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By William Shaw
Typography & design by
Richard Wolfströme
Exhibition and installation
by Standard 8
Website
Words William Shaw
Design Richard Wolfströme
Photography Kenny Laurenson
Publishing consultant Adrian Driscoll
Sponsored by
They reach out and kiss
The HoneyClub, 244 King’s Road Arches
It started with a brown t-shirt a flatmate gave him three weeks ago. Normally he’d never wear brown, but he thought OK. After that it’s going to a gay bar, buying shoes on the internet, trying a different style of trousers. Why not? he asks himself. From now on, I’m doing new things.
New things. Like, before he’d never go to the HoneyClub. He doesn’t really like house music. All his friends who started by saying they’d come with him drop out. They want go to Audio instead, like they always do, week after week, same old thing, so instead he goes alone. Normally he wouldn’t.
He has a great night too. The music’s not so good, but the club is much friendlier than he imagined.
Afterwards, in the Friday night darkness he walks northwards to his flat. He’s nearly there, when he sees a beautiful girl walking towards him. Unfortunately there’s a boy with her but Scott smiles at her all the same. It’s a bit cheeky. Normally he wouldn’t, but it’s something about having had such a good night, about having this glow to him. And she smiles right back.
He walks another ten metres, then turns to look at her again from behind. She’s lovely.
At that moment she turns too. "Come here," she orders, asking her friend to wait.
"Hello," they say. They chat. It turns out the boy isn’t her boyfriend after all. He just calls impatiently "Just exchange numbers and get on with it."
Scott says, "D’you want to?"
"Let me give you mine," she answers, and takes Scott’s phone. They reach out and kiss. When did something like this ever happen to me before? See what happens when you try new things? He breaks off. "You should go really. Your friend’s waiting."
As they’re leaving, she one way, he the other, she says, "I’ll probably never hear from you again."
A few days afterwards he tries her number; it goes straight to voicemail. He doesn’t leave a message.
Maybe he’ll try again, later.