THE TROUBLE WITH PAPER PLANES(19)

I brushed her off gently, giving her a brief hug instead. “I’m fine. I need to go home, have some breakfast, get ready for work. But thanks.”

“Sure you’re okay, bro?” Vinnie asked.

“No worse off than you.” I tried to smile, shrugging. He didn’t look too bad, and I knew he could handle himself. And, secretly, I was hoping he got a few good punches in while they were down there. “I’m gonna go back to the car. I’ll meet you guys there, okay.”

I didn’t wait, heading off towards the steps back up to the street. I needed a few minutes to get my head together. If Alex was still there, there were a few things I had wanted to say to him while we were alone. Unfortunately, once I reached the top of the steps and looked up along the road to where Alex had parked his car, it had gone.

I rubbed my jaw tentatively.

Happy birthday, Em.





THAT NIGHT, I STOOD near the window of the café, taking in the scene. Bridget, Jas and Maia had really gone to town, dressing up the café like we were in some kind of sci-fi B-movie.


Hundreds of dark blue fairy lights were draped across the ceiling and down the walls, covering the windows and lending a surreal atmosphere to the room. The floor had been cleared of most of the tables, except for the feature surfboard table in the middle of the room that was acting like a buffet table tonight, and a few smaller tables that hugged the outside of the room. Large black balls, made from what looked like scrunched up tissue paper, hung from the ceiling at varying levels, like planets. The whole effect was bizarre, yet strangely relaxing. Definitely not my cup of tea, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t my party, it was Vinnie’s, and he looked like he was enjoying himself. This was going to get messy. Very messy.

I took another sip of beer, ignoring the dull ache in my jaw from this morning’s little altercation with Alex. Food was piled onto the surfboard table in the centre of the room, with the usual suspects hovering around it. Jasmine was in her element, playing the perfect hostess, full of smiles and working the room like a pro. Even eight and a half months pregnant, and after spending a couple of hours helping Bridget and Maia set this whole thing up, she still looked relaxed and radiant. She seemed to make people feel at ease without even trying. It was her gift, one she and Em had shared.

She was dressed as a ballerina, her pink leotard showing off her sizable belly, with a matching pink tutu worn low around her hips. She usually wore loose clothing, and it was the first time I’d really seen her baby bump. She looked distorted, like she’d swallowed a basketball. It was a bit of an eye-opener, yet somehow, she still managed to look cute.

I watched her for several minutes, drinking my beer as she flitted through the assembled crowd. A smile here, a laugh there. She had hidden it pretty well, but then I knew her better than most. She caught my eye just then, and her unspoken request lodged in my brain.

For Vinnie. If I can do it, you can do it.

I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile, and she smiled back, then turned her attention to the small group she was with.

I sought out the birthday boy amongst the crowd of fifty or so people, resplendent in his Batman t-shirt and black jeans. The mask hadn’t lasted long, now hanging loosely around his neck, held on by the thin piece of elastic. God knows who had thought of the theme – ‘What I Want To Be When I Grow Up.’ A nod, no doubt, to Vinnie’s newly acquired milestone age. Even when we were kids, Vinnie had been a Batman freak, running around the back yard with a black cape and a mask not too dissimilar from the one that now hung around the back of his neck.

Not me, though – I was drawn more towards Spiderman. The freak, the outcast, the loner. That was exactly how I felt, right up until Em and I had begun dating. She had shown me that it was okay to be myself. More than that, she had shown me that she loved me for it. Four years of learning what it meant to love and to be loved for who you are, not who you were expected to be, and then it was gone. She was gone.

I took another swig of beer, actively searching for a distraction. I didn’t want to wallow. I’d allowed myself that last night, for all the good it did me. Tonight wasn’t about me or Em, it was about Vinnie.

“So,” Marlow said, wandering over to me with a grin. “Where’s this new chick? Can’t see her anywhere.”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Someone probably warned her about you and she gapped it.”

He clapped a hand over his heart, wincing. “Dude. Low blow.”