The crack of the snare drum hit Jake square in the chest.

It cut through the low roar of the crowd and snapped him out of his thoughts. The lights came alive as the band launched into the opening song with the kind of precision that only came from years on the road.

Jake exhaled slowly and let his shoulders drop.

He stood in the pit by himself, letting the noise fill the space where expectation had been.

This trip had always followed the same pattern, with the same band, the same city, and the same loose rhythm of late nights and familiar songs. When everyone else bailed, he had convinced himself that going solo would be freeing. It would be just him and the music.

That was before Beth complicated things.

The drummer’s hands blurred as the tempo built, every strike landing exactly where it should. The crowd swayed and the heat rose, bodies all around him. Jake barely moved. His mind slipped backward without permission.

The coffee shop replayed itself with unforgiving clarity.

He sat at a corner table that offered both a view of the door and plenty of privacy. After half an hour, he told himself he’d wait fifteen more minutes. Fifteen minutes stretched into thirty minutes. 

The second hour dragged on, reinforcing the quiet certainty that she wasn’t coming.

His phone lay face-up on the table the entire time, the screen lighting up with notification after notification. He stared at each one, hopeful. None were from Beth. 

He opened the messaging app again. Even more concerning was that the last five messages he sent all remained unread.

He told himself something must have gone wrong.

Maybe it was car trouble.

Maybe a family emergency.

Or maybe she never seriously considered coming. Perhaps this was all some twisted game.

A cheer erupted as the band slid seamlessly into the second song. Jake forced himself to nod along, to move with the rhythm, but the rejection still sat heavy in his chest. It was dull and unrelenting. The kind that made him feel foolish for believing in something that never quite existed.

He had built the weekend carefully in his head. Neutral ground. No pressure. A three-hour flight for him, a five-hour car ride for her.  

After several months of flirting on a secure message app, countless erotic gifs, and hours and hours of shared fantasies, they had agreed to do something they agreed not to do from the very start: they were going to meet in person and spend the weekend together. 

Best case, he had envisioned them spending the weekend fucking like rabbits, surfacing only for food and to attend the two shows. Worst case, the chemistry was not there and they would still enjoy the music.

Now he was enjoying the music, only without her.

The lights shifted, bathing the pit in warm amber. Jake scanned the crowd without thinking, a habit left over from waiting for someone who never arrived.

That was when he noticed her, fifteen feet to his left.

She wore a simple yellow dress that stood out without trying to. She stood still, eyes on the stage but unfocused, like her mind was somewhere else entirely.

Then she lifted both hands and twisted her hair up, securing it with a silver clip.

The motion unsettled him more than it should have.

She did not resemble Beth at all. The hair color and the style were different, though the motion felt familiar.

Beth did that in some of the videos she had shared, usually immediately before she crossed one of the many lines that had been crossed over the past five months.

Jake was immediately irritated with himself. It was a coincidence, nothing more.

As he started to look away, the woman turned her head in his direction.

Their eyes met.

They held eye contact just long enough to sense that they were both waiting for someone who hadn’t shown up.

She looked away first, scanning the crowd like she was searching for someone who should have been standing beside her.

The third song began, one of his favorites. The crowd erupted and she finally moved, swaying slightly, still alone. When she glanced back again, she caught him watching.

This time, she smirked.

Over the next three songs, she moved closer until they were standing shoulder to shoulder.

She leaned in, just enough to be heard over the music. “Let me guess,” she said. “You did not come here planning to stand by yourself all night.”

Jake let out a quiet laugh. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only if you know what it looks like,” she replied. She extended her hand without hesitation. “I’m Nikki.”

“Jake.”

Their hands met. Her fingers lingered, light but deliberate.

As the band tore into the chorus, Nikki leaned closer, speaking near his ear. “I was supposed to meet someone tonight. She told me that she had this ‘epic' weekend planned. And then nothing.” She mimed a dark phone screen.

Jake smiled despite himself. 

Her eyebrows lifted. “You too?”

