Page 16 of When We Were Young

When Will and Matty pulled up outside the rehearsal studio that Sunday, Reu wasn’t waiting outside.

‘Where is he?’ Matty asked as they got out of the car.

‘Maybe he’s inside?’ But the door was locked.

‘The buses are probably running late. Shall we get started?’

They spent half an hour jamming. Will wasn’t feeling it, but it was Matty who spoke up. ‘Something’s not right. Reu’s always here first. We should look for him.’

Will agreed. ‘Let’s follow the bus route back to his place. You know what it’s like when a bus breaks down, they kick you out and make you wait for the next one.’

They jumped in Matty’s mum’s car and checked all the bus stops on the route until they reached Reu’s estate.

Will looked up at the concrete high-rise. ‘Whenever we’ve dropped him off before, he goes in that door. Don’t suppose you know his flat number?’

‘Nope. The one time I picked him up, he was waiting outside.’

Two teenagers loitered nearby. Will got out of the car. ‘Hey guys, do you know Reu? Skinny kid. Long black, curly hair.’

‘Yeah, what’s it to you?’ asked the spotty one.

‘Do you know his flat number?’

‘What’s it worth?’ asked the taller one.

‘You’re joking. You want money to tell me where he lives?’

‘Either you wanna know or you don’t.’

‘Fucksake.’ Will rummaged in his pockets. ‘I’ve only got a tenner.’

‘That’ll do.’

‘I know it’ll do. It will more than bloody do.’ Will called over to the car, ‘Matty, have you got any change?’

‘It’s the tenner or nothing, mate,’ said the tall one, but Matty was shaking his head, anyway.

Will held out the note but wouldn’t let go until the spotty one said ‘Forty-four’ and they ran off laughing. He could’ve picked a number at random. Will pressed the buzzer gingerly.

‘Yeah?’ came a female voice.

‘Is Reu there?’

‘Who’s asking?’

‘I’m a friend of his – Will.’

She paused. ‘Reu doesn’t live here anymore.’ Then she hung up with a click.

Will walked towards the car but turned back and buzzed again.

‘What?’

‘Sorry to bother you again. Do you know where he moved—’

‘How should I know? Fuck off!’

As Will got in the car, he hoped it wasn’t Reu’s mum he’d been talking to.

Will had been worried about Reu all week. A night out with Izzy had been the only distraction. Their date began with irresponsible drinking and ended with enthusiastic fucking. When Sunday rolled around again, Will was relieved to see Reu sitting in his usual spot outside the rehearsal unit.

‘Sorry about last week, guys,’ Reu said as they got out of the car. ‘I couldn’t make it at the last minute.’

He helped bring the gear inside, and when Will switched on the lights, he was shocked at the state of Reu. He was dirty, his long, curly hair matted at the back, and he was skinnier, if that was even possible.

Matty shot Will a look as Reu assembled the drum kit.

‘What’s going on, Reu?’ asked Will.

‘I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. I promise.’

‘It’s not that, mate,’ said Will. ‘We’re worried about you. We went to your flat. They said you moved out.’

Reu’s face crumpled. A fat tear ran down his cheek and he swiped it away.

Will put a hand on his shoulder. ‘What happened?’

‘It’s nothing… I can still play… Let me play.’

‘Course you can play, mate.’ Matty perched on his amp. ‘Just tell us what happened. We’re here for you, man.’

Reu took a deep breath and sank onto the drum stool. ‘My stepdad kicked me out.’

‘Shit, Reu. When was this? Where have you been staying?’ asked Will.

‘A week ago. I stayed at my friend’s house the first night. He lent me some school uniform till I could sneak home and get some stuff when my stepdad was out.’

‘Christ, what about the rest of the week?’ asked Matty.

‘I’ve been sleeping rough. I even stayed here one night. I told the band that was leaving I was the cleaner.’

‘And they didn’t find that suspicious? This shithole’s never been cleaned,’ laughed Matty, bringing a smile to Reu’s face.

‘Listen, you can stay at mine for a bit. We’ll get this sorted,’ said Will.

‘Nah. I’ll be all right. I can manage.’

‘Have you been going to school?’

‘I went all week except Friday. I stank.’ They laughed; the laughing seemed to help.

‘We need to keep you in school, otherwise they’ll get social services involved, if they haven’t already.’ Will was thinking out loud. ‘When was the last time you ate anything?’

‘Yesterday? The day before maybe?’

‘Right, that’s it,’ said Will. ‘Come on, let’s go to my house. Bloody hell, my mum will love feeding you up!’

‘No! I want to play!’ Reu whined. ‘I’ve been waiting two weeks to play!’ In that moment, he sounded like the child they kept forgetting he was.

‘All right,’ said Will. ‘We’ll play for half an hour, then go to mine. We need to get you cleaned up ready for school in the morning.’

Refusing the hospitality of the Irish is difficult, but refusing Mary Bailey’s hospitality was impossible. She fed Reu to bursting, and he was relaxing in a hot bath while Will explained why there was a strange teenager in her bathroom.

‘God love him,’ said Mary when she heard what Reu had been through. ‘We need to ring his mother, though. Get her number off him.’

‘He won’t let you do that.’

‘Go on!’ she shooed.

Will listened as she made the call. Mary made it sound like Reu’s mum was doing her a favour by letting him stay, not the other way around.

‘You’ve got my number now. Call whenever you want. He can stay here as long as he needs to. Thank you… Of course… Thanks again.’

But Reu’s mum never called. Mary rang her once a week to tell her how he was doing. She could tell when his stepdad was around because the conversations were always much shorter.