3 Heads & a Tail (17 page)

“
I guess that
'
s a yes then! A
nd how about you
,
young lady?
”
asked David, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

Kay perspired just looking at him.
“
A
Pina Colada
,
mate.
”

The barman served David immediately and the drinks were on the
house. He was drinking whisky, straight; n
o ice. He downed it in one, and ordered another before the barman had even moved.
“
So what did you think?
”
he asked
the girls
,
eager to hear
the
response.

“
Amazing,
”
said Kay, standing with her hands in the pockets of her shorts. David wondered how she could possibly squeeze her hands in there – those shorts looked sprayed on. He wondered how they didn
'
t split. Unlike the guys standing behind,
he
had absol
utely no interest in Kay, even though he
knew
she
liked him. She made it so obvious. But he thought she was kind of plastic looking, and plastic never interested him
for long
.
He preferred a challenge.

He turned to Josie.
“
But what did YOU think?
”

She bit her lip.
They
were
too posey!
They were trying to be Whitesnake
,
but they really didn
'
t know where they were going again and
it was
more like a whimper
in the night!
No, she couldn
'
t say that or he
'
d be crying in the rain
!

“
I thought you played
m
uch better than what I heard that Sunday morning!
”
she replied, honestly.

“
Cool,
”
said David.
“
What was yo
ur favourite song? Was it
'
The Girls Like a Big B
anger
'
? Women
always go wild for that
one
.
”

Josie blinked. H
e
was being
deadly
serious.
“
I
'
m not sure
really
. It
'
s definitely a good song, but I
'
m not sure. I
'
d have to hear the songs more to decide.
”

“
N
o problem,
”
said David, whipping something out of his jacket pocket,
with
which he had thankfully covered his naked torso before talking
to them.
“
I have some CDs.
I
'
ll sign
one
for you.
I know you
'
ll love it.
”

Josie tried not to laugh as he signed t
he CD and gave it to her.
“
And
one for you,
”
he added
to
Kay.

“
Oo
h thanks,
”
Kay
cooed, her eyes glazing over.

“
So who
'
s the lovely lady in hot
pants?
”
asked a deep voice.

“
I
'
m Kay,
”
she
drawled, trying to make the word as long and sexy as possible
, which is difficult with just three letters
.

“
Cool name,
”
he replied.
“
I
'
m Driag.
”

“
Drag?
”
asked Kay.

Josi
e imagined him in fishnets an
d suspenders, and spluttered
her beer
.

“
No, D
-
r
-
i
-
a
-
g
– Driag
,
”
he
spelt out
.
“
But
, don
'
t worry, no
one gets it right. My parents are hippies and I
'
m nam
ed after some old Pagan bloke, so they say.
I
'
ve tried Googling the name
though
and nothing comes up.
”

“
It
'
s an unusual name,
”
said Kay.
“
But i
t
'
s good to be unique.
”

“
I think so too,
”
said the guy with the
odd
name.
“
I know David
'
s just bought you a drink, but you
'
re so gorgeous that I have to buy you another one – what will you have?
”

“
Pina Colada,
”
trilled Kay.
“
I guess that line works every time.
”

“
I can
'
t reveal my trade secrets,
”
grinne
d Driag.

“
T
his is Michael,
”
announced David as the drummer walked over. His long blonde hair dangled almost to his waist and his eyes were
bright blue. He looked
a cute
23
, if that
. He was now wearing a yellow T
-shirt with a round
,
red orange on it
.

“
Hello,
”
she said,
“
I
'
m Josie.
”

“
Nice to meet you
, Josie,
”
said Michael.
“
I see you
'
re an ale drinker – which
do you recommend?
”

“
Golden Whimsy,
”
she replied.
“
It
'
s the best one. Tastes like honey.
”

“
I trust you
!
I
'
m gonna go and
grab
myself
one
.
”

He squeezed past her to the bar and Josie had to stop herself from touching his hair. It must be the ale. She couldn
'
t just go grabbing some poor bloke
'
s hair. She wondered
why
it was that long hai
r on young guys was always in
much better condition than women
'
s. Was it because they didn
'
t wash it,
dye it and comb it to death
? It always looked perfect, but they never did anything with it. Did they just climb up a mountain, dip it in a stream and then shake it? Ok
ay
, now she was fantasising. She
'
d always had a thing about long hair.

Thinking about
it, Ben had really nice hair, b
ut it was usually
tied back, except that time when
she saw him in the shower and it was all wet.
Maybe she could just pull it out some time. Yeah
,
because B
en would really love that, Josie
! He
'
d look at you as if you we
re a moron. But he did have
really nice hair... and eyes... and, unlike David, some
brains
.
Ok
ay
, now she
'
d definitely had too much ale.

“
You look like you
'
re daydreaming again,
”
said David.

“
Yep, that
'
s me. Miss D
aydreamer,
”
replied Josie.
“
I think I
'
ve had too much of the amber nectar!
”

“
Maybe it
'
s past your bedtime!
”
he
suggested with a wink.

“
Could be
,
but
I
'
m
going there on my own. S
o don
'
t get
any ideas!
”

“
Ouch! Yo
u can
'
t blame a guy for trying!
”

David sipped
his whiskey. He
didn
'
t understand why
Josie
wasn
'
t
responding. She
was interested
in the
park.
Still, s
he was a nice girl
and had a great body. He hadn
'
t forgotten that.
It was early days. He
'
d work his magic yet!

“
Stop looking at me like that, David! It
'
s not going to happe
n!
”
she scolded
.

“
Ok
ay
, ok
ay
, I get the message,
”
replied David.
“
Let
'
s go rescue Kay from my band
mate. He
'
s
a bit of
an animal!
”

He
'
s not the only one, thought Josie.

The following day passed in a
haze for Josie
.
Work was a struggle and in the back of her head she knew she had to have a serious chat with David about
'
The Situation
'
. I
t was pretty obvious he was still interested, which was flattering, but also awkward. She also knew that if sh
e liked anyone, it was Ben
, but
being
friends was enough.
She didn
'
t want anything
to mess that up.

All
the way home, she reh
earsed in her head what she wanted
to say to David unti
l she had it word perfect.
On reaching the house, t
he windows stared down at her as if to say yeah
,
yeah, chicken
,
chicken!
She took a deep breath.
Time to go in – be brave! It was n
o big
deal, s
he
just
had
to explain to him that nothing
had happened and
nothing
ever
would
because nothing had... right?
What could be simpler?
Then everything could carry on as normal wit
h no awkwardness in the house, just h
armony.

She put the key in the lock and turned it. The door opened without a sound and she closed it as quietly as she could. Wiping her feet on the
'
Go home!
'
mat, she turned and then almost jumped. Glen was
sitting
on the bottom step of the staircase. He turned his head to the side and looked up at her.

“
Hi, boy, h
ow are you
today
?
”