A Beautiful Forever (6 page)

As we file inside and head towards a table, everyone waves
at the blonde behind the bar that I saw with Elliot earlier. Her smile isn’t
quite as bright when it lands on me, so I nod and smile kindly at her, not
wanting to ruffle any feathers.

Elliot pulls out my chair for me, and I look at him with
raised eyebrows. “Seriously Elliot?” I ask.

 He shakes his head and laughs, “I’m sorry. I was simply
using the manners that my mother taught me.”

“Well then, tell your mother I said thank you,” I say as I
take the seat he offers.

“I will,” he says before turning to the guys to discuss our
all-important drink choices and who is shouting the first round.

“Alright,” Brian says, “I’ll go first round. Paige, what are
you drinking?”

“Oh just a coke for me please.”

“You sure you don’t want something a little stronger?”

“No thanks,” I laugh. “Coke’s fine.”

“Alright, Petra – what are you having?” he asks moving his
way around the table until he has everybody’s choice. Elliot gets up to go and
help him while I stay and chat to the others while we decide what we want to
eat off the pub menu.

During dinner, I get quizzed further about where I’m from
and what I’m doing in London. I try to be as vague as possible, but it’s hard
to do that and not seem rude, so I deflect by asking lots of questions of my
own.

“I like that accent thing you can do,” Petra says. “I always
thought that if you’re from Australia your accent is just Australian. Where did
you grow up?”

“Oh around Sydney. Are you from Melbourne city or did you
grow up in one of the surrounding suburbs?”

“I’m from Templestowe actually. It's about twenty kilometres
out of Melbourne city.”

“Did you always live there or move around a bit?” I
continue.

“I’ve been in the same place all my life; that's why I came
to London – I need a little adventure in my life,” she smiles.

“Where are you staying Paige?” Brian asks from next to
Petra.

“A hotel near the airport,” I reply.

“That’s a bit of a hike from here,” he comments. "I'll
drive you back after this - don't catch the tube on your own."

“You don't have to do that, I'll be fine.”

“He insists and I'll come for the drive too - it's no
trouble. So where will you be living after that?” Petra asks me.

“I don’t know yet. I still have to find a place. I’ll start
looking around here tomorrow, there has to be a share house needing someone
somewhere.”

“Well you should come and stay with us,” Brian suggests,
“Petra is going home in a week so her bed will be free.”

“Yeah that’s a great idea,” Petra adds. “It needs to be
another girl because we share rooms – that’s why the rent is so low.” She
stands up from her seat and cups her hands around her mouth. “Hey Nomes! Paige
is gonna be your new roomie!” she calls out. Naomi lifts her head as she’s
pulling a beer and makes an O shape with her mouth. Brian and Petra give her
the thumbs up, not paying any attention to whether she’s happy about the idea
or not. 

“There you go,” Brain says beaming at me. “It’s settled –
you’ll come and stay with us.”

“Really? Well... I guess that could work out, considering my
job is so close… alright then, I think I’ll have to take you up on that,” I say
feeling pleased. A full-time job and a place to live sorted in one day – my
luck is good right now; I should buy a lottery ticket!

“Did I just hear that right? You’re moving in?” Elliot asks.

“Yeah, in a week – is that cool with you?” I reply.

“Of course it is! Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know… it’s pretty great for me though – five
minutes from work.” I hold my fingers up in his face for added emphasis. “How
awesome is that!”

He laughs, nodding his head in agreement, “That is awesome.”

I’m kind of feeling a little like a stalker, as I’ve started
waiting for Paige after work most nights. It’s not like I’m hovering for hours
outside the salon being creepy – it's just that my train gets in maybe ten
minutes before she finishes work so I wait for a little bit and say hi before
she heads back to Heathrow. I figure when she's staying at the flat as well
then we can walk home together. I just makes sense to me, why wouldn’t I wait
ten minutes for a friend?

“Oh look, lover boy is outside waiting for you,” Andrea
teases as she reconciles the receipts from the till and counts up the day’s
takings.

