Chapter 11
Horatio took a drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke into the air. ‘Tonight was a really good show.’
They were sitting outside this vibey bar enjoying the slight drop in temperature.
Akis threw back what little was left from his vodka and shook his head. ‘You say that after every show.’
‘No, after every show I say it was a good show. Tonight was a really good show.’
‘Yeah,’ Akis said, never having loaded one word with as much sarcasm. ‘Really good to have my mother and sister in the audience, not to mention my future sister-in-law and my grandmother.’
‘There was no doubt that they all enjoyed it. Your grandmother gave me one of her hair clips.’ Horatio tapped the shining accessory he had clipped to the lapel of his jacket.
Akis knew his mother hadn’t enjoyed it. She might have smiled and clapped her hands at the appropriate times but he could see right through her. Just like she could see through his half-mask. Him dressed as a priest, the very thing she wanted, and he was ridiculing it. He had given his character ‘The Deacon’ that mask for many reasons. To hide a little in plain sight. To pretend he was someone else. The someone else he had been before Cosmos’s accident. Though Akis was the one who got injured, even he still called it ‘Cosmos’s accident’.
Horatio slapped a hand down on his shoulder. ‘I made over two hundred euros in tips.’
‘Because you will do anything for them.’
‘Why would you not, if you enjoy doing anything?’ Horatio grinned. ‘Do not tell me you did not enjoy your one-on-one time with the girl with the amazing hair colour.’
Akis swallowed. His face still had a sheen from the olive oil she had massaged into it. And, no matter what move he’d made astride her on the floor, she had not shifted at all until the song had ended and all the lights had gone out. Then she had whispered to him in the dark:
There will be fifty euro in it for you if you don’t come near me again.
It wasn’t something he had ever been asked before – quite the opposite in fact. And it only made him want to know more about her. Who was she? How did she know Wren and Cosmos to be invited to the wedding? Why had she told him in the church about her inability to make decisions?
‘What is wrong?’ Horatio asked him. ‘Did she not fall for the eyes? Because, I have to say, Wren was becoming quite invested in our cucumber for someone who is getting married soon.’
‘Aki!’
Akis didn’t have time to respond before the sound of his grandmother’s voice cut through the patrons’ chatter around him. Then he saw her heading their way with a tray in her hands.
‘Please tell me the whole hen party aren’t all coming back here,’ Akis said. He took Horatio’s cigarette from him, inhaled on it and then gave it back.
‘I have vodka!’ Irini announced.
‘Shit!’ Horatio said, moving the ashtray and their drinks to make way for the tray holding a large bottle and small shot glasses. ‘Irini, you are partying tonight! Are you coming to 54 with us?’
Akis shook his head. 54 Dreamy Nights was the biggest nightclub in Corfu Town and somewhere he had been a bit too often in the past.
‘54?’ Irini said. ‘Sometimes I dream of 1954.’
She was struggling to get up on the high stool, shoes slipping a little.
‘Come on, Yiayia. Let Horatio and me help,’ Akis said.
Without waiting for a reply, he and Horatio got off their stools, boosted her up onto the seat and made sure she was stable before going back to their own.
‘Open the bottle, Aki.’ She patted Horatio’s arm, eyes bright. ‘What a show tonight!’
‘You liked it?’ Horatio asked.
‘You looked like a ballet dancer. So elegant and handsome,’ she said, snatching up one of the shot glasses Akis had just poured.
‘I do not think I have been called “elegant” before. Let me think for a moment… no, I definitely have not.’
Akis hissed and shook his head.
‘And you,’ Irini said, slapping a hand on Akis’s forearm. ‘Dressing as a priest. I nearly fell off my chair and I thought your mother was going to explode like a volcano.’ She laughed. ‘And then, I remembered, to explode like a volcano would be to show emotion in public and she would never allow that to happen. Anastasia tells me that she has scheduled two episodes of crying for Cosmos’s wedding. One at the end of his vows and another when they cut the cake.’
Everything stage-managed. No allowance for spontaneity. His mother had been like that his whole life.
‘But what about the girl you danced with?’ Irini said, pouring herself another vodka. ‘Cara.’
‘You know her name. Well done, Irini,’ Horatio said, nudging Akis’s arm.
‘I am not sure I danced with her,’ Akis answered. ‘The fact that she did not say no is certainly the only reason I have not been arrested.’ He downed a vodka shot. ‘Who exactly is she?’
‘She is the niece of your mother’s friend from college. I did not know they were still in touch. Well, I am not permitted to know things from your mother’s life, am I? Ah, here they come. No reserved seating here; perhaps your mother will have to sit on a bench.’
As Irini laughed, Akis’s gaze went to the hen party who were arriving from down the street, his mother leading the way like a tourist guide. Wren was between her mother and her crazy friend, Kelly, looking close to incapable of walking at all, then last of all was Cara.
Akis watched her. She wasn’t rushing to catch everyone up, instead she was slowing her pace, as if she was trying to not be part of the group. Finally, as most of the ladies stopped by the tables at Sway, she peeled away, heading on.
Akis slipped down off his stool. ‘Give me a second.’