Page 23 of Whispers from the Past

‘I thought of you as soon as I saw it,’ Rose said smiling back.

‘Come on. Let’s take our drinks upstairs.’ Holly had to strain her voice for Rose to hear. It was really loud by the bar. Rose glanced over to where Holly had pointed and saw white metal spiral stairs leading up to a mezzanine floor. Carefully, so as not to spill their special cargo, they ducked and weaved their way through the buzzing crowd. Rose soaked in all the chatter and excitement; it felt good to be amongst all these happy people. She loved the quiet tranquility of the bookshop, but there was something to be said for being part of something noisy. However, the quieter mezzanine area was a relief to her ears and she could now hear Holly, which was always a bonus.

‘Ok, so promise not to be angry with Luke,’ Rose worried the corner of her bottom lip.

‘Erm not promising to that. He has form for making me quite angry.’ Holly put her drink down on the small table between them and started eating the fruit that had been skewered on a stick in the middle of her cocktail.

‘It’s just he mentioned something that he shouldn’t have. He refused to go into any more detail but I need to know what happened on your 21st birthday…I’m generating a whole host of crazy scenarios in my head. So can you at least let me know on a scale of mooning people to stealing a penguin and letting it loose in Yates on Friday night, what happened?’

‘Why the hell was he talking about that? And seriously, what is up with your brain, Rose. How is stealing a penguin top of your worst behaviour scale?’ Rose noticed that Holly’s guard had come up immediately despite her teasing, and she realised she’d read the situation wrong. Whatever happened on her 21st hadn’t been some embarrassing vomiting episode, it must have been something quite traumatic.

‘Forget I said anything. He just mentioned that you’d hadn’t been out to celebrate your birthday since then and I was curious. And I didn’t just say stealing a penguin - I said stealing a penguin and letting it loose. On a Friday night. In Yates,’ She paused for dramatic effect for each of the details. ‘Just imagine the carnage!’

‘It was a Saturday night, but that’s beside the point. It’s just not something I like to talk about. And Luke knows that.’

‘Please forget I asked. You’re looking so sad and it’s your birthday, you aren’t allowed to be sad!’

Holly picked up her drink from the table and downed it.

‘Let’s do shots!’ Holly pretty much shouted out, and Rose groaned. She hated doing shots, but luckily was quite good at faking it and chucking the shot behind her.

Luckily, Holly had only bought one round of shots as she’d realised too that she wasn’t a fan anymore. The two spent the next hour chatting and drinking. Holly wanted to know about all the places Rose had lived - of which there had been many. Having lived in the Bay since she was a young girl, she saw her life as dull. But Rose would have loved to have just lived in one place rather than the near constant moves. The irony was not lost on her that they were each envious of the other’s life, and Rose hated being envious. She’d worked out that over the years, envy had been chipping away at any hold she tried to have on being happy. She could see it in Holly too.

‘Holly, I’d have given anything to grow up in the Bay with you. We’d have been friends; I know it. And what you reflect on as dull and boring, all I see is someone who was surrounded by people who loved her’.

‘Shit, Rose you’re going to make me cry and that definitely isn’t allowed on my birthday. Right, less talking, more dancing.’ Holly grabbed her arm as there was a shift in the music. Noticing Rose’s confusion, Holly leaned over to explain, ‘Nineties and Noughties Night!’ The two women were immediately transported back to their teenage years. And they danced like school girls as the Backstreet Boys’ Everybody filled the atrium. It amazed Rose that after all these years, she still knew all the words to the song.

All too soon though, the night had to come to an end. Holly needed to get back for Natalie’s babysitter, so just before midnight, as SFA’s Flowers trickled over the sound system, Rose led a seriously tipsy Holly down the now precarious metal winding stairs. She looked around the room as she carefully took each step down and loved watching the sea of faces smiling and laughing as they joined in with the lyrics. The floor was literally bouncing as the Garage track pulsed out through the speakers. As Rose rounded the last few steps she thought she saw Luke in the centre of the dance floor. Her suspicion was confirmed when Holly started screeching his name.

‘You got your brother to pick us up?’ Rose hissed.

‘It’s what big brothers are for?’ Holly responded, pulling Rose forward.

‘He looks cross.’

‘He always looks cross,’ Holly shrugged.

But it certainly felt like his piercing eyes were far more critical towards Rose as he spotted the two women make their way towards him.

‘Finally. I’ve been standing here like an idiot for ages,’ he huffed at Holly as he made a path towards the door.

‘You could have just joined us instead of standing there like a lemon,’ Holly tutted at her brother and then broke out into a fit of giggles at something she clearly found hilarious. Luke just shook his head and made his way to the door.

The cold air outside hit Rose hard, like a full body slam. But it wasn’t totally unpleasant. She hadn’t realised how hot she’d been in the bar. Reaching Luke’s car she realised she hadn’t seen this one before; a black VW Golf convertible from the early 90s. Appreciatively, she ran her fingers over the glimmering bodywork, letting out an involuntary sigh. ‘Another Golf?’

‘You like her?’ Luke asked.

‘She’s beautiful,’ Rose breathed out. ‘I just don’t understand why they don’t get more recognition. I mean, come on, what’s not to like?’ She rested her chin on the soft fabric of the roof, her eyes locking with Luke’s for a couple of seconds.

‘DIBS ON THE BACK SEATS!’ Holly shouted as she flung open the passenger door and scrambled into the back. Luke shrugged an apology as he walked round to the driver’s side. Rose didn’t mind sitting in the front though; it gave her a better feel of the engine. No other reason she told herself.

Five minutes into the drive home and Holly was asleep. Buckled in, but sprawled out across both seats in the back, she was lightly snoring. Rose reached over to pick up the cassette tape sitting in the centre console at the same time as Luke. Their fingers touched and Rose quietly sucked in a breath at the contact.

‘Sorry,’ Luke mumbled, pulling away.

‘No worries. I thought I was the only one that still uses cassette tapes in cars…shall I put it on?’ Luke nodded, so she pushed the small black cassette into the stereo and Richard Ashcroft’s voice filled the car.

“You like The Verve?’ she asked as Richard Ashcroft carried on. Luke nodded. ‘Favourite album?’ she ventured.