I keep my nose clean for the rest of the week. Out of the manageress's way and clear of the bloke. No one says anything else about it so I suppose it must be forgotten for the moment. I haven't had any more hassle at work either - they've got enough to bother about with Colonel Blimp who keeps going out at lunchtime and coming back drunk. Then he starts a long argument with the supervisor about office procedures. Its quite a giggle if you just sit back and listen. The Most Wasted Kid On The Planet just sits there not having a clue what's going on. Bizarre.

We’re standing in Yates’s engaged in the usual banter. Its Friday again. Each week's a replica of the one before it in some ways because the conversation's so similar. Joey's on about the game. Simon's well pleased because he's had it confirmed that he's definitely got the gig on Thursday at The Funktion. He goes on about his mix, saying that it'll be basically the same as before but with a few changes. Then he goes to the bar. I swig the last of my pint and look round.

Its heaving in here again. Loads of them out tonight. I watch Simon and start to glance round the pub Groups of people everywhere, some lads, some girls. Same as anywhere I suppose. Then my mobile gives a double beep. Its from Tina. Well surprising.

“I can see you” it says.

What’s going on? I’ve no idea. I thought Tina made it plain the other night that she was with Brian. Now this. I look round. Its so packed.

“Where r u?”, I reply. I soon find out. I feel a pair of hands behind me cover my eyes and a voice I recognise too well say “guess who”. I don’t need to think too long. I turn round.

“Evening”, I say.

“Evening stranger”, she replies. She’s standing there in front of me all smiles and pleased to see me. surprising.

“So what brings you round these parts?”, I ask.

“Oh. Just felt like it”.

She’s with a bunch of mates who I’m introduced to as “a lad from work”. Not strictly true. Not true at all, to be honest. I don’t mention anything about the other night. No point. So we just stand and have a joke with her. After a bit she says that they're going clubbing and do we want to join them. This sounds good. Deffo. We agree and soon the big gang of us are walking across the Square towards The Funktion. Tina walks with me and one of her mates and we’re arm in arm and we get to the club where there's a queue. The bouncer soon lets us in and we're through the door and down the stairs to the bar. We stand and get the drinks in and have a bit of a laugh. I’m getting more relaxed now. Tina’s next to me waiting and I talk to her, rabbiting on and giving it some front. She turns and smiles and I get the drinks. We go over to some seats and sit down.

After a bit, we go and have a dance. We're on our own and that gives me the chance to talk to her about all sorts. She's moving in front of me and smiling and waving her hair around and the neon lights show off the white of her top. Then she tells me something that cheers me up a lot.

“Sam”, she says.

“Yes Tina”.

“Its Brian”.

“Mm. Brian. What about him?”.

“He’s going away for a while”.

“What?”. I can feel the grin cross my face.

“He’s going to be working away for a while. A month or so. Some job he’s got on. I’m a bit upset about it”.

“Oh right. Yeah, er, I can understand”.

Brilliant, amazing and all that, I think to myself. We’ll get shot of him for a while. Off somewhere else, while I make my move. Just what I need. We're in the corner of the dancefloor and I think about making a move now but think better of it, or rather don't have the bottle for it. I've got to play this very cool.

After we've danced, I get the beers and we sit down again. I decide not to mention Brian again for a bit. There are future meetings to sort out.

“Do you know my mate?”.

“Who?”.

“Simon. The DJ”.

“Course. He did that gig the other night”.

“Yeah, well, er he’s got another”.

“Has he? Brilliant”.

“The Funktion. Thursday”.

“That’s great”.

“Going?”.

“Yes. I will”.

“See you there”.

“OK”.

Promising though whether she means it isn't definite. We're quite close together and I don't know whether I've got a chance. I might have a go after all.

I wouldn’t be doing this if I’d not had a few. I lean over to her and whisper in her ear, singing along to the music, in a kind of mock American accent. "I just feel like luurving yooo".
She laughs.

"Sam. You are such a plonker.

"I was just wondering, er, do you feel like coming back?".

"I'll have to see".

She walks off. This is promising.

Then she comes back. "Sam", she says. "I’ve been thinking about what you said. You want me to come back with you?".

"Yeah, I do".

"Well, I have to choose what I want. You’d be a bit-of-rough , I suppose".

"Cheers, Tina". That cheers me up.

"But you can behave like a prat. I mean, I only see you once or twice a week when you're with your mates. So I have to decide. Do I give you a chance and go back with you or not. Mm. I don't know. You could come to mine. That might be all right. Just for a coffee of course. Nothing else ".

I can’t believe it. Brilliant. "Yeah, all right. Why not".

She smiles. I drink my beer and wait. It takes ages for the place to close and then we get a taxi to her place in The Park.

