Chapter 9
Of course no one is there at the advertised start time.
That is to be expected. Even I, anxious as I am about the event, am not allowed to get in my own head about the fact that no one is here yet.
I choose my first track and hit play: I always knew the first thing I was going to play was ‘Gimme Shelter’ by the Rolling Stones.
It really sets the mood, sets the scene, sets the tone.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes and let the sound fill the room, saying a silent wish that tonight goes well and people show up and Felix is true to his word and takes me somewhere afterwards.
* * *
‘This is fun,’ Patrick says forty-five minutes later, approaching the booth to give me a big squeeze. We survey the room, which has filled up nicely (minus Felix), lots of groups dancing or chatting at the bar. The atmosphere, dare I say it, is quite banging.
‘I think so too!’ I say, letting the relief that people showed up flood through me.
‘Here,’ he says, handing me a drink. ‘It’s just a lime and soda. I thought you might get thirsty.’
‘Thanks, Pat. Got to keep my wits about me . . . and not get dehydrated.’
‘Very wise,’ he nods. ‘You taking requests?’
‘I wasn’t planning to, but for you, I can make it happen,’ I say, before pausing. ‘Maybe. Depends on what you ask for. I can’t make any promises – my reputation is on the line.’
‘Cheeky bit of ABBA?’
‘For you, anything,’ I say, reassured that I can, in fact, fulfil this request on the grounds that it’s not terrible.
‘Thanks, babe!’ he says, pecking me on the cheek before returning to his boyfriend and their group of friends who are certainly bringing the good vibes.
Not wanting to squander the goodwill of Patrick and his crew, I line up ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’ by ABBA next, and then I can return to my main pursuit of the evening . . . waiting for Felix. I scan the room for him once again and don’t see his floppy blond hair anywhere. Instead –
What the hell is he doing here? Bloody Laurie O’Donnell has just walked in with Charlotte Sherman, the newspaper editor. Oooh, she always looks so severe, so serious, so very un-me. And the less said about Laurie the better.
Our eyes meet across the dance floor and his face falls when he sees who’s behind the decks. Classic.
I flash him my most dazzling smile to show that I Am the Alpha Dog and he is in my territory. He can copy my columns all he wants, but in this situation he is but a guest at my club night and I am the hot, sexy DJ.
Ignore him. Just ignore him. I don’t know why he’s here anyway.
This is a night for fun people, not serious types.
Fun people like Tyler, who I see is enthusiastically making out in the middle of the dance floor with a very pretty, very feminine girlie with a cascade of blonde hair.
Gosh, what a beautiful thing, what an unintended consequence of starting this night – facilitating young love!
Superstar DJ and inadvertent match-maker!
If only Felix was here to see my absolute prowess.
But no, my efforts are rewarded with Laurie and his little girlfriend instead.
Charlotte Sherman says something into Laurie’s ear and walks off in the direction of the bathrooms, leaving him alone on the edge of the dance floor.
Even though he’s a tedious bore, something about the image strikes my sensitive little heart, and I will him to come over to the decks just so he’s not on his own.
And, because I must have some kind of power of mind control, he does come over.
He makes his way through the crowd, so much bigger and taller than everyone, but so tentatively and shyly pushes through the mass of bodies flailing to ‘Last Nite’ by the Strokes and approaches my little podium.
‘I thought I should say hello,’ he shouts from the other side of the decks. I gesture for him to walk around to my side, which he does.
‘Hello, Laurie,’ I shout into his ear, which requires me to stand on tiptoes because he is Rather Large.
‘Hello, Mary-Elizabeth,’ he says flatly.
‘And what are you doing here?’
‘Oh, I assure you I’m not here on purpose.’
‘I couldn’t imagine you were.’
‘I just . . .’ He trails off.
‘What?’ I ask, curious.
‘I just heard . . . music coming from here when I left the Quad Media office and wanted to see what was going on.’
‘You heard music, did you? Coming from the union? And you had to investigate?’
He sighs. ‘Fine, you win, I heard . . . good music coming from the union.’ His pink cheeks look positively scarlet under the lights, and under the forensic examination by yours truly.
‘That wasn’t so hard, was it?’ I say, cocking my head.
‘You’ve got good taste,’ he says begrudgingly.
‘Good taste for a girl or something? Is that what you wanted to say?’ I ask.
‘No!’ he protests, his dark brow furrowing. ‘I wouldn’t say that.’
‘So, what was the track that lured you in? My siren song, if you will?’
Laurie rolls his eyes and huffs, but eventually summons the energy to answer. ‘The Run-DMC remix,’ he says extremely reluctantly.
‘Certified banger,’ I say, nodding my head sagely.
‘You know he –’ Laurie begins.
‘Only got paid $5,000 for the remix when it ended up selling over five million copies? Yes, I did know that,’ I say, twirling around obnoxiously. I will not let Laurie think he knows more about my shit than I do!
‘Touché,’ he says gruffly. ‘Well, just thought I should say hello.’ He turns and looks over his shoulder, catches the eye of Charlotte Sherman over by the bar, before turning back to me.
