Plebs

by Jim Goforth

  That didn't stop him thinking about it though.

  Melissa raised a chuckle at his discomfort.

  "Well luckily we did get ourselves some spare underwear and things like that at the Hiding Place, but as far as other clothing we're pretty much fucked."

  "I do have heaps of T-shirts and stuff so you're welcome to borrow those."

  "That'd be great hun," Desiree smiled. "Shirts will do us."

  "And Tasha has got to get these injuries dressed properly," Lee spoke up. "Maybe she should shower first and someone could fix her up with some bandages."

  "Do you want to help me Lee?" Asked Tash of Lee, but Melissa stepped in before Lee could respond in the affirmative which he certainly would have.

  "I think Lee might want to stay and hear our story," she said. "Britt, Caroline you two want to help Tash with that? May as well shower while you're at it, all three of you."

  "Hang on a bit," Corey interjected. "I haven't even got any clothes or anything out. Why doesn't everybody just have a seat and make themselves comfortable. I'll go make some coffees or tea or whatever anybody wants then I'll get some clothes for you all. Then we can think about getting a shower roster going. There are three showers in this place and because they all run off separate tanks it's possible to have all three going without one stealing hot water from the other."

  "Three showers?" Serena interrupted in a tone of disbelief.

  "Yeah, three. One down here, the other two upstairs."

  "Alright," Blaise enthused. "I'm liking the sound of that. I propose we shower in pairs."

  This she said with a very pointed deliberate look at the hard sculpted body of Ryan and though he was still looking rather puzzled and pained over the apparent death of Tim, interest flared brightly on his features.

  "Well thought out Blaise," Melissa sneered scornfully. "Four of us get to shower with the guys, the rest with each other? Brilliant plan."

  "Well, Tash, Caroline and Britt are gonna go together so..."

  "How 'bout no?"

  "How about I get cracking on these coffees?" Corey suggested before the conversation descended into a catfight between Blaise and Melisa. "Lee you want to help me?"

  "Sure," Lee said. Now that he was back in familiar territory, safe and sound in surroundings he knew, the tension in him was subsiding, allowing him to revert to some semblance of normality.

  "I'll help you as well," Desiree offered as the remainder of the party spread themselves out over the lounge room.

  "Cool, what's everybody want?"

  A jumbled bedlam of responses came flying thick and fast and Corey had no chance of deciphering any of it.

  "Shit, one at a time. I've got a cappuccino machine if everybody is happy with cappuccinos...”

  That seemed to appease most. Everybody was happy with the prospect of cappuccinos except Serena who requested a tea, white with two sugars, Jess a flat white and Peter a long black and some headache tablets.

  "Okay, that's all settled, let's do it," Corey suggested.

  "Wait, before you go," called Jess from her seated position on the three seater lounge closest to the door with Britt and Caroline. "Where's the bathroom down here? I'm busting for a pee, big time."

  Corey had been expecting a query like that, it seemed like hours since he'd been to the toilet himself.

  "Through that door, there's a door on the right. That's the toilet."

  "Is it locked?"

  "No, it's not locked. Why would it be?"

  Jess didn't respond, she was up out of her seat bolting for the door he'd indicated.

  "Wait for me!" called Britt and followed, with Caroline in tow.

  A few of the others, including Ryan looked as if they too could use some time in the bathroom.

  There were more bathrooms in the house, but they were upstairs and since the most urgently needing to go was already in, Corey supposed the remainder should be able to hold on for their turn.

  "Back in a bit," Corey announced and then joined Desiree and Lee.

  CHAPTER 21

  The kitchen was located through the door in the right corner beyond the lounge chair where Melissa sat with Blaise and Ryan.

  Lee knew where to go and headed there leaving Corey and Desiree to trail after him in a slower fashion.

  As well as being an adept gardener AKA marijuana farmer, Lee was a very handy fellow in the kitchen. He could cook up a storm and enjoyed doing so, but it was in the art of coffee making where he excelled. As a student he'd harboured thoughts of becoming a barista or some other occupation involving coffee making, but soon discovered that his sideline business of selling pot raked in far more cash.

