It started to rain two hours later and by seven o’clock it was a deluge. The ground in the car park churned up as cars got bogged in the beach sand. Partygoers kept arriving and the atmosphere inside the marquee was as electric as the storm outside. Kids went crazy whenever another carload survived not only the police but the obstacles set by nature, and they finally got into the marquee.
Wet clothes steamed in the heat and the air was fuggy and damp. It seemed easier and freer to get out of sodden gear and dance in underwear. Some people took off their clothes even if they were dry, simply to enjoy the freedom. The pile of alcohol in the middle of the floor mushroomed as new arrivals dumped their supplies and settled in.
‘This is mint,’ Rick yelled at Elliot. ‘We’ve nailed it.’ The beautiful Mackenzie had her hand in Rick’s back pocket. Together, they swayed to the music and Elliot felt a tinge of envy.
‘Yeah, I reckon. Hi, Mackenzie.’ Still taking care of Rick’s jeans.
Just before midnight one of the bouncers came looking for Elliot. ‘We’ve got a group outside without tickets. They reckon they know you.’
When Elliot made his way through the crush to the entrance, he found Rick already there dealing with the problem. ‘Don’t worry,’ Rick yelled, ‘I’ve got it covered.’
‘Elliot! Let us in!’
Elliot followed the shout, already aware whose voice it was, and sure enough, there was Lena. Spikes of white hair erupted from her head, but it was the same elfin face and big eyes that Elliot stared into. He wondered how someone so powerful could still look so vulnerable.
‘Can we come in? Please?’ She was standing on tiptoe, trying to see over the bouncer. ‘Pleeeease.’
‘Nah, piss off,’ Rick said. He shooed the group back — a farmer with a reluctant flock of sheep. The people in front didn’t like being touched and the bouncer didn’t like Rick muscling in. There was a bit of shoving and grabbing and the bouncer began to get heavy.
‘Back off, Ricky.’ Elliot put his arm out and grabbed Rick’s shoulder to haul him back.
‘No. You back off, you loser. I want her gone. She’s not coming to our party.’
Elliot didn’t want Lena at the party either, but he didn’t want people thinking Rick was in charge. ‘I can handle this,’ Elliot said, pushing him away.
‘No, you can’t. You’re hopeless when it comes to her. Kick her out.’ Elliot and Rick faced each other with their hands on each other’s arms and Elliot hated the way Rick stood taller. He shook Rick off and moved towards the entrance.
‘Elliot.’ Lena lunged forward and clutched his arm; her touch bringing the familiar jolt of pleasure and pain.
‘It’s fifty bucks,’ Elliot said. ‘Fifty each.’
‘Okay. We’ll pay,’ Lena said. She laughed at the surprise on Elliot’s face, dug in her pockets for money and within minutes they were in.
‘What are you doing?’ Rick shouted. ‘You said you’d never see her again.’
‘I need to talk to Elliot,’ Lena shouted back. ‘Why don’t you butt out?’
Elliot liked the way Lena was holding him and pulling him aside. It’s alright for you Rick, with your perfect girlfriend. He let Lena lead him to the side of the marquee and she pulled his head down and said, ‘I honestly need to talk to you, is there somewhere we can go?’
‘Yeah.’ Elliot could see Rick hunting out Deeks. He saw them point in Elliot’s direction and he knew they’d both be over in a moment.
‘Come with me,’ Elliot said. He turned Lena around and headed out into the rain before his two minders could interfere. ‘Quick, run.’ He grabbed Lena’s hand and they sloshed their way to Dad’s ute that was parked out the back.
Elliot pressed the unlock button on the ute keys as he guided Lena through the rain. The lights flicked in reply and he lifted the boot and dropped the tray.
‘Get in here,’ he said. Lena jumped in and Elliot followed her before he reached out and pulled the doors shut again. They huddled on piles of bedding, shivering as the interior light faded. Running in the rain had sobered Elliot a little, but he knew he was still drunk.
‘There’s a towel somewhere,’ Elliot said, feeling around in the dark. ‘Here, use this sleeping bag to warm up.’ He pulled a bag out of the cover and hoped it was his, not Rick’s.
