Flirting With Magick (15 page)

“Hi, Abby.” He stopped a metre away.

It was strange to have him look at me with this much hostility.
We had always been on good terms with each other, and I wanted t
he
old Scott back, but I knew I’d foolishly brought this on to myself. I
desperately searched my mind for what I should say to him. 'Scott, I was being nasty because I like you.' Who does that anymore? How old was I, seven? Next I’d be punching him on the arm and sticking my tongue out at him. How about this: 'Scott, sorry, just a bad case of PMS.' No point making up excuses. There was no real excuse. The
truth was I was beginning to fall for him, couldn’t handle it, and deal
t
with it badly. I couldn’t tell him
that
either. The silent tension between
us seemed amplified in the echoing, almost empty room. I opened m
y mouth to speak.

“I don’t have much time,” he said before I found my voice, his
acerbic tone bringing a lump to my throat.

“I know,” I feebly replied, shifting uncomfortably, my feet lifting the fibres of the sticky carpet. “I’m sorry about what I said. It wasn’t my place. I didn’t...”

“Could you give us a hand here, Scott?” A man I had never seen
before, but instantly hated, yelled from a door leading out to the bac
k of the pub, destroying any further apology from me.

“I’ll talk to you afterwards, okay?” Scott’s voice was only a little
friendlier as he turned and left. Maybe there was solace in the fact that
he was at least expecting me to stay.

Kate had positioned a couple of full shot glasses at my place at
the table as she waited. “How did it go?” she asked, her blue eyes wide.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He was angry, I said I’m sorry, and then
he had to go. He said he’d talk to me later on, but I don’t know if tha
t will be a good thing or not.”

She patted my arm. “At least that’s something. I’m sure he wouldn’t
make you wait around only to tell you he doesn’t want to see you again.”

I shook my head. “I can’t put it past him. I bet he’s doing it to make me sweat before he really digs the knife in.” Picking up one of the glasses, I downed the shot.

“But you’re going to stay, aren’t you?” She pushed the other glass
towards me. “At least have a couple of drinks, maybe stay for their
performance, and then see how you feel. You can always leave straig
ht
afterwards. Besides, I don’t want to sit here on my own for the next hour
waiting for Nathan.” She looked embarrassed. “Especially because I’ve
saved this big table for everyone." She scrunched up her nose pleadingly
. "Do you mind?”

“No, of course not. It’s the least I can do after I was such a cow about you and Nathan getting together.”

She waved her hands at me in protest. “No, don’t worry about it.
I completely understand. You’re a relationship kind of girl and I’m no
t,
so it does seem a bit weird that we’ve swapped places. Besides, I know
you like Scott as more than a bonk-buddy, so I don’t blame you for
being a bit pissed off.”

“I'm not mad at you,” I told her. “I’m so completely happy for
you. Nathan’s great, and you seem so... in love—can I say that?” She grinned ear to ear. “I guess I just miss the type of intimacy I had with
Josh. It’s hard to see other people having that, but it doesn’t excuse
the way I acted to you guys or to Scott. It’s not your fault, or his fault for that matter. It’s me who’s stuffed it up.”

“We could not flaunt it so much if you like.”

It was my turn to protest. “No, no, no. Don’t change things on my
behalf. I’m the stupid one. It’s about me, not you. So promise me you won’t change the way you are in front of me, okay?”

“Okay. So are you going to tell me what else you said to Scott? I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”

I put my head in my hands. “I don’t know why I did this, but I
pretty much all but told him I wouldn’t go out with him if he was the
last guy on Earth. Not in those exact words, but it was just a knee-
jerk reaction because of him reinforcing that he's off relationships.”

Kate frowned. “But that’s not that bad.”

“Yes but seeing as though I also had a go at his job, his music, his
career... I think I well overstepped the mark.”

“
Oh, I see. As Nathan said, that’s probably the place you shouldn’t
have gone.”

“I know.”

“Why did you say it?”

“Because I’m a horrible, bitter, nasty bitch.”

