Max is exhausted. Sex with Victoria is like a wrestling match.

‘Can you light me one of those, please?’ She has an appetite for everything. Ever since that first time he asked her what she felt like doing and she’d said ‘let’s just go back to yours and see what happens’, all they ever seemed to do was fuck.

‘Do you wanna get something to eat? I'm starving.’

‘What, now?’

‘Sure.’ Victoria’s grin suggested she still had an appetite for sex. Max is spent.

‘As long as you're free?’

‘Sure.’

Victoria sits up in bed and Max can’t stop looking at her. Her legs and butt are firm like a dancer—she looks so comfortable naked, she must do sport or something. She makes Max feel a little flabby and lacking in stamina. She has three tattoos: an Asian symbol of some sort on her hip, the words “everything comes to pass” on the outside of her left foot, and an ornate image of a cherry blossom below her belly button, which is pierced with a small silver ring that Max worried would cut him.

‘Let’s take a shower.’

‘Huh.’ Max is gawking as she does some sort of yoga stretch and reaches her hands around her feet.

‘I have the afternoon off, let’s have some fun. Do you have any drugs?’

‘Do I have any drugs?’ Max says a little too enthusiastically. ‘I have some pot and a few ecstasy tabs.’

‘Cool, do you like coke?’

‘What? Like JD and Coke?’ Victoria raises her eyebrows and heads to shower. Max follows like a puppy.

The Casino is least busy on Sunday mornings. Max and Victoria are guided into a booth by a seater. Victoria’s hair is still damp and hangs in ringlets to her shoulders. She looks clean and fresh, and with little or no make up seems even younger. Max has never had such aggressive sex, he’s unsure how it makes him feel.

‘Is that pill kicking in yet?

‘Yeah, a little, it’s coming on.’

‘Give it thirty minutes, they’re pretty great.’

A waiter drops a couple of menus on the table. ‘Good afternoon, can I offer you a drink while you look at the menu?’

Victoria grins at Max. ‘Sure, can we get two JD’s and Coke and four cock sucking cowboys!’

Their waiter’s eyes widen. Max has seen that look a thousand times. That look that says, “thank god, some fun customers”. Victoria’s a player, she knows the game. Max relaxes and watches the show. A warm ooziness comes over him. This new millennium may just work out.

‘Coming right up!’ The waiter lets out a hint of a grin. Victoria raises her eyebrows slightly. Max narrows his gaze with a smile.

‘Can we smoke in here?’ Victoria says.

‘I’ll get you an ashtray.’ The waiter vanishes with their order.

SCHWOOSH—a fireball floats into the sky and dissipates into nothing.

‘You know, I don’t really know that much about you.’

Victoria laughs out loud. ‘Sometimes it’s better that way.’

‘C’mon that’s not fair, you know everything about me.’

Victoria stops laughing and puts on a serious face. This time they both laugh. ‘That assumes I’ve read up on you.’

Is she serious? Max has been featured in the Financial Review four times. ‘Well, I mean…’

‘I’m just teasing, what do you want to know?’ Victoria has a charm. A euphoric wave momentarily anchors him–what did he want to know?

The waiter appears like an illusionist’s trick. ‘That’s two Jack Daniels and Coke and five cock sucking cowboys.’

‘Who's the extra one for?’ Victoria smiles and her eyes catch the waiter and Max.

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‘Oh my, there's an extra one.’ The waiter feigns confusion. ‘That must be for me!’ They each grab a shot glass, toast, and scull. This century was getting better. ‘Another round?’

‘Sure!’ Max says.

The waiter picks up the empty shot glasses and disappears into the restaurant. Max and Victoria suck down their second butterscotch shots. They laugh out loud as the after shot shiver overcomes them. They grab their Jack Daniels and Cokes, toast, and sip.

Victoria lights two cigarettes and passes one to Max.

‘Are you married?’ Max has no idea why he asked that.

‘Divorced, actually. Married for 10 years. I’m a country girl, I got married young.’

Max does the maths. ‘Any kids?’

‘Yeah three, well, my two youngest are twins.’ Max imagined none of this. How did she look that good after three kids? Surgery? How old is she?

‘Don’t seem so shocked.’ Victoria takes another sip of her drink. ‘What about you, any kids, ex wives—current wives?’

‘No,’ Max says , ‘nothing like that.’ Did she really think he was married and having an affair?

The waiter arrives with another round of drinks, including an extra shot for the waiter. ‘I brought you some nibblies,’ the waiter says and places two bowls of savoury snacks on the table. ‘OK, I better take your order before we all get thrown out of here.’

‘What do you fancy?’

