Shampoo (45 page)

(badoombadoombadoombadoombadoom)

“
I crashed my car last
night.” He laughed, as if all in good fun.

“
Your Commodore?” I
gasped.

(my heart seriously breaks for
every Commodore crashed or mistreated)

“
What happened?”
Melissa asked, sitting at the dining table, grabbing a drink I’d
poured.

“
I don’t know. Tired
from the fire brigade and work. Dozed off, hit a parked
car.”

Long story short, he rang me first
thing Saturday to tell me. If that was Evvy, I’d find out through
Nat and Dan.

It feels SO NICE to be needed.
Wanted, even. And needed in this pure, innocent way Matt has, not
some manipulative, controlling, domestic violence kind of
way.

It’s just so damn
sweet.

So the six of us drank here before
getting a cab all the way to Wynnum, and this fancy Boat Shed
restaurant on a pier hanging over the water.

The whole restaurant had been
booked out for us, reps were up from all over Australia, our
cosmetics company was there, there were people everywhere. Fairy
lights shone and the view over the bay was stunning.

Matt looked so fricking spiff, I
just kept looking at him all night, wanting him in a way I can’t
really understand or fathom where it’s come from.

He’s like a speeding train coming
towards me, and I’m just stuck on the tracks, watching as he
approaches.

(God, that was a good
analogy)

Matt sat next to me on
one side, and Melinda was on my other, with Lachie, Benny, Jonny,
Melissa, Nathan, and Nat and Dan at our table.

People got shuffled around as the
night wore on

(and the drunker we
got),

and I ended up next to Lachie and
across from Matt.

Which was better, cause I got a
direct view of Matt then.

Not TOO much happened at the
Christmas party…was tame by Sin standards.

Matt began the evening giving me
intense, loving looks, and ended the night with a look on his face
that I thought meant, “Holy

(goly)

hell, woman, I’m into you, but I
don’t know how to handle you.”

(I got a wee bit
intoxicated)

The most fun of the night was
Lachie and I challenging each other to Black Sambucca
shots.

(that were on fire!)

Everybody else began the challenge
-

“
Pinky, I challenge you
to go head to head with me with Flaming Black Sambucca,” Lachie
laughed, and I was all, “You’re on, surfer boy!!” to much eye rolls
and groans from Nat and Dan.

“
If I have to clean up
her spew one more time, I’m gonna kill her and bury her in the
backyard,” Dan declared.

(rather grandly, I
feel)

- but bailed after one or
two.

Lachie and I kept going, pouring
another –

“
You still standing,
Pinky?”

“
Better than you,
cowboy!”

And another –

“
Let me,
AHAHAHAHAHAHA, help you up off the floor, Pinky. OOF.” Falls down
with me. We’re in fits together on the floor.

After another -

“
I think I’m gonna be
sick.”

“
That means I win,
Lachster!!”

“
Nope, nope. I’m fine.
Pour another.”

After another –

“
You know what’s really
weird? Plants. Plants are really weird.”

“
Imagine if they were
pink.”

(my contribution to drunk
talk)

We were in fits of
laughter.

After another –

“
We’re all going now,”
Nat declares. Matt, Melissa, Nathan and Dan are all standing,
too.

“
We’ll see you back at
the house, pisshead.”

“
We’ll get her home!”
Lach shouts, then hiccups.

We’re in fits again.

After another –

“
Pinky, what do you
think would happen if I pulled this.”

“
I think you’d set the
fire alarm off, Lachie.”

He pulls it down, and an
ear-piercing alarm sounds. He laughs, shouts “FUCK!!”, grabs me,
and we run to our table, grab the near-empty Sambucca bottle, and
flee the scene of the crime, grabbing Melinda and Lachie’s sister
on the way.

That’s the second time
at a Sin event I’ve been involved in the accidental/on purpose fire
alarm being set off.

The first time, it was me who’d
pressed it, and evacuated an entire hotel in Sydney.

And yet another –

“
One more, while we
wait for the taxi,” Lachie slurs, while fire trucks arrive, lights
flashing.

“
God, you two are
maggotted,” Louise, Lach’s sister, laughs.

“
Okay, one more,” I
concede, as hot firemen race past me. We pour the final shot each
of the bottle, slam it back…

And Lach starts puking everywhere.
“Oh look. Plants,” he says, bent over in the garden. The fire alarm
is still going off.

“
I won!! I won!!” I
start screaming, jumping up and down.

After barely
remembering how I ended up in my own bed, I awoke today to the
smells of cooking.

Matt was in the
kitchen, making bacon and eggs and some fancy bread/egg combo for
all of us.

(he is perfect, isn’t
he???)

Matt ended up staying all day,
which was SO NICE, and Melissa and Nathan till about lunch time.
Matt and I just lounged around together on the couches, talking and
laughing and playing Playstation.

Lachie and Melinda unexpectedly
stopped in about 2pm, and Lachie walked in, laughing, declaring I
was such a bad influence.

“
He puked his guts up
for hours,” Melinda laughed.

“
Really?? I didn’t!!” I
laughed.

“
Drunks never do,”
interjected Nat.

Lachie was in some kind of awe, at
how okay I was after all that Sambucca.

“
You got your ass
handed to you by a girl!” I declared, and we all were in
fits.

