Three Words: A Novella Collection (11 page)

“
Did you hear that?” she whispered.

“
What?”

“
Those drums. It sounded like Miss Simpson was doing that
bongo song again. It was so loud in my ears.”

Nate’s eyes
were open now. He was nodding vigorously. “I think it was my heart.
It was beating real hard.”

“
Mine was too. And my lips are all sparkly.”

Nate peered at
Georgie’s lips. He couldn’t see any sparkles, though the way he was
feeling he wouldn’t have been surprised if she had some shooting
out of her head. “You mean tingly.”

“
Yeah. Tingly.”

“
I guess that means we’re in love.”

Neither of
them had any idea what to do with this information but they knew it
was important and very, very special.

*****

That weekend,
when Georgie went for a play date at Nate’s house after her ballet
class, he had a surprise for her. It was in the spare bedroom they
used as a playroom, hidden away behind the large double doors of
the built-in wardrobe. Georgie and Nate loved to play in there. It
was huge and filled with all sorts of old junk his parents had
forgotten. It was like being in a secret treasure cave where adults
never came.

“
Close your eyes,” Nate said, tying an old pillowcase around
Georgie’s head, to make sure she wasn’t peeking.

Georgie was so
excited she could hardly speak. She loved surprises, especially
Nate’s. The other week he’d caught a butterfly for her and brought
it to school in a plastic storage container. He’d given it lots of
leaves and grass to eat, so it was a bit hard to spot but when
Georgie had flipped the lid, it had walked onto her hand, it’s
orange and black wings opening and closing. Georgie adored
butterflies.

“
They are closed,” Georgie said. “You just can’t see because
you’re smothering me with the pillowcase.”

Nate took her
soft hand in his and led her to the double doors. She heard the
squeak of the hinges as he pushed the door back, then sound of
clothes hangers sliding along the rack and the flick of the light
switch. It was like going into Narnia.

Nate let go of
her hand. “Open your eyes.”

“
You mean, take off the pillowcase.” Georgie pulled the
material from her head, letting it fall to the floor. Nate was on
his knees in front of her. He had a ring in his hand. A yellow,
plastic ring he’d gotten from a packet of
Wizz Fizz
they’d
bought at the shops the other weekend.

“
You know how we’re in love?” he said.

Georgie looked
around the closet. Nate had decorated one end of the room as a
makeshift altar. There was a cloth and a candle sitting on the
upturned side of an old milk crate, even though they both knew they
were not allowed to have lighted candles. Paper chains hung from
the lights and Nate’s teddies and Batman collection lined the walls
acting as witnesses. Despite the obvious clues, Georgie wasn’t
fully aware of where her friend was going with this.

“
Yeesss
?”

“
Well, I thought we could get married.”

“
But we’re too young to get married. You have to be a grown-up
or ask your mum and dad. My parents would never let me get married,
yet. I have to go to Nooniversity and be a vet like they want.” It
was actually Georgie who wanted to be a vet but she didn’t want to
sound like she was smarter than Nate. He wanted to be a fireman or
a World Championship Wrestler. Both were really important jobs but
she didn’t think you needed to be clever to put out
fires.

“
But I love you, Georgie. Please marry me. It can be a
secret.” He bit his lip uncertainly and held the plastic ring out
for her to inspect. It was very pretty. It had a red stone in the
center.

“
You won’t tell?” she asked.

“
Cross my heart.”

“
Well, I do love you, so, yes. Let’s get married.”

Nate jumped to
his feet. “Coolaphonic.”

He took her to
the other end of the closet, where a bunch of boxes were stacked.
His mother kept all kinds of old clothes in them and when they went
to fancy dress parties, she dug them out. Nate’s family always had
the best costumes.

“
Here.” He handed Georgie a white frilly petticoat and a piece
of lace that had been a tablecloth in a former life.

“
What will you wear?”

