The fifth time I didn’t have a threesome…somebody died

Amelia and I had been working together in the front of house bar for about a year. I was being trained up as a bar supervisor, while she was one of the more reliable waitresses on the floor.

Although we didn’t chat much, we had a lot in common; we liked the same music and books, we had uni degrees that we weren’t using, we preferred house parties to nightclubs. She was quietly acerbic and had a lateral sense of humour — which meant that she could make me laugh without trying. I liked working with Amelia.

She had been seeing this kitchen hand, Abe, for about a year and they were living together somewhere on the Eastern Shore. I actually knew Abe from when I lived in Launceston — we weren’t mates or even really acquaintances, but we were at college at the same time so we knew each other’s faces. In college he had been one of those happy-go-lucky surfer types and always seemed to be on the arm of a girl who looked far out of his league.

As was still the case, apparently. Amelia was effortlessly attractive, with her small, fit frame and her big, blue eyes. Her long hair was always pulled back into strict ponytail, which accentuated just how big those disinterested blue eyes of hers really were.

She didn’t party with the rest of the hotel crew, not at first anyway. I knew that she was into getting high and rocking out, but she had her own group of friends away from work and so she partied with them. The hospitality industry breeds short-lived, intense friendships between its denizens… but she wasn’t having a bar of it. Almost every night there would be a crew of hotel staff looking to party into the small hours, but Amelia was never one of them.

Abe often was, though. And Marie was too. Marie was a tiny, half-Filipino barmaid with a big smile and a gentle humour. Lovely and friendly, Marie had a knack for putting people at ease. She was younger than most of the other bar crew and was still learning the ropes. Being young, attractive and genuinely open-hearted meant that all of the older crew looked out for her, heading off any sleazy dude who decided to pursue her.

Except Abe. Nobody knew what to do about Abe. We all knew that he and Amelia had a serious thing, and Amelia was far more liked and respected than he was; nobody wanted to tell her that he was hitting on Marie every time they were together. Whether he was sloppily drunk and trying to whisper in her ear, or sober and trying to get her to take a walk with him, it was too awkward for anyone to properly intervene.

Marie clearly wasn’t interested. She had been friendly to him at first — when she knew him as Amelia’s boyfriend — and that had only served to encourage him. After the third or fourth time, she tried to avoid him altogether, but Abe was persistent.

He crossed the line one morning after a pack of us had been at Isobar until the early hours. Eight or nine of us had gone back to Mella’s place to come down and chill — the morning ritual of maggots everywhere. Marie looked great. The nightclub grime made her thin white blouse stick to her caramel skin, but she seemed blissfully unaware of the lingering glances. We all thought Marie was a pretty fun chick and we were happy that she was hanging with us; only Abe was arrogant enough to take it further.

She would be chatting to somebody; he would cosy in and interrupt. Somebody would make her laugh; he would call out something that inevitability fell flat. She would slip into the kitchen for a refill; he would follow her with dogged, slack expression.

And then at one point, they both disappeared for a while.

“Where’s Marie?” It was Kate who asked the question. We all looked around the cold loungeroom slowly.

“Where’s Abe?” rumbled John from deep in the couch. We all looked around again.

“She went to the toilet about ten minutes ago.” Craig offered. “Dunno where he is.”

John looked at me and I looked at John, but Kate stood up before either of us could speak.

“I’m going to find them.”

“Maybe they’ve hooked up.” Craig suggested.

Kate didn’t respond. John and I followed her out of the room. By the time we were halfway down the hall, we could hear Marie’s voice.

“What are you doing? I said fuck off!”

The three of us dashed into the bathroom.

He had her bailed up in the corner between the shower cubicle and the wall. He wasn’t touching her — she was leaning back against the wall with her arms crossed, while he was leaning on the cubicle glass — but it was obvious he was blocking her exit. The bottom edge of a celtic armband tattoo poked out from the sleeve of his t-shirt.

As soon as Kate, John and I entered the bathroom, Marie ducked under Abe’s arm. Her usually warm face was twisted in anger.

“God!” she spat on her way out of the bathroom. None of us moved to stop her.

“What the fuck are you doing, Abe?” Kate stood toe to toe with him, despite the fact she barely came up to his shoulders.

“Katie!” Drunk. Before John or I could move, he puts his arms around her. Sighing, she hugged him back, flashing her eyes at John and I to let us know that it was okay. “Fuck you’re hot, Katie.”

She rolled her eyes over his shoulder. “So’s your girlfriend.”

“Yeah she’s not fucking here though, is she?” He noticed John and I standing there. “Is she Johnny? Too busy with her snobby fucking stuck up friends.”