*

The taxi parks right underneath a street light. I’m beginning to feel my pulses speed up. She’s had her hand on my knee all the way here and my expectation of what the rest of the night’s got in store is mounting. I put my hand in my pocket to find my wallet but I don’t have to. She takes out a tenner and gives it to the driver and is out of the car in a moment. I’m behind her, saying goodnight to the bloke, and we’re standing on the street a few yards from her block of flats.

She puts her arm in mine and starts to walk. But first she pulls me towards her and whispers some advice.

“Look”, she says. Keep quiet until we’re inside. There’s a woman who lives on the next floor down from me who’s a mate of Brian. If she knew that you were here, she’d be onto him quick”.

I laugh. “Don’t worry”.

We’re at the door, which creaks as its opened. She closes it behind her slowly. We walk across the tiled floor and call the lift which is with us in a few seconds. She presses for the third floor and a bell sounds as the door closes and its not long before we’re up there and out into the lobby area. She walks on through a swing door and soon we’re standing outside a flat.
She puts her key in the lock and turns. The door swings open. She walks through and I’m right behind. But then she stops. Sudden. She turns and pushes me, motioning me back. I’m stunned. What’s going on? But I comply.

Then it becomes obvious. I hear a voice calling her name from inside the flat. A bloke’s voice. I mouth the name “Brian” to her questioningly.

“Yes”. She nods, looking worried. She’s not the only one. She doesn’t have to tell me to get out. I start to leg it down the corridor and into the lift as fast as I can. This is madness. Real madness. The bloke’s built like a brick shit house. What the hell do I think I’m up to. I get out of the lift and I’m on the street and out of the place.

*

I stick the Stax cd that Simon's just given me in my back pocket. He's rabbiting on for all he's worth.

“Give it a listen, Sam”, he yells. “They’re going to be playing this sort of stuff everywhere soon. There’s classics on that you won’t even remember”.

“Yeah. No problem, Si”.

“Its the next big thing. Listen”.

I laugh. I've heard from him loads of times before. He's rocking backwards and forwards as he stands here, a half drunk pint being waved around with splashes of lager flying periodically onto the dancefloor. He's had eight of them already to my knowledge - and that's only since we met up in Bellamy’s. He was out for a while with his mates before that.

We've been in Templers for about an hour now. Headed straight for the dancefloor when we got here and me and Simon have been grooving around ever since. Joey's a different matter. He met up with this woman who he used to know as soon as we got in here. We haven't seen him since and I doubt if we will, to be honest. It doesn't really matter. We're used to him by now.

I’m trying not to think about last night. Something of a disappointment, as I’m sure you can imagine. Got to forget it and get on with the laughs tonight. Which I’m doing no real problem, really. Simon's helping – he’s started going on about footy.

“The season’s only been over a week and I’m missing it already”, he says. Along with music, he's been full of it since we met up. “Remember that goal in the dying minutes”, he mumbles.

“Yeah. I remember”.

“It was excellent”.

“I know. They still lost though”.

“Detail, Sam. Mere detail. They’ve the best team for ages”.

Its the same as he told me earlier on. Except then it was coherent. There's a group of girls dancing next to us and he decides that its time for him to put on his best manner and try to get to know them. If I was less well gone myself, I might try to stop him. But you know how it is. Seems a good idea at the time.

That is, until he starts. He lurches forward and half the remainder of his pint goes flying past the one closest to him, splashing in all its glory on the white high heel of her mate, who just turns for a moment and gives him a look of disgust. Then she looks away again. If he'd been more sober it would have been enough to put him off. But it just encourages him and out comes his most practised "hello darlin" wide boy speel delivered in the kind of leery slur that can only come from a session like this. The girl who's next to him - who's obviously the one he wants - turns and screams at him.

“Jus’ leave me alone”, she yells. “You’re pissed”.

“Well, maybe ah am, an’ maybe ah’m not”, he says, in a kind of Jimmy Cagney drawl.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake”, she shouts and looks away. Her mates are laughing at him now. “Jus’ leave me alone and sober up”. But Simon's not listening. He's still yelling at them.

“Do you fancy comin to a club”, he screams. I try to intervene and pull him away but it only makes matters worse. “I’m all right, Sam”, he says. “I can carry on”.

The girls don't agree. I decide that its useless to carry on dancing as Simon makes every effort to impress this woman. To be honest, she's a bit snooty anyway but that doesn’t mean that Simon's approach would impress her if she wasn't. In the end, the girls admit defeat and walk off the dancefloor, leaving Simon on his own and looking stupid. I go over and rescue him from this and lead him off to the bar.

Before I know it, he's already got another couple of pints in. He's off again.

“That bird”, he says. “I reckon I was in there. What do you thin?”. I try to be as kind to him as possible.

“I shouldn’t bother with them, Si. They weren't worth it”.

“Nah, Sam. They were all right”. I try to change the subject.

“This cd, Si”. I take it out of my back pocket and show it to him. “This cd. So what’s on it?”. But it doesn’t have a lot of effect.

