Soon as he could, he was getting as far from this town as possible.
He grabbed a hot dog, ravenous after the morning’s exertions. Mrs Mason had slipped him an extra fifty bucks, which he could have taken offence at but didn’t. There was enough money floating about this joint and since he hadn’t seen a dime of it since the day he was born, it was high time he cut a piece. The Lawsons were the embarrassment of Bourton. Everyone knew they had nothing. Everyone knew his mom was a bum and his dad had drunk himself to death in a ditch somewhere.
Everyone knew Noah had gone the way they’d expected him to, bailing on school and drifting the streets: a loser, a troublemaker, a failure, a lost cause …
And yeah, maybe they were right. Maybe all he’d end up doing with his life was fucking married women in their pool houses while their husbands went out to work. He’d be hauling crates for Hank the rest of his days, earning six dollars an hour and trying to remember the name of the last girl he’d slept with.
Noah lost his appetite for the hot dog and tossed it in the trash.
A van pulled up outside Hank’s and began unloading a delivery. Noah grabbed a couple of crates and headed through the door, colliding almost instantly with the most incredible-looking girl he had ever seen in his life.
The crates went smashing to the floor.
‘I’m sorry!’ The girl dropped to her knees, attempting to gather the mess.
‘Don’t , ’ he knelt, ‘it’s glass.’
‘Ow!’
A prickle of blood flowered on her index finger. She sucked it.
For the first time in all his sixteen years, Noah Lawson was tongue-tied. The girl looked up at him, her eyes a deeper shade of green than he had known existed. Her skin was pale except for a flash of colour at the cheekbones.
‘I’m Noah,’ he blurted.
She took the finger from her mouth and inspected it. ‘It’s just a graze.’
‘It was my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.’
I was looking at you, he thought. Why haven’t I been looking at you for every second of every minute of every hour of my life?
‘Angela,’ she said, with a tentative smile. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
‘Me too.’
She stood. He joined her. They couldn’t take their eyes off each other.
‘Can I walk you home?’ he asked.
‘Aren’t you meant to be working?’
‘I can come back.’ He didn’t care. ‘Let me.’
That shy smile again. ‘OK.’
The exit chimed just as Hank, the store’s owner, came through.
‘What the hell’s just happened out here—?’
But the door was already swinging shut behind them.
Noah Lawson did walk Angela home, that day and the whole summer after. He could have walked her to the ends of the earth and back, and still never tired. He knew from that very first day that he would never be able to share her with anyone.
London
It was Saturday night and Kevin Chase was performing live on The Craig Winston Show. He hated gigging in tight studio spaces, so close to the primly seated front row it felt as if he was screaming the lyrics in their faces. It reminded him of his audition with Cut N Dry: the panel of execs, Sketch looking on approvingly as he had sang and danced like a court buffoon until every muscle in his body hurt. It had gone to the wire between him and some stammering kid whose name he couldn’t remember.
The choice, Sketch told him later, had been easy.
Tonight marked the unveiling of his new single, the coming-of-age ‘Wise Up’. Recently commissioned by Cut N Dry in light of Kevin’s refusal to continue playing the pretty-boy-perfect role, it was about crossing the frontier into adulthood—or at least that was how Sketch had sold it. It wasn’t quite as sexy and edgy as Kevin had hoped for, but he supposed it was a start. At least it wasn’t about cuddly fucking toys.
‘ You say you wanna feel me, girl this is the real me, come right here and deal me, cos girl I wanna call ya, I swear I will enthral ya, baby take it all yeah … ’
The audience remained on their fat asses as Kevin charged the small stage, working his dance routines, the flaps of his knee-length Cavalli coat flying out behind him. A handful of Little Chasers had been admitted which prevented the whole thing becoming totally cringe-worthy, like he was an upstart kid flaunting his wares at a school assembly, and squealed their approval as he shuffled to the beat.
‘ I swear girl you’re so beautiful, you know I think you’re beautiful … ’
At this the Little Chasers squealed some more, and Kevin noticed through the blaring lights that one of them was at least his age, if not a couple years older. That was a novelty. She was pretty, too, with a thick dark fringe and sparkling eyes.
‘Be mine tonight, the best night of your life …’ He stepped off the stage, an impromptu move, and claimed the girl’s hand. Fingers snatched at him from all directions, mauling his clothes and tugging him close. But Kevin’s gaze remained on the girl’s. ‘Don’t put up a fight, let me hold you tight …’
The girl stared back at him in open worship, her lips sweetly parted.
Kevin hit the closing high note, tipping his head back to belt it, and before the lights went down he twirled once, brilliantly, on the spot, punching his arm high into the air. The applause was ear-splitting. Kevin returned to the stage to receive Craig Winston’s praise, and decided then that he would be banging that girl tonight.
‘ Never go with a fan. ’
That had been one of Sketch’s first nuggets of advice.
But Sketch wasn’t here now, was he?
The girl was. His assistant had sorted it.
‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ the girl told him, her voice shaking wildly as she perched on a chair in his dressing room. Kevin was busy peeling off his suit.
‘You don’t mind …’ he gestured to his bare, sweat-drenched torso, ‘do you?’
She blushed and turned away. ‘I, er …’
‘What’s your name?’ he asked, relishing the power. This was a different kind of power to the power he felt on stage. Sexual. Potent. Animalistic.
It would be his first time. Great that she was older, she could steer him if he needed it, but his own pleasure would be paramount. It was the golden combination.
‘M-Marie,’ she faltered.
‘That’s