I sat the jacket on the sofa next to Jack but he didn’t leave. He seemed determined to outstay Tamaki.
“What are you doing here anyway?” Tamaki didn’t look at Jack but the question was obviously directed at him. “You gave her an ultimatum. You told her you didn’t want to see her for a month.”
“Well, maybe I changed my mind. Maybe I want to fight for what is mine.”
I didn’t know if that made me happy or made me want to punch him for being a total sexist jerk. It was so typical Jack. I was pretty sure he only said it to rile Tamaki up. And I was also pretty sure he only came around so he could get more sex.
“I think I can make my own decisions without being fought for.” I crossed my arms.
Tamaki turned from the window and looked at me, with a light in his eyes. His face changed as though he was only then aware of where he was.
“At least I still have you, Hannah. You know about the drinks on Friday night,” he said. Not a question but as though it were fact.
Jack’s lips curled into a smile but his eyes said a million angry words.
“Drinks? That sounds nice.” He spat out the words as though defying me to agree to Tamaki's invitation.
I gulped, remembering my father's desperate tone on the phone and wishing that Tamaki hadn't bought it up right then. I couldn't go back to that situation. It would destroy me. Not only that, it would be the worst possible publicity for the band. But, of course, I couldn't explain that to Jack, not with Tamaki sitting right there either.
“I bought something for you to wear,” Tamaki said. He pulled a velvet case out of his inside pocket and glared at Jack as though expecting him to leave.
He opened the case. A diamond choker inside sparkled in the light. A row of shining flowers, intricately fashioned from the jewels.
“They are flowers for you, Hannah. Because you are Hana, flowers.”
I pushed them away from me, my heart racing as though he’d offered me something poisonous.
“I can’t accept something like that, Tamaki. It’s too much. It’s beautiful but it’s just too much.”
Jack snorted. I ignored him. This situation was getting even more ridiculous. Tamaki could’ve waited until we were alone to offer me the gift.
He pressed the box toward me.
“You must accept, Hannah. This is an expression of my feelings toward you. Nothing is too much for you.”
My hand shook as I reached for it. I had no intention of accepting the gift. It wasn’t just the jewels, it was the obligation that came with it. If I accepted something like that from Tamaki, I’d be taking on a whole load of other shit. I just felt I should acknowledge the thought he’d put into buying it before I gave it back to him. Because that is just good manners.
“You are really going to take it? Screw you. Really, screw you.”
Jack jumped up, kicking the coffee table. Before I could say anything, he’d left, slamming the door behind him.
I wanted to throw something at the door as he left but all I had was my coffee and I was not going to waste good coffee on that annoying shit of a man.
“I can’t take it, Tamaki,” I said, handing the box back to him. “I don’t think we have that kind of relationship.”
He sighed.
“I hope one day you will feel differently, Hannah,” he said and stroked my arm.
I trembled, trying to control my emotions when really I just wanted to punch something.
“I think I need to be alone for a while,” I told Tamaki.
After he left, I went to the kitchen, picking up a cloth and scrubbing the benches. I moved onto the cupboards then the floors. At least that way I had control over something. I wanted to push myself without stopping to think.
Eventually, there was nothing left to clean in the kitchen and I moved on to the lounge room, hoping to work myself into exhaustion.
I noticed a small box sitting near the arm of the couch where Jack had been.
I opened it up, not sure what it could be. Something Jack had left behind?
The box held a guitar pick suspended on a silver chain. I held it in my hand, running my finger over the plastic surface of the pick. It was no diamond choker but it seemed much more precious.
Chapter 24. Angie
I ran into Eric at the cafe. I seemed to run into him a lot. Like, I'd be somewhere and he'd just happen to pop in. Of course, some of those places he'd obviously be at, like if I was doing something for the band and he was there, well then that was to be expected but, sometimes, it was so totally out of the blue that I didn't even know I'd be there until I got there. This was halfway between those two extremes. I mean, I went to the cafe a lot so it wasn't so unusual for me to run into him there. On the other hand, it was a bit out of the way for him. It wasn’t as if he'd be just dropping in there for no reason.
“Hey Ange,” he called and sat down with me. “Great boots.”
Every time I saw Eric he said that and I still wasn't sick of hearing it. I grinned at him. I couldn't say I was exactly against the idea of having coffee with him. Like, if I had to choose, I'd choose having coffee with Eric over not having coffee with him.
He took a sketchbook out of his bag. “If you don't mind, I have a project I'm working on for a client and I'd like to get your ideas on it.”
I nodded. Of course I didn't mind. Giving my opinions on things was where I shined. You could ask me anything, anything at all, and I'd give you an opinion on it. You could call me Opinion Girl.
We discussed the imagery and the colours until we finished our second coffee.
“You really are the best,” he said.
“Yeah, I totally am. So, how are things going for the band? Are you getting excited about the tour? It's not long now. You might not be taking on so many graphic projects if the band takes off. You might be a full time rock star.”
Eric shrugged. He did this thing where, when he shrugged, his whole body shrugged, not just his shoulders. It was kinda neat.
“I'm not the rock star. Jack is. You could take Spud and me out and replace us with anyone and it'd still be Storm if Jack remained.”
