Can't Buy Me Love

Chapter Three

The DUI School was horrendous. Nathan had deposited her at the door with a large coffee in her hand then headed to his office. He was then collecting her after the four hour session. Today’s topic was the danger of alcohol to the body. She watched an uncharismatic middle aged man show graphic slides of rotten livers, people with jaundice, those homeless through drink, then came the car crashes. She groaned this made her want to drink more, not less. She sat at the back of the room not making eye contact with any of the others on the course, and they were a real mix, men and women of all ages, seems that drinking wasn’t just the scorn of the youth of society.

The other people on the course were to her all faceless, characterless idiots who agreed whole heartedly with everything that they were told. She hated them as much as she hated the class. And she struggled to control her resentment.

As she finally emerged into the warm sunshine, she felt her sense of release fade as she spotted Nathan ankles crossed reclining against a wall opposite.

                “How did it go?” he asked jumping to his feet with a smile.

Shrugging an answer she set off down the corridor at a fast pace, Nathan was ambling along behind her, but her upper hand only lasted until she had to wait at the car for him to drive her home.

                “So are we going to spend every moment in silence?”

Marina took a deep breath, fighting back her anger and the tears that always followed it, finally she managed to spit out, “we’re never going to be friends Nathan, so why waste time messing around?”

He raised an eyebrow then returned his eyes to the road.

Part of this deal was a nightly curfew, she had to be home by nine pm, and that was hours away. So as soon as Nathan had left she tried to persuade Marco to drive her to the beach club. When he refused she called a cab, there’d come a time when her father would freeze her money, but that hadn’t happened yet, so she was going to take advantage of that.

It was another beautiful day, the private beach was busy, a gang of guys were playing a loud and competitive game of volleyball, so she headed to the furthest side away from them for some peace and quiet. She’d just had a book arrive that she’d waited for from an internet agent, so with her iPod on she settled down to read about a family embroiled in the conflicts in the Chechen Republic.

It was a good book, and she was soon a thousand miles away absorbed in the story. She didn’t notice Andrew her waiter friend approach.

                “Hey! What happened to you the other night? One minute you were the life and soul, then you’d disappeared!”

She grimaced for a second before lifting her sunglasses to look at him, “I just needed to get home...”

He nodded, “you were wasted! You got home ok though? I realised after you left that I didn’t have your number.”

                “I’ll write it on the napkin that comes with my coke!” she announced and he laughed, scurrying off to fulfil her order.

Andrew came back and forth with a few drinks during the hours she spent there and each time she found out a little more about him, he was twenty, on his summer break from a University on the East coast, he was studying physics, something she REALLY couldn’t fathom, his parents lived up state, but he had a brother living locally. All snippets delivered as he passed close to her fat too many times. So when a shadow was cast over her book again she glanced up with a flirtatious smile. That smile froze on her face as she encountered the angry eyes of Nathan Hughes.