Music From Standing Waves by Johanna Craven Page A

course.”
    “Me too.”
    He smiled. “Great. I’ll see you there.”

FIFTEEN
     
     
    Simon walked me to the after party, stopping
for an ever-so-classy pash once outside the milk bar and once in
the car park behind the pub. I strutted inside with his arm over my
shoulder and my hand in the back pocket of his jeans. I ushered him
onto the dance floor and we made out through two entire songs.
    I saw Justin at the bar. The bartender had
been to school with practically all the debutantes and didn’t care
that we were underage. Justin leant on one elbow and took a sip of
beer.
    “So,” he said casually. “You and Simon, huh?”
He attempted to run a hand through his waxed hair, but his fingers
slid off and he tried to disguise it as a fly swat.
    “Yeah. Me and Simon.”
    He was still in his shiny black tuxedo
trousers, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up. He sat his
glass on the bar mat. “Abby…”
    “What?”
    He hesitated. “Do you want another
drink?”
    I perfected my nonchalant lean on the bar.
“No thanks. Simon’s already bought me heaps.” Really, I’d only had
a Coke, but Justin didn’t need to know that. He nodded and tapped
his fingers against the side of his glass.
    “You’re with him to make me jealous, aren’t
you?” he said boldly.
    I paused, his brazenness catching me off
guard. “No,” I said. “I’m with him cos he’s hot like a fox.”
    “Why do you keep saying that? You sound like
a dickhead.”
    I felt my face flush. Justin began to walk
away.
    “Wait,” I called over the music. He turned
back to face me. “If I was with him to make you jealous, would it
have worked?”
    Justin covered my wrist with his hand and
slid his fingers down until they laced with mine.
    I swallowed heavily. “Where’s Mia?”
    He shrugged. His thumb ran up and down my
finger. I stood motionless, techno thudding in my ears. The bass
was making the floor shake. I felt a hand on my shoulder. Simon was
holding out a pot of beer. He glanced down at my hand, which was
firmly linked with Justin’s.
    “Fuck you,” he hissed, slamming the glass
onto the bar. Foam frothed down the sides. “Fuck the both of you. I
should have bloody known. You know I only asked you to be my
partner so Rachel would stop hassling me.”
    In spite of the situation, it still felt like
a kick in the guts.
    Justin tugged my hand. “Come on,” he said,
his eyes catching Simon’s for a second. “Don’t worry about
him.”
    I followed him away from the bar. We sneaked
up a roped off staircase and came to the empty function room. Large
round tables were covered in white sheets and chairs were stacked
along the wall. Glass doors led out onto a balcony.
    “Are we allowed to be up here?” I asked.
    Justin rattled the locked glass door. “Who’s
going to know? Come and look. You can see out to the reef.”
    I stood at his side. Through the glass I
could see over tiled roofs to the shadowy sea. Boat lamps glowed in
the darkness. Justin stepped away from the window and pulled me
onto the floor beside him. He reached blindly for my hand, brushing
his palm over my thigh as he did. I could hear my heart thumping in
my ears. It was so loud I was afraid Justin could hear it too. He
kissed my fingers. Muted music from the party floated up from the
open windows. I could hear laughter in the street. Clinking
bottles. Simon’s voice.
    Justin took my head in his hands, his palms
covering my ears. The noise became muffled, like I was listening
from underwater. I could smell the soapy wax in his hair and the
beer on his breath. Then suddenly his mouth on my lips and his hot
tongue sliding over mine. I shuffled closer to him as we kissed
again and again, desperate to make up for years of messing
around.
    “I’m sorry,” I gushed, between kisses. “About
everything. About being so obsessed with my violin. And with
getting away.”
    Justin just kissed me again.
    I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled
him closer. “Are you going