19
When we stepped off the train on Saturday afternoon, the sun was high in the sky, and it was warm enough for me to take off my jumper.
“The house is a few streets away,” Nick said. “Won’t take long to walk there.”
“So, anything I should know?” I asked, following him out of the train station and across the concrete waiting area, which included a bike rack and garden beds of native shrubs that resembled overgrown weeds.
“Nah,” Nick said, leading us across the street, past a kebab shop, a Malaysian restaurant, and a furniture retailer. He glanced at me. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” I said. “I want to make a good impression. Who should I suck up to?”
“My yiayia. If she likes you, the others won’t fuck with you.”
“Okay, what do I do?”
Nick looked me up and down. “Well, you’re not Greek, so that’s one point against you. You’re not Christian either, so that’s another point.”
“You’re telling me this now?” I clutched my stomach. “Now I’m ten times more nervous.”
“Just eat a lot of her food and compliment her cooking. That should do it.” Nick nudged my elbow. “It’s fine. To be honest, there’ll be so many people, it’s not like you’ll stick out.”
“Okay.” I nodded. That did reassure me a bit. “And just to confirm… we’re friends who totally don’t have sex.”
Nick hesitated. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s not that my family’s homophobic. One of my aunts is a lesbian, and no one cares. But I think it’ll just confuse my older relatives if we say we’re just friends and act affectionate. They don’t understand the concept of casual relationships.”
“Okay,” I said, “although, we’re not particularly affectionate in public anyway.”
Nick gave me a dry look.
“What?” I asked. Why was he looking at me like that? I only ever kissed him inside the four walls of his studio or my bedroom. The only exception was when he kissed me on the cheek after the board games night.
“You’re always looking at me,” he said.
“Huh? I look at everyone.”
“You’re always looking at me like you want to rip my clothes off.”
“What the hell, Nick? I do not do that. That’s probably your over-inflated sense of ego.”
I didn’t stare at him like that. Did I? Sure, sometimes when we were at uni, I’d look at him and remember all the times we’d had sex. But other times, I’d just want to play with his hair and would have to curl my fingers into my palm to stop myself from reaching for him.
I did not stare at him like some kind of lecherous pervert.
Right?
“Oh my god,” I said. “So not only do I have to be likeable, I also have to be conscious of all of my expressions and how I’m looking at people.”
“I’m making this complicated. Forget I said anything.” He gestured around a corner, leading me down into a residential street. There were rows of homes with corrugated iron roofs and fly-screen doors. On one of the front lawns, a long green hose lay forgotten on the grass.
“You never look at me like you want to rip my clothes off,” I said suddenly.
Nick’s lips twisted up into a small, secret smile. “I think it. I just control my expressions. You let everything out.”
Not everything, I thought. Because if I was so obvious, Nick would know that I had feelings for him. And if he knew that, then he’d run away.
Unless he didn’t mind.
We continued down the street and soon heard loud music pounding from one of the houses.
“Is that…?” I began.
“Yes.”
I glanced at the surrounding homes. “Won’t the neighbours get upset?”
“Knowing my yiayia, she’s probably invited them all over too.”
Nick had warned me the party would be large, but I didn’t fully grasp what he meant until I saw all the cars parked out the front of the house and in the driveway. There was everything from eight-seater family SUVs to bright red sports cars.
The house looked similar to the others on the street: a plain, recently mowed front lawn. Two chairs on the porch. On one of the window sills was a collection of ceramic cats.
The fly-screen door was closed, but unlocked, and the interior wooden door was wide open, so anyone could walk right in.
We walked inside, and the smell of freshly baked bread and rich meat wafted over us. My head swivelled around as I took everything in. In the living room, a group of elderly people chatted on overstuffed couches. In the seventies-style kitchen, every surface was covered with plates and trays of food.
A group of forty-something women stood around the dining table, holding wine glasses, talking fast and laughing loudly. One of them noticed Nick and tossed her arms up in the air.
“Nick! You’re here, finally. Come give me a hug.”
Nick leaned in for a polite hug but was quickly swallowed in an embrace by the woman. The other two ladies hugged him in a similar manner before he turned to me. “This is my friend, Hayden.”
The ladies greeted me with a chorus of hellos, introducing themselves as Nick’s aunties. One of the women picked up a paper plate, covered it with food, and thrust it into my hands. “Eat, eat.”
We were ushered down a hallway, which was decorated with framed family photos, towards the backyard, where crowds of people were scattered about and music played from a speaker.
It was sensory overload. Nick said hello and introduced me to a bunch of people of all ages, but it all happened so fast, and I immediately forgot everyone’s names. As relatives told Nick they hadn’t seen him in ages and he needed to visit more often, I took the opportunity to try the food on my plate. There were meatballs and pastry things and something that looked like quiche, and as I ate the delicious food, I realised just how hungry I was.
