Chapter 10
The enormous rock that rises up from the flat red desert is visible for hundreds of miles. The landscape looks like Mars, until we reach Alice Springs, a little oasis in a small green valley.
“Things here are different,” Athena tells us. “This is a dangerous town. The most dangerous in the country. Anything you think you can get away with, you can’t get away with it tonight.”
“But it’s New Year’s Eve!” Kai, one of the jocks who paid off Athena, with the stupid backwards hat, yells.
“Fucken oath it is,” the darkly tanned old man next to Athena says.
“And the most dangerous night of the fucken year. The powers that be, in all their superior wisdom, have lifted the fucken alcohol ban so shit’s gonna kick off the moment that bottle-o opens.
You cheeky ratbags try lair it up I’ll crack the shits and send you back to Seppoland tout suite. ”
There is a pause while the group tries to decode the man’s interruption.
“What?” one of the students says.
“Who are you?” the British girl says.
Her name is Amelia, I think. Cute, pale, blonde, attractive.
“This is Johnno,” Athena explains. “He will act as a local guide here.”
Johnno adjusts his slouchy hat and sniffs. “Alright,” he says, as if that’s a greeting.
“Due to the unique social aspects of this town, you can all celebrate the new year festivities from inside the hotel. You can go out in groups, but you can’t go anywhere alone, and you must be back before sundown.”
I feel mildly amused at the idea of behaving like a cautious little schoolboy. Being locked in a hotel with Austen? Perfect.
“We’ll be good,” I say, speaking for the group.
???
This whole thing has not been going anywhere good the last few days. Austen’s always keeping an eye out for me, in order to leave rooms as I enter, but now I’m walking away, and paying him no mind either.
The girls on the tour, and even a few guys, are hitting on me, and I won’t take the bait.
That’s only making them more persistent.
I can’t stand the idea of anybody else but him.
He is my first, and most painful heartbreak.
I take on every excruciating second with everything I have, in the hopes that it will toughen my emotional walls for the next time I become this irrational.
In the Alice “downtown” we meet some local indigenous artists at a gallery.
William sticks around to talk with them, and sketch their portraits at the end.
It seems like Will is not only intelligent, but creative and talented, and has a rich inner life.
It fascinates all the girls to no end, and annoys me a lot. Austen waits around outside for him.
Groups of students peel off for lunch at nearby spots. I follow a group to a convenience store across the road. We all buy refreshments. I get a fruit-shaped popsicle.
“It is quite phallic, isn’t it?” one of the girls, Amelia, the Brit, asks.
I frown. “What?”
“The watermelon at the top especially makes a perfect head shape.”
I play along, licking from the base, before gently wrapping my lips around the tip and gently sucking at it.
“Seems like you have some experience.”
I start laughing. “I’m very observant.”
I like this girl, and she is attracted to me. A month ago, I might have propositioned her. Maybe I should. I can’t believe how hung up on Austen I am. It can’t be healthy.
Some of the students walk past and I follow them with my eyes, until I land on him, watching from across the street.
I am always aware of him, but looking right at him thumps me hard.
I freeze, unsure whether to keep eating in that suspiciously sensual way or not.
It wasn’t a performance for his benefit, but I got his attention.
There’s just something about him. Maybe he’s actually my soulmate, if there is such a thing. It feels like there is.
“Do you know who that is?” Amelia asks, as she looks over at Austen.
“Yeah, why? You’re British so you probably know more. What’s the deal?”
“Oh, I don’t want to gossip.”
“Sure you don’t, but go on.”
“Well I mean, literally everyone back in the U.K. knows who they are. They have a bit of a reputation, I guess. William’s a playboy, we all know they stole an aeroplane.
..” she frowns. “Between then and now, they have been dead silent. They seem to be doing okay, but they’re disowned.
.. and we’re talking unbelievable wealth.
American and European fortunes joined over and over again for decades, centuries maybe.
That also makes them the least inbred aristocrats in Europe too.
Their mother keeps a low profile, their father runs one of the family companies, and their grandfather owns several billion-dollar companies, and their grandfather’s brother is probably the richest aristocrat in England, and childless.
William’s the older twin, so he’s the heir.
No matter what he does, he’s destined to be a billionaire.
Even if they don’t get anything from their own grandfather, they’ll be richer than the bloody Queen. ”
“So stealing the plane really wasn’t the end of the road?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what happened there.
Everybody has heard little things; not that it was in the tabloids.
Usually the papers are savage in England—they should be all over a story like that—but there was only one article in an independent newspaper.
It was like someone told the British media shut the fuck up. ”
“I wonder why?”
“Their grandfather is friends with all the newspaper monopoly men so I figure he made the phone call.”
“But he disowned them?”
“Yeah,” she scrunches her nose. “I think there’s a lot more to it.
