A sudden and horrible silence
Standing outside Anita’s house, Max took the last sip of a can of beer he had bought on the way.
He’d already had another, and this was his second of the day.
He just couldn’t stand the thought of facing Bethan without at least a couple of drinks to help manage his nerves first. He hadn’t gone to run club on Thursday because he hadn’t wanted to see her, but he couldn’t not go to Anita’s house for her Indian feast. He adored Anita, and despite how things were with Bethan, he wanted to see the rest of Common People.
The house was a gorgeous Victorian semi-detached on a beautiful tree-lined street in Wandsworth, just moments from the common that must have been worth upwards of a million.
Outside in the front garden, she had a few bins out and one for recycling, so when he finished his can of beer, he put it in the recycling bin, before he pushed the doorbell and waited nervously outside.
He could hear the faint sound of music playing inside, and then the door opened and it became louder as he was met with the sight of Anita, wearing an Indian sari.
‘Wow, Anita, you look stunning!’ He had only ever really seen her in her running gear, and a few times wearing normal, everyday clothes, but nothing as beautiful as that.
‘Thanks, Max. I thought I’d make the effort with everyone coming over. Come on in,’ she replied, and he walked past and they had a quick hug.
‘Your house is incredible.’
‘Oh, thank you. I’ve been here since nineteen ninety-four, when house prices weren’t what they are now. Ravi also spent many years doing it up. When we bought it, it was in a right state, let me tell you. It took us many, many years to make it look like this.’
Anita closed the door and they walked along a hallway, past a gorgeous reception room and a downstairs toilet, and then through into a vast room at the back of the house.
She had a stunning extension that had a huge kitchen, living area, and the French doors to the garden, which were wide open as it was such a gorgeous day.
As soon as he walked into the kitchen, he saw everyone outside, all drinking and eating.
‘Come outside, Max, everyone is already here.’
‘Max! Hello mate!’ said Joe loudly, who was standing next to his wife, Dawn.
‘Hello, Joe. How are you?’ asked Max, as they stepped into the garden. Max had already clocked Bethan, who was looking lovely in a blue dress, balancing a plate of food in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.
‘Yeah, yeah, not bad, mate. I’m slowly getting back to my old self.’
‘He’s been re-watching old episodes of Eastenders,’ said Dawn. ‘I’ll be glad when he’s back to work, so I don’t have to hear the constant noise of the Eastenders boom boom boom at the end of every bloody episode.’
‘And when are you back to work?’ asked Max.
‘Hopefully I’ll get the all-clear next week,’ said Joe, before Dawn chipped in.
‘We’ve got an appointment with his doctor on Friday.’
‘Fingers crossed,’ said Max, before they were joined by Hope, Charlie and then Eve. Finally, Bethan wandered over.
‘Hi, Max,’ she said, with a tentative smile.
‘Hello,’ he replied, equally sheepish.
There was a definite air of awkwardness between them, which was fortunately broken by Anita, who wanted to show Max all the food she had laid out on a long table.
‘Right,’ said Anita, as they started at one end of the table that was full of the most incredible looking food.
So many bright colours and the smells were intoxicating.
Max loved Indian food, but it was the first time he’d been to a homemade Indian feast, and he couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
‘We have starters at this end of the table, samosas, veggie and lamb, crispy onion bhajis, and then a selection of homemade poppadoms with different chutneys, raita, and then we have naan and curries. Chicken tikka masala, lamb rogan josh, and, of course, some tandoori chicken. At the end are the vegetarian options, a rich, fruity veggie curry, aloo gobi, saag paneer, and then the rice. There’s plain boiled Basmati rice, or a more aromatic pilau rice. ’
‘It all looks incredible, Anita. Thank you so much,’ said Max, before she gave him a plate.
‘Foods absolutely phenomenal,’ said Charlie, slurring his words slightly, standing next to him, a pint of lager in his hand. ‘Hands down, the best Indian I’ve ever had.’
‘Oh yeah? How many beers have you had?’
‘Just a couple,’ replied Charlie, but Max could tell from the look on his face and the colour in his cheeks that he’d had more than just a couple. ‘Fancy a cold one, Chunder Boy?’
‘Go on then. You can’t have an Indian without a nice cold beer.’
‘Too bloody right!’ said Charlie before he marched off towards the beers, while Max started filling his plate full of food. It all looked and smelled so good, he wanted to try everything.
‘Food’s all blindin’!’ said Joe from across the patio. ‘Even the veggie stuff I’m forced to eat.’
Max filled his plate high with a little bit of everything, although he would definitely be back for seconds, and maybe thirds.
Charlie returned with a can of beer for each of them, before Max settled in with everyone else to enjoy his food.
It had been a stressful, emotional week, and it felt good to be sitting in the sunshine in Anita’s lovely garden, with friends, eating some delicious Indian food.
Max felt himself relaxing. He had long chats with Hope, Joe, and he even had a reasonably normal conversation with Bethan, which hinted at the possibility of them being able to be just friends for the time being.
Since his conversation with Jane, Max had been thinking about taking some time and going away for a month or so.
He would need to speak with work, to see if they would be open to letting him take a sabbatical, but if they would, maybe it was just what he needed.
