It was the day before the rave concert, and I still could not look up what it was. Yosefin kept me on a video call for most of the day to keep me from looking. I had to carry my phone everywhere I went. My parents kept giving me squinting stares every time I passed them. On the other hand, my sister wanted to speak with Yosefin. I sadly made the mistake of letting them talk. All they did was embarrass me with stories of my childhood and the things Yosefin and I did together.

Early in the night, Yosefin and I gamed together. This was the only time I didn’t have to be on the phone. She trusted me not to search the internet, but I really wanted to. Being in the dark gave me so much anxiety I kept having bad matches on my game. She called me out on my sucky performance with playful insults. I didn’t give her the satisfaction of a response.

“You okay? You’re not your talkative self right now,” Yosefin pointed out when we weren’t doing anything on the game.

“Yeah,” I replied, not knowing what to say at the moment.

“If I’m being a dick, tell me.”

“Okay. You are. Can I see what a rave is now? It’s driving me nuts, not knowing what it is.” I snapped a bit.

There was a moment of silence, then she said, “Check your phone.” She video-called me with her phone positioned on her right side. I could see she had an ivory bra on and black flannel pattern pajama pants. “Go ahead. I’ve teased you long enough.”

“Wait, you’re serious.” She took off her headset and nodded, yes, with a smile.

“I’m shocked you abstained this long.”

“You told me not to.”

“Josh,” she paused to get closer to the camera and rolled her eyes at me. “You’re too obedient.”

“Is that a bad thing to be?”

“I... don’t know. I guess in this case. You should’ve said screw it and searched.”

She stayed up with me past three o'clock in the morning. I searched everything I could and asked all kinds of questions to help me prepare for the rave.

“Are we done now?” Yosefin asked me after yawning. “I need to go shower.”

“Yeah, you can go.”

“Endlich! (Finally!) Goodnight, Josh. See you later.” Before I ended the call, she approached the camera saying, “Das wird ein Riesenspaß! (This is going to be so fun!“) Our video call ended on that. I sometimes hated when she spoke German when she knew I couldn’t understand. It felt like I was being teased for not saying it.

“All right,” I said, locking my phone and heading to bed.

Five minutes into my sleep, I forgot to ask her when the rave was. Hours later, I woke not by my alarm but by a pop of a message. It was an upward angle of Yosefin’s face. The picture caption said she was “ready to lose her shit.” She had on what I called Egyptian-style eyeliner again. Her lips were super red, like a bright crimson color. Resting under her eyes, she had red oval-shaped sunglasses.

I texted her back, saying I wasn’t looking forward to it. She promised I’d have some fun, specifically in the music, but warned me about the crowd. Raves tended to be psycho, according to her words. She recommended I not hesitate to be rough with people if I needed space. If shit hit the fan, she told me she would protect me from any “dick heads.” She also mentioned I wear something I didn’t mind getting dirty. I chose to wear a sleeveless hoodie with black shorts and my old black low-ankle cut shoes.

The route from home to the concert took me nearly an hour. Despite the long ride, I got there as I saw her dad’s truck coming out of the parking lot. The whole lot was packed. I was forced to park what felt like a quarter of a mile away from the stadium. I heard the low boom of the energetic music I would be subjected to for an ungodly amount of hours the more I got close.

Once I got in line at the gate, Yosefin screamed my name. She came from my right, plowing through people to hug me tightly.

“Josh!” Yosefin yelled again while jumping up and down.

“Yes, yes. I’m here,” I said, trying to hold myself steady from most of her weight weighing down on me.

She moved away to show off her insane outfit in several poses. I was at a loss for words about the way she dressed. She wore a fish-like netting long-sleeved shirt under her black denim sleeveless jacket that made her body dark and transparent. Two separate red pads covered her nipples. She had on some sort of underwear-looking short shorts that reflected an oily spectrum of colors. Around her waist, she had a fanny pack. To finish the damn near-sexual outfit, she wore glittery shoes with thick outer soles.

“What do you think? I look pretty damn good,” Yosefin said with so much excitement.

A random guy stood next to her, saying she looked “Fucking sexy, baby” before I could breathe a word.