I look over at him, all alone. It is almost like discrimination, for everyone to have opinions on him, before ever knowing him.
“Back in a sec,” I tell Amelia. “Gotta go stir the pot.”
I walk back in the store and emerge with another frozen treat. I cross the street and offer it to Austen.
“You seemed to want one,” I explain.
“Oh I...”
He doesn’t know what to say. Not taking it would make him look petty or afraid, but taking it might make me think I won another chess piece. Because I would have.
“You still haven’t given up on chasing me?” he asks, opening my gift. “I’m starting to pity you.”
“That’s okay,” I shrug. “The chase is the most erotic part.”
It’s a chocolate covered ice-cream, but I have not forgotten that he’s lactose intolerant, and can only have a bite.
“You don’t really have to eat it,” I tell him. “I know you don’t eat dairy. I just bought it as a joke.”
I turn over the wrapper and show him the name of it. Golden Gaytime.
He hands it back to me. “That’s funny, but I think it’s more for you.”
I hold out my own popsicle. “Then we should swap.”
A drop of red juice slowly makes its way down to my fingers.
“I...” he takes it awkwardly.
He looks at me and I wait. He doesn’t understand why he’s letting this happen. Maybe it’s the melting ice causing Austen more anxiety than imagining the implications of sharing cooties with me. A drop of sticky cold liquid hits his finger and he reflexively licks the melt.
I breathe in sharply. “I love watching you eat.”
My eyes flick half closed, savoring the sight of him. I feel like I just smoked something illegal.
He pauses, midway through his second lick, uncertain what to do. He presses his lips together and tries to discreetly remove the sticky syrup from his lips with his tongue. He’s in way too deep again and he knows it, he just can’t let me see.
Goddamn, my superpower is on fire today. It’s almost as if, I don’t know, he really is my soulmate?
Unfortunately, William comes out soon enough.
“Hi,” he says, and smiles at us both.
I bite into the Golden Gaytime ice-cream with indifference.
“Sup?” I ask.
“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” William asks me.
My stomach lurches.
Yes Will, you have spent ten days on vacation with me. You even went out to dinner with me and a group of other students, yesterday. We both have photos to prove this.
“Not sure.” I shrug. “Gym maybe?”
William frowns. “You deliver pizza, right?”
Austen slaps his hand to his head.
“Yup,” I say, popping the P. “I think I saw you fight a Russian guy... Gregor? You lost that, right?”
“I lost on points,” William shrugs. “And I had the flu. You like the trip so far?”
It’s as if William is trying to befriend me. He’s terrible at it.
“Today is pretty neat,” I say. “The Dandenongs and Melbourne library were also highlights.”
Every time I had a moment with Austen.
Austen doesn’t like this turn of events.
He doesn’t want me talking to his brother.
I smirk, and then he looks at me defiantly, and hands William the popsicle to share with him.
Will takes it and sucks on it. I watch in alarm, as Austen’s eyes drill into me and I feel more and more revulsion.
It’s the first time he’s knocked me off balance, and he can barely suppress a laugh bubbling up inside him.
“Are you doing anything later?” William asks, taking another lick.
I’m completely thrown, and it shows. Austen is thrown too. He shakes his head furiously at William, but Will ignores him.
“What do you mean?”
“We have till sundown to get a drink. That’s like, ten o’clock at night around here. I need a very cold beer in a place like this. Do you want to ditch the girls and find a bar with us later?”
The playing field is shifting again. Now the alarm is back on Austen’s face. William casually finishes the popsicle belonging to me and Austen. Austen frantically shakes his head behind William, trying to tell me to decline the offer, cutting his hand across his throat.
A grin breaks out over my face. “Sure.”
“Back in a minute,” William says, and leaves for the corner store.
“That was evil,” I tell Austen.
He shrugs. “There has never been a candy bar, lollipop, bonbon, or drink I have ever been allowed to enjoy by myself. Billy also wants to eat what I eat because he’s needy and annoying.”
“So you’ll be joining us for that drink?”
Austen glowers at me. “That’s not a good idea. Billy’s only suitable for controlled environments. The thing is, he’s the evil twin.”
“I already figured that out,” I say. “That’s actually why it might be fun. I think he likes me.”
Austen raises an eyebrow. “He’s straight too, but a total man-whore so you may have a better chance with him than me.”
“I meant as a friend,” I frown. “I only have eyes for you.”
“What’s the difference? We’re exactly the same.”
“You two are nothing alike, and I would never date someone like him. Nothing worse than the stench of ego,” I scrunch my nose.
“The show-ponying at fights, the expensive car, the fancy watches. That’s what people are like with big egos.
Tacky. And I’m from the Eastern Block so I’m an expert in tacky. ”
“Then why are you going for a drink with him?”
“Because I think he’ll be my future brother-in-law one day.”
Austen shakes his head. “I hate this so much.”