Gate 24

Chapter Fifteen

Bryon picks the spot where both the swim academy and the water polo go on in the afternoons as our relaxation place. He chose it because he saw that there were seats free, extra seats that haven’t been taken and plenty of umbrella things to keep us from the shade – parasols, I think they’re called. Even though catching the sun and tanning is nice, it’s also nice to have a little bit of shade every so often.

“So, let’s talk about something. Anything that you want to discuss,” Bryon says, spreading out one of his towels along the bed he’d chosen. “Like, tell me about hobbies or your past or something awesome like that.” He looks at me through his sunglasses; his eyes look dark through the lenses of the protective item of clothing. “I’ll start with basic information: I’m Bryon, I’m eighteen and I love snooker and tennis and playing the guitar.”

Smiling at him, I try and think of my hobbies that could be related to his. “I’m Ray, I’m twenty four and I love playing the bass. I also like football and weightlifting.” There we go; two sports and a musical instrument to match his interests. Of course, I have other interests, such as looking at gems, playing video games, stargazing and other things, but I don’t feel like they’re relevant right now. “What music do you like?”

“A bit of punk, alternative, y’know the kind I’m talking about,” Bryon responds. “You?” I tell him that I enjoy listening to old rock music, such as Guns ‘n’ Roses, Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden; he simply nods and smiles. “I can appreciate that kind of music, but I’d rather listen to pop punk and stuff.” I feel like you can tell a lot about a person by their music taste – Bryon is slightly rebellious, quirky and his mind conflicts between optimistic and pessimistic thoughts. “What do you watch on TV?

“Mostly sitcoms and such. Sometimes I watch those police programmes; I love watching criminals get caught in the act.” Truth be told, I don’t have unlimited time to laze around and watch whatever I want to. I often work night shifts; I can’t deal with the idea of having days to sit down and marathon shows because I’ve never had the opportunity to do that. Literally, I’ve never watched TV for four hours straight, not even on days when I’m ill. “And yourself?”

“Mostly sitcoms, like you said. I also watch a lot of crime drama and some reality television, just because I like to feel better about my life. Those shows when people come on with their problems are my favourite kind of shows because everything is so tense and people are so badly behaved.” Bryon doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy to watch reality TV. Then again, you can’t judge a book by its cover, like they say. Who says it? I have no idea.

We sit and chat about our lives for a little bit longer, asking each other what we enjoy doing in our free time and stuff. Bryon enjoys sport a lot, but he doesn’t really watch anything that can’t be considered a big event. Bryon enjoys performing and used to be in a band when he was at school – the band broke up when everyone else went to different universities and Bryon ended up here. It is the summer, but Bryon isn’t planning to go to university. He thinks that he wants to be a holiday rep, but he wants to go home for a bit first.

“Did this whole “abandon” situation make you want to become a rep?” I ask him, staring at the ginger haired guy as I sat up. “Or have you wanted to do this for a while? Did your sister inspire you?” Some people follow family tradition; most of my family ran a bakery back home. That wasn’t the lifestyle for me though, for the decoration of a cake or the pastry of a pasty never really interested me that much.

Before I became a security guard, I worked in the bakery with the rest of my family. I never had siblings so my cousins helped me out; one of them plans to take over the bakery in a couple of years. When I was there, I was in charge of hauling everything around and fixing the broken machinery. This is probably what fuelled my love for my job and stuff. In school, I studied Law, Physical Education and Engineering and eventually decided that the physical stuff was more down my street than business or mechanics.