Church Group

by Michael Brightside

  * * *

  “Apparently there’s a pool table upstairs?” Natalie said when the girls got back.

  “Doubles?” Al asked.

  Natalie grabbed my hand, dragging me up the stairs. Halfway up I got a brief head rush; only for a second, like you get when you go up in a lift and it stops. I let go of her hand and gripped hold of the handrail just in case, she turned to see why I’d let go and laughed at my conformity.

  Once upstairs I took a big gulp of my pint, putting it down on a small round wooden table surrounded by stools. It was time to play pool. More importantly it was time to not let Natalie down. We split into two teams; Warren and Tamara against Natalie and me, with Al switching sides every turn, meaning we could take turns as pairs to call him a traitor every time he potted a ball. Halfway through the first game the head rush began to come back, only this time harder than before, and accompanied by an apocalyptic buzzing from within my brain. I was beginning to have my first doubts about what I’d done in the toilet. Natalie noticed it first.

  “Lu?” she said holding the pool cue in front of me.

  My concentration juddered as my head soaked up everything that was going on around me. I reached out and took it from her, my eyes transfixing on the blue tip on the end. As I bought it closer to my face to see if I needed to chalk the tip, my eyes became crossed on the end of my nose. I had to shake my head with my eyes shut to uncross them.

  “Are you OK?” she asked.

  The rest of the people I was with waited for the answer too. I took a moment to work it out, it was hard to concentrate with the noise of all the other people in there with us. Everything had become so bright.

  “I’m not sure,” I said.

  “Why not?”

  “I’ve done it.”

  “Done what?”

  “All of it.”

  “What do you mean done all of it?”

  “The drugs,” I whispered.

  Warren frowned at me, “What did you have?”

  “Two pills and a gram of speed.”

  “We’re not even at the club yet, what did you do that for?” Warren asked me angrily.

  “You told me they were proper hot on their searches, I didn’t wanna risk it.”

  “I was only winding you up mate, anyway I thought you were going to hide it.”

  “Oh I didn’t realise mate, I thought you were warning me,” I said. “I was going to hide it, but I couldn’t do it in the end.”

  This strange feeling began to grow.

  “Why didn’t you ask Al?”

  I turned to Al, expecting him to moan at me for not having asked. Al had one hand resting on the edge of the pool table to steady himself.

  “That wouldn’t have worked,” Al said.

  “That’s alright Al,” Warren said, “I’d have taken Lu’s in if you didn’t want to.”

  “No,” Al said, “I mean I’ve necked all mine too.”

  “For fuck’s sake. How are you feeling?”

  I looked at Al, then back at Warren. “Who?”

  “Both of you.”

  “Numb mate, like I can’t feel my heart beating.”

  “Don’t say that,” Al said, “you’ll send me on a para.”

  “I think that’s normal Al to not be able to feel your heart beating,” Warren said. “Sit down over there and drink your beer for a bit, try not to think about it while you come up. You’ll come up hard but once you are up you’ll be OK.”

  I sat with Al on the stools at the little table. I took another big sip of beer while I tried to think of something to say. When I couldn’t I lit us both a cigarette. Al only took a few drags before putting his out; I couldn’t blame him, mine was tasteless too, like breathing hot air.

  “Fuck this is intense,” Al broke our silence. I could see sweat forming into drops on his brow. “I hope we haven’t cocked everything up.”

  I looked over at the pool table where gorgeous Natalie was now playing on her own team of one.

  “I hope so too mate.”