The Hollywood Effect (12 page)

“London. She got a teaching job over there.”

“Nice.” I dumped my backpack on the bed.
 

“Don’t worry, I think I’ve got a spare pillow and doona lying around here somewhere. I was thinking of going over to the UK next year as well if I can’t get anything lined up.”
 

“What about your current school?”

“I don’t like it there. I wouldn’t take the job even if they offered it. Which they probably won’t. I think I rocked the boat a bit too much for a lowly new graduate.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me,” I laughed.
 

Sammy smiled. “Come on out the back. I’ve got a few friends over.”
 

I patted my hair down and followed her out, through the kitchen and into the courtyard. Four other people were sitting around a makeshift table on an eclectic collection of chairs. To my relief, Mel waved to me and then got up to give me a hug. Another friend from uni, Aruvin, was engrossed in conversation with a tall (judging by the way his knees awkwardly hit the table), bespeckled, rather handsome black man.
 

Sammy coughed to get Aruvin’s attention.
 

“Jen!” he exclaimed and leapt out of his seat to give me a rather exuberant hug.
 

I hugged him back, hard. He’d been a huge support to me last year and I had neglected him.
 

“How are you?”
 

“Fantastic, actually. I just got a call from my school this afternoon - they want me to come back next term!”

“That’s great! Well done, you!”

“Yeah, the lady that was on maternity leave decided not to come back after all, so I’m there ’til the end of the year. I’m so relieved. I really didn’t want to go back to relief teaching!”
 

“I’m so happy for you, Aruvin.”

“Me too,” he laughed.
 

“How’s the countryside treating you, my dear?”
 

“Good. Nothing’s changed. It’s still stuck in a time-warp.”
 

Sammy coughed. “Sorry to interrupt, but I haven’t done introductions!”

I glanced guiltily at the other man.
 

“Jen, you know Mel and Aruvin.”
 

“No, never seen her before in my life,” Aruvin said with a straight face. I elbowed him. Sammy ignored him. “And this is my friend Will.”
 

Will stood up, revealing himself to be even taller than I had expected, and held his hand out. I reached over and shook it. He had a very firm handshake. And he was indeed, very handsome. It took me longer than it should have to realise this was the guy Sammy had wanted to set me up with.
 

“Nice to meet you,” I finally said.
 

“You need a drink,” Sammy said to me. “Will, you know where the glasses are. Can you do me a favour and show Jen?”
 

Wow, subtle, Sammy. Real subtle.
 

Will just smiled and started walking back towards the house. I stared wide-eyed at Sammy, but she pushed me to follow him. I rolled my eyes, and did as I was bid. Sammy grabbed my arm before I’d gone far and pulled me close to her.
 

“Be nice,” she whispered sternly and let me go.
 

“I’m always nice.” I scowled at her and rubbed my arm. I glanced at Mel, who just smirked. I’d get no sympathy there, it seemed.
 

Will was pulling down a wine glass from the top shelf of the cupboard when I came into the kitchen. He turned around with a smile and handed it to me.
 

“Thanks,” I said, and then didn’t know what else to say. I really didn’t like being set up. I wondered what Sammy had told him about me.
 

“No problem. What would you like to drink? We’ve got, uh…” he opened the fridge and leaned down to squint in. “Chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, a pinot gris, beer or some red wine. Judging by the fact that it’s just called ‘red wine’ I can’t promise that it actually tastes any good.”
 

I let out a short laugh. “I think I’ll stick to the sauv blanc, thanks.”
 

Will pulled out the bottle and handed it to me, and then grabbed a jug of water.
 

“So, you’re a teacher too?” Will asked, glancing at me sideways as he poured a glass of water out of the jug.
 

“Yup. Sam told me you teach English and History?” I didn’t want to beat around the bush, pretending I didn’t know anything about him. I poured myself a glass of wine and put the bottle back in the fridge.
 

