The third part of my first novello.
“After all the trouble she caused you,” Mam said. “I know what I’d say. And you, Jack, you should know better. Just watch what you’re saying.”
Dad just pulled a face.
“Now everyone’s miserable, it’s time to get out of here and get some drinking done,” Billy said.
“Go on,” Mam said. “Get yourselves out. Go and enjoy yourselves while you can.” She turned to Mick. “Look after him.”
“No worries, Mrs Grey. He’ll be all right when he gets with all of us and has a couple of drinks,” Mick reassured her.
“Come on then, let’s go. See you, Mr Grey,” Billy said. As we walked up the path, he started singing, “It’s Friday night. I’ve got a pocketful of money. I feel fine. And I’m ready to party!”
While we were walking away, I could hear Mam saying something to my dad. “Glad he’s going out He’s not been out much since … well, you know. Billy and Michael will look after him. He’s lucky to have good friends like that.”
“What, that Billy?” Dad said. “He’s nothing but a wind-up merchant.”
“That he might be,” Mam said, “but his heart’s in the right place.” I turned round, smiled and waved, then walked off with my two friends.
Mick and Billy were probably my best mates. We’d grown up together, went to infant school and then the juniors together. Our local authority had abolished the eleven plus, an exam for children in their last year of junior school which acted as a selection for grammar school. Those who didn’t pass went to the local comprehensive school, or secondary modern as it was known. Me and Mick had passed and gone to the grammar school, but Billy had failed and went to the comprehensive school. That was where Tom and Jamie came in. Billy had met them there. They didn’t live too far away, so we used to meet in the park, ride our bikes, play football or just sit and chat. We’d been a gang of five ever since, and best mates for a long time. We wound each other up, always (well, nearly always) good-natured banter, some might say; others who didn’t know us would describe it differently. We’d been through a load of weird situations. But, as with all true friends, we always looked after each other, no matter what was said or done.
Mick, he worked hard at avoiding work. Even, so he would have done anything to help anyone, not just his friends. He was a bricklayer; finished his apprenticeship at one of the local builders, then thought it’d be easier, and he’d get more money, if he worked for himself, so he tried to set up his own bricklaying and plastering firm. Did all right through the summer, but he didn’t like the cold, so he’d only work in the winter if he’d got really desperate for money. He was the biggest of us all, in more ways than one – tall and overweight, though not by much, he would’ve argued. He had his dark brown hair longer than the rest of us, pale green eyes and a sort of roundish face. Fashion wasn’t an interest of his. He preferred cars and football, especially the local team, which he went to watch most weekends with Jamie. He was probably the kindest and most mild-mannered person anyone would want to meet. Nothing seemed to bother him. He never looked for trouble, but somehow it seemed to find him. There were always those idiots who saw the size of him and wanted to cause trouble. He never succumbed. As he would say, “It pisses them off more when I ignore them and walk away.” He was also the tightest, meanest, penny-pinching so-and-so you’re ever likely to meet.
Billy was the total opposite in every way. The same height as myself, and we were the smallest, so he always tried to persuade people he was at least half an inch taller than me! He was also the thinnest. Nobody knew how or why, as he could eat more than the rest of us put together. ‘Wiry and athletic’, he would have described himself. Not sure about athletic, as any physical activity made him poorly. He worked in an accountant’s – at least, he was training to be one. Dad said he would never let him near his accounts. Strange, really; a bloke so disorganised and ready to play the joker, working in a profession where you have to be very organised and focussed. Billy always thought of himself as the joker, which he was. But at times, his joking got him into trouble, not only with other people, but with the rest of us. It led to some serious fallings out, but we always forgave him. There was never any real malice intended. He just never knew when to stop and often went too far. But we knew this and put up with it. After all, he was one of us, and he was quick to apologise if he upset anyone. He did look younger than he was; boyish looks which nearly always meant people forgave him quicker.
Since my break-up, they’d been around and kept me company, forcing me out a few times, just like tonight, but this was the first time in town. Mick and Jamie followed the local football team. They’d got me to go to a few games towards the end of the season. But the way they’d played, I’m not sure it helped. They’d only just avoided relegation.
It was a short walk into town and the pub where we would meet Tom and Jamie. As we walked, the conversation naturally turned to the night out and what might happen.
“I reckon Jamie and Tom will be there by now,” Billy said, “especially as it took Mattie so long to get ready.”
“It was you two and my mother who made me change my shirt. I was ready,” I said defensively.
“For what you changed it to, you might as well have kept the other one on,” Billy said.
“Come on. Leave him alone,” Mick joined in, supporting me, as he always seemed to be doing those days.
“Do you still go the same route?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.
“You know we do. Won’t ever change,” Billy answered. “What with Jamie in the Black Lion, Mick in the White Swan and Tom in the Ship. Only way the route will change is if they knock those pubs down.”
“I didn’t think it would have,” I said.
“Nothing much else has changed either,” Mick said. “Tom still thinks he’s going to get a girl in every pub we go in. Never does, though.”
“He nearly did last time I was out. I even think he walked her to the taxis,” I said.
Billy started laughing. “Oh, yeah. That was a good one. He bought her some drinks in the nightclub and supper from Imran’s Chippy. Went to the taxi. He thought he was in luck when she let him get in with her. When it got to her house she jumped out and legged it. He’s never seen her since.”
“And has Jamie cheered up, or at least livened up?” I asked, trying to catch up on any changes I might have missed.
“No, just the same,” Mick replied. “He might have more to say if you are out with us.”
As we approached the pub, Billy ran ahead of me and Mick. “Hurry up you, two. Last one in gets the drinks,” he shouted. As he turned to open the door, he nearly knocked over two girls who were coming out.
“Stupid pillock,” Mick said under his breath.
Man on a bike. 