“Hayden, this is my yiayia,” Nick said, gently tugging me towards an extremely short woman whose permed brown hair was greying at the roots. “Yiayia, this is my friend Hayden from university.”
“Thank you for having me,” I said.
She gestured at the plate in my hands. “Food is good, yes?”
“Yes,” I said quickly. “It’s very delicious, thank you. Did you cook it yourself?”
“You would’ve been cooking for the past three days,” Nick said to her with a soft smile.
“I cook so much, my hands hurt, my arms hurt, my eyes hurt,” Yiayia said. “And you, Nikolaos, only come see me once a year. I’m old now. I’ll die soon, and what will you do then, hm?”
“I see you more than once a year,” Nick protested. “I came here, what, two months ago? Besides, I’ve been busy with uni and work—”
She seemed to barely hear him. “You need money? I’ll give you money. Three hundred dollars, yes? I give you.”
“No, it’s okay, I don’t need any money—”
“I give you,” Yiayia said firmly. “Eat, eat, eat some more.” She patted my arm then toddled away, reminding me of a formidable little penguin.
I’d been worried for nothing. I didn’t need to try to make a good impression—in fact, there were so many people here that I didn’t stick out at all. If I ever felt awkward, I could just stuff myself with more food, which seemed to be in a never-ending flow.
I found myself in all types of conversations. A group of thirty-something women talked about their suspicion that someone named Gina had gotten a nose job. One of Nick’s uncles, a bald man in his sixties with a grey beard, told us about his home renovations.
Later, Nick led me towards a group of boys who had recently arrived. They sat in folded chairs by the shed, holding beer cans.
“They’re some of my cousins,” Nick said as we approached.
“Nick!” One of the cousins shouted, and soon Nick was swallowed in hugs and pats on the back.
“This is Hayden,” Nick said, gesturing for me to come closer. “This is Alex, Luke, Chris and Grady.” He pointed to each of the guys.
“Nice to meet you all,” I said.
“You two met at university?” asked the cousin I was pretty sure was called Chris. He resembled Nick, with the same complexion and dark hair, though he had some scruff around his jaw.
I nodded again. “At a jaffy party.”
“Jaffy?”
“It stands for ‘just another fucking first year’,” Nick explained. “It’s a Lygon U term.”
“Didn’t realise they have their own fancy language,” Alex said.
“It’s not fancy, it’s just slang.”
Alex slapped Nick’s back and turned his attention to me. “Our whole family’s so proud Nick’s going to Lygon U. We thought he might go into plumbing like his old man, but nooo, he had to go show us all up. Our parents still talk about it.”
“Makes the rest of us look bad,” Luke said before taking a swig of his beer.
I let out a little laugh. “Well, Nick’s very clever.”
I thought it was the right thing to say, but Nick’s lips twitched into a small frown.
“Yeah, he is,” Luke said. “Did you know he won a maths competition when he was like, eight?”
“Yiayia’s probably still got it framed somewhere in the house,” Chris said.
“I didn’t win it,” Nick said. “I got a high distinction.”
“Meanwhile,” Luke continued, not hearing him, “Dad’s shouting at me at the dining table because I can’t do long division.”
“You think that’s bad? My mum used to quiz me on my times tables on the way to school,” Grady said.
“I remember bringing some probability homework to school, and the paper was all wrinkly because I’d cried on it,” I piped up.
Nick and his cousins stared at me for a long, silent moment. Then Luke let out a shout of laughter. “I remember probability. There’d be questions like, if you put your hand in a bag and pull out a marble…”
“And the dice,” Alex said. “If you roll two dice… those questions were fucking bullshit.”
“Maybe if you understood it, you wouldn’t lose so much money on Sportsbet,” Nick said.
Alex punched him in the shoulder.
“Our parents used to compare our school reports,” Chris explained to me. “They’d always say, why can’t you study like Nick? It’d go on for weeks. You bastard,” he said to Nick.
“Not my fault y’all are dumb,” Nick said. “You got a beer for us, or what?”
“Yeah, course,” Chris said, reaching towards the box of cans next to his seat and passing one to me and Nick. “Come drag a chair over.”
A few minutes later, Nick and I had joined the circle. I sipped my beer slowly. I’d accepted it to be polite, but I didn’t want to get too tipsy, especially around Nick’s family.
“So,” I said to the cousins, “Are you all studying, or…?”
“Real estate, real estate, car dealership, entrepreneur,” Alex said, pointing at the others one by one until he pointed at himself. “Which isn’t code for a drug dealer. I don’t know why everyone thinks that.”
“What’s your business?”
