by Meg Buchanan
“Lucky you, Loges,” said one of his mates. “Can’t see you in makeup.”
I expected them to start up with same shit they did at school, but I was saved. We arrived at Coroglen about then. Denis pulled into the paddock on the other side of the road from the pub where you’re meant to park.
As soon as he stopped, I leapt off the back, went to the passenger side and let Jess and Laura out.
“Thanks.” Jess put her hands on my shoulders and kissed my cheek.
“That’s the stuff you have to do, Loges,” said one of his mates. “Open the door for the ladies.”
Laura brushed past Jess and me with a huff. I’m not sure that’d work for Logan anyway.
“Lock that door.” Denis used his key on the driver’s side. “The central locking isn’t working.”
The car locked, we headed across the road to the lights and the people. A huge marquee had been erected outside the pub, and you could hear the music floating out from it. Logan hovered around Laura.
“I’ll get you something to drink,” he offered. Laura looked at him like he had two heads.
Jess’s mum had bought the tickets in town earlier, so we all went straight into the marquee. The lights were dim, and a spotlight lit up the band on the stage. Not Jimmy Barnes yet, but a group of young guys. They were pretty average.
“Do you want to go up near the front?” asked Jess.
“Yeah,” I said.
“We’ll get some beers,” said Denis.
“Do you want to come?” Logan asked Laura. He got that two-headed look again. Denis and his mates took off, and Laura was left hanging there on her own.
“Stick with us,” Jess said to her.
Laura gave a huff like that’s the last thing she wanted to do. I wasn’t any happier about the idea than she was. But she came with us anyway.
We worked our way through the crowd. Some of them were already so drunk they weren’t going to make it to New Year.
We watched the band. It could have been Stadium if we could figure out how to make this happen. But would we really want to headline Jimmy Barnes? I guess everyone has to start somewhere.
When the band finished, the lights dimmed and after a quick shifting of gear on and off the stage, a single spotlight followed a member of Jimmy’s band. He sat behind the drums, bent down and fiddled with the foot pedal. I’ve seen Cole do that, just the same. He set up a slow steady beat.
The buzz became a hush as another musician came on. He picked up a guitar and played a few chords.
Then Jimmy Barnes arrived. He took centre stage like he owned it.
“It’s great to be back.” He pumped his fist and paced from one side of the stage to the other. The marquee erupted, the crowd cheered and stamped. He took the microphone from the stand. The crowd erupted again as he introduced the first number, and again when he started.
We watched this old man on stage singing.
“That will be you soon,” said Jess.
“Not too soon, I hope.” I can’t even imagine being that old.
Saturday, 4th January
“Can one of you kids go back into town this afternoon?” Jess’s mum asked. “Get some more groceries so we’ve got something to eat. I’ve got a list somewhere.”
“Isaac and I can do it,” said Jess. “We’re going to the movies.”
I didn’t know anything about that.
“You happy with that Isaac?” asked her mum.
“Yeah, fine.”
So, me and Jess took her Mum’s car and drove to Ferry Landing. The bottom car park was packed. We drove around and had to park at the top and walk down the hill to the ferry. Our shadows walked in front of us. Toes touching, those long legs and a little skirt shape on Jess’s shadow.
“What movie are we going to?” I asked her.
She hugged my arm then looked at me sideways. “We’re not going to a movie. I’m just sick of being surrounded by people.”
Now considering a crowd had just got off the ferry and were swarming up the hill towards us, and there was at least another fifty lined up on the old wharf ready to go to Whitianga, Whitianga was going to be packed. It wasn’t like we were headed for a desert island.
“So, we come to town where the people are shoulder to shoulder?”
“Don’t be thick. Come on, let’s get this grocery shopping over and done with.” She dragged me into the queue.
We got on the ferry and went across to Whitianga. Like I thought: people shoulder to shoulder, sunburn, grizzly kids, honking horns. We bought the groceries, hauled them back on the ferry then to the car and started for the bach.
“Turn off here,” said Jess when we were about half way.
“Where are we going?”
“Wait and see.” We slowly bounced along this real narrow track. It started out scrubby bush each side. Then we got further in and the bush got thicker. We hit another rut, and Jess was thrown against the door.
“The car won’t take much more of this,” I said as her arm hit the door handle.
She rubbed at another future bruise. “Stop here. We’ll walk the rest of the way.”
“But what about the ice cream?”
“It would have melted while we were at the movies anyway.”
We got out, locked the car, then pushed through more bush. The track was so narrow now you could just see it. I pushed through past the last bit, and we came out at this creek. There were ferns and trees overhanging the banks and the water was falling over a rock into a pool the colour of Jess’s eyes. The pool wasn’t much bigger than a spa pool, but it looked deep.
“Wow,” I said.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Jess hugged my arm and looked around like this was paradise.
“Where are we?”
“At the back of some retreat. No one else is ever here.” She let go of my arm, grabbed the bottom of my T-shirt and lifted it over my head. “Let’s go swimming.”
“Is that really what you want to do?” Because this was the first time we’d been alone together since I arrived at the bach. I helped her with her T-shirt. It was not her bikini top underneath. She was wearing a little white bra.
