The Boys of Summer (24 page)

“If who finds out what?” Stan said, as he and
Toby walked through the poolroom door.

My heart leapt at the sight of them. I hadn’t
even heard the door open. Stan was in his usual good humour, but
Toby looked between Sean and me in guarded silence.

It made me uneasy; aside from the small
exchange this afternoon over the beer nuts, we hadn’t spoken at all
since the ranges. Now there was not so much as a hello; he didn’t
say it, so I didn’t say it.

Since Sean had been alone in the bar, I’d
figured Toby must have had better things to do tonight. But here he
was, flicking his wallet out of his back pocket and ordering a
beer, looking better than ever. Tonight he’d opted for jeans and a
Pink Floyd T-shirt under an open black and white checked shirt; his
hair was still damp from the shower and glistening from a little
carefree product application. It probably took him only seconds to
arrange it into its gorgeously disheveled state. It was sexy. He
walked behind me to settle on a stool, and the fragrance of his
aftershave made me want to press closer, but I had to control
myself. Even if I did want to squeal and jump up and down clapping
like a wind-up monkey with brass symbols for hands.

“Oh nothing, just some trouble in paradise.”
Sean winked and gave me a wicked smile.

It was nice that he found it all so amusing,
but I’d been serious about my dad not being happy. I didn’t even
dare let on that I was spending most of my days with a group of men
(though young ones). There was no way he or Mum would approve.

I shrugged and gathered the last of the empty
pots and pints on my way to the kitchen.

“It’s your funeral.”

I gave Toby a wide berth as I headed back to
the kitchen. Though I was over the moon to see him, I didn’t want
him to think that he was in any way obligated to take me home after
work. This spur-of-the-moment bet was starting to seriously
backfire, and I wished that I’d never made it, or at best that I’d
let him win. I would have made him his damn pies and that would
have been the end of it. Maybe now he’d be greeting me with a smile
instead of this weird silence. I may not have acknowledged him, but
it’s not like he acknowledged me. Ha!

Geez. And I was critical of Ellie’s mind
games. Could it be that I was playing my own? Either way, I’d told
myself on the way back up Coronary Hill this afternoon that the
next time I saw Toby Morrison I would play it cool, and that was
exactly what I’d done. I just didn’t expect him to do it, too, and
so well.

Tonight Onslow hosted its famous annual
Summer Show.

There were food stalls that sold hotdogs,
fairy floss, kebabs and Danish pancakes; there were craft stalls
with handmade jewelry, tie-dye clothing and knitted blankets and
toys that smelt like lavender and old ladies. Come midnight,
fireworks filled the night sky, casting a glorious reflection over
Lake Onslow.

Everyone in Onslow and the surrounding
regions flocked to these events. It broke the monotony of daily
life in these sleepy towns, and got everyone together. For me, it
had mostly been worth going because every year I had been
guaranteed to spot Toby.

This year, I’d hoped it would be different,
that I wouldn’t be mooning over Toby from a distance.

Ellie and I didn’t even manage to break out a
sweat in the evening shift, only a handful of meals for the
regulars and a few touristy blow-ins for drinks. Yet with so little
to do, I hadn’t even noticed the bar empty out. Without even a
goodbye, the Onslow Boys were gone. So much for me not caring.
Chris didn’t seem to care about missing out on the show. I suppose
he wasn’t exactly a show bag kind of guy. Still, I would have
thought he would at least want to hang out with his friends.

I did my best not to openly whine about my
reluctance to be at work. I didn’t want to be that girl, but being
next to Ellie’s increasingly enthusiastic nature (it seemed things
were back on track and she’d made amends when I slipped out between
shifts) tended to drag me down further. I delivered a meal to a
couple enjoying the sunset on an outside table. My heart ached as I
could hear the distant beat of music, laughter and screams from the
show. It taunted me. I had never missed a Summer Show. Ever. Sadly,
there was a first time for everything.

I had just hoped it wouldn’t have been this
summer. So far, my holidays had wildly exceeded all my low, low
expectations, not to mention confused me more than ever. And now I
was angry, angry at being stuck here, angry at Ellie’s happiness,
at Toby for the effect he had on me.

