Flirting With Magick (14 page)

“What are you doing?” Kate ran back down the stairs and stopped
short beside me, laughing as Nathan started running back and forth in
gorilla pose. I couldn't help myself and started laughing, too.

"
You can stop now!" she yelled at him. "No really, please, stop now."
She turned to me and met my eyes.

"Abby, it isn't all about you, you know," she said firmly. "I deser
ve to be happy, too."

I gaped at her, but she was right.

“I’m really sorry, Kate. I didn’t mean to trivialise it.”
You're welcome
for the spell, too
, I said silently.
I’m glad someone can benefit from it; it
doesn't look like it's going to be me.

She gave me a hug. “Me, too.”

Nathan stopped as soon as he saw that we had made up, and we walked, arm in arm, back up the stairs.

“So what happened with Scott?” Kate asked, putting the kettle on
as we settled in around her small table.

“Oh god.” I put my head in my hands. “Nathan, you’re going to hate me now, seeing as you didn’t before.”

“Abby, what did you do?” Kate pulled my hands away.

“All I said was that I thought the song was too commercial and it didn’t really reflect what you guys really were, in a roundabout sort of way.”

Nathan gave me a shocked look then surprised me when he started
laughing. “Holy shit, you’re game.” he exclaimed.

“What do you mean?” Oh god, now what had I done?

“I admit, I have to agree with you about the song. I guess we all do,
but this is our little way of getting our foot in the door, so to speak.
Scott hates the idea; he argued with Silas for months. All he could thin
k of all weekend was how to do the next one better." So that explained why he was so quiet on the way home. Kate was right, I did have an 'it's all about me' issue.

Nathan continued, "Scott's kind of the glue that keeps it all together
.
We’re all here for the same thing, but the band really is and always ha
s been Scott’s baby, even more than Luke’s.”

“So you’re saying I’ve said that Scott’s baby is ugly or something
?” I was having a hard time understanding why Scott was so pissed off with me about something we both agreed on.

“No, it’s more like you’ve questioned his parenting skills and pointed
something out that he was already sensitive and unsure about.” So
that was it. “Trust me, he takes it all very seriously, and everything is
all planned out. I slept through a rehearsal once. Fucking hell, I’ll never
do that again. ” He started chuckling again and shook his head.

“Stop it.” Kate scolded him. “It’s not funny. Abby’s devastated.”

“I’m sorry. Look if it helps, I’ll put in a good word for you, okay? Give it a few days. He’ll cool down; he always does.”

“Thanks.” I said, realising there wasn’t much else I could do.

Kate rubbed my arm soothingly. "Want to have dinner with us tonight?"

I shook my head, "Thanks, but I might have an early one." Picking
up my bag, I walked sadly up to my flat.

AVALON IT COULDN’T HAVE BEEN
a more boring place to be when,
to my great displeasure, Monday dutifully arrived. I tapped absentmindedly
at my keyboard, trying not to think of the last shameful moments of the weekend as Bronwyn scurried around me, busily organising —or
rather, making me organise
—
a three week overseas business trip she
was to take the following month.

I kept thinking back to the look on Scott’s face, his eyes ablaze with
animosity and his mouth a thin line; Kate’s silence; and the overwhelming
feeling of shame and dread in the last few minutes of the trip. That urg
e
to rewind and start again, thinking before speaking. I wished there wa
s
a spell for that. Thank god Kate understood. As for Scott, I ignored
Nathan’s suggestion to leave it for a few days and immediately tried
to call him when I got home. My call went unanswered, as did the text
message I sent.

“Has my itinerary arrived yet?” Bronwyn broke into my thoug
hts
and placed a pile of handwritten letters in my in-tray. "I need to go out
for a couple of hours; just put everything on my desk."

After my hands
were sore from typing, I found Sean in the
photocopy
room a few hours later, reading the itinerary Brownyn had been
anxious about.

“You look tired. Big weekend?” he said when I approached.

