‘Everything okay?’ Rose yells at Tom.
‘I said the wrong thing apparently.’ He rolls his eyes at her and I’m blinking back my tears.
Rose laughs. ‘Forget it.’ She stands with the crowd to demand an encore. ‘Nu-tter! Nu-tter! Nu-tter!’
Any other time I’d be laughing at her calling out like she is, but not now. Not when she’s just disregarded that I might be hurting.
Rose will never understand how awful it is to be me. Yes, I make her life suck—I admit it. But the pain of being nobody in this world is deplorable. I don’t exist to 99.999999999999% of the population of the planet. And I never will. I’ll never make a difference. I’ll never be anyone of any consequence because I don’t exist to anyone. What’s worse is the constant pain that I cause to the 0.000000000001% of people who do know that I exist. Try and live with that. I dare you.
Then Tom lifts my miserable chin so we’re nose to nose. His eyes are so beautiful I feel like I’m being touched by the light of a thousand stars. Why do I do this to him?
‘Olive,’ he whispers. ‘I don’t know what words you’re talking about, but I do know a line of theirs which is true.’ He sweeps his cheek along mine so his lips are at my earlobe. ‘Doobi-doobi-doo, I want nobody but you.’ Then he ducks his head because it was kind of lame. And as easy as that, the darkness melts away.
I take his face in my hands. ‘You’re freaking hot for a dork,’ I say and then we kiss.
‘Tom!’ Rose says above the crowd. ‘You’re doing it again!’
We pull apart. The lights are coming on. Tom is blushing. ‘Sorry.’
‘Forget about it.’ She grins at him. ‘Do you want to meet Pike?’
CHAPTER
16
Rose links her arm through Tom’s as we manoeuvre through the crowd. ‘Are you nervous?’
‘A bit,’ he admits. ‘What do you say to these people?’
‘Whatever. They don’t care, they’re too busy looking over your shoulder for more important people to talk to.’
I hate watching the two of them like this. I wish it was me swanning into a party with such a beautiful man on my arm, instead of skulking in behind them like the invisible loser I am.
Rose has her nose in the air, playing arrogant Wynona to the bouncer. ‘Wynona Wyatt plus one.’
The bouncer checks them off on his clipboard with a sharp tick of his pen and lets us through the low rope barricade. It always delights me, these big bulky guys, standing there, prim and proper with their geeky clipboards. I wish I could offer up this observation to Tom, but it’s too dangerous so I store it in my ‘to tell later’ file.
Tom holds open the black curtain and we enter the hot, crowded room. Dawn, my favourite glamazon, rushes over. Her hair is sleek and blond, her posture haughty, like she owns the room. I totally admire it. If I could be seen, I’d want to have the huge presence that Dawn does.
‘It’s Dawn,’ I whisper.
‘I know, I know,’ Rose mutters between clenched teeth. Why she has to be so hostile, I don’t understand. ‘Dawn, how are you?’ Rose says. They peck at each other’s cheeks.
‘I’m so thrilled you made it sweetie!’ Dawn responds. She lowers her volume, looking around to see if anyone is listening. ‘Wasn’t sure it was quite your thing. I spent the whole concert with earplugs in!’
Rose turns to Tom. ‘Well, it was more for Tom, to be honest.’
Dawn checks out Tom recklessly, her eyes skimming him up and down like a blackboard menu. She looks impressed, which makes me glow with pride.
‘Whatever gets you here,’ Dawn responds. She holds out her hand, it’s dappled with gold rings. ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Dawn.’
He takes her thin palm cautiously. ‘Tom.’
‘And you and Wynona are … dating?’ Her fingers have gone to her hair, which she is twisting and flicking in a truly embarrassing manner. She is totally crushing on him.
Rose and Tom glance at each other awkwardly. What are they doing? They’re supposed to be acting like a real couple. I nudge Tom in the back.
He gets my point. ‘We sure are!’ he says, throwing his arm around Rose’s shoulders. He leans in to kiss her but she baulks and he ends up kissing her ear. What fools.
Dawn isn’t buying it. She looks at them with eyebrows raised for a moment then, motioning to the bar, says, ‘Help yourself to a drink then come and find me. I’ll introduce you both to Pike.’
Tom’s eyes widen. ‘That would be awesome.’
