Disco Boy by Dominic Knight

Author:Dominic Knight
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2009-03-28T16:00:00+00:00

Over the next month, my life contracted into three basic states: working, sleeping and commuting. Zoë’s theory that I’d end up doing extra days was almost immediately proven correct, and I’m sure she would have enjoyed gloating about it if I’d had time to meet her for coffee.

I was putting in thirteen-hour days, with dinner provided by the firm – the least they could do. Sometimes I’d even squeeze in a quick late-night beer with Nige before the client-funded cab home. But although I made it very clear to Brent that I didn’t expect this pattern to continue and that I’d been serious about having other things I needed to do, the reality was that I didn’t mind much, at least for the time being. It was a change. Sure, it wasn’t anywhere near as good as a holiday, but I still enjoyed engaging the parts of my brain that had been atrophying. And to be honest, there was a lot of ego gratification in there as well. When I left to do something else, I wanted it to be through choice, not because I wasn’t good enough to make it at a place like Morphett’s. But what I liked most was that the work took up nearly all of the space in my head, leaving little room for wondering what to do with myself – or about Felicity.

I hadn’t experienced any pressure at all since my final uni exams, and the sheer effort of having to do anything before midday was taking a lot out of me. One Friday, I pleaded exhaustion only an hour into after-work drinks, to Nige’s disgust. And the following Saturday, I just stayed in and watched a few DVDs – something I’d previously done purely to kill time during weekdays, but which now seemed wonderful because I didn’t have to leave the sofa. I saw a bit of Felicity, but only in a strictly work context, which I’m sure was a relief to both of us. We had a brief chat in the kitchen at one point, while we were both making ourselves strong cups of tea in the hope that the caffeine and sugar would somehow keep us awake, but it was just the politest of enquiries about how each other’s work was progressing. Nige made the odd comment about me being chicken, but I was happy to let things with her drift back to normal.

My new lifestyle earned approving nods from my parents and sarcastic text messages about turning into a corporate zombie from Zo. But I told myself it was OK as long as I didn’t normalise it, approaching the future comfortable that this was how it would always be, the way my colleagues did. The first month just flew by, and even though I was really starting to hit the wall, I couldn’t mark the milestone with a weekend of relaxation. Quite the contrary, in fact. Because even though I hadn’t had much contact with her beyond text messages apologising

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