Title: The Karaoke kids. ‘Toby, you busy Friday? It’s Josh’s birthday and we’re going out to celebrate.’ Toby flicked through his diary. ‘Okay. What time?’ ‘Nothing’s decided yet. Can I let you know?’ Toby nodded and, mentally crossing another name off his list, Sam went out, closing the door behind him. ‘Leo, you busy Friday? I’m organising a thing for Josh’s birthday.’ Leo’s eyes narrowed slightly at the word ‘thing’. He hated it. Just because you couldn’t think of the word for something, that didn’t make it a ‘thing’. ‘What kind of ‘thing’?’ ‘Probably a club we go to.’ Leo looked down at the page of his diary. The evening was blank. ‘Okay. What time?’ Slightly fed up at having to repeat himself for the hundredth time, Sam said: ‘I’ll let you know, okay?’ ‘Okay. Does Josh know?’ Sam smiled. ‘Nope.’ Leo looked down at the EU report on his desk. ‘Okay.’ ***************** The club was crowded. A singer on the small stage was doing her best to be heard over the noise of what Leo guessed were probably a hundred or so people packed into the small space of the dance floor and bar area. He looked around, saw Josh and Sam at the bar, and walked across. ‘Leo, hi.’ Leo looked around. He was at least a decade older than the oldest person he could see. But he forced himself to remember why he had agreed to come. ‘Josh.’ Sam slid off the stool as the woman on stage finished her number. ‘I’ll be back in just a second.’ Leo saw Toby standing uncertainly just inside the doorway and called across. When Toby didn’t respond, he realised that the noise level was too high for his voice to carry across the room. He waited until Toby closed the gap between them, then tried again. This time, Toby heard his name and walked to the bar. ‘Leo. Josh.’ Josh looked up from his glass. ‘Tobeeee. You came.’ The two older men exchanged a glance. Whatever Josh was drinking, he had clearly had several of them. ‘Where’s Sam?’ Leo looked round the room, eventually seeing Sam in quiet conversation with the woman who had just stopped singing. Leo nodded across. ‘There.’ The two men stared at the woman. She was probably forty, her long blond hair piled up on her head, her tight dress accentuating her slim figure. She and Sam were sharing a joke. After a few seconds, Leo realised she was looking across to where they were sitting. Their eyes met for a brief second, then she walked out of the room, through a door in the far corner, taking Sam with her. Leo saw that Toby was watching her too. ‘Hey, you wanna drink?’ ‘Yeah, just as long as it isn’t what Josh is drinking.’ The two men laughed and Josh struggled to join in. Leo reached across the bar and pulled a dish of peanuts towards Josh. ‘Here, have some of these. Soak some of it up.’ Continued in Part Two Home