Shampoo

by Karina Almeroth

  Then we ordered enough food for ten people. Burgers, nuggets, cokes, shakes, sundaes.

  (“Oooh, apple pie!!”)

  Oh my God, the list went on.

  Worse, WE ATE IT ALL.

  Tee squirted the tomato sauce sachet on the (24) nuggets and it landed on my drink lid and made the perfect smiley face. Was fucking freaky!

  We were gone again, in stitches. I carried that drink round to EVERYONE eating Maccas, going, “LOOK!! Can you believe this?? A perfect smiley face!!”

  One guy asked for my phone number. I was all, “Dude, do I look like I’m in any state to remember my own phone number??”

  “Oh my God, YOU’RE SO EMBARRASSING!!” Tee squealed.

  Today Nat and I and Dan have Christmas Day to celebrate with Mum, since Mum refused to be at Gran’s for Christmas if her sister was there.

  And by celebrate, I mean SURVIVE, then tonight me, Melinda and Lachie’s sister Louise

  (Melin and Louise are best friends. Sucks to be Lach hey!)

  are celebrating Melin’s birthday together.

  I think I’m still drunk from last night.

  Chapter 22

  WOOLI ROCKS

  (LOVE IS HERE)

  Wednesday 27 December 2000

  7.46pm

  Just got home from Tee’s. My God, so much has happened.

  I’m in love. I’M FUCKING IN LOVE.

  And, for the first time ever, I feel it so reciprocated on my ass!

  How did this happen?? It’s like I went from no love, to unreciprocated love with Ever, to me still alone and hurt, to no Matt, to suddenly Matt there, and then Matt and I in love.

  IN. LOVE.

  I can’t quite believe it myself. I feel completely swept off my feet.

  I’ve been reading romance novels since I was 8 years old. I’ve always wanted someone to sweep me off my feet.

  Oh God, he is everything I’ve always wanted!! I’m so happy and high on one hand, and so fucking scared on the other.

  For surely I will sabotage this. I’m in over my head.

  I’m not healed from everything that has happened to me. My issues with men run very deep. Don’t I have to be on my own first, POSSIBLY FOREVER, before I can be okay with someone else? Before being in fucking love?

  Feels like it. I feel impending doom. Pink storm clouds above me.

  I don’t deserve Matt. I’m not good enough for him.

  I will SURELY fuck this up.

  Sunday Nat, Dan and I had Christmas at Mum’s. We were spoiled rotten.

  We got home in the afternoon, and I had to race to Garden City with the rest of the last-minute losers, for Christmas presents for everyone.

  I was in a bit of a tizzy, trying to shop with a beautiful heart and get heartfelt gifts, but also grabbing shit madly off near-empty shelves too.

  I just about died, in a good way

  (for once),

  when I checked my bank balance at an ATM.

  There was almost two grand in there.

  This holiday pay thing is GENIUS.

  I feel so rich.

  I came home and spent the sweltering afternoon madly wrapping presents and doing a very bad job of it.

  “That looks like something you might throw up, Kerry,” Dan declared, coming in to watch my madness. “And I should know!”

  “Shut up and pass me that sticky tape.”

  He held up what looked frighteningly like an empty holder. “You mean the empty one??”

  I started yelling, “Shit. Shit! SHIT!! Shitty shitty fuck fuck,” and ran to their room, where I knew my sister’s Christmas stash was in their cupboard.

  I had to be at Melinda’s by 6pm, and I arrived so happy to see Lach there. I gave him a big hug.

  Louisa and her six year old girl were there, and Lach left us girls for our night.

  Lach, Melin and Louisa are all hippies basically, and I was hacking up a lung constantly, so I found myself lying on the floor suddenly covered head to toe in various colourful crystals while the girls did a crystal healing on me.

  “Can’t I at least have my spew madly?”

  (spumante)

  “Ssh. Lay back. Here, another crystal goes on your forehead…”

  Lord help me.

  But damn if I didn’t stop coughing.

  It was lovely spending Christmas Eve with them. I feel like I have all these friends again, after so long on my own.

  It makes my heart full. I love everybody.

  Melinda bought me such gorgeous presents. A beautiful pink pot, a GORGEOUS pink silk nightie set

  (that I LOVE LOVE LOVE),

  and a pink wax comb for my board!!!

  I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!

  Everyone has bought me such thoughtful gifts. I feel so lucky.

  Before Lachie left, I gave him his present, and you should have seen his face. He loved it so much!

  It’s a three pic long frame with three photos of him doing those incredible burnouts in my hire car.

  Oh my God, the smoke, and the car really clear amidst all that smoke, and Lachie, his arm hanging out the window, thumb up. Classic!

  Lach gave me a pink tub of surf wax – although it’s called sex wax. I was very confused for a second. I almost said, “Lachie, Melinda is here. Give it to me later,” but then realised what it was.

  I love my surf stuff so much.

  Notice how Lachie and Melinda’s presents to me match?? She bought me the comb to wax my board with, and he bought me the wax.