He felt the tightness in his chest ease a little.

“Two hours,” he said. “She and I were supposed to meet at a coffee shop this afternoon. I waited two hours.”  

Nikki laughed, genuine and sharp. “I booked a suite for the two of us. Checked in and then waited in the lobby. I left after ninety minutes. Decided I was not going to let the night go to waste. And I sure wasn’t going to miss the concert.”

“Good decision.”

They turned back toward the stage as the song peaked. As the set continued, they realized they shared more than disappointment. They had both been fans of the band for nearly three decades. They talked about first shows, favorite venues, lineup changes, and how much longer the band might tour.

By the time the band started the encore, Nikki was standing directly in front of him, his hands resting easily at her hips as the crowd surged. She was relaxed now, singing along with the band, her body moving in time with the music.

As the final notes faded and the lights began to rise, Jake leaned in. “So,” he said casually, “where are you staying?”

She glanced up at him. “The Hilton. Across the park.”

His eyebrows lifted slightly. “Same.”

Her smile widened just a touch. “Of course you are.”

The crowd began to thin as people filtered toward the exits. Jake kept his hands where they were. Then it dawned on him what she was probably thinking. “No, no. I wasn’t implying anything. I was about to head back that way,” he said. “I was going to offer to walk with you, if you’d like.”

“Yeah,” she said, with a light-hearted laugh. “I’d like that.”

They fell into step together as the venue emptied, the noise behind them fading into the night. Across the street, the park stretched dark and quiet between the lights of the city and the vast emptiness of the lake beyond.

As they walked through the park, they talked about their careers, music, and travel. As she talked, she ran her hand through her long blonde hair and Jake noticed the ring on her left hand reflecting the lights along the paved trail.

“Husband?”

She nodded. “Not here. He hates the band. This was supposed to be a girls' weekend.” She smiled and blushed slightly. “Well… More of a, um, self-discovery weekend.”

Her eyes dropped to his hand. His wedding band was impossible to miss.

“And you?” she asked. “Wife?”

“Yes,” Jake replied. “Not here. She doesn’t appreciate the band either.”

Nikki held his gaze a moment longer, her expression shifting from playful to curious.

“So,” she said, voice low but steady, “you are married.” She paused. “But earlier you said you were waiting for a woman at a coffee shop.”

Jake did not answer right away.

She tilted her head slightly, studying him, and continued. “That means you planned on cheating on your wife this weekend, didn’t you?”

She didn’t sound accusatory, just matter-of-fact.

Jake took a deep breath before responding. Eventually, he nodded. “Yes.”

“First time?”

Another nod.

Nikki considered that, her mouth curving into a thoughtful smile rather than judgment. “Interesting,” she said. “I was supposed to meet a woman this weekend. We met online a few months ago.”

She glanced around, as though worried someone might recognize her. “I told myself that because it was another woman, that made it cleaner somehow,” she added. “But I still came here knowing I was going to cross a line.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes.

“So here we are,” Nikki said quietly. “Both of us travel halfway across the country with the intent to cheat on our spouses with someone we met online. Both of us were stood up. And then we run into each other in a sea of thirty thousand people.” She let out a soft breath. “What are the odds?”

Jake gave a short, humorless laugh as he glanced over at her. “I assume you are here all weekend?”

Nikki rolled her eyes. “What do you think?”

“Um, yeah,” he said, as if she just pointed out the obvious. “I assume you already have a ticket for tomorrow night’s show?”

“I do.”

“Any interest in hanging out tomorrow? Maybe grab brunch, explore the city, and then dinner before the show?”

Instead of answering immediately, Nikki’s lips curled into a devious smile. “I have another idea.”

Before he could respond, she pulled him into a kiss, her lips molding against his with a sudden heat. 

Jake froze. It hit him that this was the first time he had kissed another woman since he met his wife. The surprise was not the kiss itself. It was that it was not Beth.

