Free Listen by Kate Veitch Page A

little bemused.
    ‘No question. But we didn’t mind or anything. It’s not like you were obnoxious about it. I mean, you were everybody’s favourite. Teachers and everyone.’
    ‘I didn’t know that,’ said James. He was intent on something in his lap; looking across, Robert saw that he was rolling a joint. Lighting it, James took a deep drag, and said in a quick thin voice without exhaling, ‘Not Dad’s though, I don’t think.’
    ‘Mmm,’ said Robert. ‘Maybe Meredith, for Dad.’
    James exhaled the stream of fragrant dope smoke gustily out the open window. ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Doesn’t that… I mean, I thought that with your swimming… lung capacity and so on…’ Robert faltered. He could hear himself trying not to sound disapproving.
    ‘That’s why I don’t smoke much,’ said James easily. ‘Just special occasions. You want some? Get you in the party mood.’
    ‘No. No,’ said Robert, holding up one hand. ‘I really don’t think it would.’ I probably wouldn’t even be able to get out of the car! he thought.
    Soon after, they arrived at Justin’s parents’ home, its grandeur drawing a heartfelt ‘Wow!’ from James. The long driveway curved through grounds the size of several ordinary suburban blocks. Music was pouring from the open front door, and a group of people talking and laughing on the broad steps smiled and nodded as Robert and James walked up. They headed towards the music and found themselves in a ballroom. Neither brother had ever been in a house that had an actual ballroom before. A live band was playing on a stageat one end. Lots of girls were dancing; hardly any guys though. The room was so vast it still looked fairly empty.
    Someone called out, ‘Robert! Hi!’ A pleasant-looking guy standing with a knot of others was waving, gesturing them to come over.
    ‘There’s Justin! Come and I’ll introduce you,’ said Robert. No sooner had they joined Justin’s group than a trio of girls left off dancing together nearby and came over. All three, leggy and frisky as foals, were dressed in skimpy spaghetti-strapped summer dresses, and the blonde one suggested straightaway that it was about time the guys started dancing, too. Her two dark-haired friends exuberantly backed her up; they were giggling and bopping flirtatiously. Robert noticed that though ostensibly their invitation was to the whole group, their attention was clearly focused on James.
    Within a few moments most of the group, including James, was on the dance floor. Robert drifted unobtrusively to the perimeter of the room, where he leant with self-conscious casualness against the frame of a handsome set of doors that led out to a terrace and the back garden.
    A girl drifted over and leaned against the opposite doorframe. She was wearing a pretty green dress, and she had a cloud of flame-coloured hair, more orange than red, which blazed against the dark wood of the frame. Their eyes met, the girl’s magnified by her glasses. ‘Hi,’ Robert said. She smiled. What a beautiful smile , he thought. That hair is incredible, too.
    On a sudden impulse, he pushed himself off from his lounging position and moved over to her. ‘My name’s Robert,’ he said. ‘I’m a friend of Justin’s.’
    ‘Hi,’ the girl said shyly. ‘I’m Vesna. I’m actually a friend of Sarah’s, Justin’s sister. I don’t know many people here.’
    ‘Me either, to tell you the truth.’
    ‘I saw you come in, with that guy over there in the white T-shirt.’ She indicated James, who was dancing away with a dreamy expression on his tanned face. His eyes were half-closed but as they watched heopened them fully and looked around, smiling. Even from across the room they were striking, those eyes, as lovely as sapphires. The three girls who had approached the group earlier had him surrounded now, twining sinuously around him and each other.
    ‘That’s my brother,’ Robert said. They watched him silently for a few moments.
    ‘I wonder what it’d