by Meg Buchanan
Tom got a plate out of the cupboard and ladled casserole onto it. “Milly said your friends and hers are going to the ball as a group, and you’re just picking her up.”
“Yeah.” So that’s how Milly explained away going out with the hired help for a bet.
“She should be down soon. She looked ready.” He found cutlery and a linen table napkin. “She said your band is playing tonight?”
“Yeah. Only the third outing.” Cole studied Milly’s father, the light-coloured pants, the beige polo shirt, the expensive watch, hair nicely cut, just starting to grey around the edges. Cole compared him to the father he left slumped in a chair, the television blaring, the plate covered in grease from the sausages still on the floor.
“Good luck.” Gaisford settled on the bar stool at the end of the island.
Then the door to the dining room opened.
He watched Milly come into the kitchen. The dress didn’t look like a bridesmaid’s dress to him. It was all brown and soft and velvety on top with little frayed flowers around the neckline, and the skirt the same colour but a different material.
“Hi, Cole.” Milly smiled hesitantly. She looked really young even though she was just a few months younger than he was.
With her hair loose and brushed smooth, cream stockings, little flat shoes, she looked like a picture in a book. Alice in Wonderland maybe. When they were working with the horses before she went away, seventeen felt about right. But any other time she seemed way younger, maybe because she hadn’t had to grow up fast.
“Hi, Milly.” He eased himself off the stool.
The dress moved softly as she went over to her father. On a real date, she’d be everything he wanted to be with.
She gave her father a hug. “Hi, Daddy. Did you buy them?”
“Not those ones. I saw a couple you might be interested in though. Do you want to come and look at them with me on the weekend?”
Milly nodded. “Okay.” Then she looked over at Cole. “What do you think?” and stood there, arms out from her sides a little, looking down at the dress. Then she smiled up at him.
Usually she was pretty. Tonight she looked amazing.
“Some bridesmaid’s dress. You look good.”
“Do you think it will do?” Now she sounded anxious.
Her father picked up the linen napkin from beside his plate.
“You look great, Princess.” He dabbed his lips. “Have I seen that dress before?”
Milly nodded. “I wore it at Christmas.” She turned back to Cole. “I’m ready to go if you are.”
“Yeah.” He slid off the breakfast bar stool.
He found a park round the back of the hall. Collins had told them they could park there so they didn’t have to carry their gear too far. He had no gear to carry anyway.
Luke and the others must already be in the music room. The lights were on and he could hear someone strumming a guitar. It might be the band the school had hired for the night, but it sounded like Noah.
He went around to the passenger side and opened the door for Milly. “You told your dad we were just coming here as part of a group.”
She nodded as she slid out of the seat, all soft brown fabric and stockings and hair.
“It was easier. I didn’t want him to get weird on you when you arrived.”
“Weird?”
She shrugged. “You know.”
“Like interrogating me about my intentions?”
She grinned. “Something like that.”
“You could have just told him we were doing this to win a bet.” He opened the back door, got out his jacket, shrugged into it, then grabbed the hipflask and stuck it in his pants’ pocket.
This could turn into a long night. He mightn’t drink much, but sometimes alcohol took the edge off.
“I need to go to the music room first to check what the others are doing. What do you want to do?”
“Can I come with you? I don’t want to be in the hall on my own.” She sounded anxious again.
It’s not like she’d be on her own. Half the school would be in the hall. She must know some of them. Strange she acted so shy, when she was really pretty, and slim, and on top of that she seemed to have everything she could want.
“Yeah, okay, come on.” They headed round to the entrance of the music room.
Inside, it all looked pretty much the way it did in the shed when they were practicing. Instruments and people everywhere. Luke in a suit sat on a desk with Tessa beside him, her dress black, tight and lacy with a neckline so plunging if she moved she’d probably fall out of it. The skirt so short it barely covered her butt. As for the shoes, they were the sort girls tended to take off the moment they started dancing. Tessa’s friend Jess was with her. Jess didn’t seem to have come with anyone.
He’d been right about who was playing the guitar. Noah and Adam were lounging on a couple of chairs like they’d settled in to wait until they were due to go on. Dressed in the usual jeans and shirt.
He saw Jess wander over to Isaac. Isaac turned and said something to her. And, bloody hell, if he thought Luke had gone over the top with the makeup and fedora, Isaac had taken it to a whole new level too. His eye makeup so dark you could barely see where it ended and his eyes started, and he had on this long coat that swayed as he moved.
He didn’t like Isaac’s chances of being let into the main hall.
“What got into you?” he asked Isaac. Always the quiet ones that surprised you. Between Isaac and Luke, no one would bother looking at anyone else.
He went over to the drums. Luke had helped him bring them back. Collins said they’d have a chance to set them up on stage later. He’d just check no one had bumped anything and nothing had come off. Milly followed him and watched as he did the checks.
“Are the drums all right?” she asked when he’d finished. She had to be wearing makeup. He’d never seen her lips looking that colour or her eyes that dark. Her hair tumbled all soft over her shoulders. How did he get to be here with her?