“Technically, I haven’t started it yet—still in the ideas phase, y’know. But just imagine—”
“Don’t even let him start,” Luke cut in, covering Alex’s mouth with his palm, which Alex shoved off with a few curse words. “It’ll bore you to death. What are you studying? Science, was it?”
I was surprised Nick had already told them. “Yeah, Bachelor of Science, majoring in Pathology.”
“What’s pathology?”
“It’s the study of disease.” At their blank stares, I continued, “Have you ever gotten a blood test at the doctor’s? A pathologist is the person who checks the blood to make sure there’s nothing wrong with it.”
“I pissed in a jar once,” Luke said.
“Um. Congratulations,” I said.
“Does a pathologist look at that too?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“So your job will be looking at people’s piss?”
“Well, yeah, kinda.”
Luke scrunched up his nose. Alex finished his beer and crushed it under his foot. “Anyone want another?”
Everyone said yes, including Nick. I declined since I was still on my first.
“Come on, slow coach,” Chris said.
“Don’t like the taste?” Grady asked, a crease between his brows.
“No, I do!” I said quickly. “It’s good, just… not a huge drinker, that’s all.”
“Spend some time with us, and we’ll convert you,” Alex said, cracking his can. “Nick tells us your dad’s an ortho.”
I glanced at Nick, who was suddenly very interested in the warning label on the side of his can.
“An orthodontist, yes. I’m surprised he told you that.”
“Well he texted us, told us not to embarrass him,” Alex said.
“Alex,” Nick said quietly.
“Cause you’re all rich and fancy like,” Alex continued, apparently not hearing him.
“I’m not fancy,” I said. “And I’m not that rich.”
That made them laugh.
“Come on, you live in one of those fancy skyscrapers,” Luke said.
Nick had told them that too? My skin prickled. “I mean, I just rent it. And I share with my sister. We’re very lucky.” I cringed. Was there anything more irritating than acknowledging how blessed and privileged you were? “Um,” I said, panicking slightly now. “This place is very nice.”
My gaze fell on the shed in front of me. The tin was rusting brown in some places, the base of the structure covered with tangling weeds.
The cousins laughed, but to my immense relief, they started talking about whether Yiayia would stay here till her dying breath or whether she’d end up in a nursing home and lead a mafia of yiayias and nonnas.
I glanced at Nick, who looked back at me warily. “Sorry,” he said.
“It’s okay.”
“Are you having a shit time? We can go—”
“No,” I said. The sun was only just starting to set, and it would be rude to leave early. “No, I’m having fun. I want to stay.”
He looked at me carefully, then nodded.
I re-engaged myself back in the cousins’ conversation, and despite Luke’s warning, I did ask Alex about his entrepreneurship because I wanted them all to like me, and the easiest way to do that was to ask them a lot of questions about themselves.
The conversation rapidly moved to sports to gossip about people I didn’t know to cars to their jobs. I asked Chris and Grady about their work as real estate agents, and their chests puffed up as they talked about commissions and earning potential.
Nick slid me one of his dry stifled smiles, and I grinned back at him in return.
“Say, Nick,” Luke said loudly, and I saw him looking at us and wondered belatedly whether I’d been unintentionally giving Nick an I-want-to-rip-your-clothes-off look. “Gotta admit I’m surprised you invited a friend. You never invite friends.”
“What are you talking about?” Nick replied. “I invite Tyler all the time.”
“Yeah, but I thought you’d have invited a girlfriend or something.”
Nick and I both stiffened.
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Nick said in a quiet, level tone.
The other cousins had gone dead silent.
“Or a boyfriend, then,” Luke said. “I don’t judge. It’s the twentieth century.”
My skin went hot, but Nick’s neck flushed red like he was having an allergic reaction.
“It’s the twenty-first century.” His voice was cold and steely.
“It’s the two thousands—”
“It’s the twenty-first century,” Nick repeated. “Years zero to one hundred were the first century, and then one hundred to two hundred was the second century… how do you not know what century it is?”
“Okay, okay,” Luke said, putting his hands up, though his embarrassment was clear. “You don’t have to constantly act like you’re so much smarter—”
“I am smarter,” Nick said. “And it’s basic general knowledge.”
There was a long, tense pause. Everyone’s eyes flitted from Nick to Luke to Nick again.
“You’re fucking insufferable, you know that, right?” Luke said. “No one likes being around you. You think you’re too good for us.”
My stomach had dropped to my feet.
There was a long, tense moment. Then:
“You’re right,” Nick said. “Sorry.”
I stared, uncertain I’d heard correctly.
Nick stood up. “I’m getting a Corona. You guys want one?”
The cousins said yes. I shook my head, and then Nick walked away to the esky that was sitting on the edge of the lawn.