“No, you’re not. You were only trying to protect yourself. Is it an
y wonder after what Josh did to you?”

I slammed the other shot down my throat. “It’s still no excuse. I
thought I was better than that.” I stood up to go to the bar as the amount of
people in the room was rapidly growing. “Do you want another drink?”

“Wine. Get a bottle. I think we’re going to need it.”

I recognised the pretty, dark-haired woman talking to Kate when I
returned. “Hi, Linda.” I doubled back to get
another glass
for the newcomer.
“I’m having a biggie tonight,” I explained as I poured the wine.

"I was just
telling Kate
that the boys have almost finished recording their
album. We’re just waiting on a couple more songs,” Linda said excitedly.

“Have you heard it so far?” Kate enquired.

“Well, most of the songs are what they play live anyway...”

“So it must be great then!” I piped up, then caught a twinkle in
Kate’s eye that reminded me of how I dismissed the music as being
too commercial. I sipped my drink in shame.

The lights dimmed, and the crowd went quiet as the first guitar hums
signalled the start of the performance.

“Let’s get up and dance.” Kate grabbed my hand.

“No, I’ll stay here and mind the table. You two go.” Although it
probably would have put me more in the good books with Scott, I wasn’t
in the mood for dancing, preferring to sit there and contemplate what
I was going to say to him. That and drown my disgrace. I tapped my foot
to the beat as I poured myself another glass. Kate and Linda returned
with another bottle after a couple of songs, and we sat nursing our drinks,
unable to speak over the music.

“Are you okay?” Kate whispered during a lull in the noise level.

I nodded. The last song was about to start which meant that, in a
few minutes time, I would finally have to deal with what I hoped would
have been dealt with by now. I had a fuzzy feeling in my head, which
helped my confidence levels and slightly lifted my mood by the time we were joined at the table by Nathan, Luke, Daniel, and a few other staff members of their record company. I made small talk as I waited
anxiously for Scott to sit himself down with us. Half an hour later, I had
nervously guzzled another drink too quickly and was halfway through
the next when I saw him through the crowd, sitting at another table.
He seemed to be deep in conversation with the curly haired girl Tanya
had cruelly pointed out to me, while volunteering the fact that he had
left with her one night. I felt as though my heart had gotten stuck in my throat and swallowed hard in an attempt to push the lump away.

Linda had seen him, too. “Abby, are you and Scott still seeing
each other?”

“We never really were.“ I could hear the vague slur in my words. “We
were just fucking.” I was too late to catch the obvious edge to my voice.

“Oh, ” she dropped her gaze. “Sorry”.

“I’m just going to the ladies,” I said miserably, picking up my bag
and stealing another look in Scott’s direction. He didn’t even notice.

“Looks like Scotty’s picked up.” The sound engineer snickered to
Daniel
as I shuffled
behind them, my sweaty palms adding to the handprints
along the shiny mint green wall. Great, just what I wanted to hear. I didn’t hear Daniel’s reply but knew, as he was always first to leave, he was probably not privy to the fact that I was usually the one Scott picked up. The night was going from bad to worse.

I was unaware that Linda had followed me, until I got to the
ladies toilets and stumbled into the one of the stalls. “Abby, are you
okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, just a bit drunk, that’s all.” I joined her at the basins.

“You seem a bit upset,” she said kindly. “Is it Scott?” A couple of
girls came out of another stall together, rubbing their noses, and I wa
s tempted to ask if I could have some of what they were having. Linda rolled her eyes as they exited the bathroom.

I stared at my bloodshot eyes in my reflection and told her the whole
sad, stupid story. A tear escaped, destroying my made up face. “Oh, bugger, my makeup’s running.” I rummaged in my bag and laid out all my cosmetics on the bench. “Shit, I forgot to pack my lipstick.”

“Here.” She calmly handed me one of hers. “You didn’t mean what
you said to him, did you?”

“No,” I sighed. “It was stupid.”