“
So, come on, let’s do
something,” Lachie said, after an hour of us all sitting around,
chatting.

“
What about the
movies?” I suggested.

You’d think I’d just invented
sliced bread, how excited everybody got (except Nat and
Dan).

Matt and I climbed in
my hire car, him jumping in behind the wheel, which turned me on so
much, cause it seemed like such a boyfriend thing to do, and Lach
and Melinda jumped in Lach’s mustard yellow Commodore
ute.

We drove to Balmoral, and ran into
Julia and Michael there in the foyer!! She came running up to me
and wrapped me in a big bear hug.

So the 6 of us saw the 6.40pm
session of ‘Unbreakable’ together.

I was having THE best time,
sitting next to Matt, smelling that delicious after shave he wears
and wanting to snuggle up to him so bad, when midway through the
movie, a guy in front moved and I got a bird’s-eye view of his
forearm and wrist, complete with a watch identical to the one I
bought Evvy.

Even his forearm
looked freakishly like Ever’s. That plummeted me. I crashed then,
with overwhelming pain and sadness. I suddenly missed Evvy so much
it KILLED, and

I wanted him more than anything
in that moment.

Spent the rest of the movie
bummed, but perked up when after the movie, we all decided to walk
down to Earth and Sea and have dinner together.

We were a rowdy bunch. We were all
doing ‘A Night at the Roxbury’ and Goonies’ impersonations,
cracking each other up. We were loud!!

And none of us were drinking
either! We were on the jugs of iced Coke.

(after the night
before)

Lachie then insisted on driving
the hire car back to theirs, so I went with Lach and Matt went with
Melin so she wouldn’t be alone, and Lach seriously thrashed the
hire car. He was going 150kms around corners, and I, I hate to say
it, was loving it. I was cracking up laughing.

(I may have died, but I was gonna
die laughing)

Matt thrashed it on the way to
Balmoral, too. What is with guys and hire cars?? They just want to
thrash them!!

After saying goodbye to Lachie and
Melin, Matt again jumped behind the wheel, and ten minutes into the
drive, I was all, “You know Moorooka is back that way,
hey?”

Matt just laughed, and replied,
“I’m taking you back to my place.”

(oh my God, how can that one line
be so sexy?)

And that is where Matt made his
move.

As it was near midnight, his whole
household was in bed. He sat me on the couch

(in his beautiful home I just
marvel at and adore),

then sat himself down on the
coffee table right in front of me, slinging his knees on either
side of my legs and leaning in.

(oh God, I am in so much trouble
here)

I KNEW what he was going to say by
the tone of his voice, the way he was acting, the loving look in
his eyes.

God, he LOOKS at me already like
he’s in love with me!! I have to fight and bitch and pitch fits for
Ever to look at me like that. Matt does it as often and as
unconsciously as breathing.

“
I want to be with you,
Karina,” he began, looking sexy as all hell.

I mean, HOLY FUCK. What is going
on??? I beg and plead and sob at Everard’s feet for him to say this
shit, and HERE MATT SUDDENLY IS, saying it!!!!!

I feel like my world has been
tilted on its axis.

“
What do you think?” he
questioned, his eyes searching mine.

(I think I’m incredibly turned on
and astonished)

“
Ah, ahhh, um, er –
”

There was nothing intelligent
coming out of me.

(is there ever??)

Matt laughed. “I know you like me,
Karina.”

“
I do. It’s not that,
it’s…” Fucking Everard.

“
It’s what?”

“
It’s complicated. I’m
kinda freaking out here. In a good way. I do like you. REALLY like
you. But still…this is a freak out.”

He laughed, and grabbed my hands.
I just about stopped breathing.

This was INSANE. This is what I
want Evvy to do! For six LONG motherfucking months. And suddenly
here’s Matt, being the romantic hero.

I was torn. I feel sure of Matt,
in some weird, instinctual way, but not ready to let Ever go
yet.

Matt had found my car a week ago.
We have a great story already. Fucking already!!

What do Ever and I
have??

Matt rushed over when I most
needed someone.

His actions speak
volumes.

As do Evvy’s.

“
Let’s just see where
this takes us,” I half pleaded.

Oh my God, I can’t believe those
words came out of my mouth.

I’m suddenly Stupid Sexy
Everard.

“
Come on then, I’ll
drive you home.” He pulled me up by my hands, till we were standing
chest to chest.

He looked so delicious, the way he
was looking at me, like he wanted to eat me right up.

(I wanted him to eat me up. And
was/am terrified of it, too)

“
Karina – ”
he
growled.

I put my hands on his chest. “No,
Matt. I’m not ready.”

He just pulled me tighter to him,
leaned his forehead against mine. “Your eyes tell me all I need to
know, Karina.”

(God, the way he says my name,
sends chills up my spine)

He basically had to carry me back
out to the car, my legs were so weak.

He said, “I find you so adorable,
Karina,” as he helped me into the car

(seriously, something had gone all
funny with my legs)

Ugh. There goes my
heart!!

Again.

I got home to a missed call from
Evvy.

Damn him.

Monday 4 December
2000

7.41am

I’ve never had happiness before in
a relationship. They’ve all been shit.

(except Danny, I guess. But he
dumped me and married the very next girl he went out with, straight
from school. Bastard)

What if with Matt I can finally
have a happy, functional relationship?