A Long List of Nevers - 13. Chapter 13

“So where are you taking me?” Keith

“It’s a surprise.”

Keith chuckled. “You do know that I’ve lived here all my life, don’t you? As soon as you take a side road, I’ll know exactly where we’re going.”

“Aw come on, mate. Can’t you pretend for a second you’re breathless, wide-eyed, and innocent?”

Keith did his best impression, making both of them collapse with laughter.

“Hey I wanted to wear a tiara, remember?”

“Don’t make me turn around and dump you back at your doorstep.” Carl chuckled.

“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, remember?”

“Can you imagine me with a tiara?”

“Perfectly.”

“Whoa. Okay, you’re scaring me, mister.” Carl laughed. “Wait, here we are.”

They turned off a short side road into a gravel-lined car park. Beyond them was a small tiki bar and beyond that the twinkling lights of the dozens of resorts, eating establishments, and shops of East Beach. They formed a graceful arc around the ghostly white scimitar shape of the beach itself.

They got out of the car and took a deep breath of the salty sea air.

“Well?” Carl asked.

“Would it be terribly impolite if I confessed I had known where you were going a couple of kilometers back?”

“Terribly.”

“In that case.” Keith covered his mouth in exaggerated shock and surprise. “This is gorgeous Carl! It’s awesome! Those little grass huts, the beach, the stars… It’s like… a place I’ve been to just a little over three weeks ago.” He finished, deadpan.

Carl laughed. “You’re ruining it.”

“It doesn’t feel ruined.” Keith looked up at Carl, his eyes shining with genuine happiness.

“Not with you, it doesn’t.” Carl moved closer and looped a large arm around Keith’s shoulders. He drew him closer. He closed his eyes and inhaled Keith’s shampoo. Unable to resist, he drew Keith even closer and squeezed him in a hug.

“You really are a hugger aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” Carl murmured against his hair. “You don’t know how long I’ve…” He stopped himself abruptly and released Keith. “Come on.” He reached for Keith’s hand and led him towards the restaurant.

“Hey, not that I’m complaining.”

“We’ll lose our reservation, mate.” Carl reached his other hand to ruffle Keith’s hair lightly.

They walked through the airy pergola connecting the car park and the main pavilion of the restaurant. The stars played peek-a-boo behind the vines covering the lattice. The night breeze was warm and brought with it songs and laughter from the people around them.

Keith had been here a hundred times before. It was his favorite haunt in the island when he needed to get away. East beach was swarming with tourists, noisy, and stayed that way all night long. Strangely enough, that’s what Keith liked about it. The crowd made him blend in, unnoticed. He could sit on a corner all night long, watching the revelry and be perfectly ensconced within his own world while still somehow being part of theirs.

He liked watching the people there. It was the one place in the island where you could truly see what folks came here for – to let loose.

To see an 80-year old veteran in a wheelchair laughing as he was being whirled around by his granddaughter on the dance floor, couples sharing a kiss in a secluded corner, American surfer dudes wrinkling their noses at some of the more exotic dishes served here, housewives in bikinis they haven’t worn for decades, boat captains singing bawdy songs at the top of their lungs in the bars… those were the things that reminded Keith that life isn’t really that bad.

And now, he was here. Not to vicariously experience their joy, but to be part of it firsthand.

He felt Carl squeeze his hand as they entered the foyer of the pavilion. The maître d’ was an old friend of Keith’s and he winked at him as he led them to their tiki hut.

Keith just grinned back. He didn’t care anymore if this was going to set tongues wagging all throughout Cronek by morning.

They sat side by side facing the sea. The hut was a little bit off to the side, with a view of the resorts, hotels, bars, dancehalls, everything on the perimeter of the beach. Their orders were served immediately with cold beer and they were left pretty much alone. This wasn’t the place for formal dining, and Keith liked that just fine.

“How’d you know about this place?” Keith asked as he dug into his fragrant prawn salad.

Carl ducked his head. “I asked Kat.”

“So she knew?”

“Yeah, she took me here two days ago when I asked her for a recommendation.”

Keith laughed. “What did you threaten her with? She was probably dying to tell me about it.”

Carl laughed as well. “Yeah when I told her it was going to be a surprise, first thing she asked was ‘Could I tell Miri’?”

