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When Sparks Fly

Page 46

by Portia MacIntosh

Mel looks momentarily stumped.

‘Right, okay, erm, make someone drink?’

‘But the movie came out in 2010,’ Angie adds. ‘So don’t we all drink?’

‘Oh boy,’ Mel says. She thinks for a moment. ‘No, no, I said after 2010.’

Angie points at Adam, who chuckles and downs another shot.

The game continues, each question more absurd than the last, but we’re all having a blast, and to be honest, this drinking game is probably more fun because it makes no sense.

As the night wears on, the DJ turns up the music, and the thumping bass fills the pub. Mel jumps up.

‘Everyone on the dance floor!’ she commands, like it’s a rule of the game.

Si glances at his watch.

‘It’s getting late,’ he says.

Adam smirks, nudging him.

‘Come on, Si, you’re not that old.’

Si’s face darkens slightly at the comment, and he stands abruptly.

‘This is just sad, I’m going home to watch a movie,’ he tells us.

Si low-key storms out, and Adam calls after him.

‘Come on, bud, it was a joke!’

The girls giggle, but I feel a pang of guilt.

‘I’ll go check on him,’ I tell them.

I catch up with Si just as he’s about to cross the street.

The shock of the air outside sobers me slightly as the music becomes a muffled thud behind the closed pub door.

‘Si, hang on a sec,’ I call after him.

He stops, turning to me with a sigh.

‘He’s right, I’m too old for this, Lia,’ he tells me. ‘Drinking all night, grinding on the dance floor – it’s not my scene any more. If that makes me old and past it then I guess I’m old and past it.’

Si is not old, by any stretch of the imagination, but I suppose I can understand why he feels it lately.

I reach out, touching his arm gently.

‘I get it. And, honestly, it’s not really my first choice of activities either,’ I reassure him.

‘Come home and watch a movie with me?’ he asks hopefully.

I think for a second.

‘Yeah, okay, sure,’ I tell him.

Honestly, I would rather stay and have fun, but I feel a bit sorry for him.