Kate frantically re-dialled her friends' number as she stood impatiently outside the night club. After getting separated from Beth and Sarah in one of the pubs earlier, she'd wrongly assumed they were already inside the club they'd planned on going to together.
What had pissed 19 year-old Kate off the most, was having to pay the £20 entrance fee only to discover her friends weren't even inside.
As a light rain began to fall, she left a third message on Beth's phone.
"Right, I've been inside the club and neither of you are there!" she said impatiently. "I don't know where you are, so can you ring me back please?"
She threw the phone back in her bag and crossed her arms waiting for a call back. After ten minutes getting wet in the rain, Kate decided to cut her losses and go home.
Kate walked to the taxi rank and but found none available, so walking along the pavement she looked out for a private hire. You weren't supposed to hail them from the street as they weren't insured unless pre-booked and there had been stories in the news of girls being attacked by predatory drivers.
But Kate was desperate now as her last bus had left ages ago. It was about an hours' walk to her parents' home and there was no way she was walking that distance alone in her heels.
Standing at a large set of cross-roads, she scanned up and down realising it was still busy with traffic for this time of night. While there were plenty of taxi's passing, very few were stopping. Usually, a pretty girl like Kate would have no problem getting a taxi to stop for her, but tonight was proving difficult as she watched taxi after taxi whizz past her.
A couple of taxi's stopped close by but had refused to take her without a booking. With her shoulder length blonde hair getting damp along with the thigh length black party dress she wore, Kate was becoming more desperate by the minute.
She spotted one that looked like a people carrier across the junction dropping off passengers, so clacking across the tarmac in her heels, Kate ran over to intercept it before the taxi drove away. Reaching the passenger side, she knocked on the window frantically before the driver opened it halfway.
"Hey!" She began breathless from the effort of her run. "I'm really sorry, I know you're not supposed to, but could you take me back to Bury please? I'm on my own, I've lost my mates in town somewhere."
The driver listened to the 19 year-old with the resigned look of someone who'd heard the same story many times.
"Love, I'm not supposed to pick you up off the street. The ride wouldn't be insured. If there was an accident, I'd lose my license." He replied apologetically.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry I just really need to get home, there's no buses and I'm on my own." Kate pleaded, her blue eyes sparkling under the street lights.
The driver huffed and checked his watch, before stroking his chin in thought. He looked at the pretty girl leaning into the window of his taxi, her big tits bulging out of her party dress as rain ran down her cleavage.
"Bury is well out of my way love. I usually cover the south end of the city." He protested.
"Please, I'll pay you extra!" Kate begged. "An extra Tenner if you take me, because it's out of your way."
The driver contemplated her offer for a moment with a sigh.
"Go on then." He relented, a Tenner is a Tenner after all.
Before he changed his mind, Kate quickly slid the back door of the SUV open, jumped into the back and out of the rain.
"Thank you, thank you so much for doing this." She said shaking the wetness from her crinkling blonde hair.
Kate gave him the address of her parent's house and settled back in her seat.
He was a friendly enough driver at first and they chatted as he drove her through the wet streets. She learned that he had a daughter her age which had played a part in his decision to take her. He hoped that someone would do the same for her, if she was ever stranded alone he told her.
Kate explained how she'd ended up losing her mates in town. She'd met Beth and Sarah in a pub closer to home, before venturing into the city to go the new club. But Beth had met some older guy at the bar, while Sarah had been talking on her phone out the front before they both disappeared.
By the time Kate had gone to look for them, she had no idea where they'd could have gone. The doorman didn't seem to know and the older guy Beth was talking to had just left with his wife. She admitted being pissed off at being ditched by her supposed best friends.
Kate felt safe and secure in the back of the taxi now though, as her hair and clothes dried thanks to the warmth inside. Passing the long rows of take-aways still open for business, she realised where they were. Beth only lived five minutes away.
"Sorry, is there any chance of taking a quick detour?" She asked the driver. "My mate is five minutes from here. Could we stop quick to see if she's home?"
The driver rolled his eyes. He was doing Kate a favour and a detour was taking the piss a little.
"Can you phone her first? Make sure she's in before we turn off?"
"I've been trying, but it's switched off. She's probably run out of battery." Kate answered.
The driver thought it a wild goose chase and a waste of time. But he'd picked the teenager up in the first place, so shouldn't have been surprised at an extra demand. After all he had a daughter the same age, he knew what teenage girls were like.
They pulled up outside Beth's house a few minutes later and Kate noted no lights on. The voicemail cut in again when she called, and she conceded any hope of catching her friend again for the night.
"Can we go now please? Sorry, this was a waste of time." Kate apologised.
Silently annoyed, the driver put the taxi into gear and sped back on route to Kate's parents' house. They didn't speak a word the rest of the journey.
Ten minutes later, the taxi slowly pulled into Kate's street and quietly drove along the row of semi-detached houses until she told the driver to stop.
Switching on the interior light, the driver leaned back towards Kate.
"That's thirty quid please love, plus a Tenner for going out of my way." He requested sullenly.
Kate slid to the edge of the seat and fished her purse from her bag. She found a ten pound note straight away but digging deeper couldn't find the rest of her money. Passing the note to the driver, she re-checked each pocket of her purse.
"Fuck." She muttered under her breath. "Where that twenty I had?"
The drivers' ears pricked up at hearing her.
"Everything ok love?" He asked with concern in his voice. In his trade people were always trying to get away without paying, especially on a Saturday night. It tested his patience to the limit at times.
"Ummm yeah, hang on." Kate stuttered. "I definitely had the money when I....."