“Well, you need to tell him. You don’t have to tell him how you feel.
You don’t even have to admit you like him. But I’m sure he will forgive
you if you say you were wrong about his career. Play dumb. Say you
didn’t know what you were talking about and you were surprised he
listened anyway. On the bright side, he obviously values your opinio
n."
She gave my back a compassionate rub, "Trust me. I know how you feel.”

“You do?” I couldn’t believe for a second that Linda could have
ever said the wrong thing in her entire life.

“Yes. I upset my husband once. We’d only just started dating, and
I criticised something he had cooked for me.” She sorted through the
makeup and began a repair job on my face. “He didn’t tell me he was
a chef and wanted to impress me, but I was a meat and potatoes type of girl at the time and didn’t really get the fine food thing. I told him
he didn’t have to show off and who the hell would eat this gourmet
crap anyway.”

“Really?” I handed her back her lipstick.

“Yes. I was mortified when he said ‘Lots of people. Especially the
ones that go to the restaurant I work at.’”

“Oh my God.” For the first time that evening, I actually felt a little
better, not from knowing Linda made a mistake once but from knowing that
it had all worked out. “What happened?”

“Well, I thought it was all over, but I really liked him. So when I realised all I’d hurt was his pride, I swallowed my own and told him
that I wouldn’t know a good meal if it hit me in the face, which I’m
sure it almost did by the look he was giving me, but that I was willin
g
to learn and could he teach me.” She stood back and looked at my face.
“There. Done. You look lovely.”

“
Thank you.” I reapplied my mascara myself then put the makeup
away. “Obviously it worked, because he married you.”

“Five years and two kids,” she said proudly. “And I love all sorts
of food now. Look, saying the wrong thing isn’t worth falling out over.
And worst case scenario? If you’ve done your part in apologising and
he’s not interested in listening, then it’s his own stupid pride; he’s the
one that’s lost a friend, and he wouldn’t be worth it anyway.”

I smiled despite the butterflies in my stomach taking flight again
as we exited the toilets. “You’re right. Thank you.” To my dismay the
table he had been sitting at was now occupied by strangers. I looked
around expecting that he may have joined our table. He and the wom
an were nowhere to be seen.

Linda came up beside me and patted my arm sympathetically. “Come
on. Let’s sit down and have another drink. Forget him. His loss. I’m
going to make sure you have fun.” She gazed around the room “Look
around. This is a bit of a hot spot for good-looking guys anyway.”

When we sat down again, I noticed the group had dispersed. Luke
and one of the management staff were chatting up a couple of girls at
the far end of the room, and Daniel, Nathan, and the sound engineer
were deep in conversation at one end of the table, while Kate sat with
them, looking bored. The pained look on her face when she saw me
said it all. “He only left a few moments ago. I haven’t been able to ge
t a word in here to ask if Nathan knows who she is.” She poured us all
a glass from the bottle Linda had bought. “But, in all fairness...” In a
ll
fairness? Being in love was definitely causing Kate to soften. In the no
t t
oo distant past, she would have been the first to call an all-out vendetta
on him had this occurred back then.

She continued, “… he’s not here to explain, so I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“He’s gone home with her before,” I said sadly. “Tanya pointed
her out to me once.”

Linda scoffed, “Tanya? I wouldn’t believe anything that bitch has
to say. I’m surprised she’s not here tonight, trying to get her claws into
him. Is that what she told you?”

I nodded.

“Does she know for sure he went home with her? Or did he just leave with her?”

I couldn't remember, and the alcohol wasn't helping. “I don’t know.
I guess it’s not as if she could have followed him, so I’m guessing he
only left with her.” As much as I was trying, it wasn’t making me fee
l
any better. If he left with someone, the chances were that he had gone
home with them as well. I went to the bar to get us all some more shots
,
promising myself I would slow down with the drinking after this one.
I sat back down and swallowed it, enjoying the numbing feeling it was
giving me, barely noticing Kate’s gasp as she glanced up and looked over my shoulder.