Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
I t was a month until she saw Bob again. The band were away on a road trip from Cairns to Gladstone, playing at pubs and small clubs along the way. Sissy had followed them for a while, until they got down as far as Rockhampton. By the time she drove back home, she wasn’t very happy.
A small fire on the beach gave some light to the three of them as they sat around roasting marshmallows. Sissy had bought them in Cairns on her last trip and now they made a sweet accompaniment to the cask of wine they were sharing. Tim and Arlo were fishing with some mates further up at another beach, so tonight was a good time to share some girl talk.
‘Stoner sort of ignored me when I was at their last gig.’ Sissy looked from Peace to Evie. ‘I caught him kissing another girl.’
‘Oh my God,’ Evie said, as she took a large gulp of the wine before drawing back on a joint they were passing between each other. ‘What did you do? ’
‘I threw a glass of beer in her face.’ Sissy said. ‘I don’t know who she was, but there are lots of girls who follow the band around. They’re all sluts and they throw themselves at the boys.’
Evie hesitantly asked what she had been wondering about for a while. ‘Do you think Bob was with anyone? I haven’t seen him since the party, but he asked me to be his girl.’ She noticed a look between Sissy and Peace. ‘Just tell me if he has another girlfriend.’
Sissy took a while to answer. ‘He doesn’t have a girlfriend, but I reckon he might be kissing other girls.’
Evie thought for a long while. She needed to see him and be with him again. Then she could check if he still liked her. On the night she had slept with him, he had told her that he loved her. That meant he would want to see her again. Maybe another girl had kissed him and he hadn’t been able to stop her. Evie wanted to talk to him and see what the situation was. If she was going to be with someone older than her, she would need to be a bit bolder and ask questions.
Her questions were answered the next weekend. School had been back for a week and she quickly settled into classes and school life. The teachers were the same as her last school. Some were good, and some, not so good. She loved her science teacher, who was young and had picked up straight away that Evie was good at the subject. ‘Your skills are way above everyone else’s. Make sure you stay on track. I’ve only been here a year, but I see lots of kids drop out and waste their education. Make sure you don’t do that.’
This weekend, however, education was the last thing on her mind. Mother was working all weekend at her new job at the resort, and Evie was going to stay at the commune with the girls. Well, that was what she told her mother. There was a party at Sugar House and Bob had passed a message to Sissy, to tell Evie to make sure she came. He was looking forward to seeing her.
When she arrived with the others, she couldn’t see Bob around. Stoner was missing also, and Sissy was grumpy, giving Tim a hard time. ‘I asked you to get me some extra weed, so I could give some to Stoner as a present.’
‘Get it yourself, Sissy. I’m sick of providing for Stoner and his dickhead mates. They’re sponges. What does he ever give you?’
Peace purred. ‘He gives her love.’
‘Yeah, you and every other chick he sleeps with.’
The conversation had turned into an argument. Sissy stormed off and started drinking with some of the other older kids who were there. As usual, it was a mixture of different aged partygoers, and Evie watched some of the kids from school have skolling competitions before vomiting in the bushes nearby. They seemed to know she was connected to Bob, and it was almost as if she was special because of that connection. The area she was living in was isolated and sparsely populated, but the younger crowd knew what was going on and who was with whom. She pushed her chest out and took large sips from her wine glass. She was new, from down south, and she was Bob’s girlfriend.
She peered through the crowd on the veranda, looking for him. Tonight, she had dressed especially for him; a short, white denim skirt that barely covered her bottom and a knitted bikini top made out of red cotton. Her tan had darkened over the previous weeks and she was starting to feel as though she looked like a local. Tim sauntered over and offered her a smoke, the thickly rolled joint too good to refuse. They passed it back and forth, and she giggled when he made a joke. Suddenly, a hand that came from behind her snatched the smoke out of Tim’s hand, and she turned around to see Bob puffing hard, drawing down the paper quickly until there was hardly anything left.
‘Hey, man,’ Tim said. ‘That was mine.’
Bob put his arm around Evie and drew her in close. ‘And this is mine.’ He smirked at Tim, who shook his head and turned away. Evie tried to talk to Tim, but he had already run down the stairs. She watched as he walked through the crowd and onto the track that led out through the rainforest.
Bob’s lips were on hers but when they drew apart, she questioned him. ‘What did you do that for? Tim’s a good guy.’
Bob was drunk as well as stoned. He wrapped himself around her. ‘You’re mine, remember.’ She was aware that a group from school were watching, and she let Bob kiss her again. When he led her into his bedroom, she followed. He hadn’t forgotten her. She was still his girl.