Chapter Text
Charlie stood in front of his wardrobe deliberating. He knew he would get hot. He normally he got hot when dancing. But it was now the start of winter, and he would be dancing outside. Would he actually be dancing? Or would it be more of an awkward jig in the middle of the street? Not for the first time in the past week he questioned his inability to say no to his friends. Unfortunately for Charlie, they knew exactly what to say to sway him. All it took were thinly veiled comments, and sometimes comments not veiled at all, about how ‘old’ and ‘grandma-like’ he was becoming to get him to agree to their plans.
“My mum has a more active social life than you Charlie” (Tao)
“You know how much you used to love to dance, Charlie – we miss hanging out with you. It starts at 7pm, you will be home tucked up in bed by 9pm” (Elle)
“I would love to talk to you in person soon, Charlie” (Isaac)
With a sigh he admitted to himself that this would most likely be yet another night where he returned home – not so much regretting the evening – but thinking that he would have much preferred to have been at home with a book and a glass of wine, snuggled on the couch under a warm blanket.
In the end he settled for skinny jeans without rips and 2 t-shirts under a fluffy jumper. As he walked out the door he put on his beanie and a thick puffy jacket. He was definitely going to be too hot if he danced his little heart out. But at least he wouldn’t be miserable if, as he suspected, this ended up being less of a dance session and more of a conversation had with his friends while walking through the streets.
They had all agreed to go there on their own. The meet-up point was the little park out the front of his local supermarket. ‘Park’ was probably too glorified a term for the little space. It was 2 smallish wedges of grass that formed a barrier between the front of the supermarket carpark, the main road and the tram stop. It had a circular statue in the middle and some benches for people to sit on and enjoy (if they didn’t mind pigeons, car fumes or tram bells). It only took Charlie 5 minutes to walk there. As he approached the park and saw a few people gathered around the statue it dawned on Charlie that he had lived in this part of town for nearly a decade and he still had absolutely no idea what the statue was for or who featured on it. He did not see his friends there yet, so decided to avoid the statue for a little longer and wait near the tram stop.
The number 11 tram appeared in view. Charlie was already thinking ahead about ways he might be able to avoid the growing crowd if it turned out his friends had missed their tram. Thankfully, however, when the tram doors opened, Elle, Tao and Isaac all spilled out. They had all made similar wardrobe choices to Charlie. All three of his friends were bundled up in coats although only Elle had truly managed to look stylish as well as warm. The large pockets in Isaac’s coat betrayed the shape of a book. Charlie raised his eyebrows at it, but Isaac declared it had been necessary to have reading material on the tram. Charlie conceded the point, but he would be having words with his friend if he saw that book make an appearance once the event started. If he was to be prised out of his home on a cold evening, then Isaac would also have to make some sacrifices.
The four friends embraced each other warmly. Despite their constant stream of messages and online communication, it had been weeks since they had physically been in each other’s company. Charlie melted into their group hug and realised he needed to remind himself more often of this feeling so he could force himself off his couch a bit more regularly. Elle let out a little squeal as she observed the gathering crowd, declaring how excited she was to be taking part. Tao’s hum of agreement was much less enthusiastic, however his eyes brightened as they took in the Sri Lankan restaurant across the street. Clearly the dinner promised afterwards had been instrumental in convincing him the evening’s entertainment would be worthwhile. Elle grabbed Tao and Charlie’s hands and dragged them towards the statue. She made a beeline for two people who seemed to be in charge. They each held bundles of headphones stacked up their arms. The headphones were glowing blue. Most of the crowd already gathered were already wearing the headphones. They seemed to be swaying and bopping their heads already.
While Elle and Isaac went to chat with the organisers and collect their headphones, Charlie took the opportunity to complain to Tao about his reservations for the evening. This was likely the only time he would get to whine about it to a sympathetic ear.
“I don’t know why they made it a outdoor thing. Everyone will be laughing at us and making fun of how outdated our dancing is. I don’t know if I can bear watching the 20-year-olds in the group roll their eyes at us”
“20-year-olds! Are you kidding?” Tao scoffed. “There will be no 20-year-olds here. They care way too much about what everyone else is thinking to risk something like this sober. We will absolutely see them taking the piss out of us from the safety of their bar seats as we go past, but I guarantee you there will be more parents with kids here tonight than 20-year-olds. A decade long established sense of ‘I don’t give a fuck’ is definitely required for this”
“I don’t know if my sense of ‘I don’t give a fuck’ is well-established enough for this” Charlie whined.
“Of course it is!” Elle declared as she and Isaac reappeared with their headphones. “Just imagine you are back on the dance floor of The Peel – well, perhaps a more ‘family friendly’ version of that Charlie anyway”.
