I need to say a big thank you to my friend Randi, who spent hours editing and trying to convert my incoherent ramblings into something resembling a story. For her help I am extremely grateful.
*
It seemed to me, that Gary, and I had been friends forever. At least that's the way it felt. We went to school together, we went to college together. We were best mates. All his friends, me included, called him "Gazza."
He did many wonderful things for me; the most important, though, was introducing me to my wife, Kelly. He had been dating a girl, a very attractive sexy young thing named Elise, and she was a bloody hottie. That meant for the first times in our lives, we didn't see so much of each other. He was totally absorbed by her. Still, I was just being jealous. If she had been my girlfriend, I probably would've done the same. I had bigger fish to fry. I was trying to get passing grades for my Accountancy degree.
Yes, I was studying accountancy. I liked numbers; they didn't argue, there was no drama and they always made sense.
People, on the other hand, were not always so obliging. I wasn't a natural people person, maybe not introverted, but shy, retiring.
The night he informed me that Elise had organised a double date for me with them, it annoyed the shit out of me. Blind dates never ended well. If Elise's friend couldn't find her own date, she was bound to be a dog.
I put up a bit of resistance, but in the end caved. What did I have to lose, right?
I was stunned. The moment I laid eyes on Kelly, I was blown away. She was very pretty, absolutely stunning, in fact.
Kelly was super hot, hot enough to make Elise almost the dud girlfriend. Not only was she pretty, but she was intelligent, witty, easy to talk to and totally unaware of the effect her beauty had on tongue-tied idiots like me.
Kelly was studying, as well. She was working towards a degree in business management, without actually having an end goal.
She was so easy to talk to, and she was sports mad, much like me. She was informed, and understood local politics. Living in Auckland, there were always politics on the table.
We quickly became a foursome. We went most places together. We double dated, went on weekends away together, and it was bloody good fun.
Our foursome quickly grew into a sextet when Elise introduced us to another couple, Marty and Maike. She met them through her studies. Elise was an enigma. She studied history and philosophy, her goals already set. Indiana Jones, look out.
Anyway, they fit into our little clique and were soon well and truly embedded. We were young and enjoying life. The group dynamic was pretty wild at times. We all flirted and fooled around together. It was all innocent fun, but it did get a bit heated from time to time.
Marty had a thing for Elise, and he sometimes got a bit carried away. Especially when we were all dancing.
It made me laugh, actually. Jeez, Maike was hot, I mean super hot. She had the body Elise and Kelly lusted after. Yeah, me as well if I was honest. I did admit that to Gazza one day. He immediately dropped me in it by blurting it out to the whole group. Luckily for me, Kelly wasn't the jealous type. In fact, she teased me about it after that.
Our lives were closely linked. I got my degree and went to work for Gazza's father, Paul. He had his own chartered accountancy firm and took me on as a junior the moment I graduated.
Elise went to work at the Auckland museum. Kelly started working at the Manukau Times newspaper. Marty entered the world of finance. Maike went off to work as a dentist. It was only Gazza who created trouble. His father wanted him to work at the firm, but he fought that. He decided his future lay with a very well-known merchant banker.
With work taking priority, our opportunities for dating dried up a little. Life, as they say, moves on. Gazza and Elise were the first to tie the knot, quickly followed by M&M: Marty and Maike.
Kelly and I were the last to fall.
It was through this period that I fell completely in love with Kelly. My father contracted pancreatic cancer. It was a harrowing time for my family. Kelly was amazing, encouraging rather than complaining when I wanted to spend weekends with my folks. She had long since become best friends with my two sisters, Diane, and Lilly. Mum had already fallen head over heels in love with Kelly. She loved her from the first moment they met. When Dad became ill, Kelly spent more time there comforting Mum than with me.
After Dad died, Kelly made sure Mum was seldom alone; she took months just spending time with her.
Married life couldn't have been better. Work was great; Paul was an amazing bloke to work for. The office was fun and friendly, and he paid well above what I could expect to get elsewhere.
Kelly and I found a cool one-bedroom apartment on the Parnell rise. Our aim was to save as much money as possible so we could buy our own home. The others were on a similar mission. The great Kiwi dream: our own home.
As money got tight, we stopped going out and ended up having little dinner parties, all of us taking turns hosting.
It just so happened on this particular night, we were hosting. It was the weekend before Easter. Sitting around the table, dinner done, we were relaxing drinking wine, talking and gossiping.
Of course, the main topic of conversation was what we were all doing for the long Easter weekend. Elise gushed, "We are going to Wellington for the weekend. Te Papa, the National museum, has a new exhibition showing and I'm dying to see it."
The look on Gazza's face showed what he thought of that idea. When I laughed, he sniped, "Shut up, arsehole. Where are you going?"
Kelly jumped in. "I found this awesome deal at a resort up in Whangaparaoa. I got this special half-price deal. We are going to spend the whole weekend getting pampered, lying by the pool, getting massages. It's going to be awesome." The smile on her face was so bright we could have turned off the lights.
Gazza glanced at me. He knew me too well. "Hah, who's laughing now?" He chuckled.
Kelly turned and gazed at me. "What's he talking about, Babe? What's the problem?"
I didn't want to say anything; I had already accepted my fate, but Gazza, as always, had stirred the pot. With a deep sigh, I mumbled. "Come on, Honey, you know that's not my scene."
She looked crestfallen, "But it'll be amazing, we can just chill out and completely relax, be pampered."
Marty interrupted her. "Relax, Kelly, we all know what he's like. I bet you'd rather go with Maike on her frigging mountain biking expedition, wouldn't you?"
I nodded, with a thin smile. "Actually, I would."
Maike smiled understandingly. She and I were both mad mountain bikers, and I would love the opportunity to just go off for the weekend. Problem being, I had already promised Kelly she could choose this holiday. When I offered to let her choose, I hoped she would choose somewhere we could both enjoy the weekend.
Gazza asked, "What are you going to be doing, Marty?"
He surveyed us uncomfortably. "I'm going with Maike. I'll just hang around the camp while she's off trailblazing."
We talked a little more and Gazza continued to grumble about going to Wellington. "Dave, you're bloody lucky mate. I would love that holiday, just lazing around, Jesus, Bro, that would be fucking awesome. I would love it."
