Girls Who Play Guitars

•one fret away•

Ellie struggled to get off the couch. Her legs and arms had forgotten how to work. Maybe it was the way Kombi Van Man's shining green eyes gazed down at her. Maybe it was because backstage at a Glue gig in Brisbane was the last place Ellie expected to see him. Maybe because after all these years, she finally stopped thinking about him; stopped imagining, hoping he would come back into her life to pick up where they left off.

Except here he was.

Right in front of her.

Ellie stumbled to her feet, cheeks blazing.

His thick, sandy-blond hair seemed darker to Ellie and neater and shorter. It was parted in the centre and cropped just below his ears drawing attention to those deep sea-green eyes she'd been thinking about for so long.

Ellie's hand trembled as she smoothed her t-shirt and pushed her fringe from her face.

She took him in.

He was still good-looking. But he had changed. He didn't look like the uber-cool, easy-going hippy surfer she had in her mind all this time. In a boxy brown leather jacket and tan t-shirt tucked into belted khaki pants he looked like someone who had a nine-to-fiver, a mortgage and got up early to iron his undies.

But the silver peace sign charm Ellie remembered being tied to a leather strap still glinted at her from around his solid neck. Ellie had held the charm between her fingers as he'd gazed at her inside the candlelit Kombi van, incense spicing the air, waves caressing their ears before he'd kissed her full of the essence of him.

What did it didn't matter that his clothes were a bit ... meh? Underneath, Ellie remembered his body had been an entire beach of golden-warm rippled sand to explore – all emerald seas and sun scorched dunes.

It had been one weekend.

Her first love.

Her only love.

He was all Ellie's lyrics - all the music she had ever written. He was the one it was all for. All her lust and love and desire. All her hurt and anger and longing.

It had pulsed between them in feathered heartbeats.

Cameras popped and flashed around them.

Ellie blinked.

"You look surprised to see me," Kombi Van Man smiled. That voice. That accent. South Africa. Durban, to be exact, Ellie recalled.

"You never said goodbye," Ellie said, then swallowed hard as her throat clamped around her words.

"Who's this?" Meg asked, throwing her arm around Ellie's shoulder, studying Kombi Van Man up and down. "Are you here to sell us a vacuum cleaner?"

Kombi Van Man let out a deep laugh.

Ellie dropped her eyes.

She didn't even know his name.

"Ash," he said to Meg in that trilling accent Ellie had tried to recall over the years so many times. "I'm a friend of—"

Meg let out a shriek and pushed Ellie away. Ellie's sister Coral stood in the doorway looking lean and lithe and sun-filled in a white Stussy tee, brown cord mini skirt and Blundstone boots. A dozen sea-dried leather bands were wrapped around each of her tanned wrists and she carried a bunch of bright yellow roses. Meg threw her arms around Coral's shoulders, squashing the delicate flowers.

Kombi Van Man turned back to Ellie.

Ash.

"I'm a friend of Coral's," he continued.

Ellie's throat tightened.

Ellie always thought Ash was a benny. A foreigner. A surfer who dropped in on a wave one day and left just as quickly. At least, that's how she remembered it. All these years, Kombi Van Man had been only one guitar fret away from her!

Ash stood with his hands by his sides.

Ellie twisted her silver ring around her thumb while a cacophony of guitars played erratically in her head, trying to find the same chord.

"You look like a rock star," he offered.

The last time Ellie saw Kombi Van Man—back in 1989—she was a schoolgirl with long dark hair. And—oh shit—big pants. Ellie's skin flared as she remembered how amused he'd been that she wore sports briefs over her regular undies. "It's windy in Port Lagan," Ellie had explained with a croak in her voice as he'd peeled both pairs of pants down her legs—

"Coral's here!" Meg burst in next to Ellie again, shoving the battered flowers into Ellie's hands. "She brought these for me but you can have them!"

Ellie broke from Kombi Van Man's stare as her older sister Coral came towards her, an amused smile on her face. Ellie hadn't seen her for two years. Coral's surfing career took her all over the world and with Slider also touring, the two of them were never in the same place at the same time. Coral sported the Devine family's dark hair—the same Ellie would have if she didn't dye it bottle-blonde—and it edged her suntanned face in a neat, short cropped style that accentuated her high cheekbones and wide green eyes. Two years older than Ellie, the family resemblance was unmistakable even with Coral being much taller—and as Coral liked to remind Ellie all the time, slimmer and fitter—than Ellie. The journalists in the room were feverishly trying to work out who Coral was and why Ellie hugged her so madly.

"This is my sister," Ellie laughed, with her arm around Coral's waist. The cameras lowered, and the horde mumbled between themselves. Ellie turned back to Coral, who stood by her with a proud smile. "How did you get in?" she asked, trying to focus on her sister's face, not where Meg assaulted Kombi Van Man—Ash—with questions about Coral and how they knew each other.

Coral held up her backstage pass. "Megsy. We wanted to surprise you."

Ellie, still holding Meg's bunch of beaten-up flowers, passed Coral a bottle of beer from the icebox. "You definitely surprised me. How did you—"

"Had a comp in Kuta and was on my way to the old's for your birthday. Word is swell's going off at Bells. Figured I'd catch a few waves on the way down. Bumped into an old friend at Cylinders this morning." Coral waved the beer bottle at Ash. "We can hang for a few hours tonight, but I gotta be up at four to get to Bells tomorrow"

Ellie wished she could focus on Coral's familiar face, but her mind was an un-curated medley. "It's good to see you."

Coral put her arm around her shoulder and gave her a rough squeeze. "Your gig was gnarly—"

"Who's gonna come watch Glue with me?" Meg squealed, throwing her arms around Coral's neck, resting her head on her shoulder, picking at Coral's wristbands. She'd already changed into a more Meg-like party-appropriate outfit—some kind of Seventies denim boiler suit.

"Totally," Coral chuckled as she admired Meg's outfit with a grin.

"How 'bout you, salesman?" Meg called to Ash, who stood still and calm amidst the bustle of the room.

Ash lifted his eyes and looked at Ellie but she buried her face in the delicate, droopy yellow flower petals, their heady perfume making her dizzy.

"Sure," Ash said to Coral and Meg after a moment.

"Geez. Don't get so excited," Meg laughed. "Let's go get a good spot!" She dragged Coral out the door, chattering away as Ash followed.

And Ellie held her breath as she watched him leave.