I studiously ignore him while I get ‘Like a Virgin’ playing (I wanted to play ‘Like a Prayer’ but that’s an end-of-the-night, drunken-wailing kind of song, not a sexy little middle-of-the-night kind of song, which is exactly what I need right now).
It’s a bit weird that he turned up, but given there’s still no sign of Felix, I can’t exactly complain about the people that did show.
I’m about to say something witty and devastating to Laurie when – gasp!
Speak of the devil! My heart absolutely leaps with joy at the sight of Felix walking in.
He spots me from across the room and raises his arm in greeting but frowns at the sight of me talking to Laurie.
I wave back, slightly too enthusiastically, which makes Laurie turn his head to see who I am waving at.
‘Oh,’ he says, turning back to me.
‘Oh?’ I say very pointedly.
‘You just seemed very happy to see Felix, that’s all,’ Laurie says, shrugging.
‘Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.’
‘Friend of yours?’ he asks, before pausing. ‘Or . . . is he your boyfriend?’
I blush and clear my throat. ‘No,’ I say, shaking my head. ‘No one’s my boyfriend. I don’t really do that.’
‘Well, that’s something, I suppose.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I say, taken aback at how confidently he disparages Felix.
But I don’t get an answer. Charlotte Sherman returns and places a hand on Laurie’s shoulder.
‘Mary-Elizabeth, this is Charlotte. Charlotte, this is Mary-Elizabeth.’
‘Oh, I know who you are,’ Charlotte says with an amused little smile, like it’s a private joke between them or something. It makes my stomach turn in knots.
I open my mouth to say something very memorable, when all of a sudden, the music just cuts out completely. No more music. No more ‘Like a Virgin’. Just silence and confusion. The record-scratch freeze-frame that absolutely no one wanted, least of all me.
Instantly my stomach drops, a pit opening up inside me, and I wish the ground would swallow me up.
Everyone turns to look at me, which makes all the blood rush right to my face, a hot wave of shame washing over me.
I look down at the decks, look back up for a moment, lock eyes with Felix, who’s making an awkward face at me from over by the bar.
Why did he have to turn up about two minutes before this happened?
Why couldn’t it have happened before he showed up here?
Why do bad things happen to moderately OK people? And what the hell do I do now?
I look around, panicked, but Laurie and Charlotte are no help.
Charlotte is just grimacing awkwardly, like this is somehow inconveniencing her, and while Laurie does look a bit stressed on my behalf, he’s not actually doing anything to help me, though right at this moment I can’t actually tell you what that would be. Maybe I’m not quite DJ material yet.
‘Ummm . . .’ I say, swallowing hard, feeling the eyes of the crowd on me.
The instant sickening silence has been replaced by awkward murmuring.
I look down at the decks again, then think to check underneath.
Genius! A cable that’s very much meant to be plugged in is lying limply on the floor.
I bend to pick it up, my silly little sequinned dress feeling tight and conspicuous all of a sudden, and jam the cable back into its port.
I nearly vomit with pure relief when the room is once again filled with the sweet sounds of Madonna, and within a split second everyone is dancing once more, like it never happened.
But my heart is doing a million beats per minute, and I’ve broken out in a cold sweat, so clearly it very much did happen.
And in front of Felix as well! God! Just my luck.
‘Well, thank God for that,’ comes a smooth voice from the other side of the decks.
‘Felix!’ I say, almost without meaning to. Don’t want to be too keen, do I?
No sooner has Felix materialised than Laurie and Charlotte are gone without so much as a goodbye. Can you say rude?
‘Well, bye then,’ Felix says over his shoulder to their backs as they make their way through the crowd to the exit. Good riddance, I say. ‘Classic O’Donnell behaviour. Thinks he’s better than everyone.’
The music is too loud for me to ask Felix what their story is, but it’s clear there is a story, and if I don’t find out what it is, I’ll surely die.
‘Thanks for coming,’ I say, trying to put the embarrassment of the technical malfunction behind me.
He shrugs, walking round to my side of the booth. ‘I wouldn’t have missed it. You gave me a personal invitation, remember?’ Felix slides a hand onto my shoulder, his fingertips brushing the back of my neck. Promising.
He nods over to a group of guys on the dance floor. ‘I came with some lads from my course – they seem to be having a good time.’
‘Well,’ I say, blushing at the thought of the Loudest Silence Ever, ‘barring technical difficulties, I feel like it’s going quite well . . .’
‘That sort of thing could happen to anyone, it’s no big deal,’ he says, which in a way makes me think it’s even more of a big deal. ‘You should be proud of yourself. And I’ll see you after, yeah?’ He looks me right in the eye as he says it. I feel a distinct fluttering in my chest.
I feel too overwhelmed with joy and lust to say anything so I just nod. I feel the urge to cut the interaction short, keen to keep the feeling of possibility and anticipation in the air.
‘You should get back to your friends,’ I say, looking in their direction.
They really do seem like they’re having a great time.
God, maybe I’m actually good at this?! But if I was actually good at it then I wouldn’t have had that absolutely gaping silence right in front of Felix, would I?
So basically, it’s too soon to tell. Maybe I should do another one in a few weeks just to make sure.
But first . . . I have a date with Felix Balfour to attend to!