Chapter 17
17
NOVEMBER 1990 – HONG KONG
Carina
Carina barged into Moira’s room, and then immediately wished she’d knocked, waited two minutes, then walked in wearing an eye mask. There were things in life she didn’t need to see and one of them was Moira and Nate, all wrapped around each other in bed.
‘Urgh, you two are seriously sickening, do you know that?’
‘We do,’ Moira nodded, grinning. ‘In fact, we try really hard to be as nauseating as possible. It’s our mission in life.’
Carina threw open the curtains, blinding the lovebirds with the daylight. ‘Well, mission accomplished. Come on – it’s time to go to work.’
The only thing that was worse than knowing she sounded like a prize bitch, was that the two of them were so happy in their little blissed-out bubble that they weren’t even rising to the bait. They’d been like this for the last month since they’d got together – completely inseparable and disgustingly happy. As delighted as she was for them, the truth was that she missed single-fun-partner-in-crime-Moira. The last few weeks had been so different to their usual routine. Normally, they’d finish their set every night around midnight or 1a.m. if the place was packed, then they’d head to an after-party or a club at least four or five nights of the week. They’d party until dawn, then come home, crash, get up early afternoon and do it all again. Now Moira was straight home to see Nate, and Carina had to come drag them out of bed every afternoon.
‘I love it when you boss me around,’ Moira teased, throwing off the sheet and stretching as she sat up, her oversize ‘Frankie Says Feck Off’ T-shirt falling off one shoulder. It had been procured a few weeks ago when they’d all had one drink too many with a crowd of girls from Dublin, and Moira had swapped it for the conical bra she wore every night when she sang ‘Vogue.’ There had been a complete panic the next day when she realised what she’d done, but luckily the Dublin girls had returned the bra the following night. They let Moira keep the T-shirt though, because they said it was the best night they’d had on their holiday.
Talking of Irish girls…
‘Have either of you spoken to Lisa today? She’s not answering her door.’
Nate was up now too, on his way into the bathroom. ‘No. Didn’t see her come in last night either. Wasn’t she with you?’
‘No. I came back early – wasn’t feeling it…’ They’d all – except Moira, of course – ended up at a club in Lan Kwai Fong, the area that was the epicentre of the night scene on the island. The real Michael Hutchence and Kylie Minogue had been spotted there last year when they were still dating, and they all lived in hope of bumping into him again there now that he was single. ‘She was with our usual crowd from the bar and didn’t want to leave. Last I saw she was sitting on Josh’s knee and knocking back flaming sambucas.’
‘Maybe she’s at his place.’ Moira went to the same conclusion that Carina had come to after banging on Lisa’s door for five minutes. ‘She stayed there a couple of nights last week. I asked her about it, and she pointed out that I’m not her mother.’
Carina headed for the door. ‘Nope, apparently that would be me. Honestly, it’s like trying to round up toddlers with you two. I’ll go try her again.’
She’d just opened the door when she saw the missing person coming past reception, still in last night’s clothes. ‘Lisa! For God’s sake, we need to leave in half an hour.’
‘Sorry. Got sick last night. Stayed at Ben’s place.’ Carina was surprised. Ben was one of the regulars at the bar, and someone who often hung out with them, but not one of Lisa’s usual guys.
‘Give me half an hour. Don’t stress, I’ll be ready,’ Lisa assured her, with her usual chilled out shrug as she carried on along the corridor to her room. That was her go-to mantra. ‘Don’t stress, it’s cool’. Or ‘Don’t stress, I’m fine’.
Carina turned back to Moira, and she didn’t need to say what she was thinking, because Moira said it first. ‘Is it just me, or is she getting worse? I’m getting worried about her. That’s the second or third time she’s got sick.’
Lisa had always been the wild card, the party animal, the reckless one, but in the last couple of weeks she’d taken it to a whole new level. The drinking. The guys. Carina had caught her doing coke in the bathroom of a nightclub last week, and Lisa had just waved her off like it was no big deal.
‘Don’t stress, I’m fine,’ had, of course, been Lisa’s response to the situation. Carina had taken some loo roll, wiped the coke off the top of the cistern and flushed it. ‘You’re not fine.’
There had been a totally uncharacteristic blaze in Lisa’s eyes, when she’d shot back, ‘Yeah, well at least I wasn’t the one worrying that I was knocked up.’
Carina had reared back like she’d been slapped. The pregnancy scare had been terrifying and even weeks after the blue line had failed to materialise in the little white box, she was still waking up in a sweat worrying about it. What would she have done? Her family were still not speaking to her, so there would be no support there. The guy she’d slept with was long gone, deployed to somewhere in the Middle East. Her friends would be there for her, but the reality was, what could they do? None of them had money, or a home, or a normal job – this wasn’t a life to raise a child in. And if she made a different choice… she didn’t even want to think about the trauma that ending the pregnancy would cause her. It was the most petrifying thing that had ever happened to her, and the negative result had left her relieved, but… different. There was a knot in her stomach that she couldn’t seem to shift, and this didn’t all seem like such a big, fun game any more.