“Aah Sam. Its great. You’ll love it. An that goal. Good or what. Hey, where’s that bird gone”.
Its been this sort of conversation all night - round in circles and not getting anywhere. It'll be the same until we go home. His maroon sweatshirt's got beer all over it but he doesn’t give a damn. As we're standing here, he spots this bloke who he used to know from years back and who he hasn't seen for a while.

“Oi”, he yells. “How you doing?”.

“Si, mate. How are you”.

They start to talk and have a laugh about the sort of stuff that they used to get up to. The bloke tells Simon that everyone's going to a club and if we want to join them. Simon's well into it. Starts going on about how he's into a dance and when are we going and we'd better find Joey and take him with us, So I wander round the bar and finally manage to locate the boy still talking to the girl at the side of the dancefloor and looking like he's doing very well for himself. He turns and sees me and smiles, introducing me to the woman. I tell them about the club and he laughs and asks her if she wants to come. She does. So we go back to find Simon, who's already on his way to the door. We join him and all start to walk down the stairs and on our way out of the bar. Simon still has a pint with him and he trips on the way down and falls forward. The beer flies everywhere and he only just keeps steady and so I help him to the bottom. He starts laughing and we're out of the place.

We join Simon's mate at the front and he starts shouting at him about the footy and music and everything else.. His mate's as far gone as he is and they put their arms around each other and have a dance down the road.

We pass this curry house that we go to quite a bit and Simon's off.

“Hey, Sam. Fancy a curry now”, he yells.

“Si. Weren’t we going to a club?”.

“Yeah, I know. But”.

“Nah, Si. Leave it”.

He suddenly remembers and we walk down Market Street, onto the Square, and down into Hockley. Joey's trailing behind us.

“Hurry up Metcalfe”, yells Simon, which he does pretty soon, the girl still in tow. Soon we're at the club, standing in the queue. There are a fair few people in front of us and Simon starts to get impatient.

“I jus’ want a beer”, he says.

“All right Si. We’ll be there in a minute”.

After a bit we're at the door and Simon's mate goes through, followed by Joey, who's managed to get in front of us. Then its Simon's turn. Just as he's about walk into the place, this hand comes down and stops him. The bouncer's looking mean and uninviting.

“Not tonight”, he says.

“What?”.

“You’re not coming in”.

Simon looks stunned and starts to argue.

“But all my mates are there and I’m with them”. But that's it. The bouncer's not listening.

Simon still protests. He's annoyed. “Why won’t you let me in?”.

The bouncer just turns his back. I look at Simon and the answer's obvious.

Now, I suppose I could just forget about Simon and go in myself. But I must be a bit daft. I can't just leave him standing here.

“Look, Si. There are other places. Lets just go”.

“But, Sam”.

“Come on”.

I start to walk and he decides to follow. I lead him off through the streets.

“We’ve got to go somewhere”, he says.

“I know”.

“I know this place near to here that I’ve been to before”.

“We’ll try there then”. I doubt if he'll get in anywhere tonight. Then again, we might as well try. So we make our way. Simon's less mad than he was - he's sobered up a bit and the experience of not getting in has brought him down a bit. We walk towards the new place there are a few people outside but no one on the door. Me and Simon walk past the punters and I keep thinking that we're going to be stopped but we're not. We're through the door and standing waiting to pay our entrance fee. The girl who's taking the money smiles and we give her our dosh and we're in the club.

I can't believe it. Where was the bloke on the door? But who care now, We're in here and

ready for a laugh. Simon's happier already. He gets the beers in and starts going on again about all sorts of stuff and then we go and have a dance.

I get into it. This club's not as upmarket as the one we got turned away from but we don't bother. We dance around anyway. After a bit, I go to the gents. But when I come out, there's something going on. Simon's not on the dancefloor. He's at the bar. Talking to some girl - oh no. Its the one who was dancing near us earlier on.

I go over. Things aren't going well. The girl's looking up at Simon and telling him to go away. Simon's not in the mood to oblige. He tries to talk to her but she's not interested. He starts to get mad. And so does she. Soon they're having a row. I try to intervene but Simon's having none of it. Then this bouncer appears.

“Look little boy”, he says. “Pack it in ort you’re out”.

“But what for?”.

“ You’re annoying her”.

“Why?”. The bouncer starts to get a bit forceful.

“Unless you stop talking to her I’ll throw you out”.

Then the inevitable happens. The bouncer grabs Simon and drags him off. Simon's not having it. He's struggling and throwing his arms around. But he can't make it. He's thrown out onto the street and I follow. He stands there shouting at the bouncer and trying to get back in. I grab and lead him off. I don't know how to handle it - Simon can't go anywhere else. I decide that I've got to get him home. So I flag down a taxi and persuade him that its time for him to go - he agrees with me. He gets in and he's off.