Concert

"No," Terrence said, "End of story, Brianna. I'm not letting you drive all the way to Dallas on a Thursday evening to see some concert."

"But Terrencccee," I protested, stomping my foot. "It isn't fair. They're my favorite band!"

"I don't care if they're your favorite band. You can't go."

I poked my bottom lip out and whined. "Can't you take me?"

"No, I have to work."

"Arggghhhh," I sighed, exasperated. I stomped off towards my room and slammed the door shut, hoping that he took the hint that I was extremely pissed at him.

It was three days before the big concert in Dallas, a city about four hours away from me. There was no chance in hell that any good bands were coming anywhere closer to me, and this would be the only time I could see them. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't Terrence just let me drive? I WAS, after all, 16 and practically grown. And, I wouldn't be by myself, I'd have Stephanie to accompany me.

I dialed her familiar number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Steph," I groaned in my not-so-happy voice.

"Oh, hey," she answered. "Didn't go well?"

"No. He said I couldn't drive. Can anyone over there take us?"

She paused for a moment. "No, both parents have to work."

I was so jealous. I wish that Terrence was as cool as her parents were. They already agreed to let her go with me, and they'd let her drive if she had a license. Unfortunately, I was the one in our friendship that had the license. "Sucks," I mumbled.

"Yeah it does."

We didn't speak for a minute, the disappointment weighing on both of us.

"Oh well, Bri, cheer up. Maybe, next time we can go."

"There won't be a next time," I murmured, plopping myself down on my bed and staring at my ceiling. "It isn't fair."

"I know, but life isn't fair. Just think, in two years, you'll be able to do whatever the hell you want and Terrence can't do a thing to stop you."

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't go to this concert. Who knows, in two years they might be broken up. And it'll be all his fault that I didn't go."

She silently agreed.

We stayed like that for a long time, she breathing softly into the phone and I staring at my ceiling and trying not to cry.

"Hey, Bri... it's going to be okay," Steph said to me.

"Yeah, I guess. I'll talk to you later."

I hung up the phone with my best friend and sulked the rest of the evening. This was not cool.

"If you don't stop walking around this house like you're mourning, I'll..."

"I AM mourning, Terrence. I'm mourning the fact that my DREAM has died." I glared at him.

He sighed. "Well, you can pout and whine all you want, but I'm not changing my answer."

I rolled my eyes and threw down the fork not finishing half of my meal. "Fine, whatever," I snapped and stormed off to my room, realizing that my battle was lost. There was no way I could convince him to let me go to the concert, even if my life depended on it. He can be so damned untrusting sometimes.

I landed face down on my bed and buried my head into the sheets. There had to be some way that I could go to the concert without Terrence finding out. I racked my brain. I couldn't say I was staying at someone's house, he wouldn't let me stay someplace on a school night. I could tell him that I had to do group studying and I wouldn't be back til late, but that wouldn't work either.

"Well," I finally told myself, "I've never gotten into any REALLY big trouble before, just little minor incidents here and there. And since I'm going to move out in two years anyway, I have to do something really daring at least once, and going to this concert would be just it. I could just sneak off and go. Surely, he wouldn't do anything but get really pissed and confine me to my room for a couple of weeks." I actually tried humoring myself by thinking that it was the worst that would happen. "Besides, even if he does spank me, it'll be worth it to see my favorite band." So, that was that. I had my plan devised. Now all I had to do was clue Stephanie in on it, and I was sure Steph would be for the whole idea, especially since she was the audacious type anyway.

I had trouble sleeping that night due to the excitement that was build up inside of me. All I could think of was how much fun I was going to have jumping up and down to the beats of my favorite band and going on a road trip with my best friend. I finally drifted off into a sleep where I had nice dreams about going on road trips and seeing my favorite band in concert.

The next morning I awoke sleepily and sped to school. I was so anxious to tell Stephanie of my plan, although it really wasn't a plan yet. We only had two days, well a day really, for her to order the tickets and hotel with her mom's trusty credit card. I knew if this was going to work, I had to begin getting started immediately, even if it meant going to her house after school to set things up.