And now, it didn’t help that she spent way too much time trying to stop Lisa from royally screwing up her life too.
‘I know, but what do we do?’ Carina shrugged helplessly, in answer to Moira’s worries. ‘She won’t listen to anyone.’
Moira got up from the bed and started pulling her clothes for tonight out of her wardrobe. ‘It’s like she’s got some kind of self-destruct button. I’ll speak to her again. Or maybe Nate can talk to her.’
At that moment, Nate came out of the bathroom, fully dressed now. ‘Did I just hear my name? What are you two getting me into now?’ he asked, laughing as he ran his fingers through his long dark hair. Carina loved him, but he’d never been her type. She didn’t go for that whole ‘shaggy haired, surf dude’ vibe.
‘We need you to talk to Lisa. You two have been friends the longest and she listens to you.’ He’d carried her upstairs after finding her passed out at the door on more than a couple of occasions lately, so he knew what they were worried about. ‘Sure, but, you know… it’s Lisa.’
He didn’t have to explain what he meant. Yet again, they didn’t have to be psychic to know that her response would be a variation of, ‘Don’t stress, it’s all cool’.
But she didn’t have time to worry about that right now, because if they didn’t get to the bar soon, she’d be adding, ‘unemployed’ to her list of problems.
It took another half hour to get out the door, and they were running late so they had to take the MTR instead of the ferry, to give them enough time to stop at a little noodle joint in Wanchai for a quick dinner before they got to work. Carina had chicken with beansprouts in an oyster sauce, Moira had steamed pork buns and Lisa had three Marlboro Reds and two beers, but she still went on to the stage that night and lit it up. Hungover, strung out Lisa was gone and in her place was Stevie Nicks, with a voice every bit as good as the original.
But only for a while.
As Carina and Moira came off stage after the second set, Carina spotted Lisa across at the bar, throwing back a shot. Carina recognised one of the guys she was talking to, but the other one had his back to her, facing the other way.
‘I’m going to head home to Nate,’ Moira announced, predictably.
Carina wasn’t thrilled by this news, but it was hard to object when Moira was so visibly, crazily happy. ‘You know, your vagina might actually fall off. I’ve heard that happens. It’s a medical fact.’
‘I’ll brace myself to catch it,’ Moira said, giggling as she squeezed her in a hug and then kissed her cheek. For the first time, Carina realised she was over this place tonight.
‘Sod it, hang on, I’ll come with you. Let me see if we can talk Lisa into an early night.’
‘There’s more chance of my vagina falling off, but okay.’
They fought their way to the bar, and Carina saw now that there was no chance Lisa was leaving, because there were two drinks in front of her and she’d never let them go to waste. Still, she had to try.
‘Hey, Ben,’ Carina greeted the bar regular, kissing him on each cheek. He was one of the nicest guys in the group, but Carina had never put him and Lisa together, even though she occasionally stayed over at his place. He was too normal, too safe. He had a real job, something to do with imports so they mostly saw him at weekends because he wasn’t one of the ‘out all night every night’ group of bar staff, entertainers and bouncers that they hung out with.
‘Lisa, Moira and I are going to head off. Do you want to come with us?’
‘That’s a shame.’
It took Carina a second to identify where the voice came from. When she did, she had to raise her head to meet his gaze and wow. Just wow.
Ben immediately took charge of the introductions. ‘Carina, this is my brother, Spencer. Feel free to ignore him, because he’s far too cocky to be encouraged. Spencer, this is Carina. And that’s Moira.’
Moira gave him a wave, but Carina played it far cooler, especially when he said, ‘I watched the show tonight. You were all amazing. Why have I never been here before?’
On anyone else, it could have come across as smarmy, but not this guy. In one sweeping glance, Carina took in the expensive suit and the Prada shoes. The Rolex watch on his wrist. The swept back hair and the chiselled jaw, both of which barely registered because they were only a momentary distraction from the glint in his gorgeous blue eyes. Her first thought was that this was a guy who belonged in her old world, the one that she’d grown up in. English. Money. A cut-glass accent. The effortless confidence that came with success. He wasn’t much older than her, but it was obvious from his easy charm that he knew exactly who he was. Her second thought was that her family would love him. This was the type of man she’d been brought up to be with. Unlike her, he wasn’t living in a slum hotel and gigging for a mediocre wage, pulling his friend out of toilets, and constantly teetering on the edge of messing up his life. A couple of months ago, she would have said she loved her life here, adored the freedom, the rebellion, and didn’t want to change it any time soon. But lately it had felt as if something was shifting, like the good times were slipping away.
Now, looking into his eyes, she had the sudden thought that maybe it was time for her rebellious phase to end.
‘Moira, you go on without me. I think I’m going to stick around here for a while.’