Laurie rejects his father’s offer of a glass of beer and continues to stare out of the window. Annabelle looks across at them, her arched eyebrows asking if it would be better if she left the kitchen, but he quickly shakes his head and then takes a long swig of beer from the bottle. The pair of them had been waiting for almost two hours when they finally heard the front door open and then crash shut. They looked up as Laurie walked into the kitchen and grunted a circumspect ‘hi’. He seemed tired, but the only unusual thing about him was the fact that he was without his headphones.
He stared at his son and tried to remember the last time he had seen him ‘undressed’ in this way, but it was obviously quite some time in the past. Annabelle leapt from her seat and offered to make Laurie coffee or tea, but their son shook his head before slumping into a chair at the table, his body language suggesting that he knew full well that his parents were keen to talk with him. Annabelle reached into the fridge and poured herself a glass of Perrier and then passed him a bottle of beer. He looked at Laurie.
‘Would you like a glass? Or do you want something else?’
Laurie stared at the beer, then at his father, and then he turned and looked out of the window.
‘No thanks.’
Annabelle coughs quietly into her hand and clears her throat. ‘You know, we’ve been worried about you.’
‘Mum, please.’ Laurie speaks without turning to face either of them.
‘Your mother’s right. Where were you?’
‘Just out.’
He can hear the tone of defiance in his son’s voice, but he knows that this is not the time to be coy. ‘Out where?’
‘Like I said, just out.’
Annabelle reaches over and touches Laurie’s shoulder, but her son shrugs away from her and she is forced to hang on.
‘Laurie, your father and I need to know where you’ve been.’ Laurie turns now to face them both. ‘You mean you want to start checking up on me? You don’t trust me, is that it?’
‘Last night your mother called me to come and get you at three o’clock in the morning from a police station. In case you haven’t noticed, that’s not normal and it doesn’t inspire a lot of trust. So let’s get this straight, okay? Where were you? Were you with those two partners in crime of yours?’
‘I didn’t commit any crime, they did. And they’re not my partners.’
Annabelle lowers her voice to a whisper. ‘But they’re your friends, right?’
Laurie looks at his mother. ‘They’re not my friends. Well, not any more. And you can tell Grandma that I won’t be going to Barcelona. Not with those two anyhow.’ Laurie once again turns away and stares blankly out of the window.
He readjusts his position on the kitchen chair and pulls himself more upright.
‘Well, I’m glad to hear that. Who are they anyhow?’
‘Just two guys from school. Easy Fingers and Armani Lite. Their real names are Gladstone and Stuart.’
‘And you think that’s funny, do you?’
‘Am I laughing? I told you, they’re just two guys from school.’
‘Two guys who happen to carry knives.’
‘That was nothing to do with me. I thought they just did dinner money. You know, hassle-free pickings. I saw them after they’d done the guy, but I shouldn’t have let them leave the knife with me.’
‘You didn’t have to take it, Laurie.’
‘What, so they could do me too? You can get stabbed in this town for just looking at someone in the wrong way. It don’t matter if you know them or not. That’s why I don’t like to leave my postcode, right? And I don’t like public transport neither. It isn’t safe. Anyhow, I left the knife with a friend of mine and when the coppers picked me up she gave it to them.’
‘Well I’m glad one of you had some sense.’
Annabelle takes a sip of her water and then she once again clears her throat. ‘I met Chantelle. Last night. She seems very nice.’
‘Yeah, well now she’s in bother for grassing the pair of them up.’
‘Laurie, they’re in police custody so there’s nothing they can do to her.’
Laurie turns and looks at his father. ‘It doesn’t work like that. They’re in a posse and soldiers look out for each other. At least I took the blade so they’re not vex with me.’
‘Son, tell me the truth. Is she in danger, because if so we ought to do something about it.’ He pauses. ‘Well? The only way out of this is to just tell the truth.’
‘I’ve told everybody the truth. You, the stupid police, the lawyer. What else do you want from me?’ Laurie turns from his father and looks down at his designer training shoes. ‘I wish I’d never met the two of them.’
‘Did the police abuse you in any way?’
Laurie looks up at his father. ‘What?’
‘I’m talking about racial abuse. Did the interviewing officer verbally abuse you in any way?’
‘What are you on? The copper who interviewed me was black.’
Laurie looks across at Annabelle, who throws him a quick, sympathetic smile.
‘Can I go up to my room now?’
‘Laurie, are these boys actually bullying you?’ He pauses. ‘If so, this is something that you can’t deal with by yourself, do you understand?’ Laurie continues to ignore him. ‘I’ll ask you one more time.’
‘They’ve got some issues with me, I think, but it’s over now, okay?’
‘So where have you been? With Chantelle?’ Laurie turns to face him. ‘Well, have you been at her place?’
‘What?’
‘Don’t say “what?” Your mother and I didn’t bring you up to be so rude.’
‘Okay then, pardon.’
‘Well, is she all right?’
Annabelle leans forward. ‘We just want to make sure that you’re both coping.’
‘Look, it’s got nothing to do with either of you, right? I shouldn’t have taken the blade and it’s a bit of a mess. But it’s sorted. You’re treating it like it’s some big tragedy. Can I go to my room now?’
Annabelle sighs, and again she touches her son’s shoulder. ‘Look, Laurie, it is something to do with us.’
‘Leave it, Annabelle. If that’s how he wants to play it.’
‘Look, Laurie, your father and I have been talking. Would you like to spend some time with him?’
‘What do you mean? I already spend time with him.’
‘You tell him, Keith.’
‘Shouldn’t we talk about this a bit more?’
Annabelle holds up her hands in exasperation. ‘When?’ She pauses. ‘Well?’
He turns to face his son. ‘What your mother means is that maybe you could come and stay with me at the flat for a week or two. So we can talk and just figure out what’s what.’ Laurie looks blankly at him. ‘You don’t have to decide now. How about if I come back this evening and we go out for dinner?’
‘Tonight?’
‘Well yes, unless you’ve got some other plans.’
‘I don’t really want to go out tonight.’
‘Well we can always stay in and talk. Or do you want to think about everything for a day or two?’ Laurie looks him in the eyes and slowly nods. ‘Okay then, we can leave it just now.’
Laurie gets to his feet. ‘Can I go now?’
Annabelle smiles. ‘Of course you can. I’ll give you a shout later when I’ve made something to eat.’
They both watch as Laurie leaves the kitchen, and then they listen as their son trudges his way up the stairs. He finishes his bottle of beer and then climbs to his feet. He doesn’t want a war with Annabelle or his son, but something has gone wrong.