Julian’s
party was pretty shit, actually. Dead in the water, but the kind of
dead where there were still lots of people who just couldn’t be bothered
with leaving. Like it might pick up if they just waited long enough.
Scott
arrived later than Dennis expected him to. He only lived walking
distance away. For a while Dennis thought he wasn’t coming. More likely
he had spent some time earlier in the evening hanging out with Richard
and Adam. He was welcome to them.
When
Scott turned up Dennis was leaning on the door, watching Kane entertain
a circle of girls on the steps with his ability to say witless things
loudly. As Scott sidled past the group, Kane paused in mid-sentence to
burp loudly and some of the girls made faces. He waved his bottle at
Scott. ‘Pissed yet Collins awwwww get with the program its midnight
already.’
Dennis gave Scott a nod and he fell in beside. ‘Sorry I’m late. Did I miss much?’
‘Nope.’
‘Good. So where’d you fuck off to last night?’
Dennis shrugged.
‘Are you chucking the team? Damon was pissed, man.’
‘It goes how it goes.’
‘Does it?’
Dennis
figured Scott was wondering if he should push it. No chance of catching
anything real as long as he was in a dodging mood. Dennis could stay
two steps ahead of Scott without breaking a sweat.
’so now what?’ Scott asked.
‘Now?’
‘Yeah. You making a move?’
‘Always.’
There
was a shout that caught everyone’s attention. ‘Hey! Hey, you got a
problem?’ It was Craig, up by the gate. He and Will were standing there,
they’d been hanging out, standing firm now and Mark was ducking back
towards the house. Beyond them, just outside the gate, a half-dozen
people had gathered where the streetlamps spiked into the sky. They were
standing around, black jackets, heavy metal t-shirts.
‘What’s going on?’ Scott asked as Mark reached them.
‘Fucking bogans causing trouble,’ Mark said, excited. ‘I’m getting Julian.’
Dennis
followed Mark inside. He went through to the back of the house, where
he’d been doing shots with Julian earlier. There was no-one there now as
people headed to the front of the house. He opened cupboards until he
found what he needed.
By
the time he got back to the front of the house, things had moved on.
Julian was standing beside Mark’s car in the driveway, shouting at one
of the bogans, and the way they were talking to each other Dennis
figured it was an old feud between them. Around Julian there was a bunch
of fighting going on. Kane was in the thick of it, throwing short hard
punches like someone who had been in a bunch of fights.
Dennis
had never been in a fight before. He picked up speed, easy strides.
Scott was on the ground, holding his belly. What the hell was he
thinking, getting involved in that? Dennis jumped on to the bonnet of
Mark’s car, stepped on the roof, hopped down to the boot, and swung the
cricket bat at the nearest head.
It connected with a crack. The guy went down in a heap. He was wailing. Everyone looked.
Dennis
stood on the car, hefting the bat above his head. He felt a thousand
feet tall, he felt like he was in the clouds, he felt like he was
flying. ‘Get out of here,’ he said. He didn’t even need to raise his
voice.
They
left, dragging their injured mate with them. Julian stalked after them,
shouting furiously. Dennis stayed up on the car. Everyone was looking
up at him, the whole party was gathering around him. Talking. Stories
already beginning to be told.
His eyes met Scott’s. Scott looked far away. Getting further away by the second.
The wind was in his face. Balance shifting. Grab hold.