I look up from the pile of stray hairs I'm sweeping up and
look outside to spot Elliot, trying not to let my mouth grin as much as it
wants to. I have to admit it’s nice that he’s always out there, waiting to have
a five-minute conversation with me every day. Andrea enjoys it too; she
practically molests him with her eyes every time.

“If I wasn’t stepping on your toes, I would so be chasing
after that boy. He is all kinds of delicious.”

“I assure you Andrea; my toes will not be squashed. Go for
it,” I tell her flatly as I focus on attacking a stubborn piece of hair that
won’t move out of the grout in the tiles.

When I look up, she’s watching me with her eyebrows arched
high on her forehead, “That broom and I both know you’re into him Paige, you’re
only trying to convince yourself.”

Choosing to ignore her comment, I finish sweeping and
deposit the small pile in the bin before I move over to wash out the basins.

“You can go home now Paige. He's waited long enough,” Andrea
says winking at me as she walks the bundled-up  cash to the back room to put
into the safe.

I roll my eyes and laugh at her, “I’ll see you tomorrow
then,” I call out.

I hear her make some sort of agreeable noise and collect my
bag and coat from the cupboard in the front counter before heading out the
door.

“Hi Elliot,” I say as I exit the salon and walk towards him.
A smile creeps over his face as he sees me, and I inwardly shake my head. I
don’t believe for a second that he isn’t interested in me.

“Hi, listen – We are having a get together tomorrow night to
farewell Petra, and since you’re the new house mate, everyone wanted me to
invite you along.”

“Oh, ok – where is it?” I say, stopping a good metre away
from him.

“Not sure, it’s dinner at a restaurant, and then they want
to go dancing afterwards. You can come with all of us. I’ll walk with you to
the flat after work if you like,” he offers.

“Alright, tell everyone I’ll see them then. Bye Elliot,” I
say as I back away from him heading off to station entrance. I look around as I
go through the gates, not really meaning to, but I can feel him watching me. A
small smile curls up the side of my mouth as I shake my head to myself. I’m
going to have to watch out for this one.

So here I am, in my stalker position again, waiting for
Paige so we can go out with everyone for Petra’s farewell. It’s not that I’m
glad that Petra is leaving. I'm just happy because it means Paige is coming to
stay in the flat. Having her living across the hall from me is going to make it
a hell of a lot easier to get to know her than seeing her for five minutes a
few times a week is.

She walks out of the salon a little later than normal, but
she’s changed into a long-sleeve wrap around dress and a pair of heels. Her
hair is straight and shiny and she only wears a tiny amount of makeup which I
really like. I'm not a fan of women with big black lines around their eyes and
thick lipstick. It just looks fake to me – like they’re trying too hard or
hiding themselves. I like it when they look like they’re supposed to.

Stopping in front of me, she puts her hands on her hips,
“Wow, you look gorgeous,” I say, actually no, I’m an idiot – I just gushed
about how gorgeous she is.

She raises her eyebrows, “You need to stop looking at me
like that.”

“Like what?” I ask holding my hands up, feigning innocence.

“Like you want to eat me,” she deadpans.

“What? You look gorgeous; I paid you a compliment.”

“Elliot, number one, I have a mirror, when my hair isn’t
done, I look like a demented witch. When it is done, I still look like a witch
– it’s the eyes. Number two, me moving in isn’t going to change anything here –
you’re not going to find yourself in me Elliot Roberts.”

I start laughing, for some reason that kind of sounded dirty
to me. “Number One, you’re gorgeous and you know it, so don’t put yourself
down, and number two, I like you Paige Larsen, deal with it.”

She stands there looking at me, “I’m not starting anything
with you.”

“I can like you and not fuck you Paige – last I checked that
was called being friends,” I’m not normally this blunt, but it seems the best
way to communicate with her.

Regarding me thoughtfully for a moment, she nods her head.
“As long as we both know where we stand,” she says.

“You have made yourself loud and clear Paige, and just for
the record, just because a guy is being nice to you, doesn’t always mean his
trying to get inside your pants.”

