Chapter Sixteen
Later they sat at the very top of the waterfall from where it plunged through a series of rock pools to its eventual final descent to the forest floor below. Few people came up that far. Josh and Gina had been hot after climbing the difficult track and had a swim in one of the rock pools. Now they lay in the sun, Gina at right angles to him, her head in his lap while he played with her hair. The cicadas chirped in the bush behind them, the water crashed over the rocks below them. Josh decided this was as close to heaven as he was going to get.
“Do you want to come to a party tonight?” Gina asked as she looked up at him.
“Party?” he asked. “Where?”
“At the bach next door to me.”
“Will Bevan be there?”
“I expect so, but don’t worry about him.”
Josh wasn’t so sure about that.
“Well, are you coming or not?” she asked.
“Are you sure Bevan’s not going to have a go at me?”
“He won’t, he’s too busy with that girl of his.” She cuddled up to him and kissed his cheek. “Please say you’ll come. It’ll be fun.”
“Okay,” he said, with a shrug of his shoulders, although he only wanted to be alone with her.
“Cool,” she said and kissed him on the lips.
He became aware of nothing else in that deserted spot but the two of them.
Standing in the twilight at the front door of the bach next door to Bevan’s, Josh felt nervous and unsettled. It had been easy to say yes when he was alone with Gina, but now he wasn’t so sure. He could hear the sounds of the party on the other side of the door and raised his hand to knock. It opened before his fist could connect. Gina stood in the doorway.
“How did you know I was here?” he asked.
“I’ve been watching for you. You’re late. I thought you weren’t coming.”
“My dad gave me a hard time. He didn’t want me to come.”
She pulled him close for a kiss then led him down the passage towards the music and the sounds of the party. He caught a quick glimpse of bedrooms and a bathroom before he came to a large open-plan room that faced the sand dunes and the sea. It was full of people who spilled out onto the deck beyond the room and onto the sand. Bowls of food lay around and everyone had a drink in their hand. Josh quickly spotted Rhys in the crowd, his arm around a girl he recognised as one of the regulars at Piha. He couldn’t see Bevan.
“Let’s get you a drink,” Gina said as she headed towards the kitchen, which was situated in one corner of the room. She opened the fridge door to reveal packs of beer inside.
“What do you want?” she asked.
Josh chose a beer and had only just popped the tab when he stiffened at the sound of a familiar voice.
“Howzit, bro? Still alive, eh?”
He turned and faced Mitch. Scott stood beside him. Josh braced himself for attack, but they just stood there, smiling at him.
“You took a beating last time we met, bro,” Mitch said and held out his hand. “No hard feelings, eh?”
“Nah,” Josh said as he tentatively shook the offered hand. “You staying a while?” Josh sipped at his beer to hide his nervousness. He hadn’t seen these two at Piha before and presumed they had just arrived at Bevan’s invitation.
“Until after New Year’s. Bevan’s going to show us the good surfing spots.”
“I might see you out there,” Josh said.
Mitch and Scott moved off together and he lost sight of them in the crowd. He thought it was strange that they admired him for taking the beating from Bevan, like some kind of medal of honour.
Gina hooked her arm through his. “Come on, it’s hot in here,” she said as she moved him towards the deck.
As they walked out into the cooler night air, Josh spotted Bevan. He was leaning against the railing on the deck and had his arm around a girl. Bevan and he locked eyes for a moment and there was a challenge in Bevan’s eyes. Josh only looked away when Gina led him over to a group of people.
“This is Katie,” she said, introducing him to a tall, dark girl. There was a similarity to Bevan in her features, but her face held none of the vindictiveness that Josh had seen in her brother’s. The boy with her was Sean, a regular at Piha, and Josh shook hands with him.
Gina introduced him to more people, but he forgot their names within a few minutes. He could feel Bevan’s eyes on him and glanced at him over his shoulder. Bevan was staring at him and he didn’t like the look in his eyes.
Together they went back into the bach and Gina pulled him into the crowd that was now dancing inside. He wasn’t good at dancing and moved awkwardly, feeling self-conscious until the song ended when they went back to kitchen where he retrieved a beer from the fridge. He drank eagerly, the warm weather and the press of bodies had made him thirsty. Gina led him over to a sofa that had just been vacated. She pulled him down beside her and snuggled up to him. From across the room, Bevan, his arm still around the girl, was glaring at him. For a few seconds Josh stared back, meeting Bevan’s stare, and it was Bevan who looked away first and moved out onto the deck, taking the girl with him.
Gina moved closer. He felt her breath in his ear. “See, didn’t I tell you Bevan would be cool?”
Josh didn’t reply. He had an uneasy feeling. Something was wrong here and he couldn’t figure out what it was.
Gina pulled him up for another dance. The music was getting louder, or had the beer affected his hearing? With Gina opposite him, moving her body to the music, he could forget Bevan and the strange looks he was giving him. He could even forget that he couldn’t dance as long as he had Gina with him to make him look good.
The evening passed quickly after the third beer. He danced with Gina some more and talked to Mitch and Scott about surfing. The alcohol in his system made him relaxed and confident.
“You wait here,” Gina said as a song finished. She ran her hand all the way down the inside of his bare arm, making a shiver run up his spine, and then went down the passage in the direction of the bathroom.
He had lost track of time, but it felt late. He also didn’t know how many beers he had drunk, but it didn’t matter. He was enjoying himself. He lowered himself onto the sofa next to Mitch and found himself talking about skating and surfing all at the same time as though the two activities were one. He didn’t even notice that his speech was slurred or that he wasn’t making a lot of sense.
When Mitch got up to get another beer Josh closed his eyes and laid his head back on the sofa. He let the music pulse through his body and carry him along its waves as if he was in the ocean, cradled by the swell of the sea and being rocked to sleep by its lullaby.