Victoria raises her eyebrows a little. ‘Hmm, how about a couple of share-plates?’

‘What do you recommend?’ Max looks up to the waiter.

‘Do you like Calamari?’

‘Mmm,’ says Victoria

‘OkK bring us some Calamari and the chicken dish thing and the lamb chops, please.’

‘Can we get a greek salad also?’ Victoria says.

‘Are you heading to the Sexpo?’ the waiter asks. Victoria’s eyes light up. ‘They’re doing free tongue piercings, I’m gonna get one after my shift.’

‘I wanna pierce my tongue!’ Victoria pokes her tongue out at Max. She is so gorgeous.

‘Sure,’ Max says, ‘But I’m not getting mine done.’ Victoria and the waiter share a laugh.

‘Another round of shots?’ The waiter beams.

‘Sure.’ Max feels a wave of ecstasy. Everything is going his way.

Max isn’t sure if it's the alcohol, the MDMA, or the energy of the large Sexpo crowd, but he feels like the new millennium has a different vibe. Reality seems brighter and clearer. He grinds his teeth and bobs his head to music. Victoria looks relaxed sitting in the chair, she is so gorgeous, she pokes out her still naked tongue. Max smiles.

‘OK,’ a fit young person with many colourful tattoos says. ‘Do you know how this works?’

Victoria says, ‘Not really, but I’m hoping you do.’

The girl pokes her double studded tongue out at Victoria.

‘Oooh!’ says Victoria.

The piercer smiles and picks up a white plastic model tongue with a silver bar pierced through it. ‘The piercings are free, but you’ll need a stud. I'd recommend one of these if it's your first.’

‘OK,’ says Victoria. ‘Give me the best one you have that you recommend.’

‘OK, that’ll be thirty bucks.’ The piercer opens a plastic partitioned case and pokes through the small boxes for a silver metal stud. It’s longer than Max expected with a ball on each end.

Victoria pulls out a fifty dollar note from her fob pocket and offers it to the piercer. ‘Don’t miss.’

‘I haven’t so far.’ The girl with the tattoos pokes out her tongue again.

Victoria flushes a little, maybe it's the drugs. ‘Keep the change,’ she says.

A loud roar erupts as the soft strum of guitars introduce a change in music. Victoria makes herself comfortable as the girl grabs a set of piercing clamps from a stainless steel container. Max stands there taking it all in. “Twenty-five years and my life is still… Trying to get up that great big hill of hope…For a destination” Victoria pokes out her tongue. The tattooed girl clamps it with the tool in her left hand and then lines up a fresh piercing needle with the hole on the clamp. Max is transfixed.

‘Hold still,’ says the piercer. Max has never seen anything like this. The crowd around him are singing, “I realised quickly when I knew I should…That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man… For whatever that means.”

CLICK! ‘OK, that’s it, make sure to take care of yourself. Gargle with saline in the morning and evening. Try not to smoke anything while it’s still healing, but if you have to you can use a mouthwash afterwards. No solid food for at least a couple of days as well, but once it stops being so sensitive you should be right. Once it heals down you’ll need a shorter bar, I’m with a tattoo studio out in Docklands, but most places sell tongue bars.’ The piercer rattles off instructions while dropping the needle in a bucket by her feet and peeling off her gloves before handing Victoria a card.

Victoria smiles like she’s just discovered herself. Max can’t believe it, that’s it?

Victoria gets up out of her seat and exchanges a hug with the piercer who is beaming. They skirt around the back of the booth and are back in the throng of the Sexpo crowd. Most of the crowd is near the main stage with a DJ and giant speakers. “I said hey! What's going on?”

‘I wanna buy you something,’ Max says

‘I might wanna buy something for myself,’ Victoria says. ‘I might wanna get something for you.’

Max isn’t sure what to say. ‘How does it feel?’

‘Not as bad as I thought.’ She pokes out her tongue. ‘I need a new vibrator for travelling.’

‘What, like a dildo?’

Victoria looks cheeky. ‘I’ve already got those—maybe I’ll get a strap-on and peg you later.’

Max has no idea what she’s talking about. ‘Let me at least treat you to a new vibrator,’ Max says. ‘So you can think about me when you use it.’

‘Well I can't guarantee that, but I will use it—I may let you watch sometime.’

Max loves Victoria’s self-assuredness. ‘Do you want to do dinner after this, or go back to mine?’

‘Hmm. I have to work later. We can grab a couple of things and maybe go back to yours for a bit—but then I have to go.’

‘You didn’t mention work, what are you up to?’

‘There’s a big promotion happening at the Australian Open next week. I have a team working it, so I need to set up. I might grab a couple of those tabs off you if that's OK?’