When I got to our usual spot in the hallway, to my disappointment, Stephanie wasn't there yet. I waited, looking up each time I felt a cold draft from the doorway opening. Finally, I felt a draft and looked up to see her.

"STEPHANIE!" I nearly screamed and ran towards her, tackling her in a hug. "We've gotta talk!" From my enthusiasm, I knew she was expecting me to say that Terrence agreed to let me go. My hyperness made her hyper as well and we hopped off together by the lockers where we could not be heard. "Okay! I got an idea!"

"Oh, no," she moaned, realizing that Terrence hadn't said yes, but I had another moronic idea.

"Look, I've never done anything THAT bad before to cause trouble, and I figure that I have to do it at least once before I leave home, so what better way to do so than to go to this concert!"

"Bri... that's a bad idea..."

"I know, but it's worth it. We get to see our favorite band and hang out and... oh man, I'm so excited!"

I could tell that she didn't like my idea, but with every moment that passed, she seemed to be liking it more and more.

"So, tonight, order our concert tickets and get us a hotel room and we're all set!"

She nodded slowly. "All right," she agreed. "But you do realize when we get back home that Terrence is going to kill you?"

"Yep!" I jumped up and down exclaiming how giddy I was to go to the concert.

That day and the next were the two longest days of my life. Stephanie and I constantly reminded each other about the concert and how awesome it would be, but it didn't help the day go by any faster. We arranged everything, from tickets to the hotel to money. We made out an itinerary where we would visit a college in order to have an excused absence, and we decided that we'd leave early Thursday morning when it was still dark outside, right after Terrence left for work and head to Dallas where we would visit the school and check into our hotel room then get ourselves pepped up for the concert, which wouldn't be too hard. We'd go to the concert that started at 7 then go back to the hotel and sleep until we woke up the next morning for our drive back home in which I would prepare to get yelled at. It seemed like a perfect plan!

My alarm blared loudly through my room at 5:30 am. It was Thursday morning and my mind was on only one thing, the concert. I leapt out of bed and dressed myself then walked outside where all I could smell was the cold air. I sat down in the seat of my car, turning the heat up as high as it would go. I wasn't used to getting up before daylight, and I didn't realize how freezing it would be. My car finally warmed up and I drove to Steph's house. She was waiting outside for me and was as ecstatic as I was, standing there in her hoodie and baggy jeans. She hopped into my car and we cranked the music up as loud as possible then headed out west. Dallas here we come!

The trip to Dallas was longer and more boring than I figured it would be. We listened to music the entire way, but our high spirits eventually died down and Stephanie went to sleep while I struggled to keep conscious. We ate breakfast at Waffle House on the way, when we were a good two hours out of town. I wondered what Terrence was doing, what he'd do when he found out that I'd gone to the concert. I was scared to think like that, but when one is driving, they have to avert their attention to more than just driving. No pleasant thoughts could stay in my mind.

We ate again after we checked into our hotel. Then, we took our showers and got ourselves looking good for the event of our life. We left the hotel at 5 pm. Okay, so that was a little early, but we wanted to make sure we saw EVERYTHING.

We had tickets for the floor. When we got there, we were ordered to sit and we did just that, talking to the people around us and becoming acquainted. I felt a twinge of guilt in my stomach, blatantly defying my brother like I was. I knew that it would be worth it, or at least I hoped, so I put those thoughts away from me. Finally, the band came on stage and everyone exploded with applause. It was the greatest feeling, getting to see my favorite band in concert, getting to sing along until my throat was hoarse. I could only grin the entire night, knowing that I was too far away for Terrence to do anything until Friday evening when he came home from work.

Our plan followed through, fortunately. We had plenty of money to get food, and we weren't kicked out of our hotel.

"I had such an awesome time," I exclaimed to Stephanie, dropping her off at her house the next afternoon. She smiled and hopped out of my car.

"Me, too. I'm glad we decided to go. Good luck with Terrence."

I nodded. "Thanks, I'll need it."

When I arrived at my house, I was not expecting Terrence's car in the driveway. That alone threw me off track. My heart began racing, fearing the trouble I was in. I knew how Terrence got when he was angry, and I thought maybe turning the car around and driving back to Dallas would be a better idea than going inside.

