“Oh fuck, fuck and again” Daphne muttered as she tried to get away between Atti and Orli who had clenched her tightly in on the crowded ground. Everyone had simply laid down in Billy’s living room, which was obviously too small. On the other side of the room she saw movement in the blankets, too, as Dee was struggling with them. When she finally untangled them, she faced her friend.
“Tomorrow we are going to get a hotel” Daphne stated. “At least we are. My back aches like hell.”
“So does mine. The lads can stay here for all I care.”
“You can’t trust that. They might well demolish the whole place and all of them Glas-“
Daphne stopped, thought, considered and finally said: “Wegians. Glaswegians.”
Dee nodded. “You’ve got a point there. But what are we going to do today, after the others wake up? Is there something nice to see in Glasgow?”
“Factory chimney’s” Daphne offered.
“No thanks. We’d better go for the unspoiled nature then.”
“Right now I want to go for unspoiled food.”
“You’re starting to sound like the lads, always eating” Dee complained.
Daphne pointed dangerously at her. “If you say that ever again, compare me to them, best friend or no, you will be in pain.”
“I’m gonna…I will…Pain!” Dee exclaimed.
“And stop the Knight’s Tale quotes, too.”
“Very well.” Dee stared at Daphne’s back for a while as she tried to reach the kitchen, almost in non-belief she had threatened her, then added: “And pointing is impolite!”
Later, in the evening everyone had tried to win a spot at Billy’s eating table as Dominic had prepared them all dinner. It was some kind of real nice risotto that everyone but Tamara favoured.
“I really liked today” Jenny said to no one in particular. “There were so many nice Scots.”
“Yeah, you do tend to trip over one every once in a while when you’re in Scotland” Daphne replied, rolling her eyes.
“You do, don’t you?” Jen mused, totally missing the sarcasm in Daphne’s voice. Elijah opened his mouth to say something to her, but Dee stuffed his mouth just in time with a piece of ciabatta.
“She can’t help it she’s blonde!” she whispered in warning. “Leave her alone.”
In the meantime, Tamara brought her not even half-empty plate back to the kitchen where Dom tended to his precious pots and pans.
“Didn’t you like it?” Dom asked her, disappointment on his face.
Tam shrugged. “I’m a fussy eater. So? Better than a fussy kisser, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh stop pretending. You didn’t like kissing me. That’s why you ran away.”
“You ran away too!”
”Besides the point. You’re really shallow.” Tam turned her back on the poor man who was staring at her in disbelief.
“You only see what you want to see, Tamara!” he nearly shouted, just in time remembering their friends in the living room. “You’re stubborn and you’re afraid to get involved with me and lay it at my feet. That’s low. Really low.”
“Oh right” Tam replied and walked away angrily. She left Billy’s apartment, but because everyone was busy, no one noticed, and Dom was too worked up to go after her. Big mistake…
* 10 pm *
“It looks like they have been right” Billy remarked, standing by the window.
“Right about what?” Atti asked.
“It’s about to rain. Obviously. See those clouds? Within three hours the least, it will be spooky around here.”
“Anyone seen Tam?” Dom asked casually. He hadn’t seen her return.
“Now you mention it, haven’t since dinner. Something happened?” Dee asked, giving Dom her famous prying look. He winced.
“She left for a walk straight after dinner. Didn’t you notice? I thought she was about to be back by now.”
“You had an argument” Daphne stated, getting back. “That’s just brilliant. She’s out and about and we have to go look for her now as she’s got no sense of direction at all and will be lost and we’ll all be trapped in the storm. Thanx a lot, mate.”
“My pleasure” Dom tried, but both the girls and his mates gave him a death glare which made him slump in his chair.
“Right, we’re going after her. Billy, a clue where she might be out and about around here?” Orlando asked.
“Oh, I just love it when you act decisively” Daphne told him, stroking his arm, but not totally lacking her sarcasm. Orli leaned forward and kissed her quickly. “Love you too” he winked.
“Oh stop it!” Billy exclaimed. “We have serious matters on our hands. Let’s see. Going into the outsides of Glasgow, she might have gone two ways. The hill way or the forest way. Let’s see. If I lead Elijah and Dee over the hill path, Dom can take Daphne and Orli over the other. He knows that path almost as well as I do. Jenny and Atti can stay here in case she does return on herself. OK?”
“Sounds good” the others agreed.
Within ten minutes, the groups were on their way. Dom walked fast ahead of Daphne and Orli, who had to watch their feet over the bumpy path. The moon was up and half, but it gave not much light yet hidden behind the storm clouds.
