"Aw, Kelly, please? These tickets cost a fortune and now Zoë can't go. Won't you come with me instead?" Erin tried her pleading look, complete with puppy dog eyes, on her employer at the Surf's Up Café.

"Erin, it's just not my scene, really. Who'd look after my kids? And I'd feel like a grandma going to see that type of band." Kelly gave her a sympathetic smile as she wiped over the grey melamine surface of the counter with antibacterial spray.

"I don't want to go on my own, plus it would be a crime to waste the ticket. I guess it's too late in the day to try selling it on EBay." Erin sat down on one of the high chrome stools next to the counter and stared at the ticket in her hand.

"You need somebody young to go with you. A nice young man, that's what you need," Kelly huffed as she began to gather dirty plates from a nearby table.

Erin made a face. "Since when did you get old?"

Kelly laughed and her round face dimpled. "Since you wanted me to go to a rock concert with you and fifty thousand screaming teenagers! That's since when."

"What am I going to do?" Erin jumped off her stool and shoved the tickets into the rear pocket of her jeans.

"Can't you ask another friend to go with you?"

"It's the end of summer. Everyone's either away or busy. The tickets cost a lot of money and anyone who is available is broke." She had worked a lot of extra shifts at the café to earn the money for the concert. It wasn't Zoë's fault she was ill, she'd offered Erin the money for her ticket even though she couldn't use it, but Erin hadn't the heart to accept knowing her friend wasn't going to be earning for a while.

She wandered across to the window and looked out at the sea. It looked as if the wind had changed direction as the waves were dying down. The surfers would soon be up from the beach, dragging in sand all over the tiled floor and placing orders for cheese toasties and fries.

Kelly carried her tray of dirty crockery across the café and placed it down on the counter. "It's high time you found yourself a fella. Then you wouldn't be doing all this moping around."

Erin shook her head. Kelly was always trying to pair her off with somebody. Ever since Erin had arrived in New Bay at the start of her year out from college four months earlier, her boss had taken her under her ample wing.

She left the window and walked back across the café to help tidy up. Behind her the café door swung open.

"Hey, Dan, how do you fancy going to a rock concert tomorrow?" Kelly called.

"If it's the concert I think it is, I'd love to go. I couldn't get a ticket."

Erin groaned to herself. Dan was a regular customer. He called in most mornings for a coffee and a chocolate fudge brownie. She wasn't sure what he did for a living, just that he always wore a smart suit and didn't talk very much. He preferred to sit in the corner near the window and read his newspaper, unlike the buff surfer guys who clustered around the counter, chatting and swapping jokes with Kelly.

"Erin's got a spare ticket to sell and she's looking for some company."

Erin felt her cheeks heat up.

"I'm interested! And I'd be happy to drive you over to the concert." Dan appeared at her elbow.

Kelly winked and disappeared into the kitchen, whistling. Erin turned to see Dan busy studying the plate of brownies under the translucent dome on the counter-top. "Are you sure you want to come? I mean, the ticket is sixty pounds and if it's not your scene..." She couldn't picture Dan at a rock concert. Did he even own a pair of jeans?

"No, it's fine. I'd tried to get a seat but all the tickets were sold." Dan made his choice of cake and placed it on a plate with the café's metal tongs.

Erin sighed and moved behind the counter to make him his usual cup of coffee. "There you go. One brownie and a coffee. I'll bring the ticket over later."

"Thanks." Dan handed her his money. Erin felt herself blush as he smiled at her. He had quite a cute smile. Funny, she'd never really taken much notice of him before. The café door swung open and a crowd of surfers came in. Erin was busy for the next few minutes, taking orders and making drinks. By the time she was done, Dan had folded his newspaper and stood ready to leave.

"Um, if you were serious about the concert, I've got the ticket here." Erin caught him in the open doorway. She felt in the back pocket of her jeans and passed him one of the tickets as the sea breeze tugged at her hair.

"That's great." He glanced at it. "Good seats, too. Let me give you the money." He produced his wallet and took out the notes.

"Listen, you don't have to give me a lift if you'd rather not, and if there's someone else you'd rather go with I can always sell you my ticket too." Much as she wanted to see the band, she didn't want to go with someone who'd been coerced into accompanying her. Besides, how much fun was she likely to have with Dan sober-sides?

Dan's brown eyes crinkled as he smiled. "No, there isn't anyone else I'd want to take. Do you want me to pick you up from here tomorrow?"