Nate pointed
to a black suit jacket and blue spotted tie that belonged to his
father. He’d put a yellow silk rose in the buttonhole on the
collar. Carefully, he took it from the hanger and put his arms into
the sleeves. It was miles too big, the hem reached his knees and
Georgie had to roll the sleeves up so his hands could be seen but
it made him look handsome. It made Georgie happy that she was
marrying him.

“
I got this for you, too.” Nate handed over a bunch of fake
flowers he’d found in the box and tied with some curling ribbon
left over from the Christmas wrapping.

By this time,
Georgie had slipped the petticoat over her clothes and discreetly
removed her jeans and top. The petticoat had a sticky-out skirt
that hung down to her ankles like a real wedding dress but it was
very baggy at the top and she had to keep pushing the strap back
onto her shoulder. She’d taken two hairclips from her ponytail and
used them to secure the lace to her head in the form of a veil.

Nate beamed
when he saw her. “You’re so beautiful, Georgie.”

“
Thank you, Nate.”

Then Nate
turned on the CD player and as the music played his Mum’s favorite
song,
Dream A Little Dream,
he walked Georgie up the
makeshift aisle of old red towels. Urged on by the audience of
teddies and toys, he slipped the ring on her finger and said, “I
do.”

She placed a
tender kiss on his lips. “I do, too.”

“
Will we be friends forever, now?” Georgie asked, when the
ceremony was over. She was feeling very solemn, like something
important had happened.

“
Forever,” Nate replied.”

Chapter 3

Standing in
front of Nate, who was looking at her as if he’d lost his memory or
she’d lost her mind, Georgie felt hurt and small, like the first
day of school all over again. A stab of pain twisted in her chest,
replacing the euphoric feeling of only moments before. It wasn’t
the embarrassment of having stopped him in the middle of the
jogging track that made it so bad, or the fact that she was wearing
one shoe and jogging tights with a great rip in the crotch, it was
the fact that Nate truly had no idea who she was. It was as if
their past never existed, that it had meant more to her than it had
to him. But that couldn’t be right, could it? Nate had cried the
day they broke it off.

“
You don’t remember me, do you?”

Nate peered at
her closely. He was struggling for recognition but she could see it
wasn’t coming.

Georgie
removed her sunglasses and cap. Her ponytail swung carelessly and
flopped over her shoulder as she looked into his eyes, trying to
trigger his memory. He had to remember her. It would be soul
destroying if he didn’t. Not to mention, more humiliating than
having her name and some rather untrue accusations plastered on the
boys’ toilet wall in her last year of school. One of the male
teachers had seen it first. When he’d confronted her, Georgie
didn’t know whether to be embarrassed about the fact that it was
there, or that she had no idea what the lewd action mentioned was.
Georgie and Nate had been together a long time. He’d kept her
sheltered.

“
It’s me,” Georgie said, hoping that if she stared straight
into Nate’s eyes he’d remember. It was either that or run. If she
did that, his only memory would be of the kooky chick that’d
stopped him on the bike track thinking they knew each other. She’d
be an amusing story to recall at dinner parties.

Nate looked
again. Then visibly, his face began to soften. It was a small
glimmering hint of recognition and he was trying to hide it but
Georgie saw it. She’d always been good at reading his
expressions.

“
Georgie?”

Georgie almost
collapsed with relief. “Yes.”

Nate’s face
burst into the grin she remembered so well. He flicked his
sunglasses to the top of his head and rubbed his hand over his face
in disbelief. Mischief wrestled in his eyes, just as it had when
they were young. Apart from the more angular jaw, he hadn’t changed
at all. He still looked the larrikin.

“
I can’t believe it. Jesus, how long’s it been?”

Georgie could
see him mentally calculating the time.

“
Twelve years.”

If you rounded
off the three months, five days and oh, two hours.

Nate’s grin
broadened, as he looked her up and down, taking in her soggy,
ripped leggings, sweaty tank top and missing shoe.

“
You’re still a fashion plate, then?”

“
Don’t be smart. I stepped in dog poop.”

“
I wondered what that smell was. I, sort of, remember your
perfume being a heap nicer than that.”

