Circo

“You really do just set up camp anywhere,” I thought aloud as I looked at our surroundings. We’d had to get the fencing out of the truck to avoid any unwanted cows settling in our camp. Yes, cows.

Mikey had told me on the way here that they just tended to set up a camp where ever they needed one so long as they had the owner’s permission. When it didn’t look like there was a designated campsite coming up anywhere Mikey just pulled up into the field where we are right now, exchanged a few words with the owner and badda-bing-badda-boom, we have our campsite.

Did I mention we were in a field of cows?

I wasn’t sure of the time right now, but I’m pretty sure that it was almost midnight. A campfire was burning brightly in the middle of the camp, and people were slowly starting to gather around it. Part of me really wanted to go over there and join them, but another part of me still felt ultimately like an intruder.

It was only when I heard Mikey call my name and saw him wave me over that I did eventually join the group. A bottle of beer was thrust into my hand; I didn’t really take note as to what kind. I’d never really drunk alcohol before, so what did it matter? It wouldn’t make a difference to me.

“Good going, Mikes,” A voice growled from behind me somewhere. I turned my head and saw Gerard pulling his hood over his head, a cigarette dangling from his lips. “Picked a camp that smells like shit, and is in the middle of nowhere,” He grumbled as he moved to sit in one of the chairs the other side of Mikey, leaning over and picking up one of the green bottles from the table in front of us.

“Why would being in the middle of nowhere matter?”

“No-one around to fuck,” he grinned. It looked childish, innocent, which was odd given his previous statement. It caught me quite off guard.

“Should have guessed.” Mikey answered, taking a gulp of his drink. “When did you turn into such a whore?”

Gerard just shrugged and carried on drinking and talking with the people around. Inside jokes were shared, and more and more of those green bottles were being opened, more cigarettes smoked. It had probably only been around an hour, but already I was feeling boredom seep into my bones.

Mikey stood up, announcing that he “needed to piss” as he so eloquently put it, but it didn’t make much of a difference to me. I’d been pretty much ignored since I sat down.

I leant back in my chair with a deep sigh and played with the label on my bottle, peeling it off and ripping loosened corners. “You’re not drinking?” A smooth, sultry voice said from next to me. I looked over to my right, where Mikey had previously been sitting, and saw Gerard.

“I don’t drink,” I sighed, placing my still full bottle on the grass, next to the leg of my chair.

“Don’t because you won’t, or don’t because you haven’t,” he asked, a sly smirk filling out his features.

“Haven’t,” I admitted, blushing.

“Well, there’s a first time for everything, right?”

He picked the bottle up from the floor, and held the top of it right next to my mouth, underneath my nose. I could smell its pungent aroma, and I sneered slightly, it reminded me of my mother.

I took the bottle from his grasp, and put it to my lips, taking a mouthful. To be honest, I was a little too afraid of Gerard to go against what he told me to do.

“Like it?” he asked with an amused smile on his face.

I stared at him for a moment before I burst out laughing. “No.”

“Well, you’ll get used to it. I think the majority of people here have more of this shit running through their veins than they do blood,” he laughed.

I took another sip, and once again winced at the taste. Call it peer-pressure if you will, but if drinking was the way the people here socialised, I didn’t really want to be left out.

“That’ta boy,” Gerard chuckled, taking a sip of his own drink, casting an eye down on my nervous form.

As I swallowed, I looked over at Gerard from the corner of my eye. Ever since the morning before, his very presence had turned me to goo. He intimidated me probably more than was necessary.

“Frank,” A gruff voice said from across the fire. “Come over here, come talk to me,”

As I looked up at them, I saw that it was Lou, and he was sitting with Kate. There were a few other people there as well, but I didn’t recognise them.

I shot Gerard a small smile before placing my bottle back onto the ground and moving across to where Lou had beckoned me, and sitting in the chair he pointed out.

“Enjoying your little chit-chat?” Kate smiled almost sourly.

“We weren’t really talking much,”

“Well, I’d keep it that way if I were you,” Lou snapped.

“Why?” I asked. I mean, sure, he intimidated me, but he seemed pretty harmless. It seemed that Lou didn’t like him much, but it wasn’t any of my business.

“Because he’ll bring you down,” Kate said softly.

“It’s more than that! He destroys everything that he touches!” Lou yelled.

“Not quite,” one of the other people in the group laughed. “He makes half of the money we earn by touching,”

Laughter filled out through the group, and I glanced once more at Gerard who was sipping from one of the bottles, talking quietly with Mikey. Just by looking at him, you wouldn’t be able to tell that he was as bad as these people were making out.

The night continued on much the same. More and more alcohol being consumed, more and more cigarettes smoked.

Along with that, the group continued to gossip and complain about Mr Way and his oldest son. It appeared that Mikey was the only one they could tolerate.