Asive opened his third large bottle of beer. He clutched at Lisa and pulled her under his arm, kissing her on the lips as he did so. She smiled but squirmed away from him.

“You taste of beer,” she said as she pulled away.

Asive shrugged and turned back to the fire. He prodded at the meat cooking over the coals with a long sharp fork. Thomas stood a little apart from them all, leaning against a tree in the shade, pulling silently on a cigarette.

Lisa moved over to him and stood up close.

“It’s so good to have you back in town,” she said, looking up to him. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you all too,” said Thomas, as Lisa moved her hand to his shoulder, as if to flick a leaf away. She let it linger there, smoothing his T-shirt under her palm. Thomas gently moved her hand from his shoulder, but Lisa held onto it, giggling softly against his shoulder.

“Hey!” called Asive to Thomas from the fire. “What you doing over there with my girlfriend hey? I’m watching you.”

“What you mean?” said Lisa with a laugh. “We’re all just having a little fun Asive. No harm done. You know. Like in the old days. Before you got so grumpy!”

Just then the same drunk man from the party next door stumbled across into their area again. Alice moved out of his way as he zigzagged, narrowly missing her.

They all watched him go, passing them by and stumbling off into the trees. Alice shook her head disapprovingly. “There goes another statistic, just waiting to happen, right there,” she said.

“Oh leave him alone,” said Asive from the fire. “He’s just having some fun. Like you are, hey Lisa? And you Thomas? Just a little fun. No harm in that is there? As you say, no harm done.”

Thomas began to walk out from under the trees, but Lisa clung to his hand and walked with him.

“Do you see how grumpy Asive has become, Thomas?” she said teasingly. “He is always so serious these days.”

Lisa turned towards Asive and said with a laugh, “You’re no fun anymore Asive.”

“Leave him alone Lisa,” said Mandla. Mandla had picked up the braai fork and was prodding the meat. Mandla was a man of few words, but Alice moved to his side. She could see he was serious.

“But it’s true,” said Lisa. Alice looked at Lisa and raised her finger to her lips and shook her head. Lisa refused to take the hint and continued. “We all know you blew your chances at varsity and now you are stuck in this town with a dead beat job at Game. But whose fault is that hey? Nobody forced you to spend your days at university drinking, and lying around doing nothing. No wonder your parents pulled the plug and ordered you to come home.”

“Don’t go too far Lisa,” said Thomas, taking Lisa by the shoulders and turning her to face him.

Lisa was no longer smiling. Her face was serious and she was frowning. “You don’t know what it’s been like since he has been back all the time. Here I am, still working like a dog at a job that I despise, just so that I can save and get to varsity, and he just throws his opportunity away, and then has the cheek to be miserable all the time.”

“Stop it Lisa!” said Alice, adding, “I swear this girl always gets like this these days Thomas, after just one Smirnoff Spin. Some people should just never touch the stuff!”

“Be quiet Alice!” said Lisa, turning towards her. “And as for you! Do you have any idea how irritating you are? Always passing judgement on everybody. Anyone would think you are perfect! Like Mother bloody Theresa!”

“Hey people,” said Thomas, moving towards the fire, “calm down all of you. Lisa,” and here Thomas turned towards her, “you have no idea the struggle Asive went through at varsity. He made the wrong study choice that’s all. So do a lot of people. You are judging him too harshly. Back off.”

Thomas moved around to where Asive was standing at the fire and put his arm around him. Asive, clutching the long braai fork did not look up. He stood motionless, and then suddenly turned and pushed Thomas away. His hand came up, still clutching the braai fork and he waved it menacingly in Thomas’ face.

“You think I don’t see what you are up to Thomas? Hey?” he prodded the fork against Thomas’ chest. Thomas moved away, putting his hands up.

“Calm down Asive!” shouted Mandla, moving to position himself between them. Asive made as if to push Mandla away. He lunged past him at Thomas with the braai fork.

“Now look what you have done!” said Alice angrily, pointing a finger at Lisa.

“You think you are such a hot shot,” continued Asive, his face so close to Thomas that Thomas felt his spit flying onto his cheeks, and he pulled back. “You come home from varsity and think you can move in and take what you want. I see you and Lisa. I see you.”

Asive moved away, his voice fading, and lifted the bottle of beer to his lips. He drank deeply, and then wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. He took a step and stumbled.

“Wait Asive man,” said Alice, seeing that Asive was intending to walk away into the trees. He took a few uncertain steps.

“Let him go,” said Lisa, speaking up from where she had been standing with her arms folded across her chest, in the shade next to the bushes. “I told you he was boring.”

Thomas watched his friend walk off. Asive took the path that Thomas knew led down to and then along the cliff top. He thought to himself that he should go with him, but part of him felt too angry. His friend had falsely accused him, and so he watched him go.

When Thomas turned back Lisa was already at his side. She was looking up at him and he noticed that her eyes were wet with tears. She reached for him, and Thomas let her hug him. He stood still, with his arms at his sides, and looked over her shoulder to where Mandla and Alice stood at the fire.

“I want to go home,” said Alice. “This is no fun.”

“Yes,” said Mandla, walking to the edge of the trees and looking out along the cliffs. “I’ll just call Asive.”

But Asive was nowhere to be seen.

 ***

Tell us what you think: Why is Asive behaving this way? Should his friends have let him go?