‘Penellope? Nope. Never heard of her.’

Thomas grabbed a slice of pizza from the middle of the table and took a large bite, chewing loudly and smearing red sauce all over his lips.

‘I’m raising,’ Alex said and threw three blue chips into the middle of the table.

Daniel rose an eyebrow. Jacob grinned.

‘I’ll call. What do you have?’ Jacob matched Alex’s three chips.

Alex flipped his cards revealing an eight of hearts and a queen of hearts.

‘A flush,’ Alex replied with a smile.

‘Full house,’ Jacob turned over a pair of twos and then moved to take the pile of chips in the middle of the table, and add it to his own medium sized pile.

‘How do you always do that?’ Alex grunted, ‘I get a really good hand for once in my life, and you get something better!’

Jacob shrugged his shoulders.

‘I wouldn’t have called if I didn’t have something good.’

‘But I had something good too!’ Alex waved his hand in frustration, and flicked his cards back into the middle of the table, ‘maybe I’m just terrible at poke,’ Alex folded his arms.

‘So, you reckon she was coming down from the 12th floor? This girl?’ Daniel asked.

Daniel flicked his long dark hair from over his eyes, then quickly pulled it back and tied it into a neat ponytail. Thomas leant back in his chair but clearly anticipated an answer. Alex, frustrated from just having lost the hand with the highest pot, was looking away from them, over at the wall. Alex had always hated losing.

‘I dunno. It was nothing,’ Jacob replied, ‘She was cute; that’s all. And she seemed kind of cool…and I have her book!’

‘Do you know how many people work for the public service?’ Thomas said, ‘if you didn’t get her number then that’s it. You can forget about ever meeting her again.’

‘I would have thought you knew every girl who worked in our building, Thomas?’ Alex had suddenly forgotten about his recent loss; and decided that he wanted to chime into the conversation.

‘Only the cute ones,’ Thomas gave him a sly wink.

‘Well she was cute,’ Jacob said, ‘and it wasn’t really about looks anyway… well it was…but…it just felt like we…connected…somehow…in someway.’

‘Dude, you barely said five words to her,’ Alex remarked.

‘It was more than five words!’

‘Even so, how deep can things really get on an elevator ride from the thirteenth floor to the ground floor?’

Jacob shook his head.

‘Forget about it. Let’s just get back to the game so I can take your money.’

Alex quickly shuffled the cards and began dealing them out, two to each of them.

‘Remember that girl I saw you with a few weeks ago, at the Westfield in Footscray?’

‘Chloe…?’ Jacob replied in a questioning tone.

‘The one with the brown hair.

Jacob nodded.

‘Why don’t you ask her out. She’s cute,’ Alex smirked, ‘or, if you’re not keen, and dead set on this Penellope girl, you could introduce me to her.’

Daniel leant across the table and slapped Alex lightly over the back of the head.

‘That’s his cousin you moron.’

Jacob couldn’t help but laugh. Daniel, out of all his close friends from Melbourne, was the friend he had known for the longest – and the only one of his friends who actually knew Jacob’s family. He could be quite protective when he wanted to be.

Daniel and Jacob had met in their first week of university. There was a chapel on campus that held a mass every Thursday morning for students. Jacob’s grandmother had made him promise to go. If he wasn’t going to mass with her, at least he was going to mass; is what she had said. Jacob didn’t see the big deal. His mother went to mass twice a year; Easter and Christmas. So why did he have to go? But she insisted.

‘When your mother didn’t take you church – it was no sin. You had no way of getting there on your own. But now that you’re of age, now that you can go, you should. Every Sunday you miss is like a small bit of dirt on your heart.’

Jacob did believe in God, but he didn’t actually think it was a sin to miss church on a Sunday. But in the end Jacob had agreed to go; just to make her happy.

It was a small building – hardly anything like the grand churches in Europe, with large pillars and stained glasses. It was more like a room with pews and scented candles. There weren’t many others at the service. Three students sat in the front row – and then there was a single student in the back corner. Jacob was almost going to sit on his own, as far away from anyone there as possible. But he was curious about the boy at the back with long hair and shabby clothes. He wore a necklace with a cross, and had his arms stretched out wide – seemingly relaxed. Jacob sat down on the same pew as the boy.

The service started not long afterwards. They sung the usual songs, knelt, prayed, offered each other peace and took communion. When the service finished, Daniel leant over to him and whispered ‘did your parents make you come?’

‘Grandmother actually. And what about you? You don’t really seem like the typical church goer.’

‘What does the typical church goer look like?’ Daniel retorted.

Jacob scratched his chin. That would have seemed like a simple question – but when he had come to try to answer it, he suddenly realised that he didn’t really have one. In the end they had gotten lunch together. It turned out that Daniel’s grandmother had also encouraged him to go to mass – but Daniel hadn’t been as opposed to it as Jacob had.

‘It’s boring, but it makes her happy. Who knows how much longer she’s got left. I’d go to mass with her – but she lives in Adelaide. Actually, I’m surprised she hasn’t packed up and legged it back to Sicily at this point.’