“Miri can definitely keep secrets. But I’m guessing you said no. Saying yes to telling Miri is tantamount to saying yes to telling everyone else in Kat’s book.”

“That bad, huh?”

“She’s like the counterweight to Mrs. Minnear when it comes to island gossip, mate.” Keith smiled fondly. “Even as a kid, when you tell her secrets, you have to explicitly say it’s a secret and she can’t tell anyone else.”

“How was it like growing up here?”

“Fun. Me, Kat, Brett, and another girl Tammy were the island Poofter Posse.”

Carl snorted. “Who’s Tammy?”

“Another of my mates. Tammy’s studying medicine in Sydney now. She’ll be back though.”

“You guys the only gay people who grew up here? I assume you were all gay if you called yourself the Poofter Posse.”

“There were others in the older years, of course. Tony, Sammy, Baz… but yeah, we were the ones who stuck together through middle school until we got separated for high school. Hell, must be in the water, I swear we have more gays here than the rest of Western Australia.”

Carl laughed. “Ever got teased for being gay?”

“Not really. Even then Brett was big. First time they moved to the island, I thought he was going to be our first real bully in the schoolyard. But he’s like a big good-natured teddy bear.”

“Yeah he’s a nice guy.” Carl nodded as he took a sip of his beer. “Totally devoted to John.”

“I hung out with Kat before we were friends with Brett. When I realized I was gay in year 6, guess who I told?”

“Kat?”

“Damn right.” Keith laughed. “By morning almost everyone in school knew. I was furious. But the real surprise was when Brett approached me and told me he was gay too. Later on, Kat admitted she was bisexual, and then there was Tammy, of course, a year younger than us. That’s how the Poofter Posse began.”

“Did everyone take it well?”

“Yeah, Brett was our protector. Not to mention Brett’s mums and Wazza and Pat. We had our fights with other groups of kids of course. Not really homophobia. Just kids fighting. Anyway if things started to go bad, Brett was threatening enough to cool it before things get out of hand. I kinda… never mind.” Keith blushed as he continued eating.

“You kinda what? Come on, mate.”

“I kinda had a crush on Brett once.” Keith laughed.

“Aww.”

“Nah. I realized pretty early Brett was into muscle. Big muscle. And I valued the friendship more so…” Keith shrugged. “Anyway our class was too small, too tight to ever really contain that kind of hate.”

“I only had one crush in high school.”

“This I gotta hear.”

“Not tonight.” Carl laughed. “Embarrassing really. He never even had any idea I even existed.”

“Pig’s arse. I find that hard to believe. I mean look at you, mate. I swear I saw a dozen heads turn the second you walked in here.”

“Flatterer.” Carl elbowed Keith good-naturedly. “You’re my date, anyway. They can look all they want, but you’re my date.”

Keith could swear he could feel his own heart melting. He paused eating as he glanced at Carl’s profile. Carl was still eating heartily, oblivious to the fact that he had just dropped one of the sweetest comments anyone had ever said to him. Keith shook his head and continued eating, smiling to himself.

“So how about you? Where’d you grow up?”

“Nothing as grouse as yours.” Carl sighed. “Perth. Couldn’t even come out till uni.”

“Parents?”

“Dead to me.” Carl said flatly.

Keith looked at him in concern. Without a word, he leaned his head against Carl’s shoulders, offering comfort. Carl sighed and leaned back, resting his head against Keith’s.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really. Sorry.” Carl replied sadly.

“Sorry I asked.”

“No, mate. I do need to talk about it sometime, anyhow. With you preferably. Just not yet. I…”

Keith slid his hand to Carl’s and squeezed it gently. “Let’s just enjoy the night, for now. Okay?”

“Keith…” Carl sighed against his hair. He dropped a quick kiss on his head then resumed eating. Both of them made no move to disentangle their linked hands. It made eating awkward, but they didn’t mind in the least.

Keith changed the subject to something less personal and they finished the meal joking and laughing about sillier things – like Mrs. Minnear’s hairdo.

Carl paid the tab and they decided to go take a stroll among the tourists. They drained their beers and stood up. Their hands found each other again, almost without thought. It seemed instinctive by now.