Once they’d become accustomed to the dark it was easier to see each other, with the lights from the party reflecting on the windows. The rain pummelled the roof of the ute and cascaded down the glass enveloping them in a sheltered bubble. Elliot found the towel and gave it to Lena. She dried her hair and fluffed it into peaks. Her eyes were round and earnest; he thought she looked much the same but more extreme — thinner, tougher, sadder.
‘I’m surprised you didn’t throw me out.’
‘I should’ve; I don’t owe you.’
‘I know. Sorry — that photo thing. I was angry at the way we finished and I tried to get you back,’ she said.
‘What’d you mean, finished? We never started. What was all that stuff about making me sleep out in the back room and you going out partying on your own?’
‘It made you cooler. And sexier. You shouldn’t have run away.’ Lena leaned over and picked up Elliot’s hand. ‘I don’t want us to argue.’
‘We’re not. I’ve got a new life and I’m doing okay.’ A sense of righteousness entered Elliot’s voice when he said, ‘You’ve got a new guy — or guys, to make over and pretend to make out with.’
‘Whoa, like that’s not arguing.’
‘Well come on, Lena. How come you made me hand over my phone, and made me lift weights? You watched what I ate and then got me pissed and tattooed? Was that your sort of control thing?’
‘You were stuck at home with your weird parents.’
‘Not weird — ordinary. The weirdest thing Mum’s done is hot-room yoga and then she switched to laughter yoga. There’s a big difference between weird and screwed like your parents.’
‘Don’t talk about them.’
‘There’s nothing new for us to talk about.’ He’d made a public stand and shown Rick he wasn’t going to be ordered around but now he began to regret his haste in dragging Lena out here. ‘Let’s call it quits, huh? We’ll leave each other alone and not have any contact.’
‘Yup. We’re done. Shall we finish in a good way?’ Lena shuffled forward and put her hand around Elliot’s neck. He felt her pull him down and kiss his face, searching for his mouth.
Elliot kissed Lena back without a second thought. ‘This seems a hell of a good way to finish,’ he said in a voice he hoped was casual.
Lena sat back and peeled her top off. Before Elliot could take that in, she’d unclipped her bra and with a shrug of her shoulders she let it drop into her lap. Her breasts glowed in the filtered light.
There was a vague alarm sounding somewhere in Elliot’s brain. You are making-out with trouble. There was an even stronger voice suggesting that Elliot might finally lose his virginity. This could be the night.
Elliot wanted to touch Lena, slow her down, but she appeared to be on a mission. It was hard to see in the dark but she was hell-bent on getting undressed. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Get on with it.’
It was scarcely the romantic situation Elliot had imagined but he didn’t protest. He undid the zip on his jeans and put his leg over Lena.
He felt her move her face into his neck and then she bit him, hard.
‘Ow!’
‘Perhaps you could take my knickers off, first?’
Elliot felt for the string of her knickers and dragged it down and off one leg only. He was psyched and desperate now. There was nothing to say but he knew this was a very bad idea. He pushed into her, caring only for the moment. Whatever she was playing at, he could play it too.
‘Do it then,’ Lena said by his ear. ‘Do it, you mummy’s boy.’
So he did.
Lena hung onto his forearms and he could see that she kept her eyes tightly shut. When it was over, he collapsed on top
of her until she shoved him, digging into his armpits. ‘Get. Off. Me.’ Her voice was hard and flat.
Elliot rolled off her and tucked himself away. He lay on his back and marvelled at the turn of events. Now it was his turn to feel smug. Eventually, he stole a glance at Lena. He couldn’t read her expression. ‘Not bad,’ she said. ‘For a first time.’
Elliot didn’t answer but his smugness began to turn to regret. You idiot, he told himself. Nothing good can come of this. What happened to never speaking to her again?
‘Can you pass my bag; I want a smoke.’
‘Don’t be stupid, you can’t smoke in here!’
‘Daddy wouldn’t like it?’
‘Get dressed.’
‘Come on, Rooster—’
‘Shut up. My name’s Elliot; now get dressed. I’m going back to my party.’
‘Oh, the big organiser,’ she said and then she abruptly changed her approach. ‘Let’s go and party together. I’m pleased we’re friends now.’ Slowly she began sorting out her clothes and putting them back on.