  As a consequence Lee Hunter would generally list his occupation as unemployed, though he made enough money to get by with products gleaned from his impressive crops, all of it unable to be eaten into by greedy tax collectors.

  He'd never filed a tax return and had no inclination to ever do so.

  Corey's kitchen was a giant behemoth of a room, ideal for whipping up sumptuous banquets or even catering for a large party. It was all gleaming stainless appliances, long black marble topped benches and enough drawers and cupboards to store enough food to feed a third world country.

  Along with the standard oven it boasted two microwaves, three fridges -one of these a pint sized bar fridge laden with alcohol- a dishwasher, the aforementioned cappuccino machine, a cocktail mixing device, a doughnut maker, a grill separate from the conventional oven and countless other kitchen appliances.

  While Lee headed straight to the cappuccino machine and began hauling ingredients from the cupboard overhead Desiree stood just inside the doorway, gazing in awe.

  Corey boiled the kettle to prepare the tea, grinning as he viewed Desiree's astonishment.

  In the cold light of early morning it should seem perfectly natural for Corey and Lee to be partnered in Corey's kitchen brewing up hot coffees for their hung-over gang since they had done it countless times before after big nights out.

  Only this time only four of the gang, Corey and Lee included were in evidence.

  The rest of the invitees this time were a bevy of buxom beauties with guns and knives and battle scars, and soot marks and vengeance on their minds.

  If Corey let himself dwell on morbid thoughts of the disastrous evening he would find himself hopelessly sunken in the mire of despair, wondering just how deep he'd involved himself in this whole scenario.

  So instead of fearing that he'd done the wrong thing by inviting the vengeful women to stay with him, he opted to think positive.

  After all he and Lee were alive weren't they? They’d eluded Raven's crew and the Plebs, they'd outsmarted Errol Haskell and now they were here safe within the confines of the kitchen preparing coffee for the tired, dirty, thirsty, hungry hordes.

  "Can I do anything?" Desiree queried as Lee set about preparing cappuccinos.

  "There's a plate of croissants in the fridge." Corey indicated the refrigerator he meant with a pointing forefinger. "Get them out and whack 'em in the microwave for a bit. That should take the edge off the hunger."

  He couldn't help watching as she traipsed to the sink and washed her hands, then to the fridge, bending slightly to reach inside. The short hem of her skirt rode up ever so tantalisingly as she did so; escalating Corey's heart beat a great deal.

  Had Desiree not been around Corey would certainly have been questioning his motivations in having the women here.

  He would have been too paranoid something was going to go wrong, too suspicious of their motives, worried that they were going to take him for a sucker, make a fool out of him, or even worse, a dead body.

  Since she was around, her calming influence merely eradicated all the dead wood of fearful paranoid thoughts from his mind and enabled him to concentrate on more pleasant things.

  The circumstances of his involvement with her were far from pleasant, but while he was able to filter out all the nasty happenings of the night he was able to enjoy the momen
t.

  It took around fifteen or twenty minutes for the trio in the kitchen to complete the breakfast preparations with Lee doing the lions share of the work, but by the time they'd finished the kitchen was alive with a glorious mixture of aromas, coffee and hot croissants.

  Loading everything onto sizable trays they headed back into the lounge area.

  A chorus of cheers and clapping greeted them as they arrived.

  Peter had been crashed out in his chair, deep in sleep and giving birth to a plethora of mighty snores, but the noise of the group jolted him awake.

  He sat upright with a sheepish grin, gratefully accepting the steaming mug of coffee and croissant offered to him by Corey.

  Glancing around the room Corey observed how rapidly and efficiently the duo of Lee and Desiree doled out the coffees and croissants, everybody seemed to have their share.

  He also noticed the way in which they’d all claimed chairs.

  Since the furniture in the lounge could comfortably seat fourteen people, the thirteen of them here were each able to sit without having to appropriate further chairs from elsewhere.

