Sally - Side Story

1986

Sally shrugged on his jacket, he adjusted his collar and moved his shoe from left to right to see if the light would catch a dirty spot. Nothing.

He thought the outfit looked good enough, he had gone through multiple iterations of it for the past hour. He had been trying to find the balance between casual attire and upper-class. He was aware that he didn’t quite look like the other boys.

Boys his age wore colourful blazers, denim jeans and — odd to him at least — piano keyboard ties. They had their hair layered and swooped up. He preferred a regular cut, something clean and simple, he liked slacks and dress shoes. His ties had no designs and the ‘funnest’ colour in his wardrobe were a pair of light pink socks that were once white but got mixed up with Percy’s underwear in the washer.

He looked at the time, he was always punctual but he also knew that going too early to a party was seen as lame. He would leave in ten minutes. He would dry normally which means that he would arrive thirty minutes after the set time. That’s good.

He went downstairs, his plan was to go to the car and sit there listening to music. But as he passed the parlour he saw two of his siblings. Percy was throwing a plastic basketball at the wall and his youngest sibling was seated on the carpet, hugging their knees and watching Percy.

Percy notices Sally by the door and says, “take them with you.” Percy looks at them sitting on the carpet and sticks out his tongue, they only blink. “You see? I don’t want them following me around all night like a freak.”

“They’re too young to go to a party. They don’t even bother you, they just like looking,” Sally says.

“Why didn’t you make Orla take them with her?”

“You know why. Anyway Orla is at a sleepover, they shouldn’t spend the night somewhere else,” Sally replies.

Percy grumbles and throws the ball at them, it hits their chest and they watch as it rolls down their body, across the floor and under the couch. “Ow,” they say.

“Percy be nice. If I get home and I see even the tiniest bruise I’ll tell Father,” he warns. Percy’s face stiffens and he glares at Sally. Sally looks at his youngest sibling and smiles.

“Be good, ok?”

They answer in monotone, “when am I not good?”

Sally doesn’t know if that’s a joke or not but he grins anyway. “Percy, if you have an emergency I left the house number of where the party is for you, ok?”

They retrieve Percy’s ball from under the couch and he rips it from their hands.

“Percy” Sally says.

His little brother says, “yeah I heard ya.”

“Good.”

Before leaving he points to his eyes and then at them for Percy to see and Percy rolls his eyes but nods.

Sally’s stomach twitches as he gets into the car, turns it on and backs out of the batch of dirt the family parks their cars in. He hasn’t been to a party in a good while. There’s always things his father has to deal with, the kids always need someone there for them. He doesn’t think he minds it so much.

••••••••

It’s loud.

Teenage voices yell above the pop music. He can’t catch exact words, just an indistinguishable noise that goes up and down. The girl next to him has been talking for the past five minutes. She’s pretty. She’s on the student council with him. He can’t remember her name.

He also can’t hear a word she says. Sally just nods and smiles whenever he thinks she finished a sentence.

He takes a sip from his red cup and grimaces. Cheap beer that someone probably paid their older brother to get from the convenience store. Everyone in the room is either in pairs or small groups.

There’s boys playing poker on the coffee table, hangers-on stead on the armrests on the couches. People slightly swaying on what looks to be the dance floor. One couple is practically dry humping as a way of dance.

His eyes pass so many couples kissing. Wandering hands and liberal tongues. Sally looks at these displays of affection and doesn’t understand why people feel the need to do it. The way his friends talk about sex is foreign to him. He doesn’t understand why it’s such a big deal for everyone.

He likes it though. The chaos he doesn’t need to care about. He’s having a good time.

He feels a hot breath on his ear, “do you want to go somewhere more private?”

The girl’s stinky breath makes his nose twitch. He gives her a quick smile that looks willing. It’s not that he hasn't had sex before. He’s not craving it but he finds he has nothing better to do.

“Sally!” a boy playing poker yells.

Sally nods to him and he responds, “wanna play? Brad is awful and I want some real competition.”

The boy named Brad punches the other boy in the arm. Sally looks from that prospect to the girl trying to look seductive by his arm.

“Sally!” another voice somewhere in the room.

“Sal!”

Sally raises his voice over the noise, “here!”

A red-headed boy spots him and walks over. “Your brother’s calling dude.”

Sally nods and makes to go to the phone. He turns back and shoots an apologetic smile to the girl who huffs and turns away to talk to another boy. Sally shrugs and pushes past sweaty teens.

When he picks up the phone and tries to greet Percy the first thing he hears is, “mom and dad are leaving and they said I can’t take care of them by myself.”

Sally closes his eyes and curses mentally. He looks over to the poker table and wistfully sighs. Maybe he could play a round and make it home on time?

“Are they leaving now?” he asks.

“Yeah dummy, Father is already outside honking the horn at mom,” Percy replies.

Sally licks his lips and his fingers press tightly against the receiver. No, no. He shakes his head at himself. You love your siblings, and no one else can take better care of them but you. If anything happened to them you would just die, he thinks.

And he repeats that over and over in his mind like a mantra all the way home.