I have known Ant for about 2 years as an employee of a client company, though it has only been in the past 6 or 7 months that I have had to deal with him on a regular basis. To me he was nothing particularly special – a tall, slightly geeky looking Indian fella, though with a really good sense of humour. When I found out he was from Caroni, I thought, oh, a Bush Indian. And now I apologise to all the non-Trinidadians, all 2 of you that read this, because that expression, though completely understandable in Trinidad, will be completely lost on you.
Then I went to Hallowfest, which happened in late October. It was a Halloween costume party / rock concert, so I dressed up. Like many other girls there, I was a naughty school girl. I had my hair pulled back with a white bandeau, with a white vest that said “punk rock” on it, a rather short plaid skirt, and hooker shoes (my mother and I both agree that there is no better description for those shoes). Of course, there was the customary heavy black make-up.
I went with Zodiac. On our way walking from the parking lot to the concert, who would I see surrounded by extremely hot women? Ant. I was utterly surprised. It was like going to Nascar, and finding Condoleeza Rice sitting in the front row, in overalls, waving around a can of beer as she cheered on the cars.
“I love Nascar. It’s the easiest sport to follow when you’re drunk… Look, they’re making a left turn!” – A ventriloquist comedian
I walked up to him, with a confused expression, demanding to know what he was doing at a rock concert. Although there was nothing to suggest that he was not into rock, there was nothing to suggest that he was either. Well… I guess, most people at my job would say the same for me.
Now, not only does Ant inform me that he is into rock, he also reveals that he is the lead guitarist of a huge… HUGE… local rock band. I cannot say who it is of course – Google is evil. Needless to say, though I will still say it, I was in shock.
I did not see Ant for a minute once we were inside, but things certainly changed between Ant and I since that time. First off, I must mention that when I walked up to him, shouted his name, and asked him what he was doing at a rock concert, he had given me an expression. At the time, I had interpreted it to mean:
“Why the hell is this girl embarrassing me in front of my friends?”
He would later come to tell me that when I walked up to him, he did not recognise me at all. I suppose he would not. I am always told that I look extremely different when I go out.
Since then, he never misses a chance to tease me about my naughty school girl outfit. We also talk quite a bit. Mostly about music. He actually likes a lot of the bands I like – Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Deftones (a little). We also exchange music – he gave me My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold (neither of which is really my cup of tea though), I gave him Breaking Benjamin’s latest CD, Scepultura’s Bloody Roots, Soulfly, and Mudvayne. He was already into the first few bands, but not quite a fan of Mudvayne. I am trying to change that.
But things really started taking off when I was at his company when the accounts department decided to leave early. I was not the only representative from my company there, and so we both got a drop into Port of Spain with Ant and a male co-worker of his, Scholes. When the car stopped, my co-worker and I tumbled out of the car, and as I turned to walk off, Scholes called to me and asked if I wanted to go hanging out with them. He had asked me earlier on in the car, but I thought he had been joking. Standing outside of the car, I decided very impulsively, that I would go. And I did.
Liming with Ant and Scholes was not half bad, though I did realise that whenever Scholes left to use the bathroom or talk to someone he knew, the conversation between myself and Ant took a different direction, then quickly reverted to something else whenever Scholes returned. Ant revealed that he was a closet freak, and this diary is testimony that I am one as well. He would say a bit and then I would say a bit – he mentioned something about being tied up, I mentioned something about spanking, but then we would be interrupted by Scholes.
Since that night he began sending me more texts – we had exchanged numbers the very first day I showed up at his company after Hallowfest. We had texted each other a little after that, but he upped it a bit after that night liming. I still did not respond to most of them, which is my tendency with texts, at times, but we still kept in greater contact.
And this brings us back to Saturday night at the party.