I smiled despite the butterflies in my stomach taking flight again as we exited the toilets. “You’re right. Thank you.” To my dismay the table he had been sitting at was now occupied by strangers. I looked around expecting that he may have joined our table. He and the woman were nowhere to be seen.
Linda came up beside me and patted my arm sympathetically. “Come on. Let’s sit down and have another drink. Forget him. His loss. I’m going to make sure you have fun.” She gazed around the room “Look around. This is a bit of a hot spot for good-looking guys anyway.”
When we sat down again, I noticed the group had dispersed. Luke and one of the management staff were chatting up a couple of girls at the far end of the room, and Daniel, Nathan, and the sound engineer were deep in conversation at one end of the table, while Kate sat with them, looking bored. The pained look on her face when she saw me said it all. “He only left a few moments ago. I haven’t been able to get a word in here to ask if Nathan knows who she is.” She poured us all a glass from the bottle Linda had bought. “But, in all fairness...” In all fairness? Being in love was definitely causing Kate to soften. In the not too distant past, she would have been the first to call an all-out vendetta on him had this occurred back then.
She continued, “… he’s not here to explain, so I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“He’s gone home with her before,” I said sadly. “Tanya pointed her out to me once.”
Linda scoffed, “Tanya? I wouldn’t believe anything that bitch has to say. I’m surprised she’s not here tonight, trying to get her claws into him. Is that what she told you?”
I nodded.
“Does she know for sure he went home with her? Or did he just leave with her?”
I couldn't remember, and the alcohol wasn't helping. “I don’t know. I guess it’s not as if she could have followed him, so I’m guessing he only left with her.” As much as I was trying, it wasn’t making me feel any better. If he left with someone, the chances were that he had gone home with them as well. I went to the bar to get us all some more shots, promising myself I would slow down with the drinking after this one. I sat back down and swallowed it, enjoying the numbing feeling it was giving me, barely noticing Kate’s gasp as she glanced up and looked over my shoulder.
”Didn’t your charms work this time, mate?” Daniel said.
“What?” The puzzled voice that replied was familiar, as was the figure that sat down next to me. “Oh, that was my brother’s girlfriend. You’ve met her before,” Scott explained to the group, who all responded with equally blank stares. “He works at night, and all her friends decided to stay out, so I gave her a lift home.” He shook his head at Daniel, who was giving him a doubtful look. “Geez, man, I’m not Luke you know. I’ve dropped her off home heaps of times.” He scanned the array of bottles and glasses on the table, oblivious to the glares directed at him by Kate and Linda. “Looks like I’ve got some catching up to do.” He stood up again and headed to the bar.
“Are you having a good night?” he asked me when he returned, his voice rather too cheerful in my opinion for someone who still ‘needed to talk.’
“Yeah, thanks.” I said weakly. Then, remembering what Linda had said, continued, “You guys sounded great tonight.”
I felt his eyes searching me. “Geez, you look wasted.”
That’s because I’ve been stressing out and ended up drinking more than normal for the last three fucking hours, you prick. Instead of saying what I wanted to say to him, I grumbled, “It’s probably time I went home.” I said my goodbyes, pretending not to notice the confused look on Scott’s face. The final shot had taken effect, and I stumbled in my attempt to get past him.
He caught me before I fell. “I guess I’d better take you home, too.”
“Don’t do me any favours,” I snapped, trying to push past again and failing miserably. “Listen, Scott," I sighed, "I already apologised for what I said before. I told you I didn’t mean it. So for you to be an arse-”
“I know, Abby. Are you still upset about that? I forgave you, didn’t I?” I shook my head. His eyes flicked from me to Kate and Linda, who were unsuccessfully trying to look like they weren't listening. “Oh,” the penny dropped, “I’m sorry.“ He studied my face and chuckled, “God, you’re smashed. You can’t even focus properly. Did you think I was still mad?”
I shrugged.
“I thought everything was cool, and you looked like you were having fun, so I was just talking to Claire and...”
“You said we’ll talk later,” I pointed out.
He laughed again. “I meant I’d see you after we’ve played. You know, like normal.”
“Oh, god.” I covered my face with my hands. Here I was worrying over nothing. I could feel his chest moving with laughter as I rested my head on it to hide my embarrassment.
“Come on,” he said once his amusement waned. “I’ll take you home.”
***
I couldn’t stop giggling as I picked up my keys for the third time and tried to unlock my door.
“Here, let me.” Scott patiently took them from my hand and opened the door.
“I don’t normally drink this much.” I threw my bag on the couch and plopped myself down.
“I know,“ Scott said good-humouredly. “That’s the fourth time you’ve told me since we left the bar.”
“Oh, sor –“
“And there’s no need to say you’re sorry. It’s okay.” He got me a glass of water from the kitchen.
“You are so good to me.” I gulped the cool, soothing liquid down. “And to express my gratitude, I’ll do anything you want tonight. Just name it.”
“Nah, I’d love to take you up on that, but you’re just a teensy bit drunk.”
“It’s because I’m drunk that I’m offering. Better take it now because this chance will never happen again.”