“Awe, thank you so much!” She watched the man enter the check-in gates as she stepped closer to me. “So,” she said, slowly moving her eyes away from the guy towards me. “What does say you, hmm?” My brain couldn’t compute what just went down. I was stunned - locked by the random dude’s compliment. “Josh!” She waved her hands, trying to regain my attention. “What do you think of my outfit?” I could not get over how crazy and sexual she looked. The outfit reminded me of something I would find on the weird side of porn where the acting was shit and the sex unamusing.

“I.. uh...” I stuttered.

“I bet you’re thinking, why do I look like some cheezy pornstar?”

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” I nervously mumbled.

“To be honest with you, I could’ve dressed way worse, but I didn’t want to scare you.” A knot formed in my neck when she told me that. I had to swallow my spit to soothe it.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Wow... Really?”

“What I’m wearing is low-key. You might see some shit that’ll scar you for life. So, be prepared.”

“This is going to suck,” I said, facepalming and reminding myself of the pictures I saw on the internet. “Why did I come here?”

“To get out of the house, explore a new side of crazy, and hang with your friend.” When she said friend, she slowed it down, pitched her voice, and rested her cheek on my chest.

“I guess so.”

“You’re such a downer, bro,” she said while lazily punching me in the stomach. “You need to get out more.”

“I hang out with you nearly every other day.”

“I mean, like going places. Explore, travel, and have fun.”

“I’m not that type of person, Yosefin.”

“I know, but guess what.” I leaned down a bit to wait for her answer when she waved me to get closer. “I don’t give a crap,” she whispered, nearly laughing. “You accepted me as your friend, so you’ll get what’s coming.” She pointed directly between my eyes and said, “And that is crazy moments with ya girl, Yosefin.” I had to shake my head in disappointment at the life I was getting. “I promise I’ll be worth the memories once we’re older.” To my surprise, she offered me her pinky to accept her sware.

“You don’t need to do that. I believe you will.” It stayed out. “Yosefin...” Her pinky remained there until I gave in to accepting it. It made her smile, and she gave me another tight hug.

“Your introvert days are over! This is going to be so much fun!”

“Yay... I can’t wait,” I said with a boatload of sarcasm.

“Oh, Josh,” she giggled as she took me by my hand to enter the gate.

Everything I feared about the rave came at me without remorse. There were so many people packed around each other. Everyone and their momma, including Yosefin, went ape shit over the music. I felt like a fish out of water or the kid who stood against a wall watching everyone have fun at the party. I wasn’t nervous about participating, but I stayed in a state of shock. The music was okay, nothing to break a neck or back over, yet that was what everyone did. Their chaotic nature threw me around into people a lot, just like she warned me about.

I got my feet stepped on like no tomorrow. Minor fights broke out around me, and one of them almost got my face punched in. Luckily, Yosefin saw it coming before I could. She shoved the guy away from me and screamed at him to settle down. It took a couple of ball-kicking threats for him to move away. I was impressed she could act extremely hostile and then switch back to vibing with the music as if nothing happened.

I had a guardian angel who kept me safe and made my time at the rave slightly enjoyable. There were moments I found myself smiling or bumping to the beat of the music. No one came between us. She made sure our time here wasn’t chaotic.

At the end of the day, I managed to enjoy my time. It was mainly due to the type of music played and Yosefin creating a safe bubble to enjoy ourselves in.

“You had fun?” Yosefin said in a playful voice with her arms locked around my left arm as we walked out the front gate.

“I surprisingly did.”

“Wanna go to another one later down the line?” I showered her with no’s. “You’re gonna make me go alone?”

“Um, yeah. Raves are not my thing. This was once in a lifetime experience. I’m good with what I got.” She pouted like a child, jumping up and down like she was having a temper tantrum. Her tits bounced wildly in almost every direction. “Stop that!” I laughed at how stupidly playful she was acting. Just to make her stop, I held her upper arms and told her what she wanted to hear. “Fine, I’ll go to another one with you.”

“You will?”

“If it’ll make you stop acting like a child and swinging your tits everywhere, then yes!” She looked down her chest and squeezed her tits like she was massaging them or something of the sort. “What the heck are you doing?”