“That’s not my experience,” she says before hooking her bag
over her shoulder and walking toward the exit. I follow along, quickly catching
up to walk next to her. I make sure to keep my distance, not wanting to give
her the wrong impression.

Although, who am I kidding, she has the exact right
impression.

Dinner is at some Indian restaurant. The food is superb, and
it gives me a good opportunity to get to know some of the other house mates –
especially Naomi, who I’m to share a room with.

I pay as much attention to her as I can, asking lots of
questions about her life and complimenting her at every opportunity, I don’t
want her to see me as someone who is vying for Elliot’s attention. I want us to
get along.

“So what made you become a hairdresser?” she asks.

“I just kind of fell into it. Do you know how hard it is to
actually create your hair colour?” I ask her, steering the conversation so
we’re focusing on her and not me.

“Really?” she says, “I’ve never done anything with it. I was
actually thinking of becoming a red head, you know that nice auburn colour?”

“Oh no, don’t do that your hair is amazing,” I tell her. She
has light, natural blonde hair, a little longer than her shoulders. It’s
streaked with different shades of red, brown and caramel. We try to recreate
that natural blonde look for women every day, but it never looks as good as the
real thing, I explain this to her. I can see her exhibiting a new appreciation
of her god given colouring – and I think I’ve just made myself a friend.

“You do that a lot, don’t you?” Elliot asks quietly at my
side.

“Do what?” I question him, not understanding what he means.

“Deflect.”

Shifting uncomfortably, I meet his eyes, “I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”

He leans forward on the table and speaks in a low voice that
only I can hear, “Sure you do – someone asks you a question, and you give them
a cryptic answer that leads to a question about them. You missed your calling
as politician or a journalist maybe. It’s an impressive skill.”

“Hmmm,” I don’t have anything else to say, so I just smile
and wink at him (I have no idea why I winked. It just seemed like the thing to
do in that moment) before I turn away and begin a new conversation with Shane
and Petra, who are seated on my other side.

When dinner is over, I try to beg off so I can go back to my
hotel but the others won’t hear of it, “You can’t go home now,” Naomi says,
“the fun part hasn’t even happened yet! You can stay with us on the couch
tonight if you’re worried about going back to your hotel alone. You’re moving
in tomorrow afternoon anyway.”

“Thanks Naomi, but I still have to go back there to pack my
things and be out by ten in the morning.”

“No problem, we’ll get Shane to drive you out there and
collect your things – he won’t mind,” she insists.

“Naomi, it’s…” I watch as she rushes over to Shane and asks
if he can help me out in the morning. They both give me a thumbs up and nod
their heads, letting me know everything has been sorted.

Elliot moves in next to me, “Gee, you’d think she’d know you
well enough to let you make your own choices, especially after you shared so
much about yourself earlier,” he comments, the sarcasm practically dripping off
his words.

“What, and you know me so much better?” I say in retort.

He shakes his head, “No, I don’t know anything about you.”
He walks backwards, watching me for a few steps, before turning around and
catching up to the other guys as we walk towards the night club.

Petra and Naomi fall in either side of me, “You are going to
love this place Paige,” Petra gushes. “There’s always great music and tons of
people, we go and get drunk and then dance until we can’t walk anymore.”

“Sounds great,” I laugh.

“It’s better than great,” Naomi points out. “We booked a
table on the mezzanine level, tonight is going to be epic, and since you don’t
have to worry about going back to your hotel, you get to cut loose with us.”

Sneaking a few glances, I watch Elliot as he interacts with
the other guys – I’m not sure if he’s annoyed with me or just teasing. Either
way, I feel kind of lonely without him next to me – he’s kind of been growing
on me this past week.

It’s almost ten o’clock on a Friday night, and we’re
standing around, not quite lined up, outside a nightclub in the midst of a
bunch of 18-year-old girls shivering their butts off in tiny skirts and way too
much make up. At 27, I’m really starting to feel too old for these places but
Petra is only 20, and she loves the club scene, so her farewell – her choice.

This is supposedly her favourite place. It's called Fabric,
and as she tells it, there are three different rooms where DJs play all night –
it sounds enormous, and really, really loud.