  They are SO getting back together!

  Thank God.

  I got home about 10pm and fell into bed.

  Then it was Christmas morning. And instead of being alone, feeling alone, being ignored by Evvy, etc., I had Matt arrive, loaded with presents.

  I took one look at him walking in the door and just died.

  I WANT him. I want to be glued by his side all the time.

  Yet I start scratching all over when I think those thoughts.

  Nat and Dan had already left to have Christmas morning at Dan’s parents, so Matt and I had the place to ourselves.

  “Let me kiss you,” Matt said, while I was already in his arms.

  “No,” I whispered.

  “You’re like a frightened kitten,” he said.

  I scratched my neck. “With hives.”

  “That’s hot.” Except he said it like it really was hot!

  I laughed. “I love how you think everything I do is hot.”

  “Including resist. That’s so fucking hot.”

  “Matt!”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know! This naughty side of you…” I trailed off.

  “Is it making you hot?”

  “Yes!”

  “Karina…”

  “Matt?”

  “I want you.”

  I couldn’t speak then. But I stayed in his arms looking up at him.

  “I’ve brought your presents,” he said, as a change of topic.

  “Ooh, I’ve got yours too.”

  “Should we open them then?”

  We unwrapped them sitting on my bed. First of all, I unwrapped the most perfectly wrapped present

  (“Your mum wrapped these, didn’t she?” I asked, to Matt’s laughter),

  and it was the ‘How Stella Got Her Groove Back’ cd soundtrack, which he knows I’ve been dying for, since we went to the movies and saw it. Every time he gets in the car with me, I go, “Fuck I wish I had the ‘How Stella Got Her Groove Back’ cd.”

  (I seriously do)

  I was stoked with that present alone, but there was more.

  A beautiful pink frame and pen, THEN I looked in the gift bag and saw a love heart box at the bottom

  (cue hives)

  and I just died. It was a beautiful heart necklace with pink stones.

  Oh God, I love it so much.

  I hugged him. He hugged me back. Still, we didn’t kiss.

  I gave him his present, which I was really nervous about, cause I drove mys
elf absolutely batty trying to find him the perfect present, last-minute shopping.

  I didn’t even shop for Evvy, but for Matt I spent hours ducking in and out of shops and pulling my hair out.

  It’s either really, really brilliant, or the Worst Present Ever.

  I couldn’t tell by Matt’s reaction.

  It’s a giant piece of metal wall art, shaped as a fish.

  (Matt is obsessed with fishing)

  I thought when he gets his own place, he could have it in a man cave area.

  “You hate it,” I surmised, looking at his face. I really couldn’t tell though.

  “No, I love it,” he grinned.

  (damn it, I still can’t tell)

  So then the day was FULL – Christmas morning at Cruz’s, and breakfast with Cruz, Maria and Dad…then I drove Matt and I up to Nanna and Grandpa’s

  (listening to Stella the whole way),

  and we had Christmas Day there.

  Uncle Terry and all the kids were there, and Keith and Denise and my other two cousins.

  Uncle Keith wanted to know if I was robbing banks.

  (cause of my VN)

  I drank all day.

  (it is an Almeroth Christmas after all)

  Matt drove us back to Cruz’s in the late arvo, cause that’s what we always do on Christmas – start at Cruz’s, day at Nanna’s, and finish at Cruz’s.

  Normally we’re all so full and hot we can’t move, we just sit around, groaning. That’s what happened this Christmas, too.

  (on ya, Aussie Christmas!! Always too fucking hot to deal)

  Sparks flew between Matt and I, every time we touched.

  SIGH.

  Still, Matt crashed on my couch Christmas night and I slept in my bed.

  Boxing Day I had to be up early, and say goodbye to Matt

  (sigh. I hate that I want to be near him at all times now. I mean, that just kind of snuck up on me and happened!!),

  and pick Jules up, and we drove down the coast.

  (finally, my beloved Gold Coast!)

  We went shopping at Pac Fair, then frolicked in the surf and sunbaked at Miami.

  (I love Miami, like I love Surfers, Mermaid Beach, Broadbeach, Labrador, Kirra…)

  Julia rang Lachie from the beach on her mobile, and I was dying to know WHAT THE FUCK, but, again, my politeness stopped me.

  I was under the assumption what happened with Jules and Lach was a one off, but she spoke to him, AND CALLED HIM, like he was a BOYFRIEND.

  Jules handed me the phone to speak to him, so I had a quick chat, thinking Lach was MY friend!! Not Julia’s!!

  Not sure how I feel about Jules and him being so buddy-buddy.

  All was forgotten as Jules and I did our usual all you can eat contest with pizza that we always do.

  (we tied at 8 pieces each)

  While we were at Pizza Hut at Miami, Matt rang on Julia’s phone, asking for me, and my heart leapt

  (Jules pretended her pizza was Matt, and made kissy faces at it),

  and Matt informed me to, “Stay put! We’re almost down there. We’ll meet you at the beach at Phillips Park.”

