Lexicon Chapter 17: Flawless Triangle
by JudgeDreadz
When I arrived at Heaven’s Gate, people had already started lining up. It looked like I guessed just the right time. I was not early enough to look like I had never seen a live band before, I was not too late to get stuck with a bad spot. I did feel quite out of place and lonely though. I wish I had taken Stef’s number so I could ask her where she was or at least look like I was here with someone.
Unsure of what to do, I asked myself: what would the old Lex do? I know the old Lex would have kept to himself, so I tried to do the opposite. I turned to the people behind me and asked them if they had seen Triangle before.
They told me they weren’t here to see Triangle but the support act. It looked like it was going to be a great night of music. It better be. I spent enough money on it.
The conversation felt quite forced, but it was good to break out of my comfort zone at least for a little while.
And then I saw her. It was Stef, she seemed to walk up to me in slow motion.
“Hi” she said and all in one motion, stomped out her cigarette and hugged me.
“I saved you a spot” I told her half joking, half serious.
“Thanks” she said “this is Erika.” Stef’s friend was pretty cute herself. If I didn’t already have eyes for Stef, I definitely would have been interested.
I asked Stef where her friends were and she said they didn’t like mainstream stuff like Triangle. I had no idea Triangle were mainstream. Could I be that out of the loop?
Stef asked me whether my clothes were new. I was so glad she noticed my sense of style and I proudly told her I picked them up on the weekend. For some reason, she looked unimpressed and there was a long awkward silence between Stef, Erika and I.
I tried to think of something impressive to say. I remembered the fight at Waynes tribute and how I saved Danny by talking our way out of the situation. For some reason, the girls just seemed to grow more and more unimpressed and distant. Stef was killing me. She was being so difficult.
I could feel the conversation dying. I had to win the girls back somehow. I remembered Wayne’s tribute and how I saved Danny from the two meatheads.
“Hey, did I tell you about my friend Wayne?” I began the story but they seemed to get more and more disinterested.
Stef took her packet of cigarettes and gestured to Erika to leave
“We’ll be back” she said with a wink.
Shortly after they left, the line started moving rapidly towards the imposing doors and I eventually entered Heaven’s Gate alone.
The club looked much different to what I remembered. It had been rearranged for Triangle’s show obviously. But, it had also lacked the same jolt of excitement I remembered when I first walked in.
The first band started almost as soon as I arrived inside. They were a lot heavier than Triangle. I wish I had brought ear plugs. I kept looking around for Stef and Erika but I could find them and the crowd was getting more and more dense. I was glad I had got in early. I was pretty close to the front and had a relatively unobstructed view.
Triangle came on about twenty minutes after the first band finished. They opened with the song that Stef had played to me on Saturday night. I waited for the magical moment where Stef would find me and we would passionately make out in the middle of the crowd.
It was the longest song of my life. The song ended. The magical moment never came.
I stayed for a few more songs and then realised I had spent almost all of my savings on an outfit and tickets to see a band that I only knew one song. Correction, two bands for which I only knew one song.
I left about a few songs into Triangle’s set. On the way out I saw Stef and Erika talking to two guys that looked like vampires. I realised that she did not even try to find me again. I got on the train feeling broke and dejected.
I pulled out my phone to tell Danny what a waste of time the evening was when I saw I had seven missed calls and one text message. This was very unusual for me, even when Mindy and I were together. My mind raced with the possibilities. Had Stef hunted down my number somehow and wanted to apologise for being so distant tonight? Imagine my disappointment when I saw that the caller was Dad. The text message was also from dad.
“Please call me asap.”
Dad was the last person I wanted to talk to. If he had wanted to talk about what happened at Sir Kinkalots, I really was not in the mood to discuss this so late at night, let alone after the disappointment delivered by the previous events.
When I got home, Dad was at the dinner table. His coin collection was absent. There was nothing else on the table besides a mug. As I approached, he looked at me, His eyes were bloodshot. It looked like he had been crying.
“Lex,” he said to me as I hoped that the next words out of his mouth were not “we need to talk”
“Lex. Your Uncle Brandon is in hospital. He tried to commit suicide.”
