Crying in the Rain (Hiding Behind The Couch Character and Festive Episodes)

26 Atrium Antics

Ade

K ris hadn’t been exaggerating when he called the party venue a ‘mini mansion’. The three of them—Ade, Kris and Shaunna—were on foot, and to reach the house they had to crunch their way up a lengthy, though thankfully well-lit gravel drive that widened out at the top to accommodate an illuminated round stone pond with a tiered fountain at its centre, foregrounding the magnificent Victorian redbrick property.

Ade leaned in to Kris and stage-whispered, “You didn’t say you had rich friends.”

“They’re not. Dan runs a small haulage business with his brother, and they’re doing OK. All of this—” Kris indicated the house and the expensive cars parked outside “—is down to their mum’s fourth husband.”

Shaunna nodded conspiratorially. “He’s a gangster.”

Ade gasped.

Kris scoffed. “He is not!”

“He is! Ask Adele.”

“Oh, because she’s such a reliable source of information.”

“God!” Shaunna stretched the word to two syllables and affected a teenage huff. “You’re such a bitch.”

Ade couldn’t stop laughing at their faked argument, which carried them right up to the massive front door. Shaunna pushed the big, shiny brass button, and from somewhere inside they heard tubular bells chime a loud ding-dong .

“What if they hate me?” Ade said, although it was really a thought escaping aloud .

“They won’t,” Shaunna assured him. “They’re nice people with excellent taste in friends.”

“Other than Jess,” Kris muttered.

Ade’s mouth dropped open. He looked to Shaunna to see what she thought. She weighed it up and shrugged.

“He’s got a point.”

The door was solid wood, so they had no idea if anyone was coming to let them in, but they’d been standing there long enough for a couple more cars to pull up and unload.

“And Ellie can be quite mean,” Kris added.

Ade’s eyebrows rose in alarm.

“Would ‘nice’ be the right word for Josh, even?” Kris rested his index finger on his chin in a thoughtful pose. Shaunna shoved him in the side, and he grinned.

“Don’t listen to any of it. He’s winding you up,” she told Ade.

He wasn’t convinced, but then Kris smiled and winked at him, and he realised the whole performance had been to put him at ease. Kris and Shaunna were good people; there was no reason for him to believe their friends weren’t good people too. Regardless, he planned on sticking close to Kris and Shaunna for the duration.

By the time the door opened, there were another eight guests waiting behind them, none of whom Kris or Shaunna knew. They shared a polite ‘hello’ and all trooped inside together, or rather, they stepped through the door and then drifted forward, gazing in wonder at the sight that greeted them.

“Well, you’re not the only one who doesn’t know anybody,” Shaunna said to Ade out of the side of her mouth.

He hardly heard her, totally bowled over by the grandeur of the enormous atrium in which they now stood. There were easily fifty people present, but the place was so big that they were scattered, with yards of chequered floor space in between, like the pieces of a vibrant chess game.

Wide twin staircases with ornate ironwork banisters ran up either side to the first floor, connected by a balcony extending right across the atrium and currently cluttered with professional light and sound equipment. Moving-head lights swept across the expanse, reflecting off the gleaming black-and-white marble floor before chasing up the white marble walls and into the dome above, within which hung the biggest chandelier Ade had ever seen.

“Wow! This is beautiful!”

“Yeah, it is,” Shaunna agreed. “We’ve only been here once, haven’t we?” She nudged Kris.

“Hmm?”

“I said we’ve only been here once.”

“Oh, yeah. Looks a bit different now.”

Shaunna gestured to the staircases. “Those rails were stripped back to bare metal, and the treads were untreated wood. I ended up with a huge splinter in my foot.”

“Ouch,” Ade said with a grimace.

“And there’s a pool house at the back, which is…well, have you seen the conservatory at Kew Gardens?”

“Only on TV.”

“It was like an apocalyptic version of that.”

“Right.” Ade was having trouble visualising it.

“Basically, it’s a big greenhouse with a swimming pool in it,” Kris said. “Except when we came here, it was a pool of green sludge.”

“Nice.”

“Dan and Andy’s mum and stepdad were away for the weekend, and—”

“And we were promised a pool party,” Shaunna interrupted.

Ade nodded, highly entertained by their tag-team storytelling.

“They’d only just bought the place then, and Dan and Andy had volunteered to clean out the pool,” Shauna explained. “Either they were being overly optimistic about how quickly they thought they could get it done or—”

“They scammed us,” Kris finished for her .

