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‘Of course! I’ll be right here, have fun!’ Was she starting to sound like everyone’s mother?
Brody knelt down next to Elle and put his arm around Helen’s shoulder. ‘I was actually hoping you’d take a little walk with me? There’s such a cool view just past the main stage.’ Brody looked right at Helen. ‘You can trust me, remember?’
It was like the record of her life had just skipped back several tracks and she was swimming in the past. Here she was, alone with Brody, him wanting to take her to some viewpoint, were they about to kiss again? Helen pulled herself up slightly unsteadily onto her feet and linked arms with Brody. Isn’t this exactly what she wanted to happen?
She saw Elle and Alice in this distance slipping behind the black curtain at the back of the stage. They were already holding hands like BFFs. Brody led Helen down past the main stage and around the bend in the cliff. The moonlight was dancing off the shingles on the path, and grew ever brighter, as they walked out towards the sea. Helen looked down at the inky water beneath them on the cliff path; the dull roar of the ocean rippled through her, and she pulled Brody’s jumper closer around her. Perhaps this would help her to sober up.
‘So you haven’t told me much about the life of Helen since we last met?’
‘Well there’s not much to tell …’
‘Does that mean there’s so much to tell?’
‘Kind of … well my nan got quite unwell …’
‘Your nan …’ Brody paused. ‘I remember, Nanny B?’
‘G … but she’s fine now …’
‘I’m happy to hear that, it must have been stressful for you …’ Brody sounded like someone she’d met at a party for five minutes who was trying hard to empathise with her, but couldn’t quite conjure up the real emotions. They just hadn’t known each other long enough, something wasn’t connecting.
‘Anyway work is okay, I’ve got some good new ideas for the business …’
‘Happy to hear you’re not putting yourself down about that anymore.’ Brody offered her a small high five. Helen reciprocated.
‘And that’s about it …’
‘Sounds like there’s some pieces to the story missing there?’
‘Maybe …’
‘Maybe I just have to spend some time getting to know you better again …?’ Brody’s hands were around her waist, circling downwards. She felt a tingle running through her body, almost paralysed by just how much she wanted him.
‘Maybe …’ Helen murmured as Brody pulled her in to kiss her. As she shut her eyes her head swam, and her body felt limp. She really had drunk too much. Brody pulled away.
‘Not feeling too good?’ He held her by the shoulders now and looked into her eyes. Helen pulled her head up to make eye contact with him.
‘This is so embarrassing …’
‘Woah, not embarrassing at all!’ Brody’s eyes were filled with warmth, his hands still rested on her shoulders. ‘You don’t know Alice all that well yet, but her drinks are lethal!’
The word ‘yet’ reverberated happily around Helen’s head.
‘Look, would you like something to help you sober up?’ Brody pulled his pendant up from around his neck and unscrewed the lid. Inside was a little spade covered in crisp white powder.
‘Oh no, I’m fine …’ Helen broke away from his hands. Her mind trying to pull itself into focus, like she’d just stepped off a merry-go-round.
Brody turned towards shore so he wasn’t facing the wind. ‘I don’t do it much, but sometimes it’s pretty fun.’ He cupped his hand to his face and snorted the powder. ‘I also have …’ He patted down his coat pocket. ‘… this, if it’s more your style?’ He produced a tiny plastic bag with what Helen would have (wrongly) identified as having brown cane sugar in it.
‘No, I’m good thank you …’ Helen felt her arms folding across her body.
She couldn’t believe that Brody actually did drugs. Perhaps she shouldn’t be so square? Lots of people took drugs and they were at a festival and he did have cool friends who were in bands. ‘And this is exactly why you never hung out with the cool kids’, a voice at the back of Helen’s mind hissed.
Was this a ‘deal breaker’?
Could she date someone with such a different lifestyle? He seemed normal, he didn’t look like that guy in the crowd with the glassy eyes.
A gust of wind came strongly off the ocean, and it hit her. ‘I just don’t know him yet …’