“So that means you can sleaze onto whoever you want?” Katie leans back, but he keeps his arms around her.

“Aw Katie. Don’t be like that. Amelia doesn’t give a fuck.”

“I’m pretty sure she does, actually.” She put her arm around him and nodded to John and I. “its okay.”

“Fucking legends!” Abe declared, looking at John and I, then he laughed as if it were the funniest thing he’d ever heard.

“You’re right Katie?” John checked.

“Yeah I’ll chill with him for a bit.” She waves us away, so we leave them to it

Amelia did give a fuck, it turned out. I’m not sure if it was Marie who told her, or John, or even Abe himself. But somebody did.

They didn’t break up though. I remember being surprised to learn that. I didn’t think Amelia would put up with that sort of thing, especially with so many people knowing what was going on. I didn’t ask her about it, of course, it was none of my business.

I noticed a couple of changes over the next few weeks though. Amelia started hanging out with the hotel crew more than she had ever done before. Abe had more or less disappeared from the crew. Nobody wanted to hang with him. Everybody wanted to hang with Amelia.

Especially Marie. The two of them were suddenly best friends, despite all that had happened. Or maybe because of it. Either way, they seemed inseparable… and they were having a lot of fun.

Rumours started flying around the hotel; Amelia and Abe were breaking up, Marie and Abe were having an affair, Amelia and Marie had been spotted kissing at a house party. It was hard to know what to believe until a Facebook photo confirmed at least one of the rumours.

The photo’s still on Facebook; Amelia topless in powder blue shorts, Marie in her white singlet. I still love this photo so much.

The hotel was buzzing, of course. We all speculated. Were Amelia and Marie an item now? Had it gone further than a drunken party kiss? Had Abe somehow managed a polyamorous relationship with these two divine women?

Most people assumed that he had, but it only took one look at Abe — who was keeping a very low profile — to know that wasn’t the case. He looked like a kicked dog, with none of his usual bluster. If he was in a love triangle with those two he would have been telling everybody he saw, not moping around.

Neither Amelia nor Marie would talk about it, of course, no matter how much the other barmen needled them. Everybody wanted details, but they weren’t giving anything away. All questions were deflected with a sweet, over-the-shoulder smile.

I didn’t ask them about it. It was great seeing them both having so much fun, but it was none of my business…. until Amelia bought it up one night.

We were smoking outside the hotel, a couple of hours after we had finished work. We had been drinking in the main bar for a couple of hours with maybe a dozen of our workmates, so it wouldn’t be long before we moved on to somewhere else. For a few minutes, it was just the two of us.

Amelia was in a pensive mood. We talked about music and books, but she was obviously distracted. I got the feeling that she might not stick around long, and I was enjoying her company, so I tried to get her talking.

“There’s something on your mind.”

She exhaled blue smoke, considering me. “Yeah.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I don’t know.” She looked out into the night. “I’m just sick of all the gossip, like… why haven’t people here got anything better to talk about?”

“In a place like this there’s not much to do except gossip.” I nodded. “Don’t worry, they’ll find something else to talk about next week.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “It’s annoying though. You’ve heard the rumours I suppose.”

“Well… I saw a photo….”

She smiles inwardly, her eyes distant. “Such a fun night. Everyone thinks Marie and I… became a couple that night.”

“Does it matter what anyone else thinks?”

“With some people it does.”

“Yeah. Abe’s not happy?”

“I don’t care what he thinks. He’s off taking acid with his mates… and half of his mates have cracked on to me and Marie in the last couple of weeks.”

“I heard some of the guys here have been hassling you two.”

“Yeah. Most of them have said something. Even Luke invited us up to his house. To watch a movie.” She scoffs.

“Ah that sucks.” I really don’t blame Luke for trying though. “You and she… if you don’t mind me saying… you’re both really attractive. Most guys are going to lose it at the idea of… you know… you two…”

She smiles wearily. “I get it. Guys like the idea of a threesome. I like the idea of it too.”

“Oh. And Marie?”

“She never stops talking about it. After the first time we made out, she said she wanted to do it.”

“But…” I’m going out on a limb here, but she clearly wants to talk. “You want her to yourself?”

She laughs suddenly, easily. “No. No! If it was that, it would have happened already. No. I want to be with her but… I need a guy to be there too. And so does she.”

“Okay. Right.” I don’t know what to say and there is a long pause “You know that these blokes would kill each other to be that guy, right?”

“Apparently.” She looks pleased — and a touch smug. I can’t help but laugh.

“And they’ll all hate whoever you end up with.”