That had been the beginning of a change in attitude for Jacob. Not towards church; he still found mass as boring as the ballet, or an opera concert. But that single comment struck him hard: ‘Who knows how much longer she’s got left.’ Indeed, how much longer did he have left with his grandmother.

Daniel turned out to be extremely kind – but also lazy. If he didn’t have to do something, then he wouldn’t. His room was untidy, his clothes were never ironed, and Jacob hardly ever saw him study; yet somehow he still managed to get decent grades. It was quite common for Daniel to skip his lectures and he never cooked a meal during his whole four years at university. His mother had been so motherly that she had washed and ironed his clothes, and packed his lunches until he was eighteen. Jacob, in a way, could relate. He had no doubt that if he moved back in with his own mother – she would still have a packed lunch for him every morning to take to work.

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‘Azzopardi,’ Daniel pointed to his university ID card reading out his surname, ‘sounds like an Italian name to me.’

Daniel’s last name was Bellucci. Daniel proudly declared that it meant ‘beautiful light’ in Italian – Jacob had no reason not to believe him. In fact, he couldn’t help but feel as though Daniel did shed a bit of light into his world. He was caring – and always made time for those who were close to him. Jacob couldn’t deny that some of that had undoubtedly rubbed off on him.

‘Ow! That hurt,’ Alex yelped.

Jacob’s mind was drawn back to the dimly lit living room where the four boys were playing poker, and eating pizza. Two cards lay face down in front of each player, coloured chips were piled in front of them, and there were open packets of lollies strewn over the table.

‘No it didn’t,’ Daniel retorted, ‘softest slap I’ve ever given out. You’re just a sook.’

‘Guys, guys, guys. If he’s going to introduce her to anyone – it’s me,’ said Thomas, ‘now let’s get back to the game. You’re big blind Alex.’

Alex slid two white chips into the middle of the table. The four of them peeked under their cards nervously.

‘Daniel?’

‘Call.’

‘Jacob?’

‘Call.’

‘I’ll call. Alex?’

‘Raise you all by fifty,’ Alex slid two blue chips into the middle of the table.

‘I’m out,’ Daniel threw his cards into the middle of the table.

‘Me too,’ Jacob followed suit.

‘And we didn’t even make it to the flop,’ Thomas flicked his cards away.

Alex turned his cards over revealing two aces.

‘Why did you all fold? I finally had something worth betting on.’

‘You can’t go raising that high that early. You’re going to scare everyone off. You have to play it cooooooool!’ Thomas stretched the last word out, and smoothed his hand over in a straight line. Jacob couldn’t help but chuckle.

Thomas had met them in their last year of university. He’d been in one of Daniel’s maths classes and although Jacob felt like they were probably too boring for him – Thomas surprisingly took an unusual liking to them. And Jacob really couldn’t help but be a little jealous of him. He was attractive, funny, and outgoing. He always had a different girl on his shoulder, and he was a smooth talker.

One weekend, Thomas invited Daniel to a party. Daniel, in turn, invited Jacob. Jacob didn’t want to go – but Daniel wouldn’t take no for an answer.

‘I don’t know anyone there. It will be less awkward if you come. Plus, I need a wingman.’

‘Why can’t Thomas be your wingman?’ Jacob asked.

‘He probably has heaps of other people to wingman. You hardly ever come out to this stuff. It will be fun! Please.’

And that was the first time the three of them hung out together; Jacob, Daniel, and Thomas. It turned out that Thomas did have a lot of other people to wingman, and Jacob didn’t have a good time – but Thomas kept inviting Daniel to those sorts of things, and Daniel kept inviting Jacob. Before too long; Thomas was introducing Daniel to girls, and Jacob was enjoying himself. Soon the three of them were getting lunch together on a regular basis; and going back to Daniel’s dorm to play video games.

Thomas was from Melbourne, and so he was part of many different social groups. He was a social butterfly – and so socialising was just something he thrived on. But the closer he got to Daniel and Jacob, the less he could deny that he connected with them in a way that he didn’t connect with others. They weren’t as outward and showy as other people. They didn’t care much about the way they did their hair, or what was trending. And Daniel certainly didn’t care about the state of his bedroom. Maybe, Thomas had thought to himself, he had chosen the wrong people to hang around during high school. Maybe his friends were vain, maybe he was vain.

At the beginning of summer, towards the end of their final year at university, the three of them applied for a grad scheme in the same department of the public service. To their surprise, they were all accepted. Not that they were ever going to be working together. But they would pass each other in the hallways – and meet up for coffee at lunch. The three boys who, only months beforehand, were laying on the lawn of RMIT Melbourne, in singlets and shorts, with unkempt beards and cheap sunglasses; were now wearing suits and ties and had neat haircuts.