  Peter of course had taken up residence in the overstuffed single recliner directly opposite the kitchen door, perhaps the furthest chair from the rest of the group and also the hardest to view the television from.

  In the three seater next to him sat Tasha and Rachel, a spare space next to Tash suggesting this place was reserved for Lee.

  After dutifully handing out coffees, Lee took one for himself, dumped his empty silver tray upon the coffee table with Desiree's croissant platter and headed over to sit with Tasha.

  The other three lounge chairs built for three apiece marched along the wall bordering the kitchen and the lounge room.

  The one to the right nearest the kitchen entry point was populated by Ryan, Blaise and Melissa, while the one to the left and nearest to the front door seated Jess, Britt and Caroline; the trio obviously finished with their bathroom ablutions.

  That left the antisocial Serena curled up in the other single recliner and the three seater in the middle vacant.

  Almost as one entity Corey and Desiree took up their respective places upon this unoccupied lounge.

  Though Corey sat himself to one end of it, near to Melissa in his neighbouring seat, he was secretly pleased that Desiree chose to sit right in the middle instead of down the other end of the couch.

  She laid her plate upon her thighs, alternating bites of croissant with sips of coffee.

  The entire group ate in silence, wolfing down the food like ravenous beasts, washing it down with their respective hot drinks.

  Serena was first to finish and she locked beady eyes on Corey, a question prepared and ready to roll from her lips.

  "Is there any more?" She wanted to know.

  "Croissants or just food in general?" He asked, inwardly wincing as he realised that may have come out wrong, may have left him sounding as if he was taking a personal dig at the chubby girl.

  Serena shrugged, apparently not taking any offence at the remark.

  "Food in general I guess. I'm famished."

  "Sure, there's plenty of food. What do you want?"

  "Do you have any..." Desiree spoke, pausing for a moment with a half guilty, half mischievous expression on her exquisite face. "Chocolate?"

  Corey snorted with laughter, almost choking on flaky croissant pastry as he did.

  "Hell yeah. There's chocolate."

  He started to rise to lean forward and place his plate upon the coffee table in order to go fetch some of the requested item, but Ryan helpfully called out, "Never mind Corey, I'm closer, I'll get it."

  Corey waved a grateful hand and settled back on the lounge to finish his coffee, his leg making momentary contact with the heat of Desiree's thigh. He felt a sense of loss once the contact was broken, but decided not to rearrange himself again so that his leg was touching hers, although he sorely wanted to.

  "I have chocolate!" Announced Ryan in a singsong voice a mere couple of minutes later as he returned to the room with his muscled arms laden with a variety of sweets.

  Corey decided piranhas probably didn't react as quick to some morsel dropping into their water as the majority of girls did to the arrival of the chocolate bearing Ryan. Piranhas probably had a bit more finesse in their eating habits as well.

  Spearheaded by the gluttonous Serena the girls snatched various chocolates and retreated back to their positions to feast.

  Corey was glad to observe that not one of the three alpha females -being Desiree, Blaise and Melissa- joined in on the animalistic chocolate marauding.

  They merely sat back in their respective seats, amusement colouring their features as their peers rushed Ryan, grabbing left right and centre.

  Though it had been Desiree requesting chocolate she obviously was too proud to lower herself to the snatching level of the others.

  Corey couldn't fault the ladies for being hungry, but he'd witnessed locust plagues behaving in a more civilized manner.

  He could certainly see his stockpile of chocolate diminishing rapidly with this lot of chocolate Hoovers on hand.

  Ryan trekked around the lounge room distributing chocolate to those who hadn't participated in the first mad rush.

  "Pete," he addressed his haggard friend. "You want some chocolaty goodness?"

  Pete looked aghast at the mere suggestion.

  "Fuck off," he answered succinctly, clearly not a fan of chocolaty goodness at this hung-over stage of the morning.

  "Alright then, I'll take that as a maybe," Ryan said and dropped a chunky block of dark Old Gold chocolate in Peter's lap.

