Consumed (8 page)

“This true?” Joel turned to Michael with a look of disgust on his face.

“Well...I wouldn’t say it happened like that...” Michael knew, out of everything he had ever annoyed Joel with, this would be the thing that killed their friendship - something he wanted to avoid.

“You hit on her?”

“He did,” Lara confirmed.

“What did you say to her?” asked Joel.

“I just thought,” Michael thought on his feet to find the perfect excuse, “I just thought she might have been suicidal...She loved you, man. She loved you.”

“Suicidal?” asked Lara - almost offended. “You think I’d kill myself over him? I’m that weak? Fuck you...”

“I thought you might have wanted to go out and have a laugh...Take your mind off things,” Michael butted in, trying his best at doing all round damage control. “I was trying to be a friend!”

Lara reached into her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone. “Trying to be a friend?” she asked. She started to flick through her messages.

Michael remembered the message he sent her. Another flash of panic across his face. “Well, obviously...If you were feeling low...I mean you could have read more into it.”

“Makes sense,” said Joel.

“And fuck you too,” said Lara - still frantically flicking through her messages. “Here...Here it is.” She handed the phone to Michael, “Does that ring any bells to you?”

Michael didn’t say anything.

“Show me,” said Joel.

“Okay, so...I think I remember sending it now...Yes...I was drunk. Definitely drunk. Extremely...And very...Disgustingly drunk. In fact, how I didn’t end up in hospital that night...With permanent liver damage is...”

“Show me the text message, Michael.” He didn’t wait for Michael to do as instructed, he simply reached across and snatched the phone from his hands. “Drunk?”

“Definitely.”

“You sent the message at two in the afternoon,” Joel showed him the message again.

“Alcoholic! That’s me.”

“You’re a piece of shit, really. How have we been friends for so long? How have I not seen this before? Truly. A piece of shit.”

“Ah, come on, man...You dumped her. Fair game.”

“You tried to fuck my girlfriend and that’s all you can say?”

“She wasn’t your girlfriend when I tried to fuck her, to be fair. And when you were together...I never once thought about it. Because friends don’t do that to each other.”

“You know what? I don’t want to hear this. You and me...We’re done,” said Joel. He passed the phone back to Lara and got up from where he was sitting on the grass verge. He walked over to the van and climbed in.

“Was that entirely necessary?” Michael asked Lara. “He didn’t need to know. It’s not as though anything happened between us. What was the point of doing that?”

“Because it’s what you deserve,” said Lara. She tucked the phone back into her jeans pocket and followed Joel to the camper van.

“That’s fucking great,” said Michael. “Thanks for that. Brilliant. Now I’m talking to myself...”

A horn sounded off from down the road. Michael turned his head to see the oncoming tow-truck returning from dropping the car off.

* * * * *

Stephen was driving the tow-truck. Michael was sitting next to him, with his head leaning against the window,
staring at the world passing by.

Lara and Joel were sitting in the back - an all too obvious distance between them.

A few more silent minutes passed by slowly before Michael leaned forward and flicked on the radio.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“What are we doing here?” asked Joel when they finally pulled onto the family property where Dan, Hayley and Charlotte were already waiting.

“Oh, finally, it speaks!” said Stephen sarcastically. He pulled the tow-truck up in front of the old house.

“Come on, I’m not in the mood for games...What are we doing here?” Joel continued.

“Collecting the others,” Michael muttered. “You think he dropped the car off here and then dropped the others off at the petrol station to wait for us?”

Stephen twisted in his seat to address everyone in the truck, “You’re really the life and soul of the party, aren’t you? Yes, your friends are here...But, we’re not going to the petrol station right away...”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me. Why not?” said Joel, fed up with the constant delays in getting to the campsite - although part of him just wanted to go home now.

“Because you’re staying for dinner,” said Stephen in a matter of fact tone. “My mother insisted, your friends agreed.”

“Brilliant!” moaned Joel ungratefully.

Stephen turned to him with a stern look on his face; for the first time since introducing himself to the group, he even sounded annoyed, “I suggest you don’t use that tone when you give thanks to my mother...And give thanks you will.”

Joel’s face flushed, “I’m sorry,” he said, “it’s just been one of those days.”

“That’s not my fault,” Stephen pointed out, “nor is it my mother’s fault so...Play nice...Unless you want me to take you back to where I found you and just leave you there?” he raised an eyebrow.

“No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any offence.”

Stephen suddenly smiled, “Come...Let me introduce you to the family.”

With no more words, Stephen opened the door and jumped down from the tow-truck.

Michael laughed, “You certainly told him!”

“Just fuck off, Mike...Seriously fuck off!” Joel hissed. He opened the door and stepped out - slamming it behind him, despite Lara needing to get out too.