“Whatever, we spent the entire weekend clearing a foot of gunk with shovels and a wheelbarrow, then hosing down the tiles. They’re gorgeous—blue mosaic, like something from Ancient Greece.”

“Now you can see them,” Kris said.

“There’s that,” Shaunna agreed. “It was a fun weekend, though, even if the pool was nowhere near ready for water by the end of it and I was stiff as a board for days.”

“They won us over with food and alcohol,” Kris added.

“An excellent strategy,” Ade said, coveting their experience a little. Perhaps now he was rid of It , he might be able to do things like that himself instead of enjoying them vicariously.

“What d’you reckon then?” The question came from behind, and the three of them turned to see who’d spoken.

Ade watched Kris and the stranger greet each other with the kind of hug granted only to family and very close friends. Or ex-boyfriends, maybe? Ade really hoped this wasn’t George because the guy was gorgeous—tall, with olive skin, deep-brown eyes, brown-black hair and muscles to die for. He felt himself swooning and tugged at Shaunna’s sleeve, which was enough of a prompt for her to grant the introduction Kris had failed to.

“Ade, this is Dan.”

Kris and Dan released each other, and Dan extended an arm. Ade did the same, expecting a finger-crunching handshake, but it was nothing like that at all. Dan squeezed his hand and dazzled him with a charming smile.

“Good to meet you, Ade.”

“You too. Congratulations on your engagement.”

“Cheers.” Dan briefly glanced around him. “Adele’s here, somewhere.” He turned back to his friends and shrugged. “Ah, well. She’ll turn up.”

“The place is looking great,” Kris said.

“Yeah. Andy’s been hard at it since we got back from Wales.”

“He’s staying here at the moment, isn’t he?” Shaunna asked.

“That’s right. And she’s gonna be here tonight, so, er… ”

Shaunna gave Dan a nod of reassurance. “Don’t worry. I’m on it.”

“Thanks.” Dan hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Nice perfume,” he complimented.

“Nice aftershave,” Shaunna replied with a flirtatious smile.

Dan gave her a cheeky wink in return. “Right. The bar’s in there.” He indicated the room on his left. “And the buffet’s in there.” He pointed over to his right. “I’d best see if I can find my fiancée. Glad you could make it.”

Kris gave him a disbelieving look.

“Well, I know you’ve been busy with work and…things…”

“As if we were going to miss this!”

“Yeah, all right. I’ll catch you in a bit.”

With that, Dan headed off into the crowd, which had grown in size while they’d been chatting, forcing them to slowly edge forward to accommodate more guests arriving. Someone turned the music up, and all of a sudden it felt like a real party. Shaunna shifted from one foot to the other, leaning on Ade. He glanced down at her feet and up again, offering a sympathetic smile.

“I knew I should’ve warn flat shoes,” she grumbled.

“The price of glamour, eh?”

“Hmm.” She lifted one foot off the floor and rubbed her instep, losing her balance and staggering against Kris. “Ouch. Sorry.”

“Why don’t you two go find somewhere out of the way, and I’ll get the drinks?” he suggested.

“Good thinking.”

“OK. Red wine and…G and T, Ade?”

“Perfect,” Ade confirmed.

Kris headed off to the bar, and Shaunna and Ade made a beeline for a free spot near the back of the atrium. It was lucky it was a big room; it would have been unbearably warm otherwise, with this much body heat. Shaunna leaned her back against the cool marble wall and bent a knee so she could rest one foot on it.

“Why don’t you just take them off?” Ade said .

“Because Adele will be wearing six-inch heels, and I’ll look like a frumpy shortarse.”

Ade laughed. “No way could you ever be frumpy. You’re always so gorgeous.”

Shaunna smiled. “Thank you. You’re pretty fabulous yourself, but you’ll see what I mean. Adele is stunning, and the dress she bought for tonight is out of this world. It’s pale lemon in colour, and the bodice has no back whatsoever. I’d love to be able to wear stuff like that.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Boobs. Adele’s are fake, and I swear they defy gravity. Maybe they’re helium implants.” Shaunna switched feet, leaning on Ade for support. “See over there?” She subtly pointed. “That’s Jess.”