  Peter picked it up with obvious designs on flinging it at Ryan's cranium, thought better of it and dropped it on the floor instead.

  "Should I put the rest back?" Ryan asked Corey.

  "Better not," Melissa advised. "Probably best off leaving it out in plain view so Corey's kitchen doesn't get trashed later when these gluttons are looking for it."

  "We're hungry," Jess protested, in defence of the gluttons.

  "I'll say," Blaise had to agree. "I'm surprised Ryan didn't get a couple of arms chewed off in the middle of that."

  Jess hung her head and looked embarrassed. Most of the others appeared not to care less that attractive women scrambling for chocolate lowered the attractive factor somewhat.

  "Alright, I will leave it right here," Ryan said and dumped the remainder of his goodies in the very centre of the lounge room floor.

  Then he sat down alongside Blaise, leaned forward and gazed directly at Corey, his expression abruptly intent and serious.

  "Okay Corey, now tell me what the fuck happened to Tim. How is it that he's dead?"

  Corey almost choked on a piece of chocolate and swallowed it in a lump which seemed to lodge in his throat, a solid representation of the metaphorical lump which stuck in his throat each time he thought of Tim.

  "That's what we're just about to tell you," Melissa spoke for Corey. "First we'll get whoever doesn't need to be here having showers. Tash, Britt, Caroline you three go first and fix up Tasha's injuries. Corey, is there a medicine cabinet in the bathroom?"

  "Yep. Stocked with everything. Want me to get some shirts and things for them to wear?"

  "If you wouldn't mind."

  "And some towels!" Jess called out after him as he strode across the room, vanishing through the door under the stairs.

  While the ground floor bathroom existed through a door to the right, another door stood to the left. Behind this door was located a giant walk in wardrobe which stored great multitudes of clothing, Manchester, bed linen, towels and the like.

  After Corey's house started to become party Mecca for his town he often had friends who had one way or another damaged clothes, lost clothes or simply needed a hot shower and a place to crash.

  As a result he began to stock things he thought he might require in a party situation or rather, after the party.

  Now the room, originally
a games room, was filled with clothing to lend, towels for showers and the pool out back (for a pool was a necessity in the party house), bed linen and a host of spare mattresses.

  Having hordes of people crashed out all over the house, most sleeping where they fell -i.e. draped over chairs, sprawled flat on the floor, or even hijacking his bed while he was away from it- instigated Corey to be truly prepared for the eventuality of a mass sleepover.

  So he'd purchased a large number of mattresses so those who did want to sleep over or were merely too intoxicated to decide otherwise, or couldn't drive home, were relatively comfortable.

  On one occasion Corey recalled discovering a drunken fellow fast asleep on the kitchen table.

  That had been a decisive factor in his obtaining of mattresses.

  As he gathered up towels, shirts and shorts and whatever else he thought suitable, Corey was struck by how similar this room was to the storage shed Desiree had taken him too back at their now defunct camp.

  It was amazing how it now felt as if he'd never been there at all.

  If it hadn't been for the dried blood on him, itching and irritating, and the fact that his lounge room was filled with refugees from the camp, he could almost pass it off as a bad drunken dream.

  It didn't seem real and the absence of Tim didn't seem real either.

  Corey wondered when it might begin to feel real.

  He was here in his own home, but he still felt like he was having some bizarre out of body experience, or better yet that he was the unsuspecting victim of some television prank show.

  He'd actually be relieved if he walked back out into the lounge to see Shannen Doherty telling him he was on 'Scare Tactics', Tim Hayworth in tow laughing fit to bust a gut.

  The likelihood of that scenario was pretty fucking remote.

  He knew he was in some deeper shit than some TV show; Tim's blood on him was testimony to that.

  When he returned, arms laden with gear, he saw that only half of the original party remained.

  Tasha, Britt, Serena, Caroline, Jess, Rachel and Lee were all absent.

  Handing the towels and whatnot to Desiree who took them to the bathroom, he looked around, searching for Lee.