“Yes, that’s right. And a bit of geography, philosophy, politics and commerce when the timetable demands it of me.”
 

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we just got to teach what we are qualified in…” I lamented. I had bad memories of filling in for a commerce teacher. I didn’t know the first thing about marketing, but had been expected to teach a unit of it last year, with no resources left by the actual teacher. It had been a steep learning curve!
 

“Yes that would be nice, although it’s always good to learn new things. Keeps me on my toes.”
 

“I suppose so,” I said. “But I’m still so new at this, I’d like to get my head around my own subjects first.”
 

“Good point,” Will said. “Is this your first year?”
 

“Second. Although, this is my first year with a semi-permanent job. I did a lot of CRT work last year.”

“How’d you find it?” He leaned back on the sink. I looked up at him. He really was very tall. And handsome. I wondered how much trouble he had with crushes from his students.
 

I shrugged. “It wasn’t too bad. I didn’t want to do it forever though, it’s pretty isolating, and kind of soul-destroying.”
 

He nodded. “Yes, I can imagine so.”
 

“You’ve never done it?” I asked.
 

He shook his head. “No, I was lucky enough to get a job lined up before I finished my course.”

“Did you do MTeach?” I asked. I didn’t remember seeing him at university. I was pretty sure I would have noticed someone like Will.
 

“Yeah, but a few years before you guys. You were there with Samantha weren’t you?”
 

I nodded. So, she’d told him a bit about me. How much, I wondered.
 

“How do you know Sammy?” I asked, and took a sip of my drink.
 

“We work at the same school.”
 

“Oh, right. I think she told me that.”
 

Will smirked. “Yes, it would appear that she’s been telling each of us quite a bit about the other.”
 

I looked around, and leaned in closer to him. “I think she’s trying to set us up,” I whispered in mock surprise.
 

Will laughed. “I think you might be right.”

“Shall we go back out there? They’ll be imagining us in all sorts of compromised positions.”
 

Will laughed again and I felt my confidence shoot up.
 

We spent a very pleasant evening, sitting around Sammy’s back yard. Thankfully there were no non-teachers there, as they most likely would have been bored shitless with all the teacher-talk, but I enjoyed it.
 

The others all left a bit after midnight. We were all yawning by then. A few days of holidays didn’t change the fact that for most of us, 9:30pm was our usual bedtime!
 

“What are you doing tomorrow, Jen?” Mel asked me as we were hovering around the front door, waiting for the Uber to turn up.
 

“I wanted to check out the Pompeii exhibit at the museum,” I said through another yawn.
 

Will perked up at the mention of Pompeii. “Oh, I’ve been meaning to go and see that,” he said.
 

Sammy made some exaggerated faces at me behind Will’s back. Half looking at Sammy, I stuttered out.
 

“Er, would you like to come with me tomorrow?”
 

Will smiled and nodded. “It’s nice to go with company.”
 

“Yeah…”

“What time were you planning to go?” Will asked. Sammy ushered Aruvin and Mel up the pathway, leaving Will and I on the front porch. It didn’t really help that they all kept staring at us though.
 

“Around ten or eleven,” I said after looking at my watch for some reason.
 

“Sounds good. Maybe we could grab a coffee beforehand?”
 

“All right. I’ll meet you at ten, and we can grab a coffee and then hit up the exhibit.”
 

“Sounds like a plan,” Will said, and awkwardly swung his arms at his side. I stifled a laugh. He reminded me of me. “Well, uh, see you then. Oh, wait, where are we meeting exactly?”
 

I blinked and then laughed. “Yeah, that would be helpful. How about we just meet out the front of the museum, up the IMAX end, and go from there?”

“Okay. I’ll give you my number in case you need to cancel or anything.” He pulled out a bit of paper and pen from his satchel (of course he carried around paper and pens) and quickly scribbled his number down.
 

“Thanks, I’ll text you so you have mine as well.”
 

“Okay, see you tomorrow then!”

