Time Is Running Out

I honked the horn again and waited, tapping my nails against the steering wheel, I was beginning to lose my patience with Nick, he was always doing this to me.  Why couldn’t he just be ready on time?

“Alright Steph, I’m coming” I heard him call eventually and looked up to see him walking casually towards the car, like time didn’t matter to him or something.  Never mind the fact that we were already late and traffic would probably be bad at this time of day.  Not that Nick cared, or at least he didn’t appear to care.

“Nick” I said in what sounded like a whiney kind of voice “you always do this to me, if we miss any of it I won’t be happy”

“Well if you’d let me drive we’ll get there a whole lot quicker” he said as he leaned over and spoke to me through the open window.

“No chance, now get in” I told him.  It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him with my car, it’s just that his driving was usually a little scary, especially when he was in a rush.  Typical man!

Nick and I were going to see Muse in concert, they were coming to Tampa and we were so excited -  well I was.  I’d been a fan of theirs for years and had always wanted to go and see them, but had never been able to get my hands on tickets until now.  The rest of our crowd of friends weren’t really into them, but Nick liked a few of their songs and agreed to come with me.  We just had to get there.

“I should’ve brought my iPod” Nick muttered as he flicked through the CDs I had scattered around before eventually settling on a Kings of Leon one he seemed to like the look of.

“Unfortunately my car doesn’t have an iPod socket though” I said.

“True.  We should’ve taken my car” he sighed.

We turned onto I-275 and were heading for the Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the venue for the concert.  I was so excited; I began singing along to the CD at the top of my voice.

“Oh god” Nick jokingly moaned “why did I volunteer to go with you again?”

“Because you’re a good friend” I replied, turning quickly to look at the man sitting next to me in the passenger seat.  We’d been friends a long time and although we’d make the mistake of kissing one drunken night many years ago, we soon got over that and realised that our relationship was one which was destined to be purely platonic.

I carried on singing, ignoring the fact that he was now putting his fingers in his ears in an attempt to put me off.  It just made me sing even louder and more out of tune.  Eventually he gave in and started singing too.

“Y’know, this CD isn’t bad” he said “when it’s not drowned out by your singing”

I playfully slapped his arm and stuck my tongue out at him.

We carried on along the highway for a while until I noticed the traffic starting to slow down.  This was not a good sign.  It was 7pm and the concert was starting at 8.30pm, we still had to get there, park up and then get inside the stadium. 

“Shit” I muttered as we came to a standstill.  All three lanes of traffic had come to a stop, or were crawling along at a snail’s pace.  Just my luck!

“Chill Steph, we’ve still got enough time to get there” Nick said as he looked at his watch and grimaced a little “well…maybe we’ll be cutting it a bit fine, but don’t worry, we’ll get there”

What could I say?  There was nothing I could do to magically disperse the traffic, we just had to endure it and hope that it cleared in time for us to make it to the concert.

After twenty minutes of crawling along at an average of 5mph, Nick decided to lighten the mood and suggested a game of eye spy.

“I spy with my little eye, something beginning with A” he said and looked at me with a lopsided smile on his face.

“Asshole” I said.

“I’m hurt Steph” he held his hand over his heart as if he’d been wounded and chuckled “not the right answer though”

This brought me out of my mood and I smiled at him “I’m sorry Nick, that was mean of me.  Now…let me see, something beginning with A.  Apple?”  I couldn’t see any apples anywhere, but this was the first thing that came to mind beginning with A.

“Nope” he smiled “try again”

“Asphalt” I tried again

“What the fuck?” he looked at me confused “ass what?”

“Y’know, used to make the roads?” I explained

“No, that’s not it” he said with a small chuckle.

“I give in” I said, tiring of this game already.

“Alfa Romeo” he smiled “the car in front”

“Oh, you know I’m crap with cars, that wasn’t fair” I looked at him with a pouty face.

“OK, I’ll let you off this time, your turn” he said and folded his arms, waiting for me to come up with something.