It didn't work though. Before I could even put my car in reverse, Terrence appeared in the doorway, slamming the screen shut and walking angrily towards my car. I gulped subconsciously and turned my car off. He opened the door.

"Get out," he said angrily, holding my door open.

"I'm sorry!" was my immediate reaction.

"Get out of the car, Brianna Nicole Carter. You have some explaining to do!" I fell out and sprinted towards the house, not wanting to be spanked even once or twice while I was outside. My bottom began to tingle. I knew what was going to happen.

I felt him slam the door. I was standing near the couch, looking down at the floor when he came towards me.

"Young Lady," he bellowed. "I want you to sit down on that couch and explain every detail of what you did these past two days and tell me why I'm mad at you."

I nodded and plopped down on the couch, beginning my story, how I really wanted to go and how I knew it wasn't right, how we bought the tickets and got the room, and how we went to the concert and came back home unharmed.

"Well, seems like you had quite a time," he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I cannot believe you. Running off when I specifically told you no, not just one time, but twenty times. You disobeyed me, made plans, and drove to Dallas by yourself. You could have gotten into a car accident and you and Steph could have been killed. Didn't you realize that? I didn't say 'no' to be mean, I said it for your own safety and you went to the concert anyway!"

"I'm sorry," I pleaded. "I just wanted to go and have some fun."

"Well, I hope you had some fun!" He scowled under his breath, pacing angrily around the room. "You don't realize how dangerous that was! Parading around the country like that... You're only 16 years old and living under my roof and if I tell you no, you will obey me, Young Lady, do you understand!?"

I nodded frantically.

"Good!" He stopped pacing and walked towards me and lifted me up without any effort. By this time I was screaming and crying.

"Nooooooo, Terrence, I'm sorry!!!!!!!" I begged. "Pleaseeeeeee, don't do thisss... I won't do it again!!!"

He slapped my bottom hard, and even through my jeans I could feel the sting.

"Owwwwwwww," I squeeled.

"Oh, that's nothing, Brianna," he warned. "Stop struggling or it's going to be worse."

As much as I wanted to stop struggling, my body wouldn't let me. I kept kicking and fighting.

Exasperated at my constant struggles, Terrence slapped my bottom four more times and unbuttoned my jeans. "When I tell you to do something, you will do it!" he said. He threw me over his lap, then peeled my jeans and panties down to my knees.

"But, I'm sorryyyyyy!"

"You should have thought about this before you took your joyride around the country!"

I hated how he kept sounding like I went far away or something. He pinned my hands to my back. I expected him to lecture, but he didn't waste his breath. Instead, he skipped right to spanking me. His strong hands slapping my bare bottom fiercely, I jumped after every smack.

"Owwwwwwwwwwww!!" I screamed, kicking and fresh tears flowing from my eyes.

He spanked me hard and fast, getting faster and harder as the slaps progressed. "Think SMACK!!! about this SMACK!!! next time you SMACK!!!!! want SMACK!! to disobey me! SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!"

"Owwwwieeee! Terrence I'm sorry!!!!"

He didn't do anything but speed up his pace.

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!
SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!
SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!
SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!
SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!!!!!

I finally gave up all struggling and lay limply over his lap, sobbing into the couch cushions and taking my punishment, which I knew I would have to take when I left. But, it hurt so much!

Finally he gave me three final smacks then stopped, allowing me to cry while he rested one hand on my bottom and the other rubbed my back.

"Shhhhh, it's okay," Terrence said soothingly. "It's okay, Brianna, it's all over."

My crying died down after lying there for a while and finally he lifted me up and sat me in his lap.

"The only reason I did that was because I care about you, Bri. You know that, right?"

I nodded.

"You could've gotten hurt or killed or kidnapped."

I nodded again.

"Was it a good concert at least?"

I smiled. "Yeah, it was, but I don't think it was worth it."

He hugged me tightly. It really wasn't worth it... I had let down my brother and gotten spanked... there would be plenty of other times to see concerts, but it was too late to regain my brother's trust.