She laughs at him, laying her hand on his cheek. ‘Adorable! Wynona, where did you find him?’
Tom pulls away from her. He doesn’t like being patronised but I’m sure Dawn’s just joking. He takes Rose’s hand. ‘Let’s get that drink.’
‘Put it on my tab,’ Dawn tells him.
‘That’s fine, we’ll pay,’ Rose says as they leave.
Dawn rolls her eyes the moment Rose has her back turned. It makes me angry. Rose is totally ruining my reputation with Dawn. Why can’t she just be cool?
Dawn’s assistant Ushi approaches. ‘He’s cute,’ she notes to Dawn.
‘Isn’t he,’ Dawn says, eyeing Tom. I’m so pleased Dawn is impressed. I wish I could stand there with them and gloat. But then Dawn says, ‘Let them meet Pike, then get rid of Wynona would you?’
‘Do you really want to burn that bridge?’ Ushi asks. ‘That chick does whatever you tell her to.’
‘She still will.’ Dawn taps her fingers against her champagne glass. ‘Besides, I won’t need long to get his number. Wynona won’t even find out.’
I’m fuming. This woman is supposed to be my friend! I take a walk around the room before I scream. How could she do this to me? To think I admired her! It’s so humiliating that Rose was right. Dawn’s not my friend. But how was I supposed to know? I’ve got next to no experience with friendships. To be burned like this by someone—wow—it hurts. I’m so angry.
Across the room I see Ushi and Dawn approaching Pike, who sits in his sweat-stained stage clothes, nodding politely to a bearded man beside him, a bottle of water in his hand, a towel around his neck. It surprises me, since I was expecting bourbon and half a dozen bimbos. I follow them over and see Rose and Tom making their way over to meet Pike too.
Tom catches sight of me and smiles. He’s excited. I can’t ruin this moment for him.
Dawn and Ushi are standing like dumb bodyguards behind the couch where Pike sits. ‘Oh good, you found us,’ Dawn says when she spots Rose and Tom. She leans forward, touches Pike on the shoulder. ‘Pike, this is Wynona Wyatt, one of our more special reporters.’
Pike holds out his hand and Rose shakes it with a twitchy grin. She seems to have caught Tom’s star-struck bug. ‘Pleasure to meet you. Great gig.’
Pike nods. He doesn’t seem particularly impressed to meet the special reporter.
‘And this is Tom, one of your biggest fans,’ says Dawn as I sidle around to stand beside her. I want to see Tom’s face. He’s so excited he looks like he could wet his pants.
Pike shakes his hand enthusiastically. ‘Thanks for coming.’ I like this guy. He couldn’t care less about Rose and Dawn, he’s obviously there for the fans.
‘Wouldn’t miss it,’ Tom stutters. (Which is cac, he wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me!) ‘Awesome set.’
‘Thanks man.’
‘Get rid of her,’ I hear Dawn whisper to Ushi. My anger crackles.
Ushi moves toward Rose. ‘Wynona, can I see you for a moment?’
Rose frowns. She looks at Tom. ‘Um. Sure.’
‘I’ll look after him for you,’ Dawn drawls.
That does it. I’m so angry I slam my hand into the bottom of Dawn’s glass. It arcs beautifully and champagne splatters all over Pike. ‘Hey!’ he calls out.
‘Pike! I’m sorry!’ Dawn cries.
Pike’s busy patting himself down with his towel, and I’m thinking—it’s not enough. I want this woman to pay. So before I give myself time to think, I pull Pike’s
hair. Then I pull his ear, then I slap him on the cheek. Hard. The sound of the slap rings through the air.
Pike jumps to his feet, holding his cheek. ‘What the hell are you doing, lady?’
‘No! Pike. It wasn’t me,’ Dawn is saying, but there is nobody close. Ushi, Rose and Tom are standing clearly in front of him.
‘Don’t think your boss isn’t going to hear about this.’ Pike lowers his hand, his cheek is stained red from the slap. I didn’t realise I hit him that hard. ‘Have a good one, Tom,’ he mutters, then pushes off through the crowd.
Tom is looking at me with his I can’t believe you just did that face, but he doesn’t know the full story.
‘I think we should go,’ Rose says.
I trip through the crowd to catch up with Rose and Tom as they leave. I take Rose by the hand. She was right about Dawn. Why don’t I listen to her?