“Yeah, went away with friends.” I pointed at the sheet of paper, “And that's mine.”

“Looks like Bron’s got a busy few weeks coming up," he observed
,
taking no notice of my outstretched hand. "It’ll probably be pretty quie
t for you without the boss here.”

“
Ray’ll still be here, and he works me harder than Bronwyn does,
but yeah, I’ll be a bit less busy.”

He took a step closer, his fresh, masculine cologne waking my senses.
“
I think you’ll find Ray has got the last week here off, too.” He pointed
at the dates before handing the itinerary to me. “Maybe I can whisk you
away for a long lunch?”

“Hmm, that would be lovely. Your shout?” I coughed when I caught
a hint of flirtatiousness in my voice.

Rachel suddenly appeared at the door, causing us to instantly step
away from each other. “Oh, sorry, guys.” She looked suspiciously from
Sean to me. "I think I left my pen-– oh, there it is.” She retrieved it then
turned to me, “Bron just got back. I told her you were getting the itinerary
now." She discreetly cocked an eyebrow at me as she walked out, the
n turned around. “Are you guys coming down to the pub tonight?”

“Sure,” we both answered before Sean moved to follow her. “I like
your hair down like that, by the way,” he whispered in my ear as he brushed past me and exited the room. Rachel and I had gone to the
pub together a couple of times since my first week, but as per Rachel’s
plan, tonight was the first time Sean was joining us. It was a shame I wasn’t really in the mood to enjoy it.

Rachel’s intranet message was the first thing I saw when I got back
to
my desk, after giving the itinerary to an increasingly anxious Bronwyn
.

'You two looked pretty cosy in the photocopy room. Any goss?'

'We’re eloping on Saturday.'

'Very funny. I heard everything. So when’s the big date?'

'It’s not a date; we’re only friends, in case you haven’t noticed, so it’s just
a lunch when Bronwyn and Ray are both away next month.'

'Sounds like a date to me.'

I got up to take the letters I had completed to Bronwyn and fixed Rachel with a pleasant yet slightly sarcastic smile.

“Come in.” Bronwyn was skimming over the latest sales figures
when I entered her office, her flustered head resting on the palm of her
hand as she dragged the pen down the list.

“Anything else I can do?” I asked, dropping the papers on her desk.

She waved me off without looking at me. “No, thank you. You and
Rachel can go.” She appeared preoccupied as she hastily scratched her
name on each letter. “I’ll pop these back on your desk, and they can be
posted in the morning.”

I pretended not to notice the
abruptness
of her voice as she
dismissed
me.

“Thanks, Bronwyn. See you tomorrow,” I said brightly, forgetting
her strange mood the minute I walked out the door.

The pub was a welcome distraction. “You look like you need a drink
.”
Sean placed a glass of wine in front of me. “Rachel told me what you like.”

“
Thanks.” I took a large swig and enjoyed the slight burning down
my throat, feeling like I deserved the pain.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I had a fight with a friend yesterday.”

“That sucks.”

“It was
my fault, so I’ve been
trying to apologise, but he’s not answer-”

“He?” He raised his brow.

“Yes, he’s not answering my calls.”

“Wow.” Sean mused. “He must be insane.”

***

“So what’s he like?” Dianne asked about Sean as she and I were getting into a telephone gossip session on Wednesday night. I hadn’t
heard from Scott so it seemed he was still pissed off enough to not eve
n want to use me for sex.

“He’s nice, good looking... I don’t know... he’s about thirty, I think
."
I lay back on my couch. "We muck around and flirt a bit at work. He’s
a mate."

“Is he your type?”

“I don’t know what my type is anymore. Remember when I like
d football players?”

“Now you wouldn’t go to the football if someone paid you.”

“Exactly.”

“So is it still sexy musicians now or suited up office types?”

 “What he does for a living is irrelevant.”
Really it was
, I added silently, shame hitting me again.

“So are you still involved with said sexy musician? You haven’t
said anything about him. How did the cabin thing go?”

