Pubstitute

I was excited. I was so excited. Allison and I had a conversation. Allison and I had quite a large conversation. But that was only part of my excitement. I happened to quite cleverly time my lunch break so I could have it with her. We sat and watched the world go by out of the window, a man illegally park in a disabled bay, kids throwing jelly babies at each other. You know, the usual. She asked me about me and how I got to work at the supermarket, about my degree which I'm doing very little with. Most people tend to criticise or even worse, look down on me when I talk about my degree, but she just smiled and thought it was cool. Maybe it was because she didn't know what Biomedical Sciences were. I don't blame her, it's been so long since I've studied it, even I find it hard to remember.


Anyway, there was an inevitable lull in the conversation after ten minutes or so, and the topic moved onto the weekends activities. I looked up and pretended to think of the dates and what i'd be doing. I think she bought it, actually. When all I could think of was that I had nothing planned for the evenings and desparetly hoping it would involve her.


'Nothing. Not much money at the moment.' I smiled.
'Naa, me neither.'

Another bit of silence filled by sips of our cans of fanta.


'But hey!' She flinched. 'We get paid next Friday, we could go out!'

And there it was. An excited burst of emotion centred around a monthly wage. We offered suggestions to each other. Cinemas. A meal out. I think at some point I even suggested go-carting. Thankfully she ignored it. It's just been so long since I've wanted to do something with a girl. And it gets even trickier when the actual terms of the relationship aren't specified. I mean, we weren't actually going out together. But we where planning on going out together to do something. Things would be so much easier If people discussed these subjects openly. The excitement was keeping me going.

That's why I was excited. Me and Allison. On pay day. Going out. It only took us half an hour to come up with that. Quite vague, I'll admit. But it was a start.

When I came down from our shared break was trying to hide my joy. I gazed into the post-rain sunlight, scratched the back of my head and made my way down to Steve at the far trolley bay. He was hard at work, sending a stiff text message to his mate about an XBOX game delivery.


'I sent the money nine days ago, Dylan! PayPal and everything! And i'm not going down to the post office to get it, it's a bloody shithole down there. And there's no free places to park!'
'And they say doctors have it tough...' I grinned.
'Anyway, what's up with you?' He asked, finally looking at me through squinted eyes.
'What?'
'You were walking quite...merrily just then...'
'Merrily?'
'Yeah...in a good mood, are we?'

I didn't want to tell him about me and Allison's date-that-might-not-actually-be-a-date, Steve doesn't do congratulating very well. When I told him my Uncle was out of hospital last year, all he said was 'Thank God for that, that hospital stinks of shit.'


'No, not really...well...fancy going to the pub tonight?' 

Steve's eyes lit up. In fact, Steve's face lit up. He suddenly forgot about his angry text message and stared at me.


'What? Do you mean that?'
'Yeah...Why wouldn't I? Like you said, we had fun at the club the other night.'
'Yeah...yeah we did.'

Steve stuck out his chest and smiled broadly. I know he doesn't do congratulating well, but I had no idea he didn't do excitement well too.


'Tommy!' Steve shouted, his chest still puffed out.
'What are you doing?'
'Asking Tommy if he wants to go. You know, the whole gang!'
'Hang on, we're not a gang.' I said, trying not to speak so loud. 'He's underage.'
'I'll buy him a small cola.' 


So the celebratory night was set. Me. A forty odd year old loudmouth and my future girlfriend's ginger brother. Fucking brilliant.




'Corr...this place brings back memories...' Steve sighed.

Do people say 'corr' any more? Anyway, The Potters Is an oddly shaped pub just next to the train station, next to a closed down tattoo parlour and a gents hairdressers. As you walked in, you could walk all the way around the bar in a complete circle, so God knows where you're head will be after you've had a few drinks. I was up for such an experience. I was out on a Friday night (well 6pm, Steve had to pick Mary up from wrestling practice at 9pm) with two lads, celebrating a possible date with a girl.


'You been here before?' Tommy asked Steve.
'Yeah, used to come all the time.'

I ordered a round and met them in the corner.

'Yeah...' Steve continued. 'Course back then it was called The Spinning Jenny. Lovely place, served real ale. I remember one night. It was Stiggy's birthday...'

Steve did a little santa chuckle, waiting for me and Tommy to react. But we just looked at each other.


'What. A. Night.' He grinned. 'I was Spinning Jenny at the end of it.'
'Oh yeah?' Tommy tried.
'Yeah, lovely girl. She was in a wheelchair.'

Me and Tommy shared another look.


'Probably still is...thinking about it.'

Steve put a dampener on the start of my big night by bringing up the disability of someone he doesn't even know anymore. I thought i'd move the conversation on.


'So, Tommy...what have you been up to?'
'Nothing.' He shrugged, slurping his small cola from a yellow straw. 'Oh, I did complete 'Prisoner' on the XBOX last night, though.'
'What level?' Steve leaned in.
'Four.'
'Nice one. Fully armored?'
'AK's