before you leave."

"And then you say I'm the one losing my buttons." She laughs, shoving me playfully. It's hard not to notice how much she wants to travel now that the tickets were bought. Her mood brightened a lot lately. On my side I have to admit that it took a while to get used to the idea. But, you know, this was bound to happen at some point so in the end I'm just playing along with it.

"So, where do you want to go? Cinema?"

"We always go to the cinema, though." She says, looking up and thinking this out. "I want to do something different."

"Like what?"

"Like going to that pub Joe mentioned, where local bands play gigs."

"You mean The Hole?" I say, wincing at her. If it is anything like Joe told us, it's just a basement crowded with sweaty people jumping around and shoving others while crude, raw noise blasts from big amps. Some of them are even drunk or high. "I don't really know if I want to go to that place, Sabs."

"Oh, come on. It'll be fun." She says, and hooks her arm around my own. "Besides, it's not as if you had a plan anyway."

"Alright, but only because you want to."

And that's how we end in The Hole that evening. And just as I expected, music blares and sweaty people jump and shove their peers. The floor is wet and sticky and I don't know if it's from beverages. The air is stale and foggy and hot, and I really feel like I can't breathe.

"This is amazing!" Sabrina shouts in my ear because of the amps.

"I'm glad you like it!"

"Come on, Layla! Let's dance!"

She takes my hand and pulls me to the center of the crowd, and when she faces me, her glasses are hanging from her shirt collar. I have no clue when she took them off. She lifts her arms and starts dancing there, blending with the environment. I'm getting pushed and shoved and bumped from all sides and it's really uncomfortable, but then Sabrina finds my hands and starts guiding me, and I can't resist the blare of the amps reverberating on my tummy, and making my whole body tremble. Sabrina has a big smile on her face, which in turn makes me smile too, and soon I'm dancing, as in really dancing like this is some place I belong to.

Soon enough everything about this place that grossed me out starts to feel different, and I start getting Joe's enthusiasm when he told us about the times he played here with his friends. And as if my thoughts just conjured him, I see him with his guitar near the small stage.

"Joe's here!" I shout, and she notices him.

"Let's go say hi!" She replies, pulling my hand to him. She gives him a one handed hug because she's not letting my hand go. I just wave my free one.

"I never imagined I would see you girls here." He says, speaking in our ears.

"Sabrina goes back to Russia next week so I wanted to go out with her before she leaves."

"You're leaving?" Joe didn't know about this, and his surprise is bigger than his curiosity. "Man, I didn't know that..."

"Just for summer vacations, though." Sabrina explains and he nods.

"Ok, so I was about to leave..." Joe says, but he stops mid-sentence. "You girls wanna come with me? My sister's girlfriend is throwing a free-from-college party. It'll be fun, and we can use it as a going away party for her. It'll be fun!"

Sabrina and I exchange a glance. I'll let her decide.

And so we end up in this party.

The house isn't far from my own house, and it's a huge colonial style that stands on a hill, overlooking the rest of the neighborhood. The music finds us before we arrive. Joe messages her sister and lets her know we're here, and as soon as we enter the house, we're greeted by a group of girls who apparently know Joe. They introduce themselves and give us red plastic cups with beer, which I'm sure I'm not allowed to drink. And then a blonde girl comes from nowhere and headlocks Joe, playfully jabbing his ribs.

"Okay, okay! I give up!" Another girl with jet black straight hair files in next, hugging him briefly, and then the three of them turn to us.

"Hi, I'm Jude." Says the blonde one. "This bastard's sister."

"Sure, she headlocks me and I'm the bastard."

"Hush you!" She says, smiling as she tries to jab him again. Her attention goes back to me. "So I guess you're Layla? I've heard about you from Joe."

"That'd be me."

"He says you're good with the guitar."

"Nah, I'm just learning."

"This one here is Sabrina, the Russian piano girl." Joe introduces, and both girls nod in appreciation.

"Pleased to meet you." Sabrina replies, making sure her accent doesn't slip.

"Too polite!" The other girl chides, pulling both of us into a short but tight hug. Her breath smells like booze, but her hair smells like bubblegum. "I'm Amy Lee. Welcome to my party! Let's have a lot of fun tonight!"