“We’d both want somebody who didn’t care what the rest of them thought anyway. We have pretty similar taste in guys.”

“Well that’s handy, I guess.” My drink is almost empty, but I light another cigarette anyway.

“Like I said, Marie talks about it all the time. Like… all the time. She gets pretty… frisky.” We both laugh. I love the idea of little Marie being all flushed and randy. “I didn’t want it to be anyone from work, just because of all the drama, but… there was only one guy we both agreed on. And he works here. So…”

I shrugged nonchalantly, but my mind was racing. Who could it be? “If he’s smart, he’ll keep it to himself. It’s nobody else’s business anyway.”

She nods, watching me. “He’s pretty smart, I think.”

I can’t help myself. “I really want to ask who it is, but it’s none of my…”

“It’s you.”

My mind went blank. My mouth hung open.

She reached over and took my hand, lifted it up to her lips and took a drag on my cigarette. Her soft lips brushed my fingertips and that light touch shook me out of my daze.

“Me?”

She exhaled, looking into my eyes. “When we talked about who wanted to fuck at work we… we both said you first. We’ve talked about it a few times. Marie really wants to hook up with you…” She was almost whispering now, leaning towards me, her lips just inches from mine. “… and so do I…”

The door next to us abruptly swung open, releasing a wave of warm noise from inside the bar. Amelia and I sprang apart, casually leaning back into our chairs. Nicole, one of the waitresses that had worked here forever, didn’t seem to notice anything amiss.

“Hey party people!” She waved a Midori cocktail at us. “We’re all going up to Matty’s, are you guys gonna come?”

Before we could answer, the door opened again and more of our workmates poured out. Within moments there was a small, rowdy crowd engulfing us, but I could only feel Amelia’s eyes on me.

“Meals and Joe, time to go!” Matty called over the din. He moved closer to me. “You gonna come up mate?”

I met Amelia’s gaze and nodded. “Let’s do it.

She smiled and looked away.

Ten minutes later I was in a taxi heading to Sandy Bay. Matty lived at the top end of View Street, right next to the UTAS campus, in a share house known for its spontaneous parties. One of the other taxis had detoured to the Waratah’s 24-hour bottle shop and there was plenty of beer, vodka and cask wine to go around.

At first there were only about a dozen of us at the party, but over the next hour more and more people turned up. One of those people was Marie, who breezed in with three guys I didn’t know. As soon as she walked into the large kitchen we had all gathered in, she let out a high-pitched squeal and threw her arms around Amelia. Amelia hugged her tight and they giggled and swayed. Everybody stopped to watch.

A minute later Amelia resumed the conversation she was having with Nicole and Marie drifted off to hug somebody else. She didn’t acknowledge me but I didn’t have time to think about it; Matty was waving a huge bud in my face and delegating all joint rolling duties to me. I took his weed and went outside to set up camp near the fire pot.

I stayed there for an hour or so, drinking, rolling joints and talking bullshit to whoever was around.

Then at one point I looked up and everybody else had disappeared inside. I was pretty high; I hadn’t even noticed them all leaving while I was rolling yet another joint.

I heard a hushed whisper, then abruptly there were two people sitting down next to me; Amelia and Marie.

“Watcha doin’?” Marie sang, tipsy, as Amelia handed me a fresh vodka in a tall glass. Her fingers lingered on mine as she passed it over.

“Waiting for some company.” I smiled at them dopily. “Looks like it was the right move.”

Marie puts a hand on the side of my face. “It was.”

For once I don’t overthink it — I just kiss her. Her tiny hand strokes my neck as her lips open hungrily… but then there is another hand on my jaw, turning me the other way. Amelia.

She smiles as our lips brush, teasing, then she wriggles closer to me on the seat and kisses me properly. By the time it ends, my head is spinning, but Marie kisses me again before I can take a breath.

The fire crackles. Shadow and light play off the skin of their cheeks as I kiss Marie, then Amelia, then Marie again. When they reach for each other over me, I lean back and try to take it all in; these two gorgeous girls, kissing in a halo of firelight. Time stops.

Time starts again a bit later when we hear another taxi pull up out the front. More people showing up to the party.

“Come on,” Amelia stands up. “We can go into Helena’s room.”

I didn’t know who Helena was and I didn’t care. Marie and I followed Amelia’s lead as she weaved her way through the house, neatly sidestepping the bulk of the party. Whoever was in the taxi had made it to the front door and was being welcomed in to the drunken crew.

Their loud voices were cut off abruptly when Amelia pushed the bedroom shut with a click. There was a deadbolt on the door and she drew that across too. We wouldn’t be disturbed.

