003 Peter in love

Peter tosses the rest of the kebab in the bin and checks his Blackberry again in case he’d missed a call.

He hasn’t, of course. He only just checked it 30 seconds before.

Peter is in love.

Walking up Oxford Street to his bus stop, Peter feels sorry for himself that he didn’t bring a jacket on such a cold night. And sorry for himself that Jess hasn’t picked up or called him back.

At the next lights, a homeless man in a thick coat says ‘spare some change, brother?’ and Peter ignores him and starts crossing the road, even against the warning of the red man in the lights.

‘Hey, Ian, is that you?’

Peter flicks his head. The homeless man is still looking at him with his hand outstretched.

‘Did he just ask me that?’ thinks Peter. But he walks on. He wishes he had the homeless man’s coat.

The last time he saw Jess was two nights ago. She had fallen into bed with him, as had happened the last few times he’d been out with her. And like the last few times, by morning she was gone – the bed sheet creased with the invisible imprint of her body. Peter had run his hand over her vacant curves. He breathed in the last remaining traces of her scent. He relived the taste of her in his mouth.

He wants her again tonight.

When he gets to the bus stop it’s another 45 minutes til the next one. He suddenly thinks it’s too early to go home.

‘Hey Joe, where are you, man?...oh you’re at home… right, well I’ll catch you later then… no, no, it’s OK … no really. I’ll catch you later … yeah you too. Good night, Joe.’

‘…you’re where, Lucy? Listen, is your friend Janey with you? The cute one… no, the small one …oh, it’s Joni …yeah that’s what I said …Lucy? Hello? Are you there?’

Jess.

The name floats in and out of his head. He’s intoxicated with her. But she won’t return his calls.

Is she playing games? Playing hard to get? Is she busy? Is she dead?

Jess.

‘Hey,’ someone taps Peter on his shoulder, ‘Ian, man, long time no see!’

He turns around.

‘Oh, sorry, my mistake.’

The guy is stumbling a little. His speech slightly slurred.

‘Sorry mate,’ says his friend, grabbing the guy by the shoulder and directing him away.

Peter watches them walking off. The friend is still waving at him apologetically for a few more metres. Then they turn into the next alley to the right. And Peter decides to follow them.

When he gets to the alley, the two guys are standing next to a dumpster, facing each other. The friend has his hands on the other guy’s shoulder and is saying something. The other guy’s head is down and nodding.

‘Is he alright?’ asks Peter, slowly walking towards them.

‘Oh yeah, he always gets like this,’ offers the friend, ‘Mike here can’t hold his drink,’ and he laughs.

‘Good,’ says Peter. ‘That’s very good. So maybe now you can tell me who the hell Ian is.’

‘Oh that was just a mistake, mate. It was an honest mistake.’

‘You look like him,’ says the drunk.

‘Shut up, Mike.’ A look of panic grows on the friend’s face as he starts to edge away from Peter.

‘Just a mistake?’ says Peter calmly, ‘I don’t think so.’

The friend grabs Mike and pushes him away.

‘Just run, Mike!’

When he turns around, Peter is already is his face.

Peter grabs him and throws him hard against the dumpster.

Mike is about ten metres away but Peter catches him in a blink. He never had a chance, really. One sharp kick throws him against the wall puts him on the ground.

‘OK. Now. Who’s Ian?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m just a stupid drunk, man.’ Mike is crying. His head pounds so hard he can hardly hear anything. His eyes, barely able to see, with all the blood seeping in.

Peter hears something behind him and turns around to see the friend running straight at him with a plank of wood raised above his head.

He acts without thought. Purely on instinct. A hand to the arm and the plank of wood is no longer a threat. The arm snaps at the shoulder and he screams. Peter then throws him to the ground and punches the gut – silencing him.

There is no wasted motion. Peter moves like a flicker.

A shadow.

Mike barely has time to catch his breath and he can feel that shadow over him again.

‘So, um… say that I really was Ian. What would you have told me?’

‘There’s nothing. Seriously. I don’t know. It was a mistake. I’m sorry.’

Peter kneels down by his side.

‘I know. I understand. You made a mistake. But you’re not the only one who’s made that mistake lately. So I’d just like to know why.’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I thought he was in Hong Kong.’

‘Who?’

‘Ian! He’s supposed to be in Hong Kong,’ say Mike, still crying. ‘Please don’t hurt me anymore. I’m sorry, man. I’m sorry! I don’t know anything else, I swear!’

‘OK. I believe you,’ says Peter. He grabs Mike and sits him against the wall. ‘Mike, I think I killed your friend. Sorry about that.’

Mike doesn’t answer. He’s panting heavily. Struggling to stay conscious.

‘Say, that’s a nice jacket, Mike. It looks warm. You think you could let me borrow it? It’s a cold night.’

‘Sure, sure. Whatever, man.’

‘Actually, on second thought, it’s probably a little soiled.’

Mike’s breathing slows down and his eyes close. Peter gets up and walks back towards the main road.

‘Oh Jess, why won’t you ring me back?’ he thinks to himself.

Peter closes his eyes and pretends the alley is his bedroom. He breathes in and pretends the smell of garbage and fresh bodily fluids is the scent of the woman he loves.

002 New York City

The apartment was still as empty as she had left it two months ago, and Jess felt a wave of loneliness as she entered the living room.

So quiet, it was almost nauseating, she suddenly felt sick.

But she ignored the sensation, and she didn’t remove her heals. Instead she just dropped her bays where she stood, and walked across the floorboards. Each step echoing through the large empty room, and down the full-length windows that looked over the New York City skyline.