“OK?” Ade sensed there was a bit of gossip coming his way. Shaunna cupped her hand around his ear. “She ditched us all for a fling with an ex-boyfriend, who then ripped her off. The woman she’s with is her personal assistant, as none of us want anything to do with her.”

“Yet she still turned up this evening?”

“Yep. I think Andy asked Dan and Adele to invite her.”

“He’s Dan’s brother?”

“That’s right. He and Jess were…together-ish. Friends with benefits.”

“Right.” Ade was trying to commit all the details to memory. “And is Andy here tonight?”

“He will be. He organised it.”

“Wow! Great job!”

“Yeah,” Shaunna agreed absently, glancing around the room. A woman waved at her, and she waved back. “That’s Ellie,” she said. “The one who got married last month.”

“The group honeymoon.” Ade grinned impishly.

Shaunna laughed. “It wasn’t anything like that…mostly.” She cleared her throat and continued her surveillance.

Ade leaned forward and peered into her face. “Ooh! You are most definitely giving me the low-down on that! ”

Shaunna smiled edgily, and Ade instantly let it go. However well they were getting along and however curious he was, he wouldn’t pry. He turned to see if Kris was on his way back, hoping it would get them both out of a tight spot, and instead came face-to-face with an attractive, blonde-haired woman. From the description Shaunna had given earlier, this had to be Adele.

“Hiya,” she said brightly. She gave Shaunna a big hug.

“Hiya, hun. You look beautiful!”

“Thank you.” Adele stepped back and pirouetted, her full skirt swirling around her and showing off her matching high-heeled sandals—an easy six inches. “So do you,” she said. “And your hair smells gorgeous.” Adele lifted a few locks of Shaunna’s hair and sniffed. Shaunna rolled her eyes, feigning boredom.

“This is Ade,” she said, gesturing to him. “And this is Adele.”

“Hi,” Adele said. She and Ade shared a quick hug and cheek kiss, and then Adele was off again. “See you later.”

Shaunna watched her totter away and switched feet. “Well, that was short and sweet. She obviously doesn’t have any juicy news to share this evening.”

“Or she didn’t want share in front of me,” Ade suggested. “She’s only just met me, after all.”

“That wouldn’t usually stop her.”

“Does she know about me and Kris?”

Before Shaunna had the chance to answer, they were joined by another woman—Ellie, Ade thought, and thank goodness she wasn’t as dressed to the nines as Adele, although her floor-length smoky-grey evening dress was lovely and flowed around her like mercury as she, too, gave Shaunna a hug and kiss.

“Hey. Wow! I love that dress,” Ellie said.

“Thanks. I love yours too.”

“Is it new?”

“Yep. I bought it a few weeks ago for someone’s wedding, but then they sent out the order that no-one was to wear blue.”

“Ah.” Ellie grinned guiltily. “Sorry about that. ”

“Not to worry. I got to buy another dress. And shoes.” Shaunna glanced down at her feet and frowned. “Maybe that wasn’t such a good thing.” She looked up again, nodding at the glass of orange juice in Ellie’s hand. “On call?”

“Yep. Only till midnight, though.”

Shaunna explained for Ade’s benefit, “Ellie’s a GP.”

“Oh, right,” he said, nodding and trying not to let his bewilderment show. It was far too much to take in.

“Well, I’d best go congratulate the happy couple,” Ellie said. “Lovely to meet you, Ade.”

“And you.” He watched her wander off towards the bar room, wondering how she knew his name when they hadn’t been introduced. He turned back to Shaunna. She was smiling at him.

“What?” he asked.

“I’m glad you came tonight, that’s all. And in answer to your question about whether Adele knows, no-one’s been told about you and Kris officially, but they’ll have figured it out.”

“Are you saying I look gay?” Ade asked with a pout.

Shaunna burst out laughing. “That’s so not what I meant. I asked Adele if she’d mind Kris bringing a plus-one that wasn’t me, and she’ll have spread it all round our friendship group. But now you come to mention it…”

Ade pretended to be outraged for a moment longer, but he couldn’t keep it up. He was flamboyant, and most straight people assumed that that, coupled with working in the performing arts, meant he had to be gay. LGBTQ people were a little more discerning with their assumptions, but it was rare he didn’t ping their gaydar. He could hardly criticise when he could see those qualities in himself and had likewise recognised them in Kris…which also meant he was almost certain he had correctly identified the guy on his way over to them now, giving him about three seconds to prepare for the introductions.