Pulling back just an inch, Nikki locked eyes with him and led him off the well-lit path toward the shadows of the park. As the sound of their footsteps transitioned from concrete to the soft muffling of grass, she leaned in, her breath hot against his ear.

"Have you ever had sex with a stranger, Jake?”

He didn’t let her finish the thought. He spun her around, pinning her against the rough bark of a broad oak tree and kissed her with a new, aggressive hunger. 

They broke the kiss just long enough for him to take her hand, his decision made. Without a word, he turned and led her deeper into the park.

Eventually, they reached a secluded stone wall, shielded from the distant streetlights by a thicket of brush.

Jake had spent months imagining how this moment would unfold with Beth. The sudden jolt came from realizing that it was Nikki standing in front of him now.

His hands settled at her waist, the contact steadying him more than he expected. He bunched the fabric upward, his palms grazing her thighs until he reached the curve of her ass. He felt the slick heat of her through the thin lace of her panties.

Nikki’s hands were just as busy, diving under his shirt and fumbling with the button and zipper of his shorts. As she pushed his clothes down, her cool fingers wrapped around him, stroking him with a firm, practiced grip.

He slipped the lace aside, surprised by how easily the moment was unfolding. Without speaking, Nikki lifted her leg, guiding him closer in a way that felt both deliberate and inevitable. She wrapped it around his hip, eagerly drawing him home. The contact was electric. Jake reached around and lifted her slightly, struck by how natural it suddenly felt.

The open air, along with the risk of being seen, sharpened everything. Nikki’s head fell back against the stone, a muffled cry escaping her as her breath came in ragged gasps against his neck. She tightened around him in a series of violent tremors that nearly brought him to his knees.

“I’m close,” he exclaimed, his muscles coiling tight.

Nikki’s legs locked behind his back like a vice, pulling him in until there was no space left between them. She hesitated for the briefest moment, her breath catching as if she were weighing the risk of what she was about to say against how badly she wanted it.

“Yes,” she whispered, her teeth grazing his earlobe. “I want to feel you cum inside me.”

He understood that whatever lines he had crossed, this would take him further into something impossible to undo.

Jake did not pull back, even as a small voice told him he still could. His body went rigid as he exploded deep inside of her, the release more intense than anything he’d experienced in years. He held her there for a moment, unsure whether it was closeness or disbelief that kept him from letting go.

When he finally pulled out and put her down, Nikki stayed close, her forehead resting against his shoulder as their breathing began to level out. She smoothed her dress down, then looked up at him with a mix of shock and pride. “We should probably get out of here before someone sees us,” she said softly.

Jake nodded, his head still spinning. He adjusted his clothes with trembling hands, the cool air hitting his skin as he zipped up. 

They emerged from the darkness of the park and approached the path. For a moment, Beth returned to his thoughts. Just as quickly, those thoughts slipped away again as Nikki confidently took his hand.

Their hands stayed locked as they found their way back to the concrete path. Silence followed them across the park and toward the hotel, the bright lobby lights feeling almost blinding compared to the shadows of the park.

They held hands but didn’t speak as they made their way towards the elevator bank and stepped into an empty elevator. 

The elevator doors started to close. Before Jake could press a button, Nikki pulled him close and kissed him again. “Your room or mine?” she asked, with a twinkle in her eye. She smiled and reached past him to press the button for the 32nd floor.

Just then, a hand slipped between the doors, forcing them open.

“Sorry,” said a familiar voice as she pulled her luggage into the elevator. “Can one of you please hit the button for the 32nd floor?”

As the doors closed and the car began to rise, Jake and Nikki broke apart and turned toward the voice.

They spoke at the same time.

“Beth?”

Beth turned toward them, her gaze moving from Jake to Nikki and back again. Slowly, a mischievous grin spread across her lips as she leaned back against the elevator doors.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

Still embracing each other, Jake and Nikki stared back at Beth, the weight of what had happened slowly settling in. At the same time, they both realized that everything had just shifted in ways they did not yet fully understand.