Erin sensed his amusement at her discomfort and felt her temper bristle. She resented feeling as if he had the upper hand over her. "Here, will be fine."

"Be ready by four. It'll take us at least an hour to get to the stadium!" He tucked his newspaper under his arm.

'See you tomorrow." Erin resisted the urge to snap a salute. Who did he think he was? She was the one who'd got the tickets and now he thought he could order her about, telling her what time to be ready.

"It's a date!" Dan winked at her and left.

"Hey, Erin got a date!" One of the surfer regulars whistled and clapped as he overheard Dan's parting remark. The rest of the group whooped and laughed. Erin glowered at them as she stalked into the kitchen to confront Kelly.

"Take out the last of these cheese toasties, please, hon." Kelly passed her two plates.

"What were you thinking, asking Dan about the concert?" Erin took the plates from her friend.

"Why? He wanted to go, didn't he?" Kelly wiped her hands on a towel.

"That's not the point! Can you imagine Dan at a rock concert?"

Kelly hung the towel back on its hook. "I think you should stop judging a book by its cover, Erin Peters. Dan is a very nice young man. Now, take those sandwiches out before they get cold."

Erin stomped out of the kitchen and delivered the plates to the group at the counter. Maybe Kelly was right maybe she had been a bit harsh about Dan. After all she didn't really know what he was like. She went to take an order from a couple of young mums with baby strollers who'd come in while she'd been in the kitchen.

She scribbled their order on her pad and popped it through to Kelly.

'So, Erin, are you going on a date with Dan?" Brad, the surfer who'd overheard her conversation with Dan, asked as she pulled clean cups from under the counter.

"It's not a date. He's giving me a lift to the concert tomorrow, that's all." She prepared a tea tray for the mums sitting in the window seats.

"Okay, cool. He's a pretty righteous guy." Brad nodded his head as he put the money on the counter to pay for his order.

"You know him?" Dan didn't look like the kind of guy someone like Brad would know. Then again, New Bay was a pretty small town.

"Yeah, loads of kids know Dan." Brad accepted his change and turned to join the rest of his group who were headed for the door.

"Oh." Maybe Dan was a teacher. Erin closed the till drawer then took the tea things over to her other customers. It looked as if Kelly might be right and there was more to Dan than she'd thought.

The café soon filled up for the lunchtime rush and it wasn't until the crowds had dispersed later in the afternoon that Erin had another opportunity to ask Kelly about Dan.

"He's been coming in here for the last eighteen months. He's single and lives on the far side of the town in those new flats." Kelly made them both a mug of coffee while she told Erin what she knew.

"Brad said a lot of the kids know him." Erin tore open a sachet of sugar and tipped it into her mug.

"I've seen a few of them say hello to him when he comes in." Kelly shrugged.

"Brad said he was righteous--whatever that means." Erin sat down opposite Kelly with her drink.

Her friend laughed. "I can't believe you're still learning the lingo after a whole summer here! It means he's an okay guy."

"I hope he doesn't plan on wearing his suit to the gig tomorrow."

"You are such a stick-in-the-mud! The poor guy has to dress like that for his work. We've never seen him out of hours. He's very good-looking. If I was twenty years younger and minus three kids I'd be after him for myself." Kelly shook her head making her beaded cornrow plaits shake and click.

"Okay, point taken! But please, Kell, no more match-making!"

"You sold him a ticket and he's giving you a ride! Sheesh, you sound like my daughter!" Kelly finished her coffee and heaved herself up from the chair.

"Well, now I've got some money I'm going to the sale at Beach Diva's. There's a top in the window I've wanted for ages." Erin finished her coffee quickly. Part of the attraction of staying in New Bay had been the shops. The town had several trendy designer boutiques aimed at parting tourists from their money. When she had first arrived she had only intended to stay for a few weeks before moving on to the bigger resorts. By chance, though, she had seen Kelly's vacancy card in the café window and somehow she'd stayed on.

Erin said goodbye to Kelly and walked along the seafront to Beach Diva's. The sandy beach, which had been so busy all summer, was now almost deserted. Only Brad and his friends were at the water's edge catching the waves. A few toddlers with their parents played higher up the beach and a cool breeze blew in from the sea.

Beach Diva's had a sign in the window proclaiming the end of season sale. Erin was relieved when she saw the top she'd coveted still hanging at the front of the display. She tried it on and admired herself in the mirror. Even if Dan did turn up for the concert looking like her primary school head-teacher she could still look totally radical.