“I’m surprised these pads didn’t slip.” Her head slightly moved up when she took a glance at me. I tried to make it seem I wasn’t staring by focusing my attention on the ground. “That’s cute.”

“What’s cute?” I asked, not looking at her.

“You know I’m hyper-aware of what you do,” she said when she came and stepped closer to me, still holding her tits. She let go of them, making them bounce from the drop. “Just to let you know, Josh, I’m not the kind of woman that would get super offended if you stared.”

“Why not? It’s rude what I’m doing?”

“Not in my eyes. I kinda like that fact you can’t keep your eyes off me.” I got so timid by what she said I had to walk away to cool off. She came from behind to whisper, “JK. But, don’t be shy about it.”

“You’re so weird.” She thought it was funny, judging by her light chuckle.

“I know. Maybe I’m weird because of the crazy crap that happened to me,” she said when she held my arm. “Anyways, let’s go get something to eat.” We held arms all the way out to the parking lot. Her grip never wavered. It was firmly locked on mine but comfortable enough I did not complain about it. “Where’s your car?”

“This way.” I pointed at the farthest corner of the parking lot

“Lead the way.”

A group of guys huddled around a car with the dome light on near my car. One of the men saw us and jumped away from their car to stand in front of us.

“Hey you,” the guy said, slurring his words at Yosefin. It was the guy that complimented her from before. He seemed like he was high off on something. His body wobbled side to side, and his eyes were droopy. “Do you mind the boys and me getting a pic of your outfit?” She ignored him and continued walking towards my car. “Hey, lady. It’s just a picture!” He tried to get in front of her, but I saw it coming from a mile away.

“Back away, bro!” I said. I shoved hard enough to make the guy stumble into an SUV next to mine. He bumped into it, causing the panic alarm to almost set off. The people he was with got agitated. I thought I was about to get in a fight. Suddenly out of nowhere, I heard a rippling pop of a taser. Yosefin pulled out a taser disguised as a phone from her fanny pack.

“I fucking dare you to make a move so I can put all of you on your asses,” she said.

“You wouldn’t dare,” he laughed. Yosefin reached for him with the taser within inches of his stomach. He squirmed to get away, but his feet somehow could not grip the concrete. Her taser made it centimeters from making contact with his shirt once he gained traction. He and his buddies ran for their lives, heading back towards the gate.

“Perverts!” She put the taser away and took out her real phone to take a picture of the license plate of the car they were huddled around. “Just in case.”

“Let’s get out of here before something else happens,” I said.

My heart was racing with adrenaline. I got out of there speedily to reach the highway and never looked back.

“Always bring protection,” she chuckled, then momentarily discharged the taser. It scared the crap out of me from how loud it was inside the car.

“Where did you get that?”

“I bought it online. It looks like a phone, but it has a dual purpose. It can be a mobile phone charger.”

“I was kind of hoping you’ll zap that guy. It seemed like he wanted more than a pic.”

“I’m glad you saw that coming.” She patted my shoulder when she said in a perfect British accent, “Thanks. That was real chivalric.” That voice was enough to make me blush hard. My whole body shivered as if a cold front blew into my car. The chill felt incredible.

“You do that so well. It’s so soothing to hear.”

“Soothing? Really?”

“Yeah,” I answered without hesitating. “I like it.” There was a moment of silence during a time I expected her to respond. I turned my head slightly to see what she was doing without taking my eyes off the road. She was looking straight ahead with the biggest smile on her face. I kept quiet until she wanted to say something to me.

“Josh,” she said after a minute of silence.

“Yes?”

“Do you got any plans for Halloween?” She finally looked over at me. I kept my eyes on the road but saw her smile shrink into a smaller one.

“You’ve known me for how long?”

“Technically, three months,” she answered nonchalantly, showing with three fingers up. The index finger was curled behind her thumb. “If you count the one month in middle school.”

“You should know I have nothing better to do.”

“I want to,” she stopped to lean on the center armrest, “be sure you don’t have anything important to do.”

“Alright. Where are you taking me?”

She giggled through her nose before saying, “I wanna introduce you to my Eltern.”

“Eltern? What is that?”

“My momma and poppa.”