SOLACE (condensed version)

Prologue

Authors note: main song running through my head when writing this was:
The Night We Met - Lord Huron
Happy reading!

I remember the day I met Andy Reid like it was yesterday. It was the 2003-2004 end of year break, and I had snuck into the local school holiday program. I had lied to my Mum and said I was spending the day at Ashleigh's house, because Mum and Dad were constantly fighting, and I didn't want to be at home.

It was surprisingly easy to sneak into the program – all I did was hide in the toilets for a few minutes at 9am, 1pm and 4pm whilst they checked names off the register. Then Ashleigh would come and get me, and together we would head to whatever activity the program had on.

When we walked into the gymnasium to play dodgeball, I noticed a scowling boy, in the centre of a loose circle of other kids. It looked like they were going to pounce on him, and I cringed at the thought of having to witness fighting here, when it was all that seemed to be happening at home. I came here to get away from that.

I nudge Ashleigh as the boys start shoving the kid, and Ashleigh intervenes. 'Andy! Come be on our team!"
The boys look up at the sound of Ashleigh's voice, totally gobsmacked. You could almost hear their pre-pubescent, awkward-around-girls thoughts: "A girl? Two girls! What do we do? What do we say? How does Andy have girl friends?"

Andy shoves past them and joins us. Ashleigh introduces me to Andy and babbles away about the rest of the activities lined up for the last few hours of the day. The three of us lay together and wait for the whistle. I seem to have forgotten how to speak.

As the teacher lines the balls up in the middle of the court, the other boys are calling things out to Andy from the opposite end of the room. Andy gives them the finger, and they laugh.

Ashleigh fills Andy in on our plan – hang back once the whistle blows, don't be the first to attack. Wait until the balls are in our end of the court.

The chubbiest, meanest looking kid from before yells across the court as the teacher puts the whistle to his lips. "Kill yourself, Andy!". The other boys laugh. The whistle blows, and Andy races forward, ignoring our game plan. He runs forward, past the balls, over the line separating our team from theirs, and races towards the fat kid, and punches him right in the face.

It's chaos. The other boys all jump in, trying to hit Andy. The teacher runs over, and is trying to pull Andy back, but Andy is now ferocious and even though the teacher is twice his size, he's struggling to pull Andy off and push him out the door.

Ashleigh turns to me and says "Go hide, last time this happened they took the roll again and you're not on the list. Just wait at the park and I'll get you at the end of the day. You can come for a sleepover."

And so I leave, out the doors, across the oval, and to the playground area of the park. I sit on a swing alone and wait for Ashleigh.

I don't notice Andy until he sits on the swing next to mine and speaks.

"Sorry. For fighting."
"Um...it's ok?" Why is he apologising to me? He didn't fight me.

He seems to read my mind.
"I could tell you didn't like to see it."
I don't answer.

He asks me a few more questions, but I'm tongue tied and awkward. I've never really spoken to a boy before.

"Ashleigh told me about you. You're Alex, right? Alex Gilmore, Ashleigh's best friend. Ashleigh and Alex, the two best friends. She said you're even louder than her usually."

I feel myself going red as I try to come up with something to say. Since when is talking so difficult? I open my mouth to speak, but he holds his hand up, silencing me.

"Let's just hang out, and you can talk when you're ready?"
I smile at him. And he smiles back. It's the first time I've seen him smile, and it makes a huge difference to my perception of him.

I can't remember when I started acting normally and talking to him, but by the end of the day, neither of us can shut up.

We play a game of chicken – every now and then I pretend to punch him, and he isn't allowed to flinch. If he flinches, I get to really hit him. By the time Ashleigh finally heads our way, I now consider myself to have two best friends – Ashleigh, and Andy.

Over the years, I've drifted out of touch with Ashleigh. But Andy and I, we've remained the best of friends.

No matter how much time passes, he is the one constant thing in my life, and I love him to this day, unashamedly.