“
Sorry. I was trying to get rid of that when I saw
you.”

“
By taking a dip in the river? I gather that’s how you got so
wet or do you sweat a lot when you run?”

Georgie glared
at him, remembering how he’d always had an answer for everything.
Once upon a time it used to be endearing, funny even. Now, it was
plain annoying. Sort of. God, Nate was here. Here. This was
unbelievable.

Georgie
dangled the offending accessory in front of Nate’s nose. “I was
trying
to wash my shoe.”

“
Enough said.”

A moment of
shared memories exploded between them. When Nate and Georgie had
been friends, she’d always been getting into scrapes and he’d
always saved her. It was how things had worked. Funny that the
intervening years had made her forget the reliance she’d had on
him. She’d become quite independent without him.

“
Do you want to walk?” Nate asked, stretching his arm out in
the direction of the city.

“
Sure.”

Technically,
Georgie was meant to be getting ready for a river cruise later that
evening but with her run being cut short by a dip in the river, she
had the time. What harm would a couple of minutes with Nate do? It
had been so long, the pain he’d left after they split was healed.
All she felt now was excitement, and a bit of a heart flutter, at
seeing her old beau again.

After Georgie
squished her foot into the other shoe, they began to walk along the
path towards Barrack Street Jetty. Up in the sky, puffs of cloud
moved swiftly, sending out shadows that stretched and merged onto
the path in front of them. On the river, a group of jet skiers
zoomed past, leaving trails of white water in their wake. The ferry
to South Perth bobbed through the middle of it taking people to the
other side. Georgie was silent. She didn’t feel uncomfortable as
she walked with Nate by her side. She just didn’t know where to
begin. It had been such a long time. How did one go about filling
in the missing pieces?

“
Remember that day we went to the zoo?” Nate asked. Clearly,
the sight of the ferry was stirring up memories for him, too. “We
had our photo taken in the booth with the green screen. I turned to
kiss you …”

“
But in the picture it looked like you were kissing the
hippo.” Georgie let out a laugh. “I still have that
photo.”

“
Do you? I’d love to see it.”

Was that a
hint? Did Nate want to come over, like in the old days?

“
Maybe. One day.”

Georgie
wouldn’t admit it, but she had a whole box of stuff from that time.
She’d carried it with her all over Australia, to Melbourne where
she went to Uni, to Sydney when she’d been given her first job as
an interior designer. That was where she’d met her fiancé, Matt.
Now the box was under her bed, back in her old bedroom in West
Leederville while she waited for the sale of her flat to be
finalized. She wasn’t happy about having to live with her parents
again, but it was preferable to the streets. And it wasn’t going to
be forever.

They reached
the jetty and Nate stopped in front of a coffee shop. “Got time for
a drink?” he asked, pulling his phone from his pocket and checking
the time.

“
As long as you can put up with the smell of my
shoes.”

“
Can’t smell a thing.”

Georgie leant
over to see the time, too. A waft of cologne, fresh and woody,
filled the air between them. Her pulse started to race as her mind
went back to the other times she’d smelled that smell. When they
were seventeen, though, Nate’s scent hadn’t been quite as
expensive. Usually, it had involved soap and salt, remnants from an
afternoon at the beach, and a shower. Once, she’d bought him a
bottle of
Old Spice
from a discount shop, thinking it was
very grown-up. The smell had been closer to rancid bananas than
aftershave but he’d worn it for weeks, regardless, until she’d
finally begged him to throw it in the bin. Nate had such a soft,
gentle interior. It was nothing like his big, manly body. Georgie
closed her eyes trying to block the thought. She shouldn’t do it.
Past loves couldn’t be rekindled. No,
shouldn’t
be
rekindled. Memories were best left as memories. But that didn’t
mean that they couldn’t be friends again, did it?

Georgie
followed Nate through the maze of diners, until he came to a
secluded table, under a large patio umbrella. He pulled out a chair
for her and sat opposite, watching as she arranged her cap,
sunglasses and iPod in a neat pile on the table beside her.