“Yep. Ready to go.” They were putting one over Luke. That’s all. All that tenderness after the accident had been about the horses.
He could hear the shushing noise a big group of people make coming from the hall, and the main band starting up.
“It’s kicking off.” Noah looked up from the guitar, his fingers kept moving over the strings. “Time for you ball-goers to get moving. Us plebs will wait here for you.”
“You want to go out there?” Luke asked Tessa.
She nodded. “Are you coming with us, Milly?”
Milly looked back at him. “Are you coming, Cole?”
Real tempting to just stay here and talk to his mates. But he’d better make this look good so Luke would pay up. Make it look like a proper date.
“Yeah. We’ve got a while before we go on.”
Milly hugged his arm as they went through the door. In the hall the ball was in full swing. The band played. The organising committee should have got Stadium to play all night. He reckoned Stadium was better than this lot anyway. They’d show them in an hour or so. The disco balls were turning and casting patches of light over everyone. Heads bobbed, and the noise suffocated.
Tessa dragged Luke to the dance floor.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked Milly over the noise. He tried not to sound too reluctant.
She shook her head. “I’m not good at it.”
“Me neither.” Another thing they had in common. “What do you want to do then?”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’d like to go somewhere quiet and just wait until you have to go on stage.”
That suited him. The problem? Where to go.
They could just go to the music room and hang out with Isaac, Noah and Lewis. No. He liked being with Milly and when it was just the two of them she talked.
“Where?” he asked her.
“What about the garden area by the library.” Milly gave a bit of a shiver as s
he said it. “It’s sheltered.”
“Okay.”
11. Chapter Eleven
Outside was colder than he expected. They headed for the library. The seats and walls there were supposed to give people who wanted to read a quiet, sheltered place to do it. The moon and the odd security light lit the way.
“Why didn’t you want to stay in the hall?” he asked Milly.
She shrugged. “I don’t like noise and big groups of people.”
So, what did she think a ball was when she agreed to come?
She shivered again. Her dress had no sleeves. She probably felt colder than he did. He took his jacket off and put it around her shoulders.
“Is that better?”
She nodded. “Thanks.” She waved her hand in the direction of the hall. “I know most girls enjoy it, but I don’t know. It all seems a waste of energy to me.”
“Energy you could use riding?”
“Yes.” She grinned.
They got to the garden. Found a wall with a seat and no wind. She sat, and he sat beside her and stretched his legs out. He shoved his hands in his pockets, encountered the hip flask, pulled it out, and offered it to her.
“Do you want some?”
“What is it?”
“Whiskey.”
“I haven’t tried whiskey before.”
“It will warm you up.”
She pulled his jacket tight around herself. “I’m warm.” Then took the flask anyway. “Thanks.” She unscrewed the lid, took a sip and coughed a bit. In the moonlight he could see her eyes open wide. “It’s strong.” She gave the flask back to him.
He took it and had a swallow. He could feel the warmth trickle down his throat and through his body.
He wanted to put his arm around her, but he resisted the urge. No moves tonight. This is all about the bet and not about scoring.
“Do you live with just your dad too?” Milly asked.
“Yeah.” He took a swig of the whiskey, then handed the flask to her.
“How come?” She had another drink and shivered as it went down.
“Dad said Mum took off when I was a baby. Never met her.”
“That’s sad.” She handed the flask back. “My mum left a couple of years ago and went to England.”
He knew that. It had been all over town. Tom Gaisford’s wife had buggered off with some friend of his. He put the lid on and put the flask back in his pocket.
“Why?”
Milly shrugged. “She fell in love, I guess.”
“England’s a long way away.”
“There’s Skype.” She shrugged again then looked him. “It’s strange being at home without Wildfire there. When I was away I could pretend she was waiting for me but she’s not. And Hunter is so hurt. It’s so sad.”
“Yeah. But I’m doing my best to get him better.”
She hugged his arm. “I know.”
They talked on in the quiet and dark. After a while he looked at his phone to check the time.
“Do you have to go on soon?” Milly asked.
“Yeah. Should get back. Got to get those drums up on stage and make sure no bits fall off while we’re moving them.” He uncrossed his shoes. “Might get out of this suit too.” He figured if he just swapped the pants for jeans he’d pass. The white shirt and jeans would work. Anyway, with Isaac and his new look, no one would even be looking at the back of the stage.
Milly stood. “When we get to the hall, I’ll go and find Tessa and Jess. They’ll be watching. Do you think they’ll be near the stage?”
“No idea.” He hadn’t really thought about what girlfriends and dates did while the band played. “If you stick with Jess and Tessa you can’t go too far wrong.”
They wandered back to the music room. Luke had changed into his waistcoat and topped it off with the black hat.
“We’ll help you with the drums.” Luke grabbed the cymbals.
“Sure.” They all started getting the gear into position. The band hired for the ball took a break. The curtains closed. The lights went on in the main body of the hall. A tide of noise trickled up onto the stage. Now and then a loud shout rose above the rest.
“The natives sound restless.” Luke hauled the stand to the centre back of the stage.