Jess laughed. A brilliant sound, like creek water over stones. She stepped back and unzipped her skirt. It hit the stones with the T-shirt.
“Beat you in.” And her bra was off like lightning, and so were her undies. She ran at the pool stark naked, jumped and came up treading water, her hair streaming wet and over her face.
I moved a little slower, because honestly the water gave Jess’s body a glow of dull gold. It looked like she wasn’t real, and it was beautiful.
After the swim we stretched out on the grass. “It’s the only way to dry out. I forgot to bring a towel.” Jess’s fingers touched my lips. They traced the shape.
“How long can we stay here?” My hand shaped her hip. If I thought she was beautiful in the water, she was perfect out of it. Legs, breasts and hips, all where they’re meant to be.
“I don’t know. How long is a film?”
“Two hours?”
“Two hours then.” Jess slid closer and wrapped her arms around me. Our skin was cold from the water, but the sun warmed us gently as we moved and touched and tasted. We made love. We’re good at it now. We’ve had two months practice.
My mouth moved to her breast and I felt the nipple harden. Her fingers stroked me. Even finding condoms didn’t interrupt us. Jess ripped the packet and rolled it on like it was part of it all. Then we moved together going higher and higher until we tumbled over the edge.
It was magic. And you know how sometimes one of you gets the giggles or someone falls off the bed? None of that happened.
We got back to the bach way later than if we’d been to a movie, but no one even noticed.
So much for strict house rules.
Chapter Eight
Saturday 11th January
We were all sitting around the brazier outside the bach. Jess tucked into me, her back to my front, my
legs stuck out each side of her. She offered me a bite of her sausage wrapped up in a slice of bread. “We used to have a bonfire on the beach at night,” she said.
“Why don’t you do it now?”
“Not allowed. Some bylaw.”
Laura was sitting across from us staring malevolently. Denis was right. She could make some effort.
Logan’s hovering still.
After a while Jess said, “Do you want to go for a walk?”
“Yeah, okay.” I was comfortable sitting here. Would have been happy to leave things the way they were, but I’d never turned her down on anything yet. Well except the shower thing. Had some sense of self-preservation.
Jess stood up and pulled me to my feet.
We walked along the beach in the moonlight. The water shushed dark around us. The moon sat just over the horizon like a dinner plate.
Suddenly Jess jumped hard on the sand where a wave had just drawn back into the sea. “Look at this,” she said. All round her feet rings glowed in the dark. She jumped again, and the rings appeared again.
“That’s cool,” I said.
“Dad said it’s phosphorescence.” Jess’s hair blew over her face.
I gave jumping on the sand a go, and it happened for me too. Beautiful and weird, it glowed and moved. We kept jumping on the sand like a couple of little kids playing in puddles. We were staring at our feet and the glowing sand when I heard a voice in the darkness.
“Jess? Isaac?” Jess’s mum and dad appeared out of the gloom, strolling hand in hand.
We got to walk along the beach with them. Since we escaped to the movies, Jess and I have hardly been alone. We’ve been chaperoned. Some trust issues there.
Sunday 12th January
Today Jess said to her Mum. “It’s Isaac’s birthday soon.”
“When?” asked Mrs Murphy.
“Next weekend.”
“How old will you be, Isaac?”
“Eighteen,” I said.
“We’ll have to have a party,” she said. “It’s our last weekend here. It’ll be fun.”
“No thank you, no party,” I said. I’m not that big on parties.
I got overruled.
Tuesday 14th January
Laura and Logan? Laura noticed the hovering a few days ago and stopped the snarky comments in Logan’s direction.
He stayed when his mates went home. He’d been holding hands and carrying her surf board for her. I don’t carry Jess’s surfboard. I figure she’s got arms, and it’s hard to carry two of them.
Friday 17th January
We had the party and Jess invited Luke, Tessa, Cole, Noah and Adam. It was the first time I’d seen them since before Christmas. They looked the same.
Cole brought Milly with him. I’d seen her hanging out with Tessa a bit, and Cole and Milly went to the school ball together, but I didn’t know they were a thing now.
We spent the afternoon on the beach swimming. It was great. Logan and Laura joined in, and it was all sand and sun, water and waves.
In the bay, the sun leapt off the tops of the little ripples. The moored boats rocked gently. The bay at Cooks Beach is really protected, so it doesn’t get breakers, that’s why we go to Hot Water Beach to surf, but it’s good for water skiing. Beyond the boats the sea was so bright it looked silver.
Laura and Logan were trying to float on a body board. Difficult. One of them should have gone back to the bach to get another one. Jess, Tessa and Milly were bouncing around in the water. I was sitting on a towel beside Luke. Cole was sitting on the other side of him.
Luke picked up a shell. “What are you doing next year?” he asked me.
“I’m headed for Auckland.” I’m hoping I’ll be able to keep writing songs like I’ve been doing with Collins. I’m not sure whether it’s the words or the music I like the most. “What about you?” I asked.
Luke flicked the shell at a crab that scuttled past. “Working for Dad.”