Swinging their hands between them, they walked slowly through the throngs of people. The whole beach was lit by thousands of lights, crisscrossed with boardwalks and stone paths.

“You go here a lot?” Carl asked, drawing Keith closer to his side.

“Yeah.”

“Is it like this every night?”

“Only during the tourist season, but pretty much yes.”

“It’s so…”

“Noisy?”

“No.” Carl laughed. “It’s so… alive.”

“Yep. This is what Cronek’s really all about. Not the beaches, not the tropical sun. Cronek’s… an escape.”

“So where do you go when you want to escape from an escape?”

“That’s something I’ve been asking myself for years, mate.”

“I’m selling tickets.” Carl wiggled his eyebrows at Keith, his blue-gold eyes glinting merrily.

“If it’s for Mars, I’m buying.”

“No.” Carl guffawed. “Not for Mars.”

“Eh?”

“It’s for Ur–“

Keith clamped a hand over Carl’s mouth quickly, his cheeks reddening. “Don’t say it!”

Carl was laughing hard but he nodded behind Keith’s hand.

Keith removed his hand, still crimson from embarrassment.

“I can’t believe you fell for that so easily.” Carl wiped tears of mirth away from his eyes. “I didn’t even have to mention Mars. You did it all on your own.”

“Shut up.” Keith was smiling despite himself. “How old are you anyway?”

“I’m twenty two, why?”

“Nothing. You just act like you’re three, is all.” Keith chuckled as he dodged an elbow. “Shit, mate, you’re younger than I am. I’m twenty-four.”

“So?”

“So? You’re twice as big as me.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Just feels wrong, I guess. I should be towering over you and demanding your lollies or something.”

“I’d give you my lollies alright.” Carl grinned.

Keith rolled his eyes. “No thanks. I’ll just take your lunch money for now.”

“Oh mate. You don’t know what you’re missing. My lollie is huge. I can give you a peek if you want.”

Keith delivered a quick punch to Carl’s ribs.

“Ow.”

“Speaking of huge, how come you’re so huge when you don’t even like footy?”

“Genes I guess.” He reddened. “And I lift.”

“Whoa. So you do have some vanity in you. And here I thought you were all natural.”

“Nah. I just like being fit, I reckon. Also I’m not exactly one hundred percent natural, if that’s how you put it.”

“You came from a factory somewhere. I knew it. Did Wazza place the order?”

“No, dork.” Carl laughed. “I have contacts.”

Keith peered up into his blue-gold eyes. “Those colors are fake?”

“No.” Carl exhaled in exasperation, chuckling. “My eyes are really like this. My eyesight isn’t.”

“Aah. That explains what you see in me.”

“Mate, you’re hopeless.” Carl laughed. “Trust me, I’m not seeing things. I’m seeing you.” His hand gave Keith’s a gentle squeeze.

They were passing through the souvenir shops now. More like a flea market really of semi-permanent stalls sprouting up in the sand.

“Hey.” Keith pulled Carl towards a kiosk selling Hawaiian flower shirts and shell jewelry.

“What?”

“Look.” Keith pointed at something on the shelf.

Carl peered at what looked like cowries glued on top of one another until it formed… “A tiara.”

Keith was already buying it.

“Hey, what are you…”

With a wicked gleam in his eyes, Keith smiled at Carl. “Bend down.”

“No.” Carl backed away, shaking his head. “No way.”

“Bend down. It’s my first date, want me to go home early?” Keith threatened evilly.

Carl looked at the tiara and then back at Keith and then back at the tiara again. Shuddering with resignation and laughter he lowered his head.

Keith gleefully started to place the tiara on Carl’s head while the storekeeper and several bystanders looked on in amusement. Carl’s short hair was problematic though. He couldn’t find any hair long enough to clip it on. Just as he was about to give up, a movement caught the corner of his eye.

Just behind a stall selling fresh fruit, he swore he had seen someone looking at them. That wasn’t so weird by itself, but the fact that that someone hurriedly hid behind the stall as he looked up smelled a wee bit fishy. His eyes narrowed. A slim ankle in a platform shoe that was a bit too familiar was just peeking out of the stack of crates.

The reflections on the glass counter on the store opposite them confirmed his suspicions.