As we sat close together on the couch, I swore I could hear the cogs turning in his brain. “Well...” He put his arm around me. “I won’t complain if you take your clothes off.”
He smirked like he was joking, but I chose to ignore it and jumped up. “I can do better than that.” I switched the radio on and began what I thought to be a seductive striptease, although the amused smile on his face gave me the impression that my clumsiness was anything but sexy.
“Stop laughing.” I scolded him, almost tripping over my trousers as I stepped out of them.
“I’m not.” He protested. “This is great.”
By the time I got down to my underwear, his smirk had disappeared, and his eyes were fixed on mine. I ran my fingers through my hair, strutted over to him, and gave him a lap dance-– well, my version of one, aided both by the alcohol and what I could remember from the movies.
“No touching,” I whispered in his ear when his hands moved towards my swinging hips, which were just inches above him, “You know the rules.”
His heavy breathing and the bulge in his trousers proved that my movements were achieving the desired effect. “That. Was. Awesome,” he said when I was finished, then looked concerned. “You’re not going to throw up are you?”
***
I woke up alone and, assuming Scott had left quietly again, not wishing to disturb me, walked into the kitchen. As I had half expected, he had left another note:
Gone to get breakfast. If you're up, could you please make coffee?
I smiled to myself and put on the kettle, then pulled a chair into the kitchen so I could reach for the plunger I reserved mainly for dinner parties and an unopened bag of ground coffee.
"I got muffins." He announced his return. "And the paper." He gave me a sympathetic look. "How’s your head?”
“It’s been better, but not too bad.”
“Good." He kissed my forehead. "Good job not throwing up last night; you looked a bit close a couple of times.” He smiled. “Should we just sit on the floor?" He went into the living room, and I joined him soon after, placing a hot mug of strong
coffee next to him.
"May I?" I pointed to the paper as he had his hands full. I flicked through the different parts and picked out the Style (because it was my favourite) and Entertainment (out of habit, from when Josh was the film reviewer) sections to read, taking them out before opening my breakfast. "Thank you. This is lovely," I said before hooking in.
"No worries." He pulled the remainder of the newspaper to himself. “It was the least I could do after our misunderstanding last night. Listen, sorry I was such a jerk about what you said. You’re entitled to your opinion, and I was just being overly sensitive.”
“I'm sorry, too," I assured him.
“Abby, don’t be.” He reached out and put his hand on my face, rubbing his thumb along my cheek. “I wasn’t really angry with you; you just brought up stuff I already had issues with. You didn’t deserve that.” He leaned in. “Do you forgive me?”
“Of course.” I crushed my mouth onto his. “Thanks.”
We sat in comfortable silence, polishing off our breakfast while flicking through the papers. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday morning, and especially relaxing after the week I'd just had.
"Hey, have you got the entertainment section?" he asked.
I had just started reading it. "No." I said cheekily, pretending to hide it.
He lunged at me. “I need that. It's my job."
"We non-entertainment workers need it to keep you in a job." I lifted the paper over my head as he came down on top of me to wrestle it away. Chuckling, he pinned me to the floor by my arms, forcing me to drop the paper, and placed his knees on either side of me.
"Do you give up?" He threatened to sit on me.
"Nope." I giggled.
He stroked my hair off my face, leaned over, and kissed me again, releasing my arms so I could wrap them around him. "You didn't want the entertainment section at all, did you?" I whispered.
"No, I just wanted to do this." He ran his lips down my cheek to my neck. It was so nice to have him back.
We were interrupted by the shrill ring of the phone, and he lifted his head.
"The answering machine can get it; it's probably just my mum." I pulled him down again so he could continue.
"Hi, Abby, it's me." The sound of Josh's voice surprised me, and an involuntary gasp escaped my mouth. Scott quickly leapt off me. I should have grabbed the phone and told Josh to go fuck himself, or turned the answering machine off, or simply hung up on him. But I didn’t. Instead I sat there, glued to the living room floor, and listened to his voice. The voice I wasn’t ready to forgive. "I'm coming back to Melbourne. I need to see you, Abs. Please." His tone was weak, pleading. "I'll understand if you don't want to talk to me. I know I didn't leave in the best way, and then I didn’t even break up with you properly. But the truth is, well…” There was a pause. “I still love you.” He exhaled heavily. “Please call me, Abby. Just to talk. I'm on my mobile."
Bewildered and caught up in the moment, I had almost forgotten Scott was still there until he stood up.
"I guess this isn't a good time," he said, running his hand through his hair. His lips brushed my cheek, his eyes not meeting mine. "I'll see you later; give me a call.”
"I will, sorry," I whispered regretfully as he walked out of my flat, leaving me alone with the unrelenting flashing light—one message received.
Spell to Heal a Rift
Between Friends
Moon phase: waxing
Pink candle for friendship
Blue candle for healing
White candle
Along the side of the white candle engrave the name of your friend, an olive branch—which is a symbol of peace—, and your own name so the olive branch is in between.
Light all the candles and visualise you and your friend hugging, forgiving and being friends again. Let the candles burn down completely. Please bear in mind that this is only to encourage renewal of friendship. You cannot manipulate another person’s actions if they are unwilling.