“Good night,” I said with a smile.
 

Will they? Won’t they? Liam and Holly have been spotted in the same vicinities a few times over the past weeks, giving hope to us hopeless romantics. The premiere of Liam’s new movie ‘Gertrude’s Promise’ is coming up this week, and there’s speculation that he’ll bring Holly as his date! Although, Holly is currently down in the Bahamas working on a film, so it’s not sure if she’ll be able to come back or not, but we sure do hope so!
 

“Soooooo?” Sammy asked as soon as the others had left and we were standing in the hallway.
 

“So, what?” I asked, playfully. I turned and walked down to my temporary bedroom, leaving Sammy to trot after me.
 

“So, what did you think of Will? He’s great, isn’t he?”
 

I started to laugh but it turned into a yawn. “Yeah, he seems pretty cool.”
 

“I knew you’d like him,” Sammy said in a distinctly self-satisfied way.
 

“Doesn’t mean we’re going to get married,” I warned her. “Or even date.” She just rolled her eyes back at me.
 

“All right, all right. So you’re meeting up with him tomorrow though, right?”
 

I nodded. “Do you want to come too? I thought I remembered you saying you wanted to check the Pompeii exhibition out as well.”
 

Sammy shook her head. “Sorry, dude. I have a family brunch thing tomorrow that I can’t get out of.”
 

“We could wait for you,” I offered.
 

Sammy rolled her eyes again. “No. You two go. Alone. And don’t try to rope Mel or anyone else in.”
 

“But…”
 

“Good night,” Sammy said firmly and backed out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
 

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day the next day. I jumped on a tram and made my way to the Melbourne Museum. Days like this made me want to move back to the city. I strolled up through the gardens, admiring the flowers coming out to bloom, and listening to the hum of the city. It was never truely quiet here. Will was already waiting for me, leaning back casually on one of the pillars and reading a paperback. I watched him for a moment, before stepping closer towards him. He glanced up and scanned around, dark eyes settling on me. He broke into a quick smile.
 

“Hi,” he said, tucking the book away. I didn’t get a good look at the cover, but it looked tattered and well-read.
 

“Hey there,” I said, in a really bad impression of a Southern American accent. I did stupid accents when I was nervous, but thankfully he didn’t know that yet. “Um, whatcha reading?” I said in my normal voice.
 

“Robin Hobb. Have you heard of her?”
 

“Are you kidding? I love her. She’s one of my favourite authors ever.”
 

Will looked relieved. “I was just re-reading
Assassin’s Apprentice.”
 

“Good choice,” I said. “I do that once every few years as well. There’s just something decidedly comforting, reading a familiar book.”
 

“I agree,” Will said with a smile. “Shall we get a coffee?”
 

I nodded. “Do you have anywhere in mind? I don’t know this area super well.”
 

“Yeah, there’s a nice cozy little cafe that just opened up around the corner. Do you want to try it?”
 

“Sure. Lead the way.”
 

I fell into step beside Will as he lead the way to the cafe. I had the distinct impression that he was shortening his long stride to keep even with my little legs.
 

Before long, we were seated at a small table in a bustling little cafe. Will was right, cozy was the word to describe it. We both ordered flat white’s from the waitress and then smiled rather awkwardly at each other over the table, and then fell into natural Melbourne small talk - complaining about public transport (Will’s train had been late, my tram had been early) and the weather even though today was a perfect Spring day. Melburnians loved to complain about the weather though. The city of four seasons in one day and all that.
 

That lasted us until the waitress came back with our coffees. I picked mine up and inhaled the aroma, while cradling the warm cup in my hands.
 

“Mmm, I haven’t had a decent coffee in ages,” I sighed.
 

“That’s right, you’re living in the country aren’t you. Where about again?”
 

“Tarang,” I said. At Will’s blank look I added, “down near Warrnambool? You basically just get on the West Gate Freeway and keep driving for two and a half hours.”