Marie was bouncing on her toes and leapt on Amelia as soon as she turned around. They pulled each other close and kissed again, clutching with unfeigned passion. They had been waiting for this.

In moments they were peeling clothes off each other, but Marie was so distracted by their kissing that her blouse caught half around her shoulders and trapped her.

“Let me help.” I tugged at her blouse as gently as I could and it twisted off, over her head and away.

“Thank you Joey.” Marie sang sweetly.

“Yes, thank you Joey.” Amelia sighed, running her hands over the cups of Marie’s black lace bra.

Her eyes suddenly half-lidded, Marie stretched her back, pressing her breasts into Amelia’s kneading hands. Amelia was down to her bra as well. They held each other, skin against skin, their eyes closed, their bellies pushed together, their lips tenderly desperate.

I couldn’t help but touch them; I brushed Amelia’s hair from her shoulder and slipped an arm around Marie’s hips. Amelia stood on her toes and we kissed. I felt Marie’s soft lips brushing my chest and tightened my grip on her, pulling her tight against my body. Amelia leaned back and watched, fascinated, as Marie and I kissed slowly. Christ, her tongue was softer than silk, driving me mad with its light touches and sweeter than sweet taste.

We slowly made our way to the bed in a tangle of hands and kisses and bras and shirts and they pushed me back onto the sheets and pulled my jeans away.

“Check out the smile.” Marie giggled to Amelia.

I could feel the blush on my cheeks. “I can’t help it.”

They laughed again and kneeled on the bed next to me.

“I know what will make him smile.” Amelia grinned mischievously, slipping her hand beneath my waistband. Her touch was electric. Marie helped her whisk my pants away.

I could have died right then. Looking down my naked body to see those two gorgeous young faces hovering above my hardness, Amelia reaching out to draw a finger along its side, Marie softly tickling the skin of my sack with her dainty fingers, these two goddesses catching each other’s eye over my cock and giggling, daring each other to take the first lick…

Glass shattered, loudly.

The enormous sound made all three of us look up. The window was breaking, falling in on itself, and cold air rushed into the room. Something white and red was flashing around in the window frame, amid all that falling glass — a fist. Behind that bleeding fist, a furious white face glared at us from the darkness.

Abe’s face. His eyes were feral and wide and his lips were pulled back from his teeth. There were dark spots on his cheeks. Blood.

“Ya fuckin dogs! You fuckin slut!”

“Is that Abe?” Marie breathed.

The three of us froze on the bed until Abe tried to pull himself up through the broken window frame

“Ya fuckin fucks!”

“Abe! Don’t!” Amelia shrieked.

Blood was running freely down the window frame, pouring out from beneath Abe’s hands. Still he tried to pull himself up through the window without success. There was a deep cut, low on his forearm, with rich blood pouring out of it.

“Abe fuckin stop man! You’re…” I could see movement out the window, behind him. “Hey! Fuckin grab him! He’s hurt!” I couldn’t see who it was out there, but two set of hands appeared around Abe’s shoulders and hauled him back.

“You fuckin dog Joe you’re fuckin dead!” Abe snarled as he receded.

I don’t remember standing up. Matty’s irritated face popped up in the window. “What the… oh holy shit!” His eyes were wide, looking past me.

Amelia and Marie were still covering themselves, grabbing at the scattered clothes. I pulled my pants back on and stepped closer to the window, blocking Matty’s view, looking for Abe.

“I think he’s coming in.” Matty was shaking his head at me in wonder. “You wanna come out this way?”

“What? No!”

“He’s had two tabs Joe, I don’t think you wanna stick around.”

“I’m not gonna bail, fuck that.” I turned back to the girls.

“You should go, Joe.” Amelia sounded rattled.

“Only if you both come with me.”

Amelia looked down. Of course she wouldn’t leave Abe there like that. Marie rubbed her friend’s shoulder and shrugged at me.

I started pulling my clothes back on. “Right then. I think he cut himself pretty bad…”

“Had a fuckload of acid too.” Matty called through the window.

“…and he’ll probably need to go to hospital I reckon.”

We all looked at the bedroom door expectantly — but nothing happened. For a moment, nobody spoke, until Amelia strode forward and unlocked the door.

“Amelia wait…” Marie whispered, but Amelia ignored her and opened the door.

“Abe?” She looked up and down the hallway. “He’s not here. Abe?”

She took off.

“Oh shit.” Marie muttered. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

“Are you okay?” The room was getting cold. I resisted the urge to put my arms around her.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Go and make sure he’s all right.”