‘I assume that was you?’ Rose mutters, feeling my fingers laced with hers.
‘Yeah,’ I say, waiting for her inevitable berating.
‘Slap her face next time.’ She’s smiling.
‘Can you believe Pike remembered my name?’ Tom gushes as we head toward the exit. I’m about to point out that Pike only had to remember it for about thirty seconds, which surely isn’t a huge ask, but I restrain myself because I am an amazing girlfriend.
We’re through the black curtain and the rope, almost to the public bar, when Dawn catches up to us. ‘Wynona! Tom!’ she calls out. ‘Sorry about that.’ She leans toward Rose. ‘I don’t know what happened back there—talk about mortifying!’
‘Yes, it did look humiliating,’ Rose is happy to agree.
Dawn takes a step backwards and studies Rose all seriously. ‘You’re not going to … write about it, are you?’
Rose gives her a mouth-only smile. ‘Thanks again for the tickets, better get going. Big day tomorrow.’
Dawn turns her mascara-clumped eyelashes on Tom. ‘You can hang around if you want, Tom? I’ll look after you if Wynona needs to go.’
She never gives up! I’m thinking about snapping her stiletto or something when a figure catches my eye.
Cac. It’s Malcolm.
Rose and Tom have their backs to him. They’ve got no idea he’s storming toward them. They are arm-in-arm, the picture of solidarity to ward off the predator, Dawn.
I start waving madly at Tom, pointing behind him but he’s too caught up in the Dawn drama. And now Mal’s right behind them. I know he’s going to hear Tom answer—‘No, Dawn, we’re going home together.’ Cue him smooching Rose on the cheek.
‘Malcolm!’ I sneeze loudly.
Rose’s face is pure panic. She drops Tom and spins directly into Malcolm’s big, round, and currently very red face. ‘Mal! What are you doing here?’
He’s in double denim, white T-shirt barely holding back the overflow of his gut. His facial hair is shaved into Celtic shapes and he’s wearing a red baseball cap and black cowboy boots. It’s an odd ensemble but he’s an odd guy.
‘I was about to ask you the same question.’ He gives Tom the once over, his expression sour like he’s digesting out-of-date dairy.
‘Nothing. This is Tom. He’s just a friend.’
Dawn snorts.
‘What’s your problem?’ Malcolm growls. He obviously hates her instantly, which makes me like him a little bit more.
Dawn’s eyes are flashing between them curiously, she doesn’t want to miss whatever is going on. ‘I’ve got no problem at all, I’m just interested to see how many friends Wynona has.’
‘You should go, Dawn,’ Rose says, barely able to control her anger. Dawn opens her mouth to object. ‘Now!’ Rose snaps.
Dawn startles. ‘Fine. I need to check on the band anyway,’ she says, tossing her hair as she clip-clops away on her stilettos.
Nobody watches her. Nobody cares. We’ve got bigger problems.
Tom is looking at me with crazy eyes, obviously wondering what he should do. I mouth ‘sorry!’ holding up my pathetic empty hands and stand by, useless as a daydream.
‘Who’s Wynona?’ Malcolm demands.
Rose is shrugging innocently. ‘I don’t know. That woman was mad.’
‘And this guy?’
‘I was just in the party,’ Tom says. A nothing explanation.
Malcolm narrows his eyes, sucks in his stomach, threatened by Tom’s handsomeness. ‘I think you better leave too, buster.’
‘Um.’ Tom looks with uncertainty at Rose and me. We’re both nodding in agreement.
‘I’ll be okay, Tom. This is Malcolm, my boyfriend,’ Rose reassures him.
‘Oh, okay. Good. Great. Glad to get you safely out of that party, Rose.’ He slaps Malcolm on the shoulder. ‘Some of the roadies were getting a bit intense with your girl. I offered to escort her out.’
‘Really.’ Malcolm doesn’t look convinced. But then he turns to scrutinise Rose and sniffs. ‘Still, I wouldn’t be surprised with you looking like that. What’s with that outfit? And I thought you hated SkarNutter!’
Rose takes Malcolm’s hand. ‘Thank you for your help, Tom. I shouldn’t have accepted that last-minute ticket from my friend. She’s so unreliable. It’s not surprising she didn’t show up.’
‘No problem at all,’ says Tom, backing away from Malcolm, who looks like he’ll need to check in to a dentist pretty soon, he’s grinding his teeth that hard. ‘See you later guys.’