I would be stuck working until midnight,
probably witnessing the fireworks on the front porch of the Onslow
(if I was lucky), in my smoke-infused work clothes. Ellie was
miffed about it, too, but was pacified by checking her mobile every
possible chance behind the staff room door. She would smile and
giggle and sigh with every incoming message. Stan.

Ellie would no doubt meet up with him after
work, he would come and pick her up, and hopefully offer to take me
home so I could go to bed and dream about the things that were a
joke to think I could have.

By eleven I was wiping down the last of the
kitchen benches; I wasn’t able to hear the distant screams from the
show, which I was happy about. I was about to throw myself in the
fires of hell when I took it upon myself to grab a bucket and dust
pan and clean out the open fireplace in the front bar. I moved the
fireguard and was about to get on all fours when a voice startled
me.

“We have a cleaner that does that.”

Chris leaned against the bar, his arms
crossed, gaze transfixed on the mute TV. Was he watching
Grease
?

“Well I wish you had’ve told me that when I
was scrubbing the kitchen floor.”

Chris shrugged. “She’s no spring chicken, you
did her a favour.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think this fireplace has
been cleaned out since 1974.”

“You can do it if you want, I just thought
you’d have preferred to head down to the show.”

I froze mid-sweep, studying his emotionless
face as he watched Olivia Newton John sing ‘Hopelessly devoted to
you’.

“Oh, um, does that mean that …”

He sighed. “Knock off, Tess, it’s dead
tonight. Go and enjoy yourself.”

“Ellie, too?” I all but squealed.

“Do you honestly think I could stop her?
Go!”

I returned the fireguard quick smart,
doubling back to the kitchen to dump the cleaning supplies. Ellie
was sitting on the kitchen bench with her mobile when I burst
through the door.

“Think you can get us a lift?”

My mood had lifted (as any person’s would for
early release on their sentence for good behaviour).

The show turnout was huge, bigger than last
year. I had felt the giddiness of what it was like to go to the
show, but this year it wasn’t for show bags, water fights, or
rides. This year I just wanted to hang out with fun people. The
very people we now pulled up next to. Stan parked next to a huge
convoy of utes and cars lined up along the edge of trees opposite
the main strip. It looked like a Show and Shine inspection except
the cars weren’t anything special and just had a bunch of people
hanging out, like they did every year. I remembered always looking
over at the older crowd that lurked along this strip and thinking,
wow! They were out of school, had jobs, drove cars and were
so
cool
. Now here I was, climbing out of Stan’s Hilux, about to
infiltrate the gang.

“Well, look who finally made it.” Sean was
perched on the edge of a ute; everyone turned to witness our
arrival. A sea of inquisitive eyes rested on us, but there were two
sets in particular that made me wish I had been dropped off at home
instead.

Toby’s unreadable gaze and Angela’s murderous
one.

Angela was wrapped around Toby like one of
those anacondas you see on the Discovery Channel. Seriously, she
was going to give him a neck injury. I had to pretend like they
weren’t there, that I had no interest in their presence. Yeah, that
would be best.

I, the third wheel, broke away from Ellie and
Stan who had managed to not unlink their hands since exiting the
car. I made my way over to prop myself next to Sean on the ute
tray, the only friendly face I knew.

“How was work?” He nudged me with his
shoulder.

“Dull and long.”

“You missed me that much?” Sean grinned.

Rolling my eyes, I said, “So what have all
the cool kids been up to?”

“Oh, you know, leaning on cars trying to look
cool. It’s exhausting.”

“I think the problem is that you’re just not
doing the lean right?”

He curved his brow at me. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, you have to give it more elbow action,
perhaps the odd bobbing of the head to an imaginary beat.”

“Like this?” He propped his elbow on the edge
of the ute for the cool casual lean and then bobbed his head in an
over-the-top fashion that made me giggle.

I grimaced. “You look like you have a nervous
tic.”

“Ha! A
cool
nervous tic.” Our laughter
broke off at the slamming of a car door. Toby’s car door.

“Are we going to the Point?” Toby seemed
impatient when he spoke. Snappy. Sean jumped off the tray and
stretched, revealing a flash of muscled stomach in the dark.