It was true, Charlie had once been a demon on the dance floor. He had often used the dance floor as an escape from things he would rather avoid at the gay clubs they had frequented. The terrifying prospect of being led upstairs to the rooms where his female friends were barred from following. Back then he had not been brave enough to climb the stairs alone and Tao had said he would rather stab a fork in his leg than bear witness to whatever was happening up there. The leering men who hugged the walls and dark corners, too eager to touch him. The complicated task of interpreting signals from other men who seemed to assume their proximity and eye contact was sufficient to declare their intentions. Did they want to get to know him better, or did they just want him to get down on his knees in the closest toilet? Charlie never knew, and it just seemed easier to dance. So, he did. He drank and he danced and he danced. All night. He knew he was a good dancer. But he was not particularly keen to be dancing down the street at 7pm to a beat no-one else could hear. The whole prospect seemed daunting.
Elle put a pair of headphones on Charlie and squeezed his cheeks which had begun to ache a little in the cold. “Just wait and see – this will be so much fun”. Their headphones were playing ‘Push it’ by Salt’N’Pepa. “I told you this event was not made for people in their 20’s Charlie!” Tao observed as soon as he recognised the music. Sub-consciously, with decades old muscle memory, they all began to rock in time with the music and without planning it, they all faced each other at exactly the same time, leaned in, and sang to each other ‘Yo, yo, yo, yo baby-pop, Yeah you! Come here, gimme a kiss’. They all broke into hysterical laughter as they realised how loudly they had sung and how hilarious it was they could still remember the words so perfectly after so long. Charlie looked around hesitantly, but all he saw were other faces smiling and laughing in the crowd. The four friends fell into another group hug. This time there was a more excited buzz about them. Charlie started to feel a lot more positive about what this night might hold for him.
The mood of the rest of the people waiting was also starting to pick up. Tao had been right, there were loads of people their age, some parents with primary school aged children and even people his parent’s age. It was cold, but not ridiculously bitter. The wind was present, but not too fierce, and he felt it stir the curls that had escaped from under his beanie. He blew out a breath and watched it appear in front of him. He would definitely need to dance to keep warm tonight. He stepped up onto one of the barriers between the grass and the concrete behind Tao and hugged him from behind. They both started swaying in sync to the music in their headphones.
Charlie stared out across the crowd as a man with a headset appeared in front of the statue. He was obviously the group leader. He had some brief conversation with the two people holding all the headphones and then his voice was suddenly in Charlie’s ears as he welcomed everyone through the headset and called for them all to huddle around the statue. He was dressed like he was headed to a doof festival wearing a fluro yellow singlet, fluro fishnet arm warmers and wide-leg yellow and black pants made of some type of furry material. He was already tall, but his platform sneakers ensured he was taller than everyone else. He introduced himself as Guru Dudu and Charlie and Tao snickered at the name. “You were not wrong about the target market!” Charlie whispered in Tao’s ear. He felt Tao snort in agreement and tilt his head in the direction of the statue. It was time to go. Charlie let go of Tao as the friends started to move. He lifted his head to scan the rest of the crowd just before he went to jump down from the barrier but found himself frozen before he stepped off.
A man he had previously not noticed was now directly in his view. He had obviously been hidden by the statue before but was now visible and was the only other person in the crowd as tall as Guru Dudu. Charlie took in his features with a slow motion scan up and down. Reddish hair, freckles, broad shoulders, ridiculous arms and a fluffy blue scarf hanging down over a solid chest. He was not wearing a big coat like everyone else but a tight black jumper. Several thoughts invaded Charlie’s brain one after the other. “What a beautiful man” was closely followed by “Those arms!” followed by “How is he not cold without a coat?” and finally “I wonder who he is here with?”. The final question was answered sooner than Charlie imagined as he saw the man smile, lean down and then lift a child up and swing it around to sit on his shoulders. As he was getting the child settled into place the man looked across the group and locked eyes with Charlie. Charlie sucked in a breath and the man’s eyes went a little bit wider. He was even more beautiful than Charlie had initially thought. He was possibly the most attractive man Charlie had seen in a very long time. Charlie assumed the man would look away, but he seemed to be staring just as intently as Charlie.
The voice of Guru Dudu called for everyone to make a circle around the statue causing them to break eye contact. Charlie stepped down and discovered he was no longer tall enough to see the man with the child clearly anymore. Probably lucky, Charlie thought. He definitely did not want to be the guy making heart-eyes at some hot dad out with his kid for the night. Despite this, he grinned happily to himself knowing that even if the silent disco proved to be a disaster, he would at least get the chance to steal glances at a beautiful human all evening. Charlie’s active imagination was already thinking of a few fantasies he could re-visit later while in bed on his own – all of which involved himself and ‘hot dad’. Smiling, he threw an arm around Isaac’s shoulder and squeezed into his side with a hug as he listened to the Guru’s final instructions before the group left the park and headed out into the street.