Opposites Attract

Falling in love was always something I saw myself doing, falling in love with Percival Thames however was something that I never saw myself doing. I’ve known him for nearly as long as I can remember, but I still never saw it happening. We were just too different.

The first time we met, we were 5. Due to similar last names – Thames and Thomas – we were placed in the same class. Our teacher, Mrs. Clark, let us do anything we wanted. So while he was outside playing footy with his friends I was inside travelling to far off places with the likes of Roald Dahl.

Not so surprisingly we never became friends but I couldn’t escape him in my schooling years. When we were 8 he was the first boy in my class to have a girlfriend; at 11 he was the first to kiss a girl (she wasn’t even his girlfriend); he kicked the winning goal in the premiership at 13; lost his virginity before everyone else and boasted about it when he was 16 (this time it was his girlfriend) and when he was 18, he became the first ‘official’ gay person I had ever met (besides myself of course).

On the other hand when I was 8 I finished ‘The Hobbit’ for the first time – with the help of my father that is; when I was 11 I tried to play footy and broke my leg so bad that I still can’t walk on it; at 13 I won my school’s annual spelling bee that had contestants from every year and came out (a big year for me); finally had my first kiss at 16 with my then boyfriend Dale and when I was 18 I graduated dux of my school with offers from the best unis in Victoria.

In the end I chose to do a Bachelor of Science at Melbourne Uni and I still wouldn’t be able to escape Percival as he went there as well, but for a Bachelor of Arts instead. The fact that we were doing different courses didn’t mean anything – we were both a part of the queer community and couldn’t escape each other. It wasn’t until then that we even began talking.

When we were 19 he asked me out for the first time causing me to laugh in his face and decline without even thinking about it. Every few weeks he would ask me out on a date and every time I said no but that never deterred him. Eventually he started asking me out every Friday night and every time I still said no, he even asked when I was in other relationships and I can tell you right now, his asking ending more than one of them.

At 22 I graduated with honours majoring in biochemistry and opted to continue my education so that I could become a doctor. Percival dropped out when we were 20 and by the time I graduated he was a highly respected busker on the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth. Despite his dropping out we had remained friends – he still asked me out every Friday – and he was the only person I celebrated my graduation with.

We went to a party at one of Percival’s old friends and both proceed to drink ourselves into oblivion. Neither of us really remembers what happened. We can’t remember who initiated it – we assume Percival because his love was quite clear at that time, we can’t even remember if it was slow and sweet or if it was rough and hard – we assume the later though because there was a lot of ignored sexual tension between us before that night.

The next morning though, neither of us knew what to do. I did something that I had no intentions of ever doing and he had what he had wanted for a long time and he couldn’t even remember it. We decided that because we were drunk it meant nothing and that we would ignore it. I don’t know how successful he was in forgetting but I never could. Most mornings I woke up in a cold sweat from dreams that men in their mid 20s shouldn’t suffer from.

After that night, the two of us drifted apart. To deal with the sharp withdrawal of one of my best friends I emersed myself in my studies – which resulted in me (once again) graduating top of my class, specialising in surgery, at 26. After school I worked properly for the first time in my life – as an intern at the Royal Children’s. I never took a night off and worked extra time (even for an intern).

The first time I deliberately called off a night of work was when I was 28, and it was to attend my high school reunion. I can’t lie, the only reason I did it was on the off chance that Percival would be there. He was, and we talked for the first time in 6 years. He told me that the busking had payed off. He was now the lead singer in a band that had an album that held number one for four weeks – I felt bad that I had never heard of them – and that it payed off even more because through the band he was able to meet his one true love, Sam, who had accompanied him to the reunion.

I made small talk with the two of them before one of my old teachers began to talk to me about my current endeavours. All through the conversation with her I couldn’t help but think of Percival and Sam. He had found happiness doing what he loved and being with the one he loved but what about me? He asked me out every week for three years. He was the person I lost my virginity too. How was he with someone else? How was it that I ended up a lonely surgeon?

After that night, nothing really changed. I still worked more than ever but now I started to pay attention to music. Percival’s band – Forged Happiness – were, not surprisingly, great. His smooth voice made for great vocals and the people playing behind him knew what they were doing and they were all able to accentuate the talent of each other well. When I listened to them though I always felt ill, knowing that what I was doing was beyond pathetic.

On my 35th birthday I was announced as the chief of surgery, replacing the woman who hired me straight out of uni with no experience and had now promoted me to one of the most respected positions in our hospital. To thank her for all her services, the hospital had a giant retirement party for her. That evening was the first time I ever saw a band live, a band called Forged Happiness.

After they’re show, the band remained and it didn’t take long for Percival to find me. He congratulated me on my promotion and for the rest of the night we continued to talk. He told me that he and Sam broke up not long after the reunion and that for years he was heartbroken and lost. I told him that he was lucky because he at least got to experience it, I didn’t have time for such things. At that he looked at me with the most pitiful expression I had ever received in my life.

After that night though, things began to slowly change. Percival started to visit me on my nights off – as chief of surgery hours were more regular – and while he was there we would talk about everything, the new material he was working on, what I was doing at work and our emotional ties to people. Through these evenings we were able to reignite our friendship and eventually our love.

It wasn’t until we were 37 that we started dating but because of our age and strong ties, once we began dating everything just fell into place despite our completely different personalities. By the age of 42, Forged Happiness’ first album was one of the still one of the most successful albums in Australia 16 years after its release and I was announced chief of medicine, but more importantly, we adopted our first baby and began our own mismatched family.

I already said it once, but again, I never saw myself falling in love with Percival Thames and that was because it happened before I could even comprehend what love was – when we were just 5 years old.