“Okey dokey.” Sean groaned mid-stretch.

“Did you just say okey dokey? Is that the
lingo for yesterday’s generation?” I teased.

“Yesterday’s? Youch! So what should I be
saying? ‘Like, whatever dude!’” He drew it out like an American
surfer boy.

“Now you just sound like a Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtle.” I shook my head, my legs swinging from the tray. The
engine to Toby’s ute roared to life as he revved the accelerator an
impatient two, three times.

“Any day now, Murph.” Toby adjusted his
mirror in agitation. Angela was busying herself by looking in the
reflection of her side mirror, pouting and fixing her lip balm.

Sean turned to me, offering me a hand off the
edge of the tray. “We’re all heading up to the Point to watch the
fireworks, you wanna come?”

Stan broke away from nuzzling Ellie’s neck.
“Best seats in the house.”

“Okay, cool.”

We all piled into Stan’s car, Sean in the
front passenger seat, Ellie and I in the back. Half a dozen other
cars followed as we left the Show behind and made our way out of
Onslow, over McLean’s Bridge and up into the Perry Ranges. Toby’s
car was directly behind ours and the last in the long line weaving
up the hills. Our windows wound down, the hot summer night whipped
through our hair. Stan navigated the turns like a rally driver, and
I tried not to think of the increasing drop on my left as we
climbed higher and higher. Instead, I kept turning to see if Toby’s
headlights were visible; his car was close enough behind us for me
to see their silhouettes but not close enough to make out faces. No
doubt Angela was burning a hole in the back of my head.

It was then I saw the flicker of Toby’s
indicator. He turned into a side track, marked by a sign I couldn’t
make out.

“Oooh, looks like someone has their own
fireworks in mind,” laughed Sean, looking in his side mirror.

“Where are they going? Should we wait?”

Stan peered into the review mirror. “They’re
heading to the Falls.”

My stomach plummeted. Everyone knew about the
Falls. There was only one reason anyone went to the Falls of a
night time, and it wasn’t to see the impressive waterfall that
flowed into a series of natural pools. It was a parking hot spot.
If you wanted to socialise, make out, watch fireworks, you went to
the Point. If you wanted privacy, you went to the Falls.

“I doubt they will be gracing us with their
presence this evening,” Sean half laughed.

“No wonder Toby seemed so toey,” added
Stan.

I stopped looking back; instead, I focused on
the back of Sean’s seat.

That was that, then. I convinced myself that
it should be a relief. I didn’t have to waste my time with romantic
fantasies, by analysing every look Toby gave me, every touch. That
was that. The last nail in the coffin. Absolute closure.

Ellie reached for my hand in the darkness and
gave it a squeeze of silent support. It was then I felt the ache in
my heart, the churning of my stomach. I breathed deeply to control
the emotion that threatened to well. If this was a good thing, then
why did it hurt so bad?

The fireworks were spectacular, something to
truly behold and remember for all of our lives.

Or that’s what I guessed, since I hadn’t paid
any attention or cared in the slightest. The rest of the evening
went by in a blur of self-pity. I should have gotten Stan to take
me home straight after work, but no, that would have delayed the
inevitable, no matter how much it hurt. I guess I needed to see it.
See Toby’s indicator flash through the darkness and his ute peel
away.

After the fireworks display, and what felt
like an agonisingly long time of forced socialising, me, Ellie and
Stan mercifully wound back down the hill again. Sean decided to
stay on at the Point because apparently the night was young. He had
tried to convince me to stay but all I wanted to do was take my
sorry self home and fall into a coma for the rest of the summer.
Stan’s phone had beeped with a message while he drove but he
couldn’t look because it was in his back pocket. We pulled up at my
house, and I said my goodbyes and dragged myself up the garden
path. I was at the front door when Stan yelled out to me.

“Tess, wait!” He was frowning at his mobile
screen. I was about to shush him when he held his phone out to me
and said, “This is for you, it’s from Toby.”

I dropped my bag and practically tripped over
my own feet as I quickstepped back to the car, suddenly not giving
a damn if Stan woke the entire neighborhood. I grasped the car
windowsill and tried not to look desperate, but I wasn’t pulling it
off too well.