“Don't say that. You're essential to Storm. If you left, it'd be too much Jack, if you know what I mean. All yin and no yang — or the other way around. But definitely too much macho alpha male and not enough Eric.”
“Yeah, I'm so not an alpha male.” He frowned.
“That's not a bad thing, Eric. Not everyone likes a caveman. And it's not just the macho shit but in the music too. You bring something that Jack doesn't have. It's not tangible and it's not hitting you in the face but it's sweet and it's real.”
He looked up at me through his fringe, his face shining. I just thought, Eric, don't do that to me. I want you in the friend zone.
“Anyway,” he said, “things are a bit rough at the moment. Jack is so moody. When Jack's moody, everyone suffers. We've been rehearsing like fiends and it's still not good enough for him. And there are other things too. Sometimes… well let's just say he's got issues. He's got things under control a lot better nowadays but I'm worried that he's just getting wound up tighter and tighter at the moment and something is going to make him snap. BAM. Just like that. I almost wish he'd go out on a bender and let it all out. Maybe punch some walls or something, you know. At least then he'd be less of a menace in the long term.”
Hannah had said the same thing about Jack having issues a while ago. Everyone knew about Jack's issues but me. As if I wasn't good enough to know the issues. But maybe that was okay, because actually other people's issues are annoying.
It was obvious, though, that the mood swings were totally Hannah-related. I mean, I could understand her being a bit funny with him but she could think about how that affected the band too. She was their manager and she needed to put their career first. I didn't know what Hannah was putting first. She hadn't broken things off with Tamaki but she had Jack still dangling too. It was not a good place for anyone to be in.
“
Then, there is the whole thing with Spud. The two of them haven't really got on since that day at the TV studio. They are polite to each and that is not normal, not normal at all. It makes for this crazy tension at rehearsal and I think the sound is suffering for it. The two of them barely talking and making me their go-between. It's like dealing with a couple of kids.”
“Maybe they just need to have a man fight and get it out of their systems.” I didn't like Spud and I didn't trust him ― even less after he blurted out that stuff in front of Hannah about the bet ― but he and Jack had always been tight. “Other than that, how's things going?”
“I've got some of our new songs on my tablet if you want to listen to them.” He gave me a grin.
“Hells yeah. I would love to listen to them.”
I handed him my tablet so he could transfer them over. It was so cool – getting to hear the new songs before anyone else. I poured myself a glass of water from the bottle on the table and tried not to think about Eric. He was so different to Jack. He was so serious about everything and that worried me. I didn't want to start something I couldn't finish and I truly believed that, if we started, he'd have to choose between me and his mother. And no guy decided against his mother, right. I'd be the one getting screwed over.
He handed back the tablet.
“I should head off. I've got to get this work done. I've got a zillion headlines to meet before the tour so I have free reign to, you know, rock and all that stuff.”
“Yeah, don't want the groupies to be waiting backstage while you finish off a project.” I said it all casual like but watched his face. If I had to describe the emotions flitting over it, I'd say perplexed would be the word I'd use.
“Groupies? Hardly. Most of those chicks don't even realise I'm in the band unless someone tells them. They all head straight for Jack, and Spud is there to get the castoffs. I'd much rather go home and get a good night's sleep most nights. The most boring guy in rock ― that's what you could call me.”
I didn't want to argue with him but I'd been to enough Storm concerts to know that wasn't strictly true. Even the “most boring guy in rock” got some action and I knew he didn't always go home to sleep. Well, at least not alone. He might be sweet and he might be a little bit shy, but the dude wasn't dead. I wondered what it would feel like to be around when that happened again. The thought of it made my stomach hurt.
“Hey, I've had an idea,” I said. “Are you going to be busy all night?”
Eric shook his head.
“Why don't we force Jack into a bender? That way, he could get some of that angst out of his system and it might head off the complete meltdown. Kinda like squeezing a pimple to get all the pus and goo out of it. Just that it's a big, rock star-shaped pimple called Jack Colt.”
A slow grin spread over Eric's face.
“I think that will work.”
***
I met them at the bar at 7.00, like we'd arranged. I thought it would be a menace, trying to do this behind Hannah's back, coz God knows it'd be pointless trying to get Jack all messed up and forgetting her if she actually turned up, but it seemed she had some fancy drinks thing to go to with Tamaki anyway.
The bar Eric had picked was a lot more hipster than I was used to. Pale guys with beards and ironically plaid shirts, who looked barely able to lift their pots of cider to their mouths. I didn’t know if that was a good idea. If Jack got too wasted and started swinging punches, he'd knock a bunch of these guys down like bowling pins. Or little hipster dominos.
They were people with the air of trying just a little too hard to look down on their luck in a cool way, which was offensive to someone like me who really was down on my luck. I hoped the drink prices weren't too expensive. Jack and Eric had nabbed a table on the balcony outside under one of the potted palm trees, with a view of the city lights.
“What are you having, Ange?” Jack asked. He drained his glass.
“A beer will do me, fine,” I replied, noticing the glasses on the table. I might as well stick to what they were having.