“This is your fault,” Michael pointed out to Lara. “You at least going to cheer him up by agreeing to go out with him again?”

“Don’t you get it yet, Michael? None of us like you. Why do you insist on hanging out with us? We can barely tolerate you.”

“Yeah, okay, if you say so...I’m sure you’re all big enough and ugly enough...Certainly ugly enough...To tell me to leave if you didn’t want me around.”

Lara leaned forward, into the front of the truck, and whispered slowly and clearly, “We don’t want you around anymore. Take the hint.” She didn’t wait for his response, she just left the truck via the same door Joel had used.

“You coming?” called Stephen from the front door.

Michael nodded and followed.

* * * * *

Dan was still sitting next to Tammy, on the sofa, along with Charlotte. Suzanne and Hayley were still in the armchairs with Andrea standing next to the window.

“Looks like your friends are here,” Andrea pointed out.

Tammy jumped up from her place on the sofa and joined Andrea at the window to see the new visitors - a sneaky glimpse before she had to meet them face to face. Hayley took the opportunity of the empty place on the sofa next to her man to swap seats.

“Jump in my grave just as quick?” Tammy asked with a cheeky grin on her face.

Hayley flashed her perfect white teeth at her in the most fake smile she had ever used. She managed to not blurt out, “No, I’d just piss on it,” although she desperately wanted to.

Suzanne couldn’t resist getting a sneaky look at the other guests either and joined the others at the window, just as Michael disappeared into the house. “They all staying for dinner?” she asked.

“Of course,” said Andrea - a welcoming smile on her face.

Dan tried to get out of it, once more, although he knew it was pointless, “Really, it isn’t a problem.”

“I know it isn’t,” Andrea quickly replied. “Honestly, we’d love to have you for dinner.”

“I’ll start preparing the vegetables,” said Suzanne as she left the room.

“Can we at least help?” asked Charlotte.

“No, no...” said Andrea. “It won’t take her anytime at all.”

Charlotte smiled at her despite feeling awkward at how generous the family were being.

Stephen stepped into the modestly decorated room, “Hello again,” he said to the house guests, “look who I found loitering out on the road,” he turned around and waved Joel, Michael and Lara in.

“And what are your names?” asked Andrea.

Joel did the introductions, “I’m Joel, this is Lara and this is Michael.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said Michael - remembering what Stephen had said about playing nice to his mother.

“I’m Andrea, this is Tammy...You’ve just missed my other daughter, Suzanne. She’s just popped into the kitchen to prepare the vegetables.”

“Thank you for this, this is lovely,” said Lara taking heed of Stephen’s words too.

“It’s lovely for us too,” said Andrea. “Anyway, if you’d like to take a seat - we’ll go and start getting things ready. Stephen, you can help...”

“I’ve just got in, mum, haven’t I done enough for today? It is supposed to be my day off after all! Do I not do enough during the week?”

“More hands make idle work. And spuds don’t peal themselves,” said Andrea as she pushed him towards the living room door - followed by Tammy who gave a sly wink, which didn’t go unnoticed, at Dan.

“What the fuck was that about?” asked Hayley as the living room door closed.

“You’ve either got it, or you haven’t...” teased Dan, “...And I clearly have it.”

“What the fuck is any of this about?” asked Joel. “Someone want to explain how we ended up having dinner with these guys?”

“They were very persistent,” said Charlotte.

“I thought we were going camping. Clearly I was mistaken!” Joel sat on one of the spare armchairs.

“What harm does it do?” said Michael. “We’re already late...”

“No thanks to you,” Joel butted in.

Michael ignored him, “I’m just saying we may as well make the best of a bad situation. If these people offered dinner...We should accept. Not only is it free but it saves having to stop off later on.”

“Later on? That’s if we even get there today. We need to get the van sorted and they’re out there cutting up potatoes. Clearly their idea of dinner isn’t a round of sandwiches.”

“Which makes it all the better. I, for one, am hungry...Besides, I tried to tell her not to worry about it,” Dan chipped in.

“I think we should just go,” said Hayley.

“Let’s just eat their food. Say thank you. Get a lift. We don’t have to stay for hours and hours!” said Charlotte. “It’ll be fine. It could even be quite nice.”

“I agree with Hayley, this just feels wrong!” Joel argued.

“You lot listen to yourselves? Yes they’re strangers but, at the end of the day, they’re just being kind and helping us out. What’s wrong with that?” said Charlotte.

“Let’s just see what they make, eat it...Stay long enough to be polite, and then get to the petrol station,” said Michael. “We can still get to the site in a few hours. We can make this part of the holiday. Besides...That girl looks nice...Right Dan?”