  So Jules and I drove to Phillips Park, after stuffing the last of the pizza in our faces and gulping the jug of Coke. They hadn’t arrived yet, so Jules and I plonked down in the sand to wait for them.

  Matt arrived with his friend Andrew (Freddie Prinze Jnr’s twin) and Gemma and their friend Jaime, all whom I’d met a few times now, but Julia hadn’t met any of them yet.

  I had spent ALL DAY trying to convince Jules and myself

  (more myself)

  that I don’t want a relationship, Matt needs to give me my freedom, blah blah, any other excuse I could think off…

  Then Jules took one look at my face when I’d spotted Matt and went, “Oh SURE, K. You have so fallen for him.”

  I tried to deny it. “What? What!!”

  “It is ALL over your face.”

  “Funny. That’s what Matt says, too.”

  She laughed. “You are in so much trouble here.”

  I am, aren’t I????

  So all of us frolicked in the water, and I stole Matt’s bogey board and insisted Julia drag me around on it.

  (was SO FUN!!)

  By 4pm, dark storm clouds were rolling in from out at sea

  (it was totally gorgeous, the air change as the storm rolled in…I love being down the coast for storms. It’s magical),

  and since we WEREN’T staying down there, it became a mad dash to get back to Brisbane before the storm hit.

  I dropped Jules off

  (since she wanted to pretty up. She’s already STUNNING, so I don’t know what she was talking about)

  then madly drove home, got showered and prettied up myself

  (but I need to),

  just as Jules, Matt, Andrew and Gemma rocked up at mine.

  We’d planned on going to the Speedway, but the storm broke and it was absolutely pissing down.

  Dicey Riley’s at Garden City it was, and I offered to drive so Matt could drink with his mates

  (see?? See Everard!! World’s Best Girlfriend here)

  …plus I just really wanted to drive Matt’s Commodore and saw my opportunity.

  Andrew was impressed with my flooring skills.

  (Matt’s just used to it now. He doesn’t even blink)

  “This is fucking crazy. Especially in the rain! I’ve never seen a girl BE such a hoon before,” while his girlfriend screamed and Julia found Jesus and started praying.

  “Karina fucking floors it everywhere,” was Matt’s calm response. “Why let a little MONSOON stop you, hey babe?”

  I laughed madly while I drove madly.

  “This car’s got so much more guts than mine,” I declared, slowing down in the pretence of calm, then roaring off again to much squeals and laughs. “I FUCKING LOVE IT!!” I screamed. “I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!”

  I go a bit crazy behind the wheel of a Commodore. I don’t know if you’ve noticed.

  Sure doesn’t happen in my sister’s Festiva. You just can’t do anything cool with that car.

  (and you know, Diary, how many times I crashed her Honda Civic. Day I got my license. Crash!!)

  So they all drank at Dicey’s, then we saw the 7.30pm session of ‘Little Nicky’ and AARGH!!!! Matt just smelled so fucking good next to me, I just wanted to SIT on him.

  He leaned in real close to me

  (and I died…you know what? I die a lot around Matt),

  and held his hand out.

  I pretended to have no idea what he was on about, but I knew. “What?” I asked innocently.

  “Give me your hand, Karina.”

  “What?? Ahhh…”

  “Karina.” God, his eyes burned into me. “Give me your hand.”

  Ugh. I hate how he’s gotten all authorative and sexy on me. Makes it so much harder to resist.

  I could feel it coming off him in waves – he was done with the nice guy, sensitive of my

  (fucked upness)

  issues routine.

  He was moving in and getting all bossy and taking over.

  (hot!)

  Damn it!

  Matt’s hand was still out. He was still giving me those eye burns. I gave in

  (after scratching my neck)

  – I put my hand in his.

  Julia, Andrew and Gemma all cheered.

  Gee, is everyone in on this??

  After feeling myself flip out at holding his hand

  (what am I gonna be like when it gets to the hold his penis stage!!!!!!!!!),

  I soon relaxed and found it pure heaven. I wanted more. I wanted more of him.

  I gripped his hand tighter. Matt looked down at me. “You okay there?”

  I stared into his eyes. I couldn’t speak.

  He leaned in, even closer, and leant his forehead against mine. “It’ll be okay, Karina. I promise.”

  Oh God. I love him.

  After the movie, we headed to Lone Star at Springwood, and h
ad a delicious meal there.

  I can’t believe I was so wrong about Gemma.

  (ages ago, when Matt brought her as his date to the Opening Night…wait, did Matt do that to make me jealous??? Must ask him)

  She’s so lovely and fun.

  Jules and I stuck together like glue, giggling over everything together, doing our usual go off at random moments together to laugh about something.

  When Jules and I are together, it’s just us. We’re in our own goofy world together.

  I LOVE HER!!!

  After dinner, I drove us all back to Matt’s. His family had already left for their annual holiday, so we had the house (mansion) to ourselves.

  We played cards and drank. We played this drinking game Andrew invented where every time you lost, you had to take a shot.