“Where you going?” I ask Snatch, who’s ducking out with his wife, Laura.
“Need a piss. Sorry, mate,” he says.
“Together?”
Laura smirks and gives me an apologetic look. Behind her, I see Georgia glaring at Pi. Oh, wait . . . now they’re snogging.
How can Georgia go from almost figuring out this whole shebang to sucking face in the space of ten seconds? And why is it making me feel like this, like . . .
Like I’m the one he’s cheating on?
“Right, pay attention, you bunch of hairy arseholes.” I say into the mic. “New rule: everyone has to stay and listen to my song. Otherwise, I’ll be very sad.”
Some people laugh, others boo.
“Also . . .” I pause for dramatic effect. “As punishment for collectively fucking off to the bogs, I’m going to sing two songs in a row. Yes, that’s right, two.”
Pi smiles, mouths “Thank you” to me. He knows that means I’ll cover his song too.
I wink at him and bring the mic back to my mouth. “So buckle up, you sad fucks. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”
“Jar Of Hearts” has to be one of the funnest tunes to do karaoke to. I’m having such a blast. I don’t need to look at the screen because I know most of the lyrics, and the ones I don’t know I can just fill in with cool sounds or random words. It’s all good. Gadget brings me a pint of lager, and I down it in under six seconds between the last verse and chorus. People cheer for my phenomenal drinking skills, and cheer again when the music ends. Or more likely because it ended.
The next song lines itself up. Pi’s choice. “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn. The 2010 tune is a total bop, and patrons who’d ditched for my first performance filter back into the pub. Everybody sings along. Some folks dance. Abs is twirling Megan, and they’re both shouting the words to each other and clicking their fingers like they’re auditioning forGreeceorWestside Story.
The only people not getting involved are Pi and Georgia. Pi is intensely watching me. His lips move in time to the lyrics and his eyes are smiling. Georgia’s not singing, or smiling, though. She’s fiddling with her pendant and chewing on the inside of her lip as her gaze flicks from me to her boyfriend and back to me again.
Chapter 27
Aiden
Monday 5th April 2027
Georgia perches on the edge of a metal foldaway chair outside a quaint little coffee shop in town. The river runs right beside the cafe, and from the treetops all around, birds serenade us with their chatter. The sun shines directly overhead, leavingthe narrowest crescents of shadows below buildings and trees, and creating the illusion it’s hotter than it actually is. It feels like summer’s nearby, even if the bite of the early April morning is already nipping through my base layer.
Georgia looks shell-shocked. Her skin is paler than usual, her face devoid of any emotion, and her eyes are fixed on the rushing water at the bank’s edge.
I’ve not seen or heard from her in a few weeks, and at first I figured she was just busy with work and her master’s, but she’d continually cancelled our plans to meet up, not returned any of my calls, and the length of time she’d wait before replying to my texts stretched into days instead of hours.
Until yesterday, when she rang me after the Cents’ home game.
“We need to talk,”she said.
I didn’t require any further clarification. I knew what this meant.
The chair legs scrape noisily over the patio slabs as I extract the seat across from Georgia and sit down.
She’s yanked out of her reverie, turns, and smiles at me. Actually smiles. I’m going to miss those.
“Hi,” she says. Her face is puffy, but her eyes aren’t red, like maybe she has a cold, or maybe it’s that she spent the night crying.
“Do you want a hot choccy?” I ask, but a second later a server comes outside with a silver tray bearing two mugs of steaming hot chocolate complete with cream and marshmallows.
“I ordered a while ago and told them to make the drinks when they saw the most Australian looking man they could imagine sitting in the seat opposite me.”
“Fair play.” I wait for the server to disappear back inside the cafe. “So?”
“So,” she says.