Truth be told, there wasn’t much keeping him in London at that moment.
He had Common People, but after the Clapham Half, taking some time away wouldn’t be the end of the world.
He had the sandwich shop, but once it was open, Robbie could manage that without him for a while.
His job would still be there once he got back, and things with Bethan were currently on hold, so spending a month travelling might be just what he needed to have a good think about what might come next.
Perhaps some distance and space might give him the clarity of mind to make some big decisions.
The afternoon slowly crept into early evening, and most of the food had been eaten, and people were focusing more on drinking and talking.
With some of the food being quite spicy, Max had found the cold beer had really been going down well.
Charlie was clearly drunk, and with Hope, Joe and Anita not drinking alcohol at all, they were beginning to slowly wind the night down before any more alcohol was consumed.
Max was feeling a little drunk himself, and he knew he needed to stop.
Max had just returned from the toilet, when he saw Charlie talking with a clearly uncomfortable looking Bethan.
Max didn’t hesitate for a moment, spurred on by alcohol and the need to protect Bethan, he marched across like a knight in shining armour to protect his damsel in distress.
At least that’s what he thought in his mind.
‘You all right?’ he asked Bethan straight away.
Bethan looked at Max, and he could see straight away that she wasn’t OK. She may have been good at masking, the conversation about her ADHD came back to him, but he could see the look in her eyes. She wanted out of that conversation, whatever it was about.
‘Yeah, fine,’ she replied.
‘I was just talking about a bloody boyfriend, that’s all, and she got all weird about it,’ said Charlie. ‘I just wanted to know—’
‘Maybe just leave it alone, yeah?’ said Max.
‘Max, I don’t need you—’ said Bethan, but Charlie immediately interrupted her.
‘A simple question, Bethan, that’s all. I wasn’t asking you to bloody well recite the works of Shakespeare,’ said Charlie, aggressively. ‘What’s the problem?’
‘Not a problem,’ said Bethan. ‘I’m going to leave the conversation now.’
‘Yeah, fine, whatever, walk away,’ said Charlie, before he took a sip of his beer.
‘Don’t be a dickhead, Charlie,’ said Max, taking a step toward him. ‘Just leave her alone.’
‘Oh, what, you’re her bodyguard now, are you, Chunder Boy? Just because you want to fuck her.’
‘What did you say?’ said Max, feeling a sudden burst of anger towards Charlie.
‘Stop it,’ said Bethan, stepping back in again. ‘He’s not worth it, Max. He’s drunk.’
‘What’s happening?’ said Eve, suddenly appearing on the scene.
‘Oh, here she is,’ slurred Charlie. ‘Can’t keep her Irish feckin’ nose out of it.’
‘Oh, shut up, you big baby,’ replied Eve.
‘I was just asking Bethan about her relationship status, that’s all, and she got all fucking weird about it.’
‘She probably didn’t want to answer your daft feckin’ questions,’ said Eve.
‘Can we all just leave it alone, and move on, please,’ said Bethan firmly, and for a moment it seemed that the conversation was over.
Everyone began taking small steps away from the situation, leaving it behind because no-one wanted to make it any worse.
They’d all had a few drinks, tempers had flared, but at the end of the day, they were in run club together, and they were there to support each other.
Max had taken a step towards the house, when he heard Charlie say, under his breath.
‘Probably a shit fuck anyway.’
‘What did you say?’ said Max, turning to face Charlie, who smiled at him.
‘Come on, Max, mate. Just a bit of bants.’
‘What did you fucking say?’
Charlie laughed, and Max felt Bethan coming towards him, Eve had stopped, and he felt a similar anger as he had when he had Barry by the arm in the graveyard.
He was tired of people taking and taking, of feeling like there was nothing he could control in his life.
He was tired of people like Charlie, who swanned through life, being awful and making disgusting comments under the guise of “just a bit of bants”.
Bethan had been through so much, felt so much pain, and she shouldn’t have to deal with dickheads like Charlie, making rude derogatory comments about her, just because they were feeling insecure about themselves.
Max faced Charlie, and in one moment he shoved him backwards, and Charlie fell, but in an attempt to stay upright, he staggered sideways and into the table of food.
In a second, Charlie had fallen into the food, the table had gone backwards and everything on it was soon on the floor, with a shocked Charlie next to it, covered in bits of Anita’s Indian feast.
‘For your information, Charlie, Bethan’s boyfriend fucking died!’ shouted Max, pointing a finger at Charlie on the ground, who looked mortified. ‘He died in a car crash just like my parents! So shut the fuck up!’
There was a sudden and horrible silence in the garden, with the only sound being the music that was coming from inside the house.
As the rage within Max quickly subsided, he turned to face Bethan behind him.
He had done the worst thing possible. He had shared her heartache and grief with the group without her consent.
He had taken her story without permission, and he felt absolutely awful.
‘Bethan, I’m sorry, I—’
‘Just leave me alone,’ said Bethan, tears streaking down her face, before she turned around and dashed out of the house.
Max had felt many lows over the past year and a half, but he didn’t think he had ever felt worse because this wasn’t about his pain, it was about Bethan’s, and it hurt far worse than he ever could ever have imagined.