The four of them sauntered in to the Shark Cafe. It had, surprisingly enough, an octopus theme. The whole thing was painted greeny blue, and there was fake seaweed hanging from the rafters, interspersed with foam octopuses. It was extremely gaudy, cheap looking and bad taste, but Tay, Bel, Zac and Thayet loved it. It appealed to them. You could even say it called to them. The only off-beat thing about it was that there was not one shark in sight, despite the name of the restaurant.
Whilst requesting a table for four, they questioned what looked to be the owner of the place about this strange occurrence. He had an annoying habit of pronouncing his “ay’s” “i”, then leering at any mildly attractive (or even extremely unattractive) girl, and chucking them under the chin as he winked at their male companion.
“A tible (table) (leer, chuck, wink) for four of ye, would it be that ye was winting? (wanting) (leer, chuck, wink) Aye, then ye’ve comed toi the right plice (place) (leer, chuck, wink). We've got plenty of tibles (tables) (leer, chuck, wink) here! Ye'll notice the decoration-things bein' octi-doodles not sharky-wangles would ye hive (have) (leer, chuck, wink) here. Ahh, 'tis coz, fair cuz, this architect, he was after buildin’ this plice (place) (leer, chuck, wink), like the sharky-wangles, but, I says to him, but, their aint none of ‘em sharky-wangles near ‘ere, there ain’t, but there’s plenny of ‘em octi-doodles is livin’ ‘round here, so’s you should decorate accordin’. But him was after callin this plice (place) (leer, chuck, wink) after them new-fangled sharky-wangles! So there!”
The four young people gaped at him, silent, until a short, round little man came to lead the “owner” away.
“Don’t mind him, kids,” (including the 21 year-old Thayet under this heading impartially). “He’s just the cook. Now, where would you like to sit.”
They chose a table with a romantic sea view. It was an extremely long table, which could easily have seated twelve along each side, so with Tay and Bel at one end, and Zac and Thayet at the other, it was almost as if they were at two separate tables. This was fine with them.
They all ordered calamari and chips. There wasn’t much else on the menu, apart from, strangely enough, broccoli casserole, which appealed to none of them, despite its having been recommended by the waiter.
While they waited for their food to come, they sipped their drinks, all chocolate thickshakes, as they were the only non-alcoholic drink on the menu. Bel, Tay and Zac weren't allowed to be sold anything alcoholic, and Thayet didn't drink. Or smoke. Or do drugs. Or do the washing on Thursdays, as she told Zac.
“Is it against your religion?” He questioned her, taking a sip of his thickshake.
“No, I just don’t like doing the washing,” she laughed, taking a sip of hers. “Well, actually, the not drinking, smoking or doing drugs is kind of a religion thing. Actually it’s more of a cult. There’s a group of us who believe in keeping ourselves pure, so we don't smoke, drink, do drugs, lie, cheat, steal...” She trailed off.
“I think that’s great!” Zac interjected. “But what about...”
She ran her fingers down his bare arm. “Oh, we don’t limit ourselves... sexually,” she murmured. Her voice sent shivers down his spine.
Thayet was gazing at him so intensely, Zac was both annoyed and relieved when the food arrived. They ate in silence for a few minutes until Zac worked up enough courage to pose a question.
“So, have you ever had a boyfriend?” He queried.
“Thirty-four,” she giggled, "since I was fourteen. But none have really lasted, except my last relationship. Jonathan and I had been going out for two and a half weeks when we broke up. He's twenty-two," she said, in answer to Zac's unspoken question.
Zac immediately became hugely jealous of Jonathan. Thayet saw this, and hastened to make amends.
“I don’t still love him, or anything. I’m, like, totally over it,” she asserted. Zac smiled, albeit somewhat vaguely, and the conversation turned to lighter matters as they continued with their calamari and chips.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Taylor and Belinda were getting to know each other...
“So, I only really wanted to know if you would sell your T-shirt to me...” Tay finished off. He had been telling the captivated audience of Belinda how he had first seen her.
“Sure,” she said. “But I won’t sell it to you, I’ll give it to you. A present from me.”
“Thanks Bel,” Taylor said gratefully. Although he had been a millionaire for several months, he still had trouble remembering that he didn't have to worry about being able to pay the bill for anything now.
“So where’s it from, anyway,” he questioned her.
“The Reject Shop,” she replied.
“Cool name. Is it some kind of surf shop, or something.”
“No, it’s just what it sounds like. It’s a reject shop. Everything there’s really cheap and normally kind of dodgy. That’s why the cow’s off centre on the T-shirt.”
“Really?” Tay asked. “I just thought it was part of the design.” They laughed and chewed on another mouthful of calamari. So far their dinner had been uninterrupted except for an autograph request from an extremely attractive junior waitress who had nevertheless been largely ignored by Taylor, to Belinda's pleasure.
Bel was looking great that night. Although she was wearing only shorts and a T-shirt, the warm feeling of love within her showed on her face, and her cheeks held a rosy blush.
“So, where are you from? Australia?” He asked.
“Yeah. I s’pose it’s really obvious from the accent. Melbourne, to be precise. My school's having its Easter holidays at the moment, and my family's here to "get away" from it all. Even though it's autumn we're having this huge heat wave down there, though. It's like 40C every day. It was actually a relief to get away from the heat when we came to Miami Beach! Typical Melbourne weather.”
“Cool,” Tay said. “So, how long are you staying here? We’re here for about five more months. We’re recording the followup album to “Middle of Nowhere” and we want to make it extra good- that's why it's gonna take so long. We've barely started so far. We've only been here for about two weeks."
“That sounds great. I’m here for another week-and-a-half,” Belinda replied.
“Then we still have a week-and-a-half to be together,” Tay murmured, his head close to her ear. She shivered at the feel of his warm breath on her ear. Belinda stared up into his intense eyes. They were the brightest blue she’d ever seen, and she knew they weren't contacts. He stared back, and her mind went blank. Bel found her eyes were locked onto his, and she couldn’t have looked away if she’d wanted to.
They stared at each other for what seemed like ages, their food growing cold on their plates. They didn’t notice and wouldn’t have cared if they had. Nothing held any meaning for them except each other, at that moment, and they gazed at one another unwaveringly, until a tap on Taylor's shoulder freed them from their trance.
“What...?” Taylor asked Zac dazedly.
“Thayet and I have finished and we were wondering if you wanted to get ice cream with us then go for a walk on the beach." Zac and Thayet looked at them hopefully, hands entwined.
Tay and Bel both thought that a walk on the beach on a warm night, eating ice cream, was the most romantic thing either of them had ever heard of. They agreed immediately. They didn’t even want to finish their lukewarm calamari and chips before they left.

[ 5 ]