“Dom, not so fast!” Daphne complained, hitting her head again on a low-hanging branch.
“Fuck!” she suddenly exclaimed as she wanted to walk on.
“What is it?” Orli asked, walking back to where his girlfriend stood.
“My hair’s trapped in the bloody branch. I can’t get away!” she moaned, trying to yank her thick red hair free. “Aah! That hurts.”
“Oh great” Orli muttered and turned to the path. “Dom?” he yelled. “Dom wait! Where are you?”
“He left us behind!” he told Daphne with a disbelieving look on his face.
Daphne tried to look as far as she could over the path. Dom seemed vanished. “Fantastic” she murmured. “Help me get free. Then we’ll see if the path is easy to follow, otherwise we must turn back. Dom’ll understand we do that as soon as he discovers we’re no longer behind him.”
She turned her eyes heavenward with a sigh. “I knew I should have insisted on taking mobiles. Well it’s too late now. Help me please, Orli. It fucking hurts a bloody lot.”
“Is that reason to utter such words?” he replied mockingly, carefully turning strands of her hair loose from the twigs. He held one arm around her and stood close against her, one foot placed between her legs.
“There. That should be it.”
“Oh thanks. My poor head” Daphne moaned, rubbing it gently. She embraced her boyfriend weary. “What now?” she asked him.
“I know something, but how it will help Tamara I don’t know” her boyfriend replied, placing his hand under her chin and kissing her. She was taken by surprise by his passion, and his weight against her took them down to the ground under the trees.
“Mind getting a bit dirty?” he asked, his mouth still engulfed with hers.
“Not really” she panted, as his hand slipped under her skirt, up her thigh.
“Good” he murmured, boldly moving his hand on…
“Haven’t seen anything yet. I think she’s taken the other path” Billy yelled over his shoulder to Dee and Lij who were following him at some distance, tangled in each others arms. He stood still at the top of the hill and folded his arms. “We should have seen some tracks of her if she had gone this way.”
“OK” Lij replied. “Does that mean we’re going to head back?”
“I think so, yes. There’s no point in us getting lost too, is there? What are you sounding that disappointed for?” Billy asked.
“Er…nothing. It’s just so beautiful out here” his friend answered, his cheeks reddening.
“Don’t you think so, sweetie?”
“Oh yes” his girlfriend said fervently, not even getting angry over the ‘sweetie’, as she usually would. “Awfully romantic. Lovely.”
“Oh dear” Billy groaned, slapping his head with his hand as he looked up at the sky. “I should have known. Full moon, Scottish hills…funny behaviour. I see.”
“What?” Dee asked confused, standing close to Elijah.
“Well it’s said that the full moon has some…special working in the Scottish hills. I see now it is true. Poor Dom” he mused, remembering Daphne and Orli’s behaviour. He shook his head, and turned back to his friends to urge them to go home with him, but as he saw them totally lost in each other, he merely shrugged and asked no one in particular: “Why me?”
“Tamara? Tamara, are you there?” Dom called out. Some time ago he had seen tracks he thought could be Tam’s. He saw a small shelter up ahead the road, some sort of half-cave, under a hanging rock shut off by smaller rocks.
“Tamara?” he yelled again.
“Dom?” he heard a faint reply. “Dom is it you?”
”Of course it is, you silly girl” he yelled back. She sounded tired. “Wait, I’m coming.”
He entered the shelter and found her sitting on the ground. “Thank god I found you! I was really worried.”
He sat next to her and hugged her tightly. She smiled faintly. “Really? I’m sorry about the things I said, Dom.”
“So am I, dear one. I’m sorry too. Can we make up?”
“Sure. Dom..” she stroked his face affectionately. “I’m in love with you. So there.”
“I’ve been in love with you since I first saw you” Dom confessed, playing with a lock of her hair. They both smiled. “We’ve been pretty silly, haven’t we?” Dom asked grinning.
“I guess so” Tam answered. She leaned over and kissed him passionately. He kissed back and embraced her tightly.
“Dom” she panted against his lips after a while of kisses. “Make love to me.”
Dom pulled back surprised. “What? Here? It’s going to storm in a few moments.”
“It’s safe here. Please. I’ve wanted that for so long.” Tam placed one hand under his shirt.
Dom smiled, and kissed her again. “Very well then” he murmured.
So that’s what happens when you’re out and about in Scotland when it’s full moon. We may never know exactly what happened in the forest and on the hills, but then again, do we really want to? Only one thing I need to say- poor Billy…