Something Else

Chapter 11 - Sorting Out

It was now 12 pm Sunday lunchtime, and Lee gave up. He'd driven around for the best part of an hour and still hadn't found anyone.
He'd tried phoning Bob, then Dave and Jimmy, then Steve and Paul before finally trying Claire – even she seemed to have vanished. Where could they all be?

Feeling slightly pissed off, he made his way back to the Britannia Bar, thinking at least one of them had to show up for a lunchtime drink.
He drove down to the Southern International where he found to his surprise, Del and Rat loading a couple of cases of beer and some ice into the boot of Rats car. He pulled up beside them, sounding the horn.

The pair of them looked around, squinting in the sun, and when they saw it was Lee, stopped what they were doing and leaned against the side of the car.
It had turned extremely hot.
'Is that you just back?' asked Del, wiping the sweat from his face with the end of his tee-shirt.
'Nah, I got back early this morning.'

'We tried ringing you earlier,' said Rat, indicating a party was happening, 'but the phone just rang out.'

'Yeah, I've been in and out all morning. What makes me think I've been gone for one night, and I've missed out on something?'

'You have, mate,' grinned Rat, revealing a gappy smile. 'You missed out big time!'

'There was a rave down at Wollongong last night – it was massive!' added Del, scrunching his whole face up as he said the word "massive".

Lee couldn't help but smile and could tell the pair of them were still flying from whatever they'd taken last night. 'So, where is everyone?'
'Around at Billy's.'
'What's that then,' he asked, with a smirk. 'The official recovery party?'
'You'd better believe it. That's where it's happening!'
' ... You coming?'
'Try stopping me!'

Lee helped Del and Rat with another couple of bags of ice, feeling odd that it was him who was straight for a change.
He got into his car and followed them back to Billy's, hoping - just hoping that Claire would be there.

There was a series of whoops and whistles when they walked through the door, and when Billy found Lee helping load beer and ice into the two big eskies in the kitchen, he hung a sweaty arm around his neck. 'Hot, isn't it?' he said, putting half a gram of speed into his hand. 'Here, take that.'
Lee looked surprised, 'Oh, cheers, mate.'
He cut himself a line on the sideboard and snorted it up, and then opening a beer, downed it in what looked like a desperate attempt at catching up.
' ... Must've been a long night for you,' Billy went on to say, 'Bob told us you had to drive to Lithgow and back - how come you got roped into that one?'
'I didn't know about Wollongong,' he told him.
Billy drained his bottle, letting out a loud belch as the bubbles came back at him. 'No, we never found out about it 'til last night. We just jumped on the train at the last minute. It was good. Only got back about an hour ago.'

Feeling the heat, Lee removed his tee-shirt and tucked a corner of it into his shorts when he felt a hand creep up between his legs and grab him by the nuts. 'Hey!' he shouted, swinging round.

'Alright?' grinned Bob.

'You bastard!' Then, the moment Billy wandered out of the kitchen, Bob looked at Lee more seriously.

'How did you end up yesterday,' he asked, 'alright?'

Lee nodded. 'Yeah, but I really need to talk to Claire. Is she here?'

'Yeah, she's through there,' he said, nodding towards the living room. He then frowned. 'So're you going to tell me what happened?'

'Stacey,' he replied in short.