I followed after Amelia, but before I took five steps she came running back.

“I can’t find him!”

“Did you look outside?”

“All through the house and backyard. He’s not here.”

We moved quickly. I poked my head into the kitchen, where there were still a dozen people hanging out. “Where’s Abe?”

They all looked at me blankly.

“Did somebody break something?” Katie asked “I thought I heard a smash.”

“Abe put his hand through Helena’s window and now we can’t find him.”

“Oh shit what?”

“He’s had acid.” Amelia fidgeted. “Can you help us find him?”

We spread out through the whole house and property, calling, opening doors, shaking our heads at each other.

“The back gate’s open.” Matty pointed out. “He must have gone down to the uni.”

Three or four other blokes followed Matty and I down to his back fence. Behind his house was a small scrubby valley maybe two hundred metres wide. It was bordered on one side by a straight wall of wooden fences, while university union buildings encroached on the other side. It was unkempt and overgrown, a neglected patch of bush.

“Abe? Abe!”

There wasn’t much light, but we managed to pick out a wallaby path down into the trees.

“Why would he come down here?” Somebody asked.

Then we came across a discarded yellow t-shirt, patched with fresh blood. And then we saw Abe.

“Shit! Quick!”

We ran over to where he was laying, sprawled in the dirt at the base of a bushy pine tree. He’d taken all of his clothes off along the way and his pallid white flesh was streaked shockingly with his own drying blood.

“Is he breathing?”

Matty kneeled down, put his ear to Abe’s mouth — and nodded. “He’s freezing though, we’ve gotta get him inside.”

“Look.” I pointed at his wrist. “He’s still bleeding.”

It was coming out slowly, but it was still coming. One of the other guys took off his shirt and wrapped it above the wound, for all the good it might do now.

“Fuck,” Matty spat. “Someone’s gotta call an ambulance.”

We all looked at each other. Some guy I didn’t know pulled out his phone and started dialling.

“What’s the address?”

Matty told him and the guy walked off a bit. A moment later we heard him talking to the operator.

“Let’s take him up, at least we can meet them at the front.”

It took three of us to lift him off the ground, and four of us to carry him through the dark scrub back up to the house. I don’t know how long it took, but I do remember looking down at Abe’s slack, pale face and wondering if he would die. Die in our hands. His limp body swung as we carried him through the night.

There was a bit of a crowd waiting at the front of the house when we finally got there. The ambulance had just shown up, apparently, and one of the medics was losing her temper with Amelia.

“We can’t just wait here if there’s no patient.” She was insisting.

“Here he is,” Matty called.

“Abe!” Amelia shrieked.

The medic was already moving, and her partner had appeared from the back of the ambulance.

“Put him down! Put him down, there!”

We did as we were told, then stood back and watched helplessly. Amelia sobbed into her hands, looking at him. The second medic went back to the ambulance and pulled out the stretcher as the first medic pulled up Abe’s eyelids, then checked his pulse, then looked at the wound on his arm.

“He’s lost a lot of blood, we need to get him in.” The first medic told us. “What has he had?”

We told her.

“Somebody can come with him. One person.” She eyeballed us. “But we’re going now.”

“I’m going with him.” Amelia pushed in front of me. “I’m his girlfriend, we live together.”

“Come on then.”

The medics packed Abe away into the ambulance, and Amelia climbed in after him. The last time I saw her, she was hunched over him in the clean white light. She didn’t look back at us.

The ambulance took off.

“What was that all about?” Somebody murmured. I didn’t see who.

Marie was standing away from the rest of us with her phone to her ear. As I got closer, I heard her say the address — she was calling a cab.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

She shook her head at me. “Yeah. I just want to go home.”

“Fair enough. He’ll be okay, Marie.”

There are tears in her eyes. “Will he though? Will he? I mean, he saw us, Joe.”

I nod. There’s no use denying it.

“It wasn’t meant to be like this. It was meant to be fun, not… not…”

“We didn’t know he was going to turn up.”

“But we should’ve known, Joe. Amelia should have known.”

I shake my head. I don’t know what to say to her. Maybe Amelia did know.

The taxi pulled up a minute later. We hugged, and I held the cab door open for her.

“Are you sure you’re ok by yourself?” I asked again.

That sad smile. “I’ll see you soon, Joey.”

And off she went.

It was so cold, then. I stood there, looking up at Mount Wellington, cursing the freezing winds that coursed over its shoulders. I thought about Abe’s pale skin, cold against the dirt. I thought about Amelia and Marie. I thought about their warm, naked bodies pushing against me.

I went inside and tried to wash Abe’s blood off my hands.