“Fuuuuuk,” she yelled, through the vacant rooms. A long pronounced vent vibrating far too long. One the neighbours would have heard, if she didn’t own the empty apartment next door also.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” She bent her knees toward the floor to balance on her heels, and brought her hands to her face.

She had failed. More pathetically then she had ever failed before.

The mobile rang, interrupting what an outsider might have labelled as, ‘her moment.’

She reached for it from the smallest piece of her matching luggage set.

It was Leslie, and she sure as hell was not ready to explain the distraction that had occurred in Japan. She wasn’t prepared to hear the word “fail,” in a sentence that included her name. Instead she threw the phone across the floorboards. It bounced once, twice, then landed safely facing up. Still flashing for attention.

She gave in. “Leslie,” she answered.

“My darling Jess, you must be home.”

Jess didn’t reply. Instead she looked at the roof in frustration.

Leslie continued. “So. If you’re already home, then that must mean that our little agreement has taken,” he searched for the words, “taken a beating, so to speak.”

The comments were followed by laughter, and not from Leslie, but from others somewhere in the room with him. She wondered where the room was, and if Ian was there.

“I couldn’t find him,” she started, the first thing that came to mind – but Leslie knew that already.

“Even with the maps, the directions and the assistance of my staff? Now that, I find hard to believe, not with your skills Jess.”

“Your staff,” Jess started with an angry tone, but then reverted back to caution. “Themselves are not so easy to locate. And when they are, sporting an umbrella with a ridiculous “Hello Kitty” logo embezzled on it doesn’t do much for my cover.”

“Now listed here you little bitch,” Leslie quickly changed his tone. “You don’t ever take a swipe at my staff, my directions or my maps. Even with all your training and your so called…physical attributes, don’t you go thinking for a second that I won’t tear into your New York, Sydney or Berlin mansions and rip your fucking arms off.”

Jess didn’t blink.

“That’s right princess,” Leslie continued. “I know all your homes, even that cute little bungalow in Thailand you bought last year. Your money is in the same drowning boat as your skills, and I only I can rescue you.”

“I’ll find your man,” Jess replied calmly.

“Damn right you will.”

“And then you will leave us alone, for good.”

“I’d say that’s a definite possibility.”

“It’s not a possibility you arsehole, it’s a fact.”

“Careful my dear,” Leslie took exception to the tone then changed his mind. “We have a deal don’t we?

“Damn right we do,” Jess reached for her notebook from her luggage. “The subject has moved then?”

“Hong Kong,” replied Leslie. “You fly out tomorrow.”

001 Travel story

Peter crosses the floor with three beers in his hands, squeezing through a non-descript pack of blondes. On the way to the table, he glances left and Jess is dancing with a couple of guys.

It's only 10 o'clock but it feels much later. It always does.

At the table, Joe has started his story.

'So we're talking about the vending machines but it was so hard to understand her cos her English wasn't too good. I don't even really know her name. It sounded like Injun or Engine or something.'

'Joe's talking about the Korean girl he met in Japan,' Cheryl explains to Peter as he puts down the beers.

'So yeah, we were talking and she tells me that it's her last night in Kyoto so I thought I'd better get a move on. So I ask her where she's going and she says Osaka. So I was, like, "Damn! I was just there". But we got talking more and she tells me she's sick of the cities already. And she says "I'll probably end up making a trip to Nara from Osaka to look at temples instead of staying in the city all week."

Peter glances over at Jess again and she's still dancing with the boys. They make brief eye contact and she sticks her tongue out at him. He smiles.

'… and she was working on some volunteer program thing in Fukuoka…'

'Dammit man,' Peter cuts in, 'so did you get to do anything with her or what?'

'Naw man. She left the next day. And when I asked her if she wanted to meet up in Nara she says that she's meeting a friend. I assumed she meant a guy. And so she says sorry and so left.'

Cheryl asks 'So that's it? Did you get her number or email or whatever?'

'Facebook…' added Peter.

'Nah she just left. But that's not the end of it. So I thought maybe I'll just go to Nara, right? And maybe I'll just bump into her.'

'So you stalked her is what you did?'

'Naw…well maybe a little.'

Cheryl is shaking her head. Peter feels restless. Then some guy bumps him and says 'Sorry, thought you were Ian.'

'So I go to Nara when she said she was gonna go. And all day I'm at all the touristy places, right? Cos, I mean, where else would she be going? All the temples and stuff are in this one giant park. And I'm all looking around and everything. But I don't see her. I mean, the temples were all really nice and all but I don't see her at all.'

'So that's it?'

'Naw! So I go back to Kyoto where I was still staying and I'm walking around looking for dinner and it's raining and everything, and there she is. I see her. She's trying to avoid all the puddles on the road and she's got this Hello Kitty umbrella and she's totally by herself. No "friend" in sight.' And Joe actually makes quotation marks in the air with his fingers.

'But I don't know what happened. I just kinda froze. I followed her up a street but then I went into one of the shops to make it not so obvious. And when I get out she's gone. I tried going into some of the other shops in case she went inside but I totally lost her.'

'That's a crap story, Joe,' Peter says.

'Are you sure that's what really happened?' says Cheryl. 'You didn't actually tap her on the shoulder and then went to dinner with her…'

'…and then ended up in one of those love hotels with her?' Joe finishes her sentence.

Cheryl laughs and finishes off her beer. Behind her, that guy is still looking for Ian.

'Maybe you should stick to your original story,' says Peter. 'I think I'm gonna go check up on Jess.'

And he gets up and walks over to Jess.