For her father to go away. Forever.

It all came down to one final argument. Katya set the ultimatum to her mother. Either her dad went, or Katya would. That night Katya packed her bags and stayed at a friend’s house. Within a week Katya’s mother had organised a house for Katya to stay in. A place for let. Each month since then, Katya’s parents had paid the rent, plus her school fees. Occasionally they tried to talk with her, but it was a no go. Katya had made her mind up. And she was stubborn. She had the right to be.

Now she had a job at the Cue Club serving drinks, plus playing live there each Friday night. She hoped to soon be earning enough money to pay her own rent and become one step closer to being completely free of her parents. The school fees she’d let them pay. Partly because they were very steep and partly out of spite.

Trevor, the man who’d picked us up, had dropped us off in the city and from there we’d parted with a kiss and a promise to speak later in the night. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and I was at home lying on bed, writing, when I received a call from my friend Damo. I knew it was Damo by the words he used when I answered.

“Hello?” I spoke.

“You fucking cunt.”

Damo.

“Oh, hey Dame. What’s up?”

“What’s up?” he repeated incredulously. “Where have you been? You were meant to take me to the footy last night, you prick!”

Hah. I chuckled to myself, remembering what up until now had totally escaped my mind.

“Sorry man. More important things.” I replied coolly.

“More important things?” Repeating with incredulity was an annoying habit of Damo’s. “Like what?” he asked.

“Well, I spent last night with a girl.” I said. Damo was again incredulous.

“Bullshit!”

“No bullshit.” Our conversations were always so deep.

“Was she hot?” Another Damo trademark. In fact, three of them.

1. He got straight to the point.

2. He asked about her in the past tense, assuming I’d fucked her and chucked her.

3. He asked about her looks – the only feature of a woman that mattered to Damo.

“Yeah, she’s pretty hot.” I replied to his question without correcting the inaccuracies that had almost surely cluttered his comprehension. Through my humble bragging, I started to wonder what Katya would think of what I was saying. Then I figured she wasn’t around and she didn’t know Damo – so it didn’t matter.

“Sick.” Damo’s way of saying “good”. “Hey, Hood is having some mates over to his tonight, you keen?”

I pondered for a moment. Other than the agreed phone call with Katya, I had no plans. I hadn’t seen Hood or anyone out of that group of friends in ages, so I agreed. I was keen.

“Oy, do you think Hood’d mind if I brought a mate?” I asked.

“Who you wanna bring?”

“I might bring the chick.”

Damo chuckled. “Man, she’s already got you on the ball and chain!”

“Shut up dick. Wait ‘til you see her, she’s worth it.” I was now fully immersed into the character I always became around Damo. Disrespectful, loud and rude. I had a few groups of people that I hung out with; Damo’s group was the one I hung out with the least. For a reason.

“Yeah,” Damo replied “He said it’s cool for people to bring friends.”

“Cool.” I said, then quickly wrapped up the call and phoned Katya. She was reluctant, but I wanted her to come along, I wanted to see her, so she eventually agreed. We organised the meet at Flinders Street train station at 8 ‘O Clock. As soon as that call concluded I went out and bought a bottle of Jack Daniels for Katya and me to share.

And as I started getting myself ready for the night, a thought came to mind. One that instantly had me worried and thinking of a way out.

“Shit.” I thought. “Katya’s going to despise my friends.”

I tried to phone Katya to call the whole thing off but I got no answer. The date was made, the night was setting in, and I was regretting things that hadn’t even happened.