Collins made sure this year’s pets looked professional. They were meant to win the Smoke Free Rock Competition soon and Collins probably saw this as a trial run. Probably planned on smoothing out any problems before the big event.
“You all know what you’re doing?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Luke turned to the rest of them. “You all set?”
Finally, time to take the stage. The curtains pulled back and Cole went on first. He took his place behind the drums and set up a steady rhythm the way they had decided he should. A hush from the audience. A waiting. No one in the school had heard them play since they moved the practices from the music room to the old shed at Zac’s place. Probably wondered if they were any good.
He knew they were good, and they were getting better each day. He watched Noah come on and go to the keyboard.
Adam and Isaac came on. Isaac had the violin with him and the coat that swayed as he moved. Not sure how he managed that. But Isaac liked to get things right.
He stopped drumming. A hush in the hall again. Isaac in centre stage drew the bow across the strings, the violin wailed, then he launched into Stardust. He was bloody good and something about the way he played was different. Usually he just played, but tonight he was performing out of himself. He watched, Zac had his eyes closed, and moved with the soul of the sound.
The hush from the audience became even deeper, then Luke’s voice soared through the sound of the violin. The strings wailed and climbed to match Luke’s voice. Everyone played, making the number sound the way Zac had imagined it. The drumsticks followed the sound and he played to the crowd.
Afterwards they sat in the music room. It was like being drunk. The applause went on and on. Who knew performing could be like that? He knew he loved music, knew sometimes he could be carried away by the sound of something. But, fuck.
He’d made a mistake wearing his shirt though. It was so wet it stuck to him. He probably had a t shirt somewhere in the ute. Nope didn’t bring the ute. Might have to get his jacket back off Milly.
“Not bad.” Collins came into the music room. His old face had a grin from ear to ear.
“You did well, boys. A couple of things we need to work on but nothing big. You were brilliant.” Collins didn’t get that complimentary very often.
Luke sat on a desk. Even he was quiet.
Isaac put the violin back in its case. “I think we need to make the bridge soar a bit more.” Isaac used the violin bow to demonstrate a soaring bridge.
Noah scratched his cheek as he thought about that. “Could just leave out the repeat.”
Cole left them to it. They were the ones with all the music training. He just played what he felt. Left the terminology to the rest of them. Collins and Luke joined in the discussion about the bridge. He took off the shirt. It felt disgusting.
“Are you stripping, Mr Davies?” Collins asked without even turning around.
“No. The shirt’s saturated. I need to get a t shirt or something.”
“Make sure you find one and put it on, before you go back into the hall. There might be something you can wear in the lost property.”
Disgusting. You could smell the lost property from the hall. He’d find something else.
Tessa, Milly and Jess turned up. Tessa looked at him and grinned.
“And now you dress like that, Cole?” She turned to Jess. “He goes on stage in a shirt when he looks like that without one.”
“Hey, over here.” Luke pulled Tessa’s attention back to him.
She launched herself at him. “You’re still my favourite, though. You were awesome.” She flung her arms around his neck. Jess watched Luke and Tessa together and then looked over at Isaac.
“Did you like it?” Zac
asked her as if his life depended on her answer and Jess nodded. He grinned.
Milly came up beside him.
“Do you need your jacket back, Cole?” she asked.
“Yeah.” That would solve the shirt problem.
She took the jacket off, gave it to him and he shrugged into. The jacket felt a bit strange, skin against lining. It smelled of her perfume. It felt like being surrounded by her.
“Did you get to see the set?”
Milly nodded. “We were in the hall, right up the front. I thought you were really good.”
So, you should feed the music critic up on whiskey before she got to listen to you play. Might remember that.
“What do you want to do now?”
Milly shrugged. “Tessa says there’s an after-party planned at Karangahake. Were you going to go?”
“Yeah.” Best bit about a ball is the after-party. Everyone just seems a little crazier. The whole purpose is to get drunk and have sex.
“Do you want me to take you home first?”
Milly shook her head. “I’d like to go and see what an after-party is like. Tessa says they’re fun.”
He looked at her. She still looked like Alice in Wonderland. Very neat. Very classy. The after-party was probably more Tessa’s scene than Milly’s. Tessa had already ditched her shoes and still looked in danger of falling out of the top of her dress. She stood on tiptoes kissing Luke. And bloody Luke was running his hands all over her ass and had the hem of her dress hitched up even higher than before, like he wasn’t even going to wait to get her alone.
Collins wasn’t as engrossed by the bridge discussion as he looked. “Inappropriate, Mr Reilly and Miss Butler,” he said over his shoulder.
“Okay,” Cole said to Milly. There’d be no drinking and no sex for him at the after party then. If he wanted to keep his job, he’d need to look after her and get her home in one piece.
12. Chapter Twelve
After they’d packed the instruments away, Cole headed for Karangahake with Milly. He’d heard a rumour someone had hired the hall for the night. But it didn’t really matter. If the hall wasn’t open, they’d all just park in the carpark, then roam around the walkway a bit. Something magical happened to the bush and river in the moonlight. The biggest idiots would finish up in the river.