Alex redealt the cards. Following Thomas’ advice - this time he didn’t raise until the river. But Daniel re-raised him. By a lot. Thomas and Jacob folded their cards straight away; but Alex held his cards tightly, close to his face, and his cheeks began to fluster. Jacob knew exactly what he was thinking. Thomas and Daniel could see straight through him too. The truth was, Alex had a really good hand. But he couldn’t tell if Daniel had something better. After all, such a high raise implied he had something good. Unless it was just a bluff. Jacob wasn’t particularly good at reading people; but Alex was extremely easy to read. Alex’s face went as red as a tomato, and he continued to scrunch his face up until it looked as though he was going to explode. Eventually he huffed loudly.

‘I fold,’ he proclaimed.

Most players didn’t show their cards when they didn’t have to, but Daniel couldn’t help it, he flipped them over so that they were face up. A pair of twos. Daniel had bluffed. Thomas and Daniel immediately burst out laughing. Alex threw his cards into the air in frustration. A smile drew up over Jacob’s face. The whole thing was rather amusing.

Alex had been in the grad program with Thomas. Thomas always organised the social stuff. He usually rallied up a bunch of guys (and sometimes some girls) to go for drinks after work. A couple of times he even organised a game of social soccer on Wednesday nights. Alex, a curly haired guy with a short fuse, had been one of those guys. Over the years people came and went. People left Melbourne or moved out of the city. Alex, however, had just stuck around. Thomas loved to wind Alex up, and Alex would always react, which made Thomas want to wind him up even more. Jacob wondered at times if Thomas was taking it too far – but he soon came to see that Alex was enjoying it as much as Thomas was. And at times Alex even gave it back twice as hard. Soon Alex was the second-in-command prankster, always egging Thomas on whenever Thomas suggested doing something funny in the workplace. That was, unless Thomas ever decided to pull a joke on Alex (which happened from time to time). In those cases Alex always gave them the loudest and most ecstatic reaction they’d ever seen. Alex was quick to flare up, but he was just as quick to calm down. And he enjoyed the way the guys joked around, even, although secretly, when it was a joke towards him.

‘That’s it! I’m out!’ Alex declared.

‘Aww, don’t get all sulky because you keep losing. You can come back,’ Thomas said.

‘No. I’m out. Look – I have no chips left,’ Alex waved his hands around in front of him, indicating nothing.

‘Oh,’ Thomas’ mouth fell, ‘well I guess you are out.’

The guys played another three hands before Daniel was also knocked out.

‘How’s the girl you’ve been chatting up. Sally – I think you said her name was?’

‘Yeah, I mean, I’m trying – you know. We have good conversations when we’re actually having conversations. But she’s got this friend who she always huddles with in her breaks. Girls are so hard to talk to when they group up in twos.’

‘Oh, look at Thomas, getting nervous and awkward around girls for once,’ Alex smiled and patted him on the back playfully.

‘Welcome to our world,’ Daniel said.

‘When have you ever been nervous around girls, Daniel?’ Jacob asked.

‘Well; I was nervous around your cousin Chloe. You know, when you introduced me to her. Years ago,’ Daniel made eye contact with Thomas and winked. Thomas shook his head.

‘What’s this girl’s name, anyway. It’s always easier to talk to two girls when there are two guys,’ Alex said.

‘Pip.’

Jacob gasped and looked at Daniel. Daniel looked from Jacob to Thomas.

‘Tom, you know what Pip is short for, right?’

Thomas scratched his chin.

‘Umm, no…’

‘Penelope.’

The four boys looked at each other in silence. A good thirty seconds passed before anyone said anything.

‘Blonde hair?’ Thomas asked.

‘Yep,’ Jacob replied.

‘Red glasses?’

Jacob nodded.

‘A fringe cut?’

‘Aha.’

Thomas smiled.

‘Then I take back what I’ve said earlier. We’ve found her. Come upstairs at lunch on Monday. You can talk to her, and I’ll talk to Sally.’

Jacob kept a straight, nonchalant face, but inwardly his heart was leaping with joy. After all this time, he finally understood how Romeo felt that first time he met Juliet.

***

‘You can’t just ignore Martha like that. She’s the team leader now.’

Jacob looked up from his phone.

‘What?’

A short balding man stood in front of him.

‘Martha is your team leader. If she needs the reports done by Friday afternoon – then I’m sure she has a reason for it.’

‘I’m also very sure she has a reason for it. But I have a reason for not doing them. I’m swamped. The more work I get done, the more work she gives me.’

The man huffed.

‘I don’t want there to be any relationship issues in this team. I think we might need to organise a restorative conversation between you and Martha. I’ll mediate. You can get all your issues out on the table and move past it.’

‘There’s no need for a restorative. I don’t have any problems with Martha – she’s a lovely lady. I just can’t do everything she wants me to do. There’s literally not enough time in the day.’

‘It still might be worth having a conversation with her about your workload. I’ll talk to her and hopefully we can sort this out.’

‘Okay. No problems.’

The man turned and walked off between the desks and the cubicles. Jacob felt the phone in his hand vibrate. He looked down at the small screen. It was a message from Thomas.

Sorry bro. Pip has a boyfriend. If it helps, Sally thinks he’s a jerk.