Heads or Tails: Chapter 6
Heads Or Tails: Chapter 6
This is the sixth part of a series by Tim Crompton on theSprout. Read chapter 5 here, or read more about the series including other chapters here.
Austin looked across the dance floor from his booth. He could see Mark and Kate dancing close together, Mark bending every now and then to kiss her crimson shaded lips. The song had just taken up a faster beat, it was this change that caused Lucy and Mike to leave Austin alone in his booth and go and dance together. Alone again. Austin felt as if he were a lone eagle floating above the sea of happy couples. Make that more of a lone pigeon. He thought to himself.
As Kate slowly got more entangled with Mark, Austin looked away, his eyes scanning the room for a face of recognition, anyone he knew, anyone he could go speak to. He didn't see anyone, bar the girl he had kissed last time he was here, and she seemed too busy with a someone else similar to Austin in appearance. We must all look alike to her.
After another five minutes of drowning in his isolation, Austin decided to cut his losses and leave. With the room like a cauldron of hot couples all being swirled around by the DJ's spoon of pulsating music, it took Austin a while before he managed to reach the door.
Just as he reached out for the handle he felt a familiar hand grab his arm. "Austin, where are you going?" Kate turned him around, she was smiling in a plain black strapless dress that went down the mid point of her thigh.
"Home," Austin said, but before he could elaborate - not that he wanted to - a guy dressed in a similar white shirt to Austin, started to dance on the back of Kate, grabbing her hand and trying to tempt into a her into his embrace.
Kate moved forward towards Austin and turned around to look at the guy behind her. She smiled and then shook her head, a clear rejection in the language of the clubs. Turning back to Austin she smiled and said, "Why?"
Austin's anger threshold was drawing nearer. All the pressing bodies, the heat, the sweat, the loud music beating his head like a hammer would a lone nail, and now Kate was asking him to describe the obvious, "Isn't it obvious?" Austin shouted, his anger being masked by the music. Before Austin could continue the guy Kate had rejected grabbed her hand and twisted her into a dance.
He held on firmer this time, and Austin had to put a large hand on his sweat soaked shirt that stuck to the bottom of his palm. "She said no!" Austin pushed the guy back gently and pulled Kate away behind him.
"And what are you?" The guy said coming straight into Austin's face. He could feel the stench of cheep beer on his breath, and he suddenly remembered how close he was to that girl last time, "Are you her Father? Has Daddy come to take her home?"
His taunts didn't effect him, Austin was already past his threshold. It took all his will power to turn around, and ignore the bass of the music that was feeding his anger, tensing his muscles.
"Oi, I was talking-" The guy started to say, pushing Austin's shoulder, but he couldn't finish, for Austin's fist was planted fully into the side of his cheek, just below the eye socket. It was the push that had set Austin off. He couldn't hold back the flood of adrenalin powered by this high beat of the music that rebounded from the walls and into his mind, forcing his fist into his foe's face.
The bouncers were already towing Austin out by the time the guy had gotten off the floor. He was also escorted out, cheek bleeding and broken. Outside, he saw the retreating figure of Austin walking down the street. He reached into his pocket and fished out his phone, he dialled his brother's number. "Hey, Joe?" He continued after he heard a reply, "I got some jerk who's up for kicking tonight. He's heading down towards the alley." A voice buzzed through the handset, "Good I'll meet you there then."
Written by: Tim Crompton
Edited by: Andrew Davis, Rhys Wilkinson and theSprout.co.uk
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IMAGE: Where Is The Stock Market Going? by pfala
4 Comments – Post a comment
Faymondo:)
Commented 69 months ago - 31st August 2010 - 17:36pm
I feel really sorry for Austin!! Really intriguing, can't wait to see what happens...:)
Tom W
Commented 69 months ago - 7th September 2010 - 13:21pm
You've certainly finished off some of the chapters with good cliff-hangers Tim!! genuinely can't wait to read the next one!
MarshMallo
Commented 58 months ago - 31st July 2011 - 13:35pm
I'm not one to criticize,
But "cheep" is spelt cheap,
And "gotten" is an American word. In the UK, it's "got".
And you're missing some commas here and there.
Sorry, but it's true :)
Sam Sprout (Editor)
Commented 58 months ago - 1st August 2011 - 10:54am
I wash my hands of this, I trusted Andrew and Rhys!