Selling the Drama (21 page)

"My qualifications mean I can be a
detective. I'm a highly sought after applicant," he replied in a
superior tone, an expression on his face to match. "You won't be
able to call me about fixing up your parking or speeding fines,
that will be way below me, my friend."

"I don't have a car," Charlotte replied
dryly. "I won't need to call you."

"You may need to call me when you want the
scoop for all the criminal cases. Having a detective in your pocket
as a journalist could be a very useful thing. I would probably keep
in good with me if I were you."

"Fucking hell, he's corrupt already,"
announced Toby. "I hope you have an offshore account Ellie." He
sent Ellie a wink as Jake flipped him his middle finger.

"You lot are just a bunch of arseholes, you
know that, right?" Jake grinned as he threw back the last of his
drink. "Just wait until your kids want a ride in a police car. Then
you'll be all jokes aside, knowing who to call."

Toby laughed outright. "If anyone's kids are
having a ride in a police car, then I think it might be me they'd
be calling, not you!"

"Yeah, yeah, shut up. How about we focus on
the ambulance chaser in our midst instead for a while. Leave the
guy with the noble career alone."

"I don't need to chase ambulances. I just
listen to police scanners instead and make friends with corrupt
cops with the intent of exposing them after I've milked them for
all that they're worth." Charlotte winked at Jake with smile before
turning to Toby. "Drink run?"

Nodding, Toby indicated Ellie's glass, still
half filled with drink. "You too?"

"Thanks." Ellie looked at Jake meaningfully.
"Go with him."

Rolling his eyes, he got to his feet and
followed Toby. Charlotte smirked at his retreating figure. "You are
so bossy," she remarked to Ellie.

Ellie laughed, her eyes sparkling merrily.
"He loves it. So, no more scarves now?" Ellie slid her gaze to
Charlotte's neck, now devoid of the ugly scar they had all grown so
used to seeing.

Charlotte beamed, her happiness at being rid
of it uncontained. "I don't think I'll ever wear another scarf
again. I can't believe how good it looks. There's almost nothing
there."

Ellie peered at it closely. "I can't see
anything at all. It's brilliant. Lucky you have such a rich
boyfriend." A touch of sarcasm lilted her tone.

Charlotte ignored the dig. "He probably
spent the same amount of money on the surgery than he did on
keeping me in scarves for the last few years."

"Doubt it." Ellie took another sip of her
drink. "What did your mum say when she saw it?"

Charlotte snorted with disgust, shaking her
head. "Nothing, because I highly doubt she even noticed."

"I suppose she was distracted with the whole
mess of your dad leaving." Ellie cast Charlotte a sympathetic look.
"That's a pretty big blow to a person."

"Yeah, that was it. I'm sure she would have
noticed otherwise. Because she's so observant normally." Charlotte
shrugged and forced a smile at Ellie. "It doesn't matter Ellie. I
don't care about her opinion anyway. She's never seen the scar in
the same way that I did. She never considered it as a big deal. If
she ever does notice that it's gone, she'll probably just tell Toby
he wasted his money."

Charlotte looked over at the bar to see Toby
and Jake just putting their drink orders in after having to wait
for the crowd to thin out. She blinked rapidly, overcome with a
weepiness that she was not usually given to. In the past, Charlotte
had never been overly bothered by her mother's disinterest. She
understood that when someone else was around to pick up the slack,
to a certain degree, it was easy to miss the shortcomings of
another. In the absence of her father though, the equilibrium
within her family was gone. Her mother, in all her disinterested
glory, was it, from here on in, and the realisation of this was
akin to pouring salt into an already gaping wound. Ellie tapped her
on the arm and Charlotte turned to her, breaking her gaze from
Toby's back.

"Jake asked me to marry him." Her face was
glowing, her joy at this disclosure spilling out and spreading to
Charlotte, who knew just how much Ellie had been waiting for this.
Ellie had an order set out for her life: finish school, get a job,
get married, have kids. Jake was on the cusp of getting a job, so
as far as Ellie was concerned, it was onto the next stage for
them.

