Page 35 of After the Siren
‘Not much.’
Jake didn’t trust himself to respond to that – he wasn’t really sure where he and Stavs were sitting on theOh shit we both likedudesspectrum. In Jake’s experience, the spectrum went fromLet’s never speak about this, or to each other, again(1) toLet’s fuck immediately(10).They definitely weren’t at either extreme, but they could have been basically anywhere else. Jake was at about (8) if he was honest, but Stavs was a mystery.
‘Also, I brush my teeth,’ Jake said, before he could say something stupid. Stavs had turned his camera on as well, so Jake could see his face and a bit of a cute-looking courtyard. Stavs was wearing a shirt with a collar. Madness.
‘I know, you never rinse the basin after.’
‘Wow, youreallyhold a grudge. You could have just told me at the time.’
‘Then I would have had to stop being annoyed.’
That was ... surprisingly honest. ‘Maybe I was seeing how long it would take you to crack,’ Jake admitted.
‘You’re —’
‘A dick? I know.’
‘It’s not as charming as you think it is.’
‘Hey, you’re still talking to me.’
‘I can hang up.’
‘So do it.’
Stavs didn’t do it.
‘Are you doing anything for New Year’s?’ Jake asked. Plugger was now on the step next to him, panting his doggie breath into Jake’s face.
‘Probably not.’
‘You are now. Paddy, Xen and I always have a party. Just bring yourself and some beer or something.’
Stavs’ eyes narrowed. ‘Is there a theme?’
‘No theme,’ Jake promised. ‘We save that for Mad Monday, and birthdays.’
‘Thanks for the warning. I don’t know —’
Keeley called Jake’s name from inside, and Jake cut Stavs off before he could come up with a bullshit excuse. ‘Sorry, Stavs. I gotta go. You good?’
‘I’m good,’ Stavs said. ‘Thanks, by the way.’
‘No problem. See you at New Year’s.’ Jake ended the call before Stavs could argue.
Chapter Eight
If someone had asked Theo a year ago where he thought he’d be the following New Year’s Eve, the answer would not have beena house party at Jake Cunningham’s place.But here he was, knocking on the door of a dilapidated bungalow in Coburg. Maybe Jake wasn’t as unbearable as Theo had first thought. Or maybe Theo was building up a tolerance. Like microdosing arsenic.
At least the New Year’s Eve party had given him an excuse to escape his family. It hadn’t beenbad, exactly. It just always felt as though there was something they were all pointedlynottalking about (his choices, his ex-girlfriend, him moving back to Sydney). A fretful, unfair part of him was worried that Eva might spill the beans about theincidentthat had landed him in hospital. She’d promised she wouldn’t, but he wasn’t certain. He hadn’t spent proper time with Eva in years, and some days she felt like a stranger.
On top of the usual prickle of parental disapproval, he kept thinking about coming out. Maybe it had been the conversation with Priya, but he turned it over in his mind, again and again. He didn’t think his parents would react poorly.But it would be one more item on the list of things about Theo to beaccepted, orindulged.
It would be worse if he were really estranged from his parents, heknewthat, but that didn’t stop the way things were from feeling fraught. He knew they loved him, but they still looked at him like they didn’t understand him at all. He’d stopped talking about the things that mattered to him until they didn’t really have anything to say to one another. They didn’t really know him anymore.
The night of the incident, even if they’d been in town, he still would have called Priya for help. Probably even if they’d been in the house with him.
He shook his head. These were not New Year’s party thoughts.
