‘Wrong answer,’ he replies as he pours vodka and lemonade into three red plastic cups. ‘Natalie, you promised me a dance.’
‘I did?’
‘Put on some Prince, Jake.’
Jake plays ‘Kiss’. Aaron mimes all the words in a melodramatic way and has a full dance routine for the chorus. It’s hard to resist laughing.
‘Okay, give me that drink,’ I say.
Aaron cheers. He hands me a cup.
‘Wellington party time,’ he toasts, takes a long slurp.
We chat for a while. Aaron tops up our drinks any time he feels like it. He’s an archivist from London, and Jake’s from Wales. He worked as a roofer to save for the trip.
‘You’re on a holiday visa?’ Jake asks.
‘Yep. I’m in an admin role for the council here. The only point of my job seems to be that I make twenty bucks an hour. Even my supervisor told me when there’s nothing else to do, tap around on my keyboard and make myself look busy.’
Aaron says, ‘That sounds painful.’
‘It’s fine.’ I don’t tell them that I’m always busy, even when it’s quiet, researching the calories of different foods and calories burned by particular sports. The drink loosens me up all the same and I feel confessional. I say, ‘Yeah, it’s fine. Except there’s one of my colleagues, Kelly, who’s kind of awful.’
‘Work wankers. No escaping them.’
‘She’s super pretty until you get to know her then her looks sour.’
‘Like Aaron,’ Jake says and Aaron pouts.
‘I’m fabulous inside and out.’ Aaron blows his fingernails. ‘Don’t you forget it.’
I ask about the tour they’re on. They began in Auckland, went all along the east coast and go to the South Island the day after tomorrow.
‘Can’t wait for the South,’ Aaron says. ‘Christchurch, Picton, Abel Tasman—’
‘And Queenstown,’ Jake interrupts. ‘Bungee jumping in the place it all began.’
‘You don’t even want to do it,’ Aaron says.
‘Fuck off,’ Jake replies.
‘Well, do you want to do it?’ Aaron asks accusatorily.
Jake sighs. ‘Nope.’
‘Why do it so?’ I ask.
‘I’m afraid of heights.’
Aaron explains, ‘Jake has acrophobia so he’s going to smash it. He’s been warming up by sleeping on top bunks.’
Jake says, ‘Shut up, gay boy.’
‘Make me,’ Aaron says and laughs.
‘Why aren’t you doing the jump?’ Jake asks. ‘Too chicken?’
‘I don’t need to prove anything to myself.’
Jake looks hurt.
Aaron backtracks. ‘Kidding, Jakey. Not doing it ’cause it’s too expensive. Fuck that.’
‘How much is it?’ I ask.
‘Nevis is two hundred and seventy-five dollars.’
They ask me what I’ve seen in New Zealand.
‘Not much,’ I say and my ears get hot. ‘I flew from Darwin to Sydney to here, and found a job almost straight away. Needed to earn money again. But I’ve fallen into a routine – work, swim, the odd night out. I haven’t even seen much of Wellington, other than the harbour and Te Papa museum.’
‘Seems like a quiet city,’ Aaron says. ‘A quiet country.’
‘Our bus tour is rowdy as fuck,’ Jake says and Aaron laughs, agreeing.
Jake speaks a lot about women he wants to ‘pull’. Aaron responds to this chat by talking about various conquests on his travels and celebrity men he wants to back into him.
‘Have you a partner, Natalie?’ Aaron asks.
I shake my head.
‘Anyone of interest?’
My mind draws blanks. ‘Can’t think of anyone,’ I say.
‘Lucky you and your drama free life.’ Aaron fills us another vodka. ‘Who sleeps there?’ He points at Darina’s bed above mine.
‘She’s from Scotland,’ I say. ‘Very sweet and maternal, but loves partying. Sometimes she gets in from a night out after her shift when I’m about to go start my day in the office. It’s like we live in different timezones.’
‘We should go to her pub,’ Jake says. ‘She sounds mint.’
It’s student night and the place is mobbed with young women in short dresses and young men who look like they could be in One Direction. Darina is half-drunk behind the bar and ecstatic to see me. I introduce her to the lads and she gives us free liquorice shots. A list of drink promotions and a slideshow of attractive people having a good time at the pub replace the golf tournament on the screens.
We drink and laugh. Jake is bit standoffish and I wonder if he’s annoyed with Aaron for talking to me or with me for talking to Aaron.
The DJ stops playing dubstep and switches to recent chart music. We dance for a while. Aaron quick steps with me and swirls me under his arm. I turn and abruptly sober up a bit. Kelly from work is at the edge of the dancefloor. She has so much make-up on I barely recognize her.
‘She doesn’t look like that in the office,’ I say to Aaron.
‘A face of lies.’
I go to the bathroom and, on my return, Kelly summons me. She introduces me to the two men with her. All three of them seem to be standing around, waiting to be noticed.
She points at the guys from my dorm room; they’re singing Avicii’s ‘Hey Brother’ to each other. ‘You’ve got those friends who look like fun.’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘I didn’t realize you went out or did anything. You’re so quiet in work.’
‘I do things,’ I say.
‘Yes. Maybe I pigeonholed you, Natalie.’ She gives a pageant smile, showing all her square white teeth.
I don’t want to ask her what she means. I’m afraid of the answer.
‘It’s your birthday?’
She sighs, ‘Yes, it is. The big three-oh. It’s my last one.’
‘Your last birthday?’
‘Yes. I’m staying this age until I get married.’
‘Congrats,’ I say. ‘I didn’t know you were engaged.’
‘I’m not.’
Aaron fetches me for another dance, and I’m relieved. I let him lead. Kelly watches us curiously. Darina returns from behind the bar with more liquorice shots for us. We clink them together, toasting our room, knock them back. I lick the stickiness off my fingers after. My stomach is in flames.
Kelly and her friends slither out from the edge of the floor and eventually dance beside us. Her friend Sol sidles up to me. He says he’d love to talk to me somewhere more private.
Aaron and Jake egg me on.
Sol finds us a seat near the DJ box. He has a sculpted beard and light blue eyes. We try to chat for a while. It’s mostly a misheard conversation, shouting over the music. A sliver of hair wax that he hasn’t blended is like a snail trail on the crown of his head.
I slide it out and show him. He puts his hand over my fingers, and leans in to kiss me. I laugh but kiss him back. He buys us both cocktail specials, radioactive green drinks with ice and slices of orange floating in them.
He throws his striped straw on the ground and drinks the cocktail from the glass. He finishes it and belches.
‘You know what, Natalie,’ he says, earnestly, ‘you’re actually pretty funny and nice. It wouldn’t even be that much of a sympathy shag if you came back to mine.’
There’s a ringing sensation in my ears that resounds throughout my body. I try to recompose myself.
He leans in to kiss me again. I find it hard to match his rhythm. His mouth is cold from the drink. My face has gone numb. He keeps kissing me anyway.
Sol goes to the bathroom and I dash over to Aaron and Jake. They’re moshing to Britney Spears’s ‘Work B**ch’. Alcohol and stupidity are a dangerous mix and I can feel tears coming.
‘I’m going home,’ I shout.
‘What about your friend?’ Aaron asks.
‘Not for me. I’m off.’
‘Wait,’ he says. ‘We’ll walk you.’