“Gorgeous night,” said Eric.
You could smell the end of summer in the air, a scent of hot and steamy potential. That and the smell of unwashed hipsters.
“How did the project go?” I asked. “Did you meet the deadline?”
He nodded. “Got the work in, talked Jack into coming out drinking and got one of the best tables in the place. I think that's quite an achievement.”
Jack pushed his way back through the crowd with the beers.
As he sat the glasses on the table, his phone rang.
He pulled it out of his back pocket.
“Yeah, yeah. Actually I'm out drinking at the moment… yeah, you can join us if you want.”
The look on his face and the reluctance in his voice made me wonder if it was Hannah on the phone. He kept talking for a while then hung up.
“That was Spud. He wants to join us.”
“Are you guys okay now? The bromance back on?”
Jack cocked his eyebrow as though he didn't know what I was talking about then he and Eric got into a conversation about the new song they were writing. Chord progressions and all that kind of thing, and did they possibly need a Theremin.
I noticed a couple of girls at the next table giggling and looking at Jack. They talked loudly, as though trying to get his attention. Eventually he glanced their way and gave them a finger salute, which made them dissolve into a puddle of giggles. I don't know if they recognised Jack from the band or they were just checking him out. He was definitely a species apart from the other guys in the bar. Like, you'd have to invent a new gender just to put him in. If the other guys were male, he'd be like super male or something.
Jack just ignored them though and kept drinking. I took some photos for the band blog of the two of them goofing around.
Then Spud arrived. I had to wonder if Eric was behind it somehow, after our discussion earlier, but when I'd said they needed to have a man-fight, I hadn't meant for us to orchestrate it and I had definitely not meant I wanted to be around to witness it.
To make things worse, Spud was stoned when he arrived. You could smell it on him before he even got to the table and he looked like shit. He'd knocked into a least two people walking across the bar and had almost spilt one guy's drink. He sat down at the table, giggling.
“Did you drive in that state?” asked Eric.
“Yeah, it's cool. I'm fine.”
Eric rolled his eyes at Jack.
Jack didn't say a word. He got up and went to the bar.
“Seriously, Spud. You crash your car or get busted and how are you going to get your drum kit to gigs? You have to have some sense.”
Spud giggled.
“Why you drinking that?” Spud gesticulated at the beers we’d bought. “We need shots, that's what we need.”
Again, Jack ignored him. Spud pulled a fifty out his pocket and handed it to me.
“Get us a round of shots, will ya, love.”
I looked helplessly at Jack and Eric. I wanted to tell Spud he could go fuck himself. That I didn't exist just to run to the bar for him, but he'd never make it to the bar and back without slopping the drinks over someone, which would lead to a scene.
“Fine.”
When I got back, the chicks from the other table had joined us. Well, they'd joined Spud, laughing and joking with him. They tried to get Jack involved in their conversation too, one of them kept leaning over to talk to him, rubbing her tits against his arm.
I gave Eric “the look”, the one that said “how did this happen?” but he shrugged.
The girl shrieked with laughter that hurt my ears, and then moved in closer to Jack.
I plonked the shooters down on the table. The girls grabbed them, taking one each and handing the other two to Jack and Spud. That was just freaken rude. I didn't want a shooter but I'd gone to the bar to get them. You can't just take someone else's shot. That was against all the rules of decent behaviour.
&nbs
p; The four of them banged their glasses on the table.
“Hey Angie,” called Spud. “Can you get us another round?”
“Yeah, around your arsehole, Spud.” I didn't even know what I meant myself but it sounded insulting.
Eric grabbed my arm and guided me inside. I was not getting that round of shots for Spud. I was tempted to push him off the balcony. But Eric didn't want me to go to the bar.
“Let's hang out in here for a while,” he said. “It might be nicer than dealing with Spud.”
I nodded. The inside was much nicer, with lovely couches tucked away in private corners. Much better than Skankland out there. But, on the other hand, sitting close together on a private couch with Eric could prove to be my undoing, especially if I had a few more drinks.
As you’d expect from a bar like that, they had some hipster ukulele music playing on the stereo.
“Strange choice of bar,” I said to Eric. “Are you a closet hipster?”
He grinned.
“You saw through my disguise? No, actually I had to drop some stuff for a project at an office near here and the manager gave me a drink card for this place. So, order anything you like. Fancy cider? Cocktail? It’s on me.”
After a couple of drinks, I forgot about the whole Jack and Spud deal going on outside. I forgot about everything except for our corner of the bar and Eric's brown eyes, so deep I could drown in them.
It was as if he just got me. He didn’t roll his eyes and look at me when I said stupid things but nodded as if he understood.
Then he started telling me about his mother.
“I think I need to go outside for cigarette,” I said. I didn't want to even think about his mother.
He followed me outside. We squeezed onto the bench beside Jack. He raised an eyebrow when he saw us but Spud had his tongue down the girl's throat and didn’t notice a thing.
“Get a room, why don't you?” I said but at least she'd shut up.
I lit up my cigarette.
Jack looked a bit bleary eyed. I could understand why. I was feeling a bit bleary myself. Everything felt fine. I leaned against Eric.
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