“I thought you weren’t going to be a builder.” His dad has got this building business with a joinery factory attached and he’s always talking about Luke taking it all over when he’s old enough.
He shrugged. “Dad needs an apprentice. I need a job.” Another crab got a shell lobbed at it. “Adam and Noah are going to be in Hamilton next year.”
“Yeah, I knew they were planning on university.” I looked past Luke. “What about you?” I asked Cole.
“Find a job.” He watched Milly playing in the water like he couldn’t think of much else anyway.
Luke lobbed another shell. “We’re going to keep Stadium going. Collins has a mate who owns a pub in Hamilton, and he might need a band. I’ve talked to the others, and they like the idea. Me and Cole will go over to Hamilton a couple of times a week to practice, or Noah and Adam could come home. Do you want to be part of it?”
“I’ll think about it and let you know,” I said. It would be a bit of a commitment. A lot of travelling for someone with no car.
When it started to get dark, the rest of Denis’s mates turned up again. We partied around the brazier. It was all flickering flames, and music, and warm bodies, and drinking. Luke had brought his guitar. So had Adam. Noah and Cole left the drum set and keyboard behind. Like I said, transportation problems.
Jess’s parents went to bed.
We kept partying.
Luke and Tessa disappeared for a while.
We kept partying.
The drinking started to get way out of hand.
We were so drunk we were talking braille.
But we kept partying.
The Neanderthals decided to have a competition jumping over the brazier.
“Idiots,” said Jess watching them like the rest of us. “I don’t know how Denis can bear to be friends with them.” Noah picked up his guitar, then got Luke’s from beside the deckchair where he left it. He took the guitars to his car and locked them in. Adam did the same. Mine went into the sleepout. I locked that too. There’s no way Denis was going to be any happier than I’d be if our gear got wrecked.
Then the brazier got tipped over. It was bloody lucky no one got burned. Live coals and burning logs went everywhere. The cavemen still danced around it and jumped over the mess. Someone poured some spirits on the fire and it flared up, huge flames. We watched the idiots with the fire. The fools yelled and yahooed.
“Fuck,” said Jess. “I’m going to get Dad.” She took off into the house and came back out after a few minutes. “Dad’s going to stop them.” She took my hand.
Her dad came out. “Right, that’s enough. Time to put the fire out and go to bed.”
Everyone went quiet and slid into their tents. In the glow from the coals the place looked wrecked. Broken deck chairs, empty bottles, chip packets, and right in the middle of it the brazier on its side with coals spewing out.
I wondered if this was what Jess’s dad expected to happen. I didn’t think so. He looked pretty pissed.
“I’m tired,” said Jess. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yeah.” Jess went to the sleep out. I figured Laura was there with her. She disappeared before things got messy.
I went for a walk and tried to sober up. I wandered across the lawn in the near dark. All around me stars touched the edges of the sky like they were on the lining of a giant helmet. I went between the sand hills and I was almost on the beach when I nearly got bowled by bloody Logan. He was headed for the bach and going like a train.
“Bitch,” he said as he went past me. “She deserved it.”
It wasn’t too hard to figure out who he was talking about. My first thought was if I’d known Laura was on the beach with Logan, I could have been in the sleep out with Jess, despite the house rules.
I wavered there deciding whether to keep walking or go back to Jess and I heard a noise a couple of metres away. It sounded like a sob.
I looked over and could just make out Laura sitting hunched on a rug in the grass. She had her head on her knees, was hugging her leg
s, and I was pretty sure she was crying.
I walked through the long grass, not sure what I planned on doing, Laura wasn’t exactly high on my list of people I’d be willing to help.
She must have heard me and looked up. She probably couldn’t see me properly because the moon was low and behind me. She started crabbing backward real fast, real frightened, saying, “No, no, no,” over and over.
“It’s me,” I said. “Zac.”
She collapsed down on her elbows. “Go away.” But there was enough light to see she was a mess, and her T-shirt had been ripped, the rug was all screwed up, there were bits of clothes lying around her, and, from what I could see she was naked under the T-shirt, like maybe she’d just pulled it on.
Chapter Nine
I heard the station wagon start up.
Laura sat up a bit and listened too.
We heard it leave and all that time Laura was looking from me, to the car noise, back to me, then back to the noise. Then another couple of cars left.
“He’s gone,” I said. She nodded, sat up more, pulled the T-shirt over her knees again and wrapped her arms around her legs, like she was making herself into a tiny package.
I stood there. “I’ll go get your mum or dad.”
“No,” she said fiercely, the sand and tears silver on her cheeks. The rest of her face white. Her eyes big in the moonlight.
“I could get Denis or Jess.”
“No, I don’t want anyone to know.”
I went over to her and sat on the rug beside her. “So, what are you going to do?” I sat like she was, arms wrapped around knees.
“I’m going to sit here until everyone is asleep, then stay in the shower until I feel clean.” She sounded like Laura, until a sob broke up the last word.
I couldn’t figure out what to do. “You can’t let him get away with it.”
“Yes, I can. I don’t want anyone to know. Don’t tell them.”