The Summer of Kicks by Dave Hackett

Author:Dave Hackett
Language: ara
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Published: 2014-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

‘Thank you, Chicago – we’re the ...’

‘Any progress on the plus-one invitation?’ Mum asks, pouring rice milk into a bowl of organically ticked cereal and sliding it across the benchtop towards me. ‘You’re not leaving yourself a lot of time. Unless you meet someone at the party tonight – you never know.’

I sit down at the breakfast bar, mindlessly thumbing the spoon handle anti-clockwise around the bowl, watching it part the ancient grains like Moses did the Red Sea. I’m thinking about a plus-one, but it’s not for Mum’s Christmas lunch. Reece and I are on the come-if-you-want list for Candace’s end-of-school thing at her house tonight, and this time last week I would have been drooling like a dog with no lips at the thought of even being invited, but ever since the other day with Ellie, I’m not sure how much I even want to be there. It’ll be me, Reece and all the beautiful people. Candace ignoring me spectacularly and me fake-enjoying myself, feeling more out of place than a suntan in a Twilight movie. It’s the Christmas plus-one that Mum’s talking about, but I don’t so much want to tell her about Ellie. Actually not at all. Because once I share it with my mother, it’s out there and the experience will cease to be completely mine – as if talking about it will dilute how I feel somehow – so for now I’ll keep Ellie to myself.

‘Well, look at you,’ Mum says, elbows touching down on the benchtop, looking into my eyes. I’m staring into my bowl, giving off nothing. At least I think so. ‘You’ve already met someone, haven’t you?’ Mum says. But it’s a statement, not a question.

‘What?’ I say. ‘No, I haven’t.’

‘You’re a terrible liar, Starrphyre,’ she says and her smile reads like a diagram of satisfaction. ‘Where did you meet her?’ she asks. ‘I’m assuming it is a she?’

‘Hey? God, yes,’ I say, and I’ve walked right into her trap.

‘A girl? That’s wonderful, darling – I’m so proud of you,’ she beams. ‘Now you remember, you talk to me. Anything at all. Feelings, emotions, chlamydia …’

‘Nice,’ I say. ‘As soon as an infectious disease pops up, I’ll be sure to rush you a swab sample.’

‘I’m just so happy for you, darling. A girl,’ she says again and she’s gone a little gushy and it’s kind of nice, I guess.

‘But … there’s something else,’ I begin.

‘Something else? Something else what?’

‘Well, there is a girl,’ I say, ‘but there’s … there’s kind of another girl, too,’ and I’m telling her now about Ellie, and about Candace as well, and within minutes she’s extracted every detail about each girl that she’s deemed necessary to enable her to carry out her maternal advice-giving session.

‘You want the bottom line?’ Mum says, and again, it’s not a question. ‘You can’t string along two girls at the same time. There’s no room for hedging your bets when it comes to relationships. Make a choice. Make a good choice and make it now.

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