‘Not if I can help it,’ Malcolm mutters. Rose elbows him.
I follow Tom across the foyer and outside. As the glass door shuts behind us he exclaims, ‘Talk about busted!’
‘Roadies?’ I laugh, skipping ahead of him.
‘It’s all I could come up with! You could have warned me her boyfriend was here.’
‘Do you think we would have come if we’d known? Malcolm never goes out. Dad calls him a corpse.’
‘That’s harsh.’
I glance back and see Rose and Malcolm arguing inside. It’s going to be a long night.
‘Hopefully they split up,’ I say.
‘Olive!’ Tom sounds appalled.
I grin callously. It’s good to keep him on his toes.
‘Come on.’ I tug at him. ‘It’s my turn to show you something magic.’
CHAPTER
17
I take Tom’s hand and lead him through the dark, dank city streets.
‘Where are we going?’
‘It’s hot,’ I say simply.
He rolls his eyes. ‘You’re so random.’
‘Irrepressibly,’ I confirm.
The street broadens into a pedestrian square. Sandstone buildings are illuminated by fancy store displays, a busker plays the trumpet. I can’t imagine he makes much at this hour. He must like the sound of his instrument echoing around the buildings. It does sound haunting.
I can’t resist.
‘Watch this,’ I say, before striding quietly toward the man. I pull a coin out of my pocket and drop it in his music case. His eyes widen for a moment then he looks around. You can see his mind tick. Must have imagined it. After a minute I throw in another. You can hear the chink of the coin hitting the case. This time he stops, bends over and picks it up. I throw in another while he’s bent over. He leaps back, his eyes wild. Is it raining coins?
I look back at Tom. My hand is jammed over my mouth as I try not to laugh.
He’s shaking his head but he’s smiling. He wanders close to the guy and throws in another coin. ‘I’m a good shot right?’
The busker gives Tom a weird look. ‘Yeah. Thanks.’
Tom takes my hand and I guide him further away, up toward the fountain.
‘You really do have gypsy trouble in you.’ He says it fondly and it’s the first time I’ve felt kind of okay about it. I squeeze his hand. ‘Is that why we came here?’
‘No. Added bonus.’ I point to the fountain. ‘This is why we came here.’
‘You want a shower?’ he jokes.
‘We want a shower.’
‘You
’re not serious.’
I give him my lifted brow. ‘I’m always serious.’
I slip off my jacket, then my ballet frock and chuck it at Tom. I’m glad the busker is not looking. It would be strange to see a dress appear from nowhere and fly through the air. I kick off my shoes and jump in. Tom doesn’t follow.
I splash him. ‘Come on!’
‘No way—you can get away with it. I’ll look deranged.’
He already looks a bit touched, standing there gawking at a fountain while holding a tutu. But I can see he’s seriously thinking it over. It must be the fancy underwear.
‘But nobody is here!’ I say. ‘No one will see you.’
He edges forward. ‘Well, maybe just a paddle.’ He pulls off his shoes and socks, rolling his pants up above the knee. He steps in carefully, trying not to get his clothes wet. ‘What am I doing?’ he mutters to himself. ‘This is crazy.’
‘Here, catch,’ I say, jumping into his arms. My unexpected weight puts him off balance and we fall. He’s on his back, water up to his chin, me planted on his chest.
‘What are you doing?’ he splutters.
‘Haven’t you seen Forrest Gump? The fountain scene? I’ve always wanted to do that.’
‘You could have warned me.’ His brow is furrowed. ‘And I’m supposed to be Forrest Gump? Thanks.’
‘You’re much more handsome.’ I kiss him so he can’t object, even though the water is threatening to drown us and his arms are shaking trying to hold us up.
‘Everything alright, fella?’
Cac. A cop? No, a security guard.
I jump off Tom and back away. He stands and faces the man, then to his credit, he starts giggling. Well, as giggly as a mostly-grown man can get.
‘You think this is funny?’
‘No, sorry. I um …’ Tom is at a complete loss. Why would someone be lying in a dirty fountain in the middle of the night?
‘Had too much to drink, fella?’
‘No.’ He wades out of the fountain and looks for his shoes.
‘I don’t need to take you up to the station do I?’
The Impossible Story of Olive In Love Page 9
