DAWNING POINT (AgeTabooRomance)

Chapter 3

Kallum stepped out of the Uber and held his hand out for me as I climbed out after him. We thanked the driver before Kall closed the door and the car pulled away down the long, cemented driveway.

Turning towards the house, music pounded through speakers on the other side of the threshold. Stubby bottles were strewn over the spacious lawn and the smell of liquor – already potent – wafted in the air, even though the party only started thirty minutes ago.

Kallum and I had taken longer at his than originally planned. After leaving my overnight bag in his room – the spare room housing his uncle for the week – we cooked some crumbed chicken and potato wedges so we wouldn't get hungry during the party. The food was followed by shots – Kallum had a few more than I did – and then we were on our way.

I was glad to convince Kallum to be a little bit late. He hated being late on any given day, but we'd agreed that parties weren't ever fun in the first hour, anyway. People tended to be uptight and awkward before the booze kicked in, only then did everyone relax into it. Better to wait until we wouldn't be the centre of attention on the way in and everyone was intoxicated enough to keep to their own business.

That didn't mean it made me feel better about tonight. Fighting with my mother had me triggered, but I'd agreed to come, and to drink, so I here I was... But I was having second thoughts.

Did I really want to go in there?

Jett Pattison, Kallum's best mate from high school, second only to me, was the host of tonight's liquor fest, using the opportunity to "have some fun" while his parents were away, having flown to Sydney for the weekend on a business trip.

The house was a sizable and beautiful two-story. All cream and blue, very fitting for a beach house on the cliff. Rendered columns with fixed downlights stood tall from veranda to roof, and the second-story balcony above overlooked the front drive out to the road.

We passed the intricate centre fountain that sat before the porch, the water spilling down and over clusters of moulded bowls, left and right, one full bowl to the next, into one singular stream of water that gushed into the rippling pool below; the water so rapid and restless on the way down, and so still and calm once it filled the bottom.

That's how I was feeling. Taking steps, as if from one bowl to the next, to plunge into the pool of people on the other side of that front door, wondering if there would be peace inside like there was at the bottom of the fountain's bowl.

A lengthy porch adorned the front entrance with pots of clean, sharp plants that gave the place that beachy but elegant at-the-same-time look. The entire estate seemed to be a cross between a plantation and a beach cottage; the style very typical of upper Dawning Point.

Although I'd seen the Pattison house few times before, it shocked me with its beauty every time I saw it. Standing so grand in all its fortune and beauty, I felt my mouth gape a little as I took it in once again.

Having noticed I'd halted, Kallum placed his finger under my chin, pushing up to force my lips back together. He smiled, a joke in his eyes.

"Pick up your jaw and let's get in there. I am sobering up by the minute."

Even though we had several drinks at his place, it was a good twenty-five-minute drive to Jett's house, and we came down a little on the way. We'd almost laughed ourselves to death at one of those cat-fail videos, and after a high like, it made sense that we'd fallen back down. Not to mention the fact that Kall drank a lot more than I did and more often, so his tolerance had improved over the past six months, especially. And although I still felt the warm hum of alcohol in my system, it waned further once I remembered my nerves. Who knew who was going to be here tonight?