Please let this be simple. He listened to the thud of the bass from the DJ and cringed at the thought of taking Lena back inside. ‘We’ll never be friends, Lena; we’re too different.’
‘Friends is a stupid word, we’re linked — forever. Friends with barbs.’ She laughed as she pulled her top down. ‘You left some gear at my place — a shoe under the bed and some stuff that was in the shed. I’ll bring it around to your house tomorrow.’
The thought of Lena in their kitchen, chatting to his mother, who had only just recovered from the ‘episode’, made him feel sick. ‘Lena,’ he said with more kindness than he felt, ‘tonight was just a friendly farewell—’ There was only one F-word that could possibly fit and Elliot wasn’t game to go there.
‘You’re giving me the shove? You just made out with me like you always wanted. We can do it again sometime. Anyway,’ she said as she untangled her knickers, ‘we weren’t that bad together.’
Was she kidding? We were crap together. ‘I don’t live here now. I’m going back tomorrow.’ The lie popped out. Elliot wiped his hands down the side of his jeans. ‘There’s nothing for you and me, Lena.’
‘It’s not what you think with Sonny and—’
‘I don’t give a shit about Sonny.’ The wind buffeted the ute and Elliot wanted to be out of there, away from diplomatic discussions and landmine negotiations. ‘There’s nothing between you and me. Zilch.’ Elliot found the lever inside the ute and lifted the flap.
‘You’ve just used me,’ Lena said.
It didn’t seem a good time to point out that she’d used him since the day they met. There was something extra weird about her tonight, and he wanted her gone. ‘What’d you want to do?’ He had to shout as he dropped the tailgate for her to get out.
She slid down and stood facing him in the pouring rain. ‘I’ll wait here and you go and get my friends.’
Relief washed over him when he heard that she was going. ‘Yeah, good. I’ll get your mates—’
‘Two things,’ Lena said and she grabbed his arm to stop him leaving. ‘We are connected forever.’
‘Yeah yeah, whatever.’
‘And I’ll get you back for tonight.’
Elliot shoved her hand off. He leaned in and quickly tidied the back of the ute before slamming down the door and locking it. Lena watched with a smirk.
It was easy to find her group and they were happy to leave but wanted their money back.
‘Give them twenty bucks each, and good bloody riddance,’ Elliot said to the bouncer.
He sat on a box by the DJ and drank alone and steadily. He knew he’d acted impulsively; disappointment seeped into his veins with the booze. He didn’t feel vindicated, if anything he felt used. Again.
‘Come on, Rooster,’ his mate Ratty yelled. ‘Come and crank out some dance moves.’
‘No, leave me.’ He drank more beer and thought about the sex. All the hype for nothing. Why the hell hadn’t I used a condom? And what was Lena on about with all that ‘linked forever’ crap? She is one scary dame.
Sometime around three, his mood lifted and he found himself laughing and dancing again. No one mentioned Lena’s short-lived appearance nor Elliot’s short-term absence. No one thought it was odd when he started shouting ‘Revenge is a bitch’ along with the drumbeat. Eventually he and Rick linked arms and danced as a team. ‘Revenge is a bitch’ became the chant for everyone left and still standing.
There were puddles around the edges of the marquee and they danced and splashed in the water. Elliot took his shirt off to dance outside and the guys followed him. The party was a success; they were brilliant.
Rick and Elliot crashed in the ute as they’d planned, fumbling and bumping into each other as they sorted bedding and got themselves settled. Lena’s name wasn’t mentioned.
It was as late as ten o’clock the next morning when Elliot stumbled out for a piss by the front tyre. The day was fine, a warm beach breeze was drying out the ground, and he looked around to see who else was up. His eye caught the side of Dad’s ute and the sight of it made his eyes bulge.
The ute was coined, not just one panel, but from what he could see, it ran down the whole side. With a sense of dread, he finished his pee and walked around the car, the spongy ground squelching under his feet. The bonnet, which had been facing the light, was left untouched, but the whole length of the other side was damaged as well.
