Consumed

Michael laughed, “Don’t you think it would have been a better idea to get the engine fixed first?”

“Aren’t you a little old to be working in a cinema?” Joel countered.

“Ah ha! I don’t work there anymore!”

“Touché! Anyway, I don’t have the money to fix the engine at the moment.”

“Where are we picking the others up from?” Michael asked as he made himself comfortable.

“They’re all waiting at Lara’s house.”

“Lara?”

Joel nodded.

“She’s still coming?” asked Michael.

“You know, she never wanted to come on this trip. She was only doing it to please me…”

“And now you’ve broken up?”

“Well now she’s coming on it just to piss me off.” Joel noticed Michael was looking at him with a look of concern on his face. No doubt he was worried about the potential non-stop bickering from the ex-couple.

It wasn’t just jobs Michael drifted between — it was also girlfriends — and he was a firm believer in the impossibilities of remaining friends once you had broken up with someone you’d ejaculated in. ‘Lines had been crossed,’ he always told people who argued that it was possible to remain friends.

“It will be fine,” said Joel with what was supposed to be a reassuring smile, “we’re both adults…”

* * *

“Asshole.” Lara was standing at the van’s side door. It was the first time she had seen Joel since he had unceremoniously dumped her via text message; an act brought about by lack of phone credit as opposed to cowardice — not that Lara believed him and certainly not what she told their mutual friends who preferred to simply not get involved.

“Whore.” Joel’s insult was merely a reaction to being called an asshole. He didn’t believe Lara was a whore. He had been her first love and knew she hadn’t seen anyone since they had broken up. As soon as the word escaped his lips he regretted it — not that he wanted her to know.

“Okay, you can sit right at the back,” said Hayley — another of the group — as she pushed Lara into the seats towards the back of the van; the furthest point from Joel.

Hayley and Lara were complete opposites; whilst Hayley was a natural blonde, with brain cells to match, Lara was dark haired and highly intelligent. Hayley was stunningly attractive whereas you had to look deep to see any beauty in Lara — that’s not saying it wasn’t there, it was just well hidden underneath the shield she continually put up to protect herself from the assholes of the world. A shield which Joel saw straight through after initial, careful navigation. Hayley never left home without a full face of carefully applied make-up — used expertly to enhance her model-like looks — and Lara never left home with make-up. Even when she and Joel were dating she still preferred the natural look as opposed to a look which gave the impression of being too ‘try-hard’.

It would be a safe assumption that neither Hayley nor Lara would have been friends had it not been for their mutual acquaintances.

With Lara tucked into the corner of the back row of seats, Hayley climbed up onto the row of seats behind the driver’s seat.

“They haven’t started already, have they?” asked Dan. He jumped into the seat next to his girlfriend, Hayley, and turned to Lara. “You haven’t started already, have you? You’ll never win him back at that rate…”

“I wouldn’t take him back,” she hissed.

Michael leaned over to Joel and whispered in his ear, “Dude — she hates you… What did you say to her?”

“Not a lot. I only had enough credit to send the one text.”

“You text her?”

Joel nodded.

Michael couldn’t help but laugh, “That’s awesome.”

Lara called from the back seat, “I can hear you, you know…”

Dan carried on pestering her, “Did you save the text? Can I read it?”

“Fuck off, Dan…” she hissed.

Charlotte, the final member of the group, climbed into the van and took her seat next to Lara, “Please stop arguing,” she urged. The youngest girl of the group, Charlotte hated anything to do with arguments or ill-feelings. Protected from the harsh realities of life, like arguments between friends, by her parents — the others often felt the need to try and protect her too. Anything to stop her from bursting into tears — something she was often prone to doing and often without much cause. “You said everything would be cool between you guys.”

“It will be,” said Lara. She turned to look out of the window, “As soon as he drops dead. Okay. I’m sorry. It’s out of my system now.”

“Look…” Joel went to argue.

“You’re talking to me? You sure you wouldn’t prefer to send me a text? I haven’t changed my number yet,” she retorted, cutting him short.

Michael leaned across and whispered, “Because she’s still hoping you’ll text an apology and go back out with her.”

“Not happening,” Joel whispered back. “Not got any credit, for one.”

“Come on already!” shouted Dan. “Let’s get this show on the fucking road already! We’ll never get there! Come on! Come on! Come on!”

“Okay!” Joel shouted back. “Charlotte, did you tie the bags in properly on the roof-rack?”