"Ellie! When?" Charlotte beamed at her, so
thrilled for her best friend, genuinely happy at this news. It was
a welcome reprieve from the depressive feeling her father's
disappearance had left her with.

"This morning. He hid the ring under my
toast and then dropped to his knee when I found it. I cried." Tears
were shining in her eyes right now, despite her ear splitting
grin.

Charlotte laughed as she took a hold of both
of Ellie's hands. "Of course you cried! I'm nearly crying and I
wasn't even there! Where is the ring?"

"In my bag. I just wanted to tell you before
you saw me with it on and guessed."

Charlotte released Ellie's hands. "Get it
out! Put it on! And hurry up because I'm excited now." They both
laughed as Ellie rummaged through her bag. Toby and Jake returned
to the table then, drinks in hand.

"What are you looking for, babe?" Jake put
Ellie's drink down in front of her.

"Holy shit! I can't find my ring!" Her face
showed true panic as she glanced up at Jake. He looked like he was
about to choke, his face changing colour, his eyes widening, with
no sound coming out of his open mouth, just this tiny pained croak,
as though he had no voice box at all anymore. Ellie burst out
laughing, holding it up between her fingers. "Just joking!"

Jake gasped as Charlotte and Toby both
erupted into laughter also, Toby laughing so hard he had tears in
his eyes by the time he was done. "Your face, man, I wish I had a
camera."

"That was not funny! I have a debt now
because of that ring!" He turned to Ellie. "Put it on and keep it
on. If you lose it, we forfeit our firstborn. That's how much it
cost." Jake wiped his face on his sleeve; he was actually sweating
he had panicked so much.

Toby hit him on the arm lightly. "Dude, you
need to lighten up. You aren't an old married man yet."

"Maybe not, but I have the debts of one and
that ages you, let me tell you." Jake took a large mouthful of his
drink, his hand still shaking slightly at the thought of his
'investment' disappearing into thin air.

Toby shrugged. Conversations about money
never held any real interest for him. Charlotte glanced up at him
and he caught her eye with a wink, latching on to her hand below
the table. "So, when is the big day?" he asked graciously,
bestowing a wide smile on Ellie while glancing at her ring with
little apparent interest.

Ellie looked at Jake who shrugged. "We
haven't got that far yet. After I graduate from the academy. Ellie
probably needs a good year to plan out all the ways she can spend
our money before we've even earned it."

"Jake!" Ellie gave him a shove. "I need much
longer than that!"

He shook his head and took another large
mouthful of his drink. Charlotte could not help but feel a little
sorry for him, as she had no doubt that Jake knew exactly what kind
of expenses he was in for, along with the awareness that this was
probably just the very beginning of a long life of keeping his
wallet open for Ellie and her whims.

Charlotte reached over for Ellie's hand.
"Give me a proper look now." She turned Ellie's hand toward the
light. She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows at the sight of it,
the diamond glinting large and polished, with its band of smaller
encrusted diamonds glittering just as prettily. Sliding her glance
towards Jake, he caught her eye. Charlotte sent him a look loaded
with meaning, and as he glanced away, returning his attention back
to his drink, she realised just how deep he had actually gotten
himself into debt for this ring. Sadness, born out of an intimate
knowledge of the inner workings of Ellie's family, took hold of
her; they were high on expectations and big on extravagances. Jake
was out of his depth and he had barely just begun.

You can think you know somebody so well,
have a depth of intimacy with them, a shared embodiment that
transcends the ordinary. Yet it's not until you live with them that
you really get to know them. Because until such a time as when
you're together always, each person still has an option of being
able to present their best sides in any given situation. There is
always the option of retreat, regroup, and retry. Under the same
roof as each other, within the same bed, there is no such option
available. The ugly slips out and it sinks in, and sometimes, if
you're unlucky, it takes over.