Elliot knew he was dead, as sure as hell. The old man was going to kill him. With numb steps, he checked out the back and there too, jagged patches and a long groove cut through the gleaming black paint. The ute was wrecked. The day was wrecked.
Dad and Mum came out in Mum’s little car about lunchtime, and they’d squeezed a gas cooker into the boot and had bought bacon, sausages and eggs on the way. Elliot could see them noticing the ute as they pulled up; Mum’s eyes were wide open and Dad’s were squeezed shut.
Rick and Deeks never mentioned Lena. The three boys answered questions from Dad and shook their heads over the mystery of it. The gas cooker stayed in Mum’s car and Dad called the local policeman, who seemed pleased to have his worst suspicions confirmed.
‘It was always a crazy idea to throw a beach party.’ He shook his head and took some photos. ‘What a mess, eh? Someone’s been mighty angry to do a thing like this. Did you boys argue with anyone? Throw anyone out?’
No. They’d all had a great night and there’d been no trouble at all.
The policeman wrote up notes, his radio the only sound as he worked. ‘What a mess,’ he kept saying. ‘Such a shame to see a nice vehicle ruined.’
They could almost hear him thinking ‘Good bloody job’.
‘Come on, Rooster, it’s a perfect beach day. What are we hanging around inside for?’ Deeks did tricep dips off Elliot’s desk top while keeping an eye on his form in the mirror. ‘There are people out there waiting to see this body.’
‘You go and show them. You don’t need me.’
‘We could go to the mall and spend your loot.’ Deeks nodded at the money he’d left on Elliot’s bed.
‘On what?’
‘Anything — it’s your profit. We’ll double it on scratchies.’
‘Nah. I think I’ll just muck around here. Nana’s got bad hips—’
‘God, man. She’s always had bad hips and she’s asleep at the moment. How come you never go anywhere?’
‘I dunno. I’m having a holiday.’ Elliot felt like screaming, I’m scared I’ll run into Lena. Instead he shrugged and said, ‘I work hard in Wellington — I need a break.’
‘Well, I’m getting out; it’s too good a day to sit in your stuffy house.’
Elliot wandered around his room feeling like a trapped fly buzzing against the window. He was imprisoned and he’d no one to blame but himself.
Dad came in to have one more chat about the coining of his ute.
‘I’ve no idea,’ Elliot said. ‘Take this money from the part
y profit, it’ll help cover the excess.’
‘No, it’s a decent gesture, but you don’t have to be accountable for a random, unexplained attack.’
‘Yeah — so random.’ Elliot could scarcely meet his father’s eyes and he went back to the computer screen as soon as possible. To Elliot, Lena loomed powerful again, unpredictable and crazy. Their tryst at the party was a bad joke, and the ute wasn’t the only thing that had suffered a random, unexplained attack.
‘You can talk to us, you know,’ Mum said, ‘if there’s something worrying you.’
Where would he start? Everyone thought he’d been living with Lena and was a guy who knew all about sex. He knew shit-all and if that one session in the back of the ute was what it was all about, then it was crap.
He wanted to ask someone about the unprotected sex. Could he be diseased? Something terminal? What if Lena got pregnant?
But instead he said, ‘Naah, I’m good. There’s nothing wrong.’
The last days of Elliot’s holiday were spent walking and brushing Nana, who basked in the unexpected attention, playing mindless computer games on the family computer, or trawling through sites for information on Burma.
Arnie’s house was hotter than his parents’ place in Brunswick Ave and even more squalid than Elliot remembered. Rubbish bags leaned drunkenly against each other along the side of the house, attracting flies that crawled over the tops.
Downstairs there was an exaggerated smell of cat piss. Flotsam had been in a fight and his infected paw oozed pus onto Elliot’s sheets. Arnie had left a litter tray outside Elliot’s door to help Flotsam through the night. It was gross.
Elliot’s summer lumbered by on big slow feet. He felt unreachable if he kept off social media sites and avoided his cellphone, but he also felt isolated, as if a hulking beast had devoured civilisation and only spared him, an old man and two cats.
One morning when Elliot came upstairs to have his coffee and Weet-Bix he found a large parcel on the table, wrapped in a pillowcase.
Coming Home to Roost Page 4