Page 3 of The Moon Also Rises
PART ONE – NEW MOON
“Don't worry if you're making waves just by being yourself. The Moon does it all the time.”
Scott Stabile
Chapter One
Present Day, London
Jake
“You do this for me and I will pay for Dolly’s grooming for a whole year,” I say into the phone.
“A year? You can’t afford that,” Derek immediately counters.
I shrug. “What are credit cards for?”
“You’re that desperate?”“I amthatdesperate,” I groan into the phone.
Lionel’s wedding has come out of nowhere, and when I mean nowhere, I mean I have successfully ignored the invitation for their whirlwind wedding for the last three months but now the date is just five weeks away and I am still dateless. Did I do that because I didn’t actually expect them to get married? Possibly, and apparently stupidly, yes.
“Why do you need a date so badly?” Derek asks and I swear I can hear the soft scratch of a nail file doing its thing in the background.
“Because…” I begin even though I really don’t want to dig up this sorry story again. “Because he’s the one that got away.”
“Oh Jakey, you’re breaking my heart,” Derek says and I really can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or genuine. It’s a fine line with most of my social circle, myself included. Because it serves me better, I choose to interpret his tone as one of real concern.
“So you’ll come?” As I shift in my chair with excitement, I notice my assistant Sharon walking into my office, carrying a laptop. She’s talking to a man who follows her in. A man who is carrying a bundle of envelopes and other post, including myHomes & Garden, Lonely PlanetandBBC Travelmagazines. He must be the new post guy.
“God, no. I can’t pretend to be your boyfriend. That’s way too weird.” Derek snaps me back to our conversation. I put a finger up to Sharon to show her I’m busy talking.
“Derek, you literally blew me once a week for a year when we were at uni!”
Derek sighs loudly. “I also studied geography and used Superdrug hair gel. Mistakes were made, Jake. Mistakes were made.”
“What do I have to do?” I’d like to say Derek’s the first person I’ve begged but he’s not. In fact, he’s the fourth friend I’ve asked to do this favour for me and it looks like he’s going to be the fourth to turn me down. I am running out of both time and friends.
“Nothing will convince me, Jake. I have plans that weekend and I’m not changing them.”
“I hardly think watching Eurovision finals with your Chihuahua-Pomeranian mix dog constitutes plans,” I say but then adjust my tone. “Listen, I'll give you the afternoon to think about it. I'm tied up running through our upcoming schedule with our newbie events manager who will no doubt be as bossy, boring, and buttoned up as the last one...”
“Oh, yes. What was her name again?”
“Tasha. I forgot you met her at our Christmas do when you came with me last year. See you did that for me, Dezza. Why won't you step up again and—”
Sharon clears her throat, making a noise that isn't dissimilar from a flushing plane toilet.
“Yes, Sharon?” I pull my phone away from my ear slightly and then see the postman is trying to catch my eye and opening his mouth to say something, but I save him the trouble. “Oh, thank you for the post. Pop it down over there on the table if you don't mind."
He opens his mouth to respond but seems to change his mind as he turns and places the pile down. I take in his appearance and realise while his clothes are all black, they do seem to fit his slim physique well, and while his shaved head is a little predictable and unimaginative, it does suit his chiselled dark features. “I have to say, you're very smartly dressed for the post room staff,” I comment.
“Thank you, but I—” he begins but I don’t hear what he says next because Derek is threatening to hang up on me.
“Jake, I've got to go. You've gone from begging me to do you a solid to ignoring me completely which is not good for my mental health...”
“Yourmental health?”I declare, gripping the phone close to my ear again.“I'm the one feeling dejected. I have a good mind to send you and all my lousy friends an invoice for the emotional damage all this rejection is going to cause. I see some very poor decision-making on my horizon, especially in relation to my credit card, or worse, my Grindr tags—”
I'm unable to finish my sentence because my phone is snatched out of my hand and away from my ear.