Toby had a unique ability to be able to
completely switch off from the rest of the world, and all of its
inhabitants, while he was studying. His intense focus and drive was
undeniably an asset to him, a certain way of securing his own
success. Yet it did not make for much fun to live with. Charlotte
was never more keenly attuned to this than when she had finished
her own study, venturing forth into the workforce, keen to dissect
each working day with Toby, only to find she was talking to a
closed door. He had no time to listen, nor the interest to even
make the time. He still had a few months left on his law degree,
and after this, he would need to do a six week long Advocacy Course
for admittance to the Bar while working as a Judges Associate.
There was a lot ahead of him, and Charlotte was not without
understanding about the pressures he was facing. But his complete
lack of interest in her outside of his preferred set times of
allowable interaction was a bitter pill to swallow. And it became
more and more bitter as the year went on, with those windows of
interaction narrowing markedly.

"I want to go on a holiday." Charlotte
looked up from her laptop and over to the table where he was
sitting, head down, books spread out, completely ignoring her. She
waited a few moments before getting up and going over to him.
"Toby, I just spoke to you."

He paused, his head still down, pen mid-air.
"I heard you."

Charlotte stared at the back of his head,
swallowing down a well of anger. She forced a smile to her face
before coming around to sit beside him. "I want us to go on a
holiday. A ski holiday. I can organise everything, and I can make
it for just a week so it doesn't take up the whole of your
September break. What do you think?"

Toby frowned, tossing his pen down. He
reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "Do
we have to talk about this right now?"

"Yes. Because there will never be a time
when you think you have time and I've got the time right now to
book everything. I am not asking your permission, just your
opinion. Do you think it's a good idea?"

"No, I don't." He reached out to pick up his
pen again, but Charlotte stopped him, taking hold of his wrist. His
accompanying sigh grated on her like nothing else.

"Why not?"

"It's only a mid-semester break. Why can't
we do this next year?"

"Because next year you'll be working while
doing those other courses and I know you'll say you have no time
then. In fact, I know that within three months from now, you'll
start working and you won't stop. This is our last opportunity and
I want to take advantage of it."

In response to any suggestion that was not
to his liking, Toby usually had one of two standard reactions. He
would either become obsessively interested in changing your mind,
or he would become obsessively obnoxious until you changed it for
yourself. With Toby, everything was either very black or very
white; shades of grey did not ever factor, and more's the pity for
you if you decided to knuckle down and argue for the
in-between.

He stared at Charlotte right now, and she
could tell, without even waiting for him to open his mouth, that he
was going to go with the changing her mind route this time.
Charlotte smiled at him. Well, so was she.

"One week, in the middle, so we have a
weekend." She stood then, pushing the chair back into place before
backing away.

"Go with Ellie."

She turned away from him. "I want to go with
you."

"Charlotte, do not book that holiday. I'm
not joking." His tone of voice indicated he was indeed not joking
around with her.

She picked up her laptop from the coffee
table and looked down at the screen, taking in the images of the
ski fields and descriptions of what was on offer. Looking back up
at him, she flipped the computer around to show him the screen.
"It's not even very expensive."

He put his hands on his head, running them
through his hair with frustration. "It's not about that and you
know it. Charlotte, we can go on a holiday next year. I promise. I
really, truly, promise you. We can go for longer than a week and we
can even take Ellie and Jake with us. It will be great. My courses
will be done by the middle of next year. It's a much better
option." He checked his watch, ever conscious of the time pressing
on.

Charlotte snapped the top of the laptop
shut. "Forget it."

He groaned then and she walked past him,
ignoring him completely.

"Don't sulk." Toby shook his head, annoyance
written all over his face. "Seriously? As if I was ever going to
agree!"

Charlotte slammed the bedroom door shut. She
knew he would not follow her in though, because he had work to do,
and the clock was forever ticking.

Toby arrived home in the late afternoon on
the last day of winter to find Charlotte already there, asleep in
bed, at four thirty in the afternoon. Checking up on her, he took
in the balled up tissues and blotchy state of her face, and figured
she must have caught a cold. The fact that he had not noticed she
was even feeling unwell prior to this moment was not lost on him.
He ran his fingers over her hair lightly, feeling like an
incredible shit for being so oblivious. Dumping his bag in the
corner, he left it as is, deciding to take the rest of the
afternoon and night off from study in favour of looking after his
girl. At least he was organised with his schedule. He would hardly
suffer from a few hours off. And if she was really sick, she'd
likely go to bed early and he could make up some ground then.