Ange (girlxgirl)

Chapter Fifty-two

"Hey, I'm Lily."

"I'm Ellie."

"I'm Alice."

"And I'm Ange and we're The Cartographers."

"And Triple J is featuring our album, Haze and Faze, all this week." Lily says.

"The song, Broken Bottles and Rolling Paper was written after a massive night and we all woke up in Angie's apartment, the floor was littered with beer bottles and rolling papers." Ellie says.

"That night was a blur, but we all get a sense it was really fun and enjoyable, we have tried to get it to mirror that feeling in the song." Alice says.

"So, here it is." I end.

The drum solo starts and a few bars later in comes Lily's voice.

"Hey, could you please turn it down?" Ellie asks the Taxi driver kindly.

"Sure," he says happily. "Favourite band and all," he mutters bitterly to himself.

Ellie and I smile at each other, we are disguised by jackets and sunglasses so the taxi driver doesn't know it is us.

"How was Sydney when you were there last month? I forgot to ask."

"Good. I saw Joan and Jack, they couldn't stop going on about their honeymoon. Met Dad and Katherine, they are going to Europe, so they squeezed me in. They were all happy for me about coming out, Joan couldn't believe I did it on Ellen. They all got heaps of texts from their friends about it, only one or two homophobic things as well, always one in the crowd."

"God, I wish I was going to Europe for a holiday, I'm not in the mood for a Melbourne winter." Ellie looks out at the darkening skyline of Melbourne. "Jonathan and Tommy got a couple of texts about you."

"Yeah, they rang me after it, told me about some of the old school gang texting them. When are they going to get married already?" Tommy and Jonathan are still dating and living together in Melbourne. Tommy is a real estate agent and Jonathan is an artist, selling his work out of their loft apartment.

Ellie rolls her eyes. "I know, they need to get married. My bloody brother is to scared to propose, so Tommy is going to need to do it."

"I'll tee him up when I see him next," I laugh.

"Actual do it," Ellie laughs.

We travel through the peek hour traffic in silence for a while, looking at the skies and estimating how much longer the rain will hold out for.

"Is anyone coming down for it tonight?" Ellie asks.

"I think Carol and her boyfriend are, maybe Emma and Melissa if they can get off their shift. Tommy and Jonathan aren't in town though." I twirl the ring on my finger, a new habit I have gotten into.

"I still can't believe you just brought an 8000 thousand dollar ring randomly." Ellie teases and smiles at me in amusement.

"At least it isn't an apartment in a place I will never go," I tease back.

"I will so and it is second apartment, how many do you have?"

"A few," I defend.

"A few? More like 20!"

"So, how is this working?" I ask to change the subject. "How will people know that we are playing?"

"It is right in the city and opposite bars and shit. They are opening the doors and we will play and hopefully people hear us and wander in. It will spread like wildfire over social media, especially because it is free."