Thank the universe for its help.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“ARE YOU COMING OUT for a drink?” Sean was sitting on my desk, tapping his pen on the top of my monitor.
“I’ll just finish this email. Could you please stop that; it’s really annoying.”
“Sorry, bad habit.” He popped the pen into his shirt pocket and picked up a crystal I kept next to my in-tray because the spell book said it helped with concentration and motivation. “What’s this?”
I completed my work and shut down my computer. “That’s an amethyst crystal. It’s...” My explanation was interrupted by a series of sneezes.
“Bless you. Allergies?”
I shook my head and blew my nose. “No, I think I might be coming down with something.” He frowned. “It’s okay, I’ll come out for a little while, and then I’ll head home.” I had noticed I wasn’t feeling the best since the start of the week. I'd caught up with Scott the previous night, argued during another console game he was playing, and stayed the night as usual. The consequent lack of sleep probably wasn’t helping my immune system. The subject of Josh’s phone call was absent, mostly because I chose to ignore it.
Rachel had gotten to the pub early and was sitting at a table next to the window with Lachlan. We had enjoyed our after work drinks so much we decided to make it a weekly ritual—sometimes twice weekly. Word quickly got out around the office so, by the time I walked in this week, I was followed by Pippa and Laura from accounts, and Sean was at the bar chatting to Pete and Kevin from programming.
“Hey, guys.” A tickle in my throat made me cough as I pulled up a chair next to Rachel. “We’ll have the whole office here soon.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t really the intention, but anyway…” Rachel said huffily.
I tried to placate her, “Well, just because you didn’t start the romance of the century doesn’t mean your efforts went to waste,” I looked pointedly over at Sean who was making his way over to us, “because we’re friends now. At least that’s something you can be proud of.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” She perked up.
Lachlan put his arm around his girlfriend. “Oh sweetheart, do you honestly think Abby would have any trouble finding a guy? She’s a hottie.” He gave me a wink.
“Who’s a hottie? Abby?” Sean sat down placing a glass of wine in front of me. “Yeah, she’s alright.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, guys.”
Pippa and Laura took their seats next, while Pete and Kevin dragged along another table to join the group. Conversation turned to the office, or more accurately, office gossip.
“So, do you guys think it’s true about Bron and Ray?” Pippa asked the group, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow as she re-pinned her platinum hair where it had fallen out of her chignon.
“I’d doubt it,” replied Kevin, taking off his glasses and polishing them with his tie. “Bron’s a gorgeous woman. Why on Earth would she be interested in a podgy old bloke like Ray?” There was a suggestion of bitter jealousy in his voice.
Laura, a happily married forty something with a penchant for flirting with younger men whenever her husband wasn’t around, leaned over to Rachel and myself. “Did you see those two cuties that just walked in? I wouldn’t kick either of them out of bed.”
Rachel and I both followed Laura's line of sight.
“Hmm, nice,” Rachel whispered sneaking a sideways look at Lachlan to make sure he hadn’t heard. She looked relieved that he was deeply immersed in conversation with Kevin.
Pippa tucked a non-existent lock of hair behind her ear in what would have been a flirtatious gesture had the two men been watching. “Yes, very nice,” she mused.
I recognised the two figures straight away. One of them was gesturing to the back of the pub as if describing what to do with the space.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” I told the girls as I leapt out of my seat.
“Ooh,” I heard Pippa say as I headed to where the men were standing at the other end of the
pub. “She’s not going to talk to them, is she?”
I was enjoying the opportunity to leave them in shocked silence as I tapped Luke on the shoulder, then gave him and Scott each a peck on the cheek, sneaking a glance at my open mouthed colleagues.
“What are you two doing here?” I asked them, my voice beginning to get the tell-tale nasally sound of one coming down with a cold.
“Silas has booked this place for a gig,” Scott answered, looking at me quizzically. “We’ve just come to check it out. What are you doing here?”
“You guys get around, don’t you?” I smirked. “I work at the grey building on the next corner. A group of us come here a couple of times a week after work.” I looked back at the table. The women of the group were all still gaping. I decided to put them out of their misery. “Come on over; I’ll introduce you.”
***
“So what do you do?” Pippa tried the hair flick again as she directed her question at Scott. I bet she was wishing she had had left her hair loose so she could have taken full advantage of it. Obviously her boyfriend, who was currently overseas on business, was the last thing on her mind.
“We play in a band,” Scott answered politely.
“Ooh really?” Trilled Laura. “Anyone we know?”
“Probably not, but hopefully you will soon,” Luke replied. “We’re called Reckless Choice. We’re releasing an album later in the year.”
“How exciting,” Laura chirped, batting her eyelids at him. Luke, accustomed to this kind of attention treated her with his sexiest smile. “So, Luke, is it? When will you be playing here? I’m sure we could get a group from the office over to give you some support.”
I caught Scott’s eye across the table. My mind going to the previous night when he pulled my hair during a rather strenuous romp. I twirled a strand around my finger as he had done and yanked at it, giving him a conspiratory smile. He stifled a laugh as he tried to concentrate on what Pippa was saying.
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