At Home with Alév and Zachary
by Nyssa Jayne
It's an apartment building. It's three stories high, and Alév and
Zachary live on the third floor. There's two bedrooms, a bathroom, a
kitchen, a balcony, and a living room. The bedrooms are decorated to the
taste of each Alév and Zachary, while the bathroom resembles the sea
shore. If you look out the window before the hot water of your wash steams
up the glass, you can see the city skyline. The kitchen is a space-aged
stainless steel set-up, and the balcony has a five-piece outdoor setting
occupying it, perfect for sharing a cappuccino around (frappachinos in the
summer).
In the living room, there is a drumkit, green with silver trimmings. A set
of worn and used drumsticks sit randomly on the snare drum. Above the
drumkit is a feature wall, with two mounted features upon it. One is a
record sales plaque of Zachary's, congratulating him on platinum single sales
from the song 'MMMBop'. The other is Alév's, it is a collection of four
original fashion drawings from her first commercial range.
Then, there is a coffee table, with a transparent green table-top, and silver
legs lifting it just above the ground. The latest issues of 'Rolling
Stone' and 'Vogue' magazine make for coffee table reading.
A mobile phone beeps. There's two phones on the coffee table. Alév's
phone is orange, and Zachary's is sky blue. The blue phone beeps with a
short message for Zachary:
'From: Kevin (0469 256 003)
'Saw u A pink shoes last wk. I no ur not... but we had fun that time,
rite? Tehe, thought i could make u smile. Tell Alév shes
beautiful.'
A Christmas present from five months ago is on the table, too. There's a tag on it that reads:
'I miss you Mum and Dad, what can I do? Merry Christmas, Love, Zachary'
Sometimes when it's nighttime, but not worthy of having all the bright down lights on, a seventies style, tall green lamp is turned on. Hanging from the chain to turn it on is a set of best friend charms.
The phone table is designed in a similar fashion to the coffee table, in between the lamp and the setté. A shimmering grey phone and answering machine fill up almost all of the small table. There's two messages on the answering machine:
"Zachary and Alév, my party people! This is Jerry, inviting you guys to a mad-as, classy 'do at the opening of that new club in the city. RSVP by Friday kids, thanks."
"Alév, this is your mother, and as usual, you're not home, instead you're tramping around with that Zachary -- I don't care if he can hear this! -- When will you settle down? Marriage is a wonderful thing -- shut up, I'm on the phone! -- and it'll bring respect to the family. Goodbye Alév."
Also on the phone table is a collection of business cards from Alév's favourite nightspots:
'BUBBLE
'The city's biggest Saturday night party!
Pop, house, club anthems and retro all night long!'
'MILKSHAKE
'Keep it real -- slick and smooth funk/RnB all weekend, including comedown on
Sundays. In-house DJ Smoothie spinning from 10PM on Friday.'
'PINK SHOES
'Leave your bad vibes behind for a wild night of camp, flamboyant fun! The
city's premiere gay club!'
The dresser is very stylish. Once again, it's green, with silver
handles, however, the cupboards have mirrors on them. Photo frames scatter
the top. In a beaded, silver frame, there's a picture of Alév and Zachary
as 'tweens. Giddy smiles and blonde hair sing out the joy of childhood
just before adolescence begins. The other photo frames have smiley holiday
snaps of Alév and Zachary with exotic locations as their backdrop.
There's a birthday card with these photo frames. On the front of it, there
is a picture of two clumsy stick figures; one is kissing the other on the
cheek. This is what it says on the inside:
'Dear Alév,
'Rock the 21st birthday!
'Thank you so much for being there for me. Through 'MMMBop', my parents,
through rumours and truth.
'You're the amazing best friend the rest of the world dreams about.
'Love, Zachary'
Next to the birthday card is a Valentine's Day card:
'Dear Zachary,
'I'm sure many people have told you that you changed their world. I
wouldn't know -- you've always been my world.
'Love, Alév'
With Zachary's drumkit, it often kept up the neighbours. However, if the drumkit wasn't fulfilling this, there's a good chance that the hi-fi equipment was doing the job. It sat by the French doors to the balcony. Alév was the last person to use it, she'd been listening to some sweet pop:
"Coz I'm fragile when I hear your name
Fragile when you call
This could be the nearest thing to love
Coz I'm fragile when I hear you speak
Fragile, feeling small
This could be the closest thing to love"
Sitting on top of the hi-fi equipment was Zachary's notebook. Who knows why he left it there. He'd been going some old work from when he used to play with his brothers:
"You have so many relationships in this life
Only one or two will last
You're going through all this pain and strife
Then you turn your back and they're gone so fast
And they're gone so fast
So hold on to the ones who really care
In the end they'll be the only ones there
When you get old and start losing your hair
Can you tell me who will still care
Can you tell me who will still care"
Finally, on the designer setté (-cum-sofa), lie two young adults, Alév and
Zachary, asleep in dreams.
Zachary is closest to the back of the setté, with Alév towards the
front. Their legs no doubt became knotted before they fell asleep. Alév's
shoes are sky blue. Zachary's are orange.
Zachary has one arm casually draped over Alév's shoulder. Alév has a
firm grasp of Zachary's arm.
They live together in this home.
Musical Credit
'Fragile', by Kylie Minogue
From her album 'Fever'
'MMMBop', by Hanson
From their album 'Middle of Nowhere'