“It went extremely well for
Kate and Nathan. They’re
going out now.”

“That’s fantastic!”

“It is. I can honestly say I haven’t seen Kate like this, ever. She’s
always been happy, but it’s a different kind of happy now.”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

“Well, I think I’ve messed it up now with Scott. I was such a bitch
on the way home. I don’t know what came over me. We were getting
along fantastically, and then I just did a complete turnaround and wa
s being really antagonistic. I knew I was doing it, too, and just couldn’t
help myself. And I pissed Kate and Nathan off as well.” I gave her the
full, cringeworthy story.

“You really like Scott, don’t you? That’s why you were being a bitch.”

“Yeah, God, I’m so childish.” I sighed.

“Oh Abby. That’s so unlike you.” Dianne tutted sympathetically. “
You must have it bad for this guy. You really should apologise to him.”

“Believe me, I’m trying, but he’s not answering my calls. I don’t
know where he works, and even if I did, I don’t know when his shift is.
Maybe I’d just be better off letting it go. I mean, he’s done that alread
y if he’s not going to talk to me." It sounded rational in my head. But I
knew I wasn’t ready to do that just yet, not until I had some sort of
closure. Or at least a conversation. “Not yet though. I’m fine. I’ll see how it goes this weekend.”

“And how it all goes with Sean,” Dianne added.

“Yeah, yeah. He’s nice, but I’m not sure if I’m all that interested anyway.”

“Or Josh could come back and beg for you to go back to him.”

“Ha. Somehow I doubt that. I’m definitely not holding any hope with that one.“

“Heard from him?”

“Yeah, sure,” I answered sarcastically. Bloody Josh. Arsehole.

“Prick,” Dianne volunteered as if reading my mind.

“You said it.”

“Do you think about him?”

“Sometimes. Usually when I’m reading the paper.”

She laughed. “So you’ve cancelled your subscription then?”

I managed a smile and put it into my voice. My best friend lived a practically married life and my most reliable single ally had turned
to the dark side and gotten herself a serious boyfriend. I'd realised I had
the hots for the guy I was only meant to be shagging and had been a complete bitch to him. On top of that, I was still angry with Josh, and
the damn spell obviously hadn’t worked
—
not for me anyway. I was
n’t
going to count Sean; I was cynically looking at the lunch as strictly
business. Besides, he was cute and fun, but I wasn’t sure if I was all that
interested in him. He made work a bit more enjoyable. At least I liked
my job. “So anyway, enough about me,” I said with forced cheerfulness
“What’s up with you?”

“Oh, nothing. Simon and I are both well. Same old, same old. What
I actually called for, besides your gossip, was to see if we could catch up for lunch. Maybe in a couple of weeks? I’ll bring Troy.”

THE TAXI PULLED UP,
my heart beating wildly as Kate and I entered
the almost deserted front room. The bar looked in desperate need of a revamp. Dark red, sticky carpet clashed with the glossy, pale green
walls. The pub had only just opened for the night, and besides the early
few punters and the bar staff, the only people around were the crew setting up the stage in preparation for the night’s performance. I took a deep breath.

“Don’t worry.” Kate patted my back reassuringly. “He’ll forgive yo
u;
he’s not unreasonable. Anyway, Nathan said Scott’s been fine all week.”

“What I said was pretty bad.
I
wouldn’t forgive me,” I replied.
“Besides, he’s not angry with Nathan.”

“Well, I’ll be here if you need me, okay?” Even Kate was now
beginning to sound doubtful that Scott and I would reconcile. “I’ll
get some drinks.” She wandered off to the bar, which looked like it
belonged in the last century and not in a good way, leaving me squinting
into the darkness of the stage, trying to find Scott. Finally he came ou
t from the back stage area, laughing at something one of the crew was
saying. Then he saw me, and his face darkened. He turned to go back
behind the stage again, then seemed to change his mind. In the middle
of the floor with nowhere to hide, I held my breath as he unsmilingly walked over to me.