“Right then, I spy with my little eye, something beginning with T” I said and turned back to look at the road – I moved forward a little bit.

“Tyre…towbar…trees…” he said as I shook my head and grinned.

After a few minutes he was about to give up, he’d listed every word I could imagine that began with a T.

“Tickets?” he asked

“Yay” I cheered and looked down to where our concert tickets were poking out of my bag on the floor next to his feet.

“Another game?” he asked

“Please no” I laughed “We could just talk”

“Sure.  So how did it go with Howie the other night?  Do you think you’ll see him again?” he asked “I know he really likes you”

“Really?” I smiled shyly.  Howie was a friend of Nick’s; we’d been introduced at a barbecue at Nick’s house a couple of weeks ago and hit it off immediately.  He was the kind of guy I went for looks wise, with his dark hair and gorgeous deep brown eyes, but not only that, he was a lovely person too and we ended up chatting for hours.  When he called me a couple of days after the barbecue to ask me out on a date, I didn’t hesitate in accepting.  Just thinking about that perfect date made me all dreamy eyed and I couldn’t wait to see him again.

“Really Steph.  I saw him yesterday and he had that same goo goo eyed look that you have.  I hope it works out for you both, he’s a great guy” he said sincerely.

“Aw thanks Nick” I smiled at him “I hope so too, I really like him a lot.  So how about you?  Been on any dates you’ve not told me about?”

“If I had, I would’ve told you.  You know that.  But no, I haven’t been that lucky.  I did get this girls number the other night, but when I called I lost my nerve and hung up” Nick sighed. 

He’d been single for the last few months after a very painful break up.  We’d all thought he and Jess were the real thing, made for each other, but apparently Jess had other ideas.  When Nick had asked her to move in with him – which was the next logical step in the relationship – she’d turned him down and told him she wasn’t ready for any kind of commitment.  He was gutted but respected her decision, he figured if he gave her time she’d come around to the idea.  But she didn’t.  Then he found out why.  Not only was she seeing Nick, but also a guy from her office.  When confronted about it and given an ultimatum – Nick or the other guy – she’d chosen the other guy.  Obviously Nick was very distraught over this and heartbroken.  Jess was also pretty torn up over it too, but she couldn’t have both.

“You’ll meet the girl of your dreams some day, I know you will” I said and squeezed his hand.

“Yeah yeah, now enough of this mushy talk” he said to lighten the mood “how about another game?”

“OK, another game” I agreed.

The traffic continued to crawl along slowly.  Listening to the local radio station we found out why.  Apparently there had been an accident up ahead, a lorry had overturned and blocked one of the lanes, luckily though no one had been seriously injured.

“It’s eight Nick, we’re never gonna make it to the show” I said sadly.  We weren’t too far from the stadium now, traffic was beginning to move again, but not fast enough.

“Well, let the concert come to us” he said and slid my Muse disc into the CD player, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ blasting out of the speakers and lightening the mood.

“Oh baby don’t you know I suffer, oh baby can you hear me moan” I sang the lyrics tunelessly.

“Well…I know I’m suffering” Nick teased “hey, it’s this turn off”

I got in the correct lane ready to leave this busy road.  By now it was 8.34pm, the show would be just starting and I wondered what the opening song was going to be.

Luckily we made quick progress as the road was pretty quiet now, only the odd few concert goers who’d also found themselves stuck in the same traffic as us.  We parked up, paid the $10 parking fee and headed into the stadium.  I could hear ‘Hysteria’ and suddenly everything was alright.  We’d got here and even though we’d maybe missed a couple of songs, we still had the rest of the concert to look forward to.  And we did enjoy it.  They played a lot of stuff off the new album (which we’d be listening to on the way back), plus all the older favourites and they were absolutely fantastic live.  It was no wonder the show had sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale.

“Y’know Steph, I’m glad you talked me into coming tonight.  This band is amazing” Nick said trying to make his voice heard above the band and the crowds of cheering Muse fans.

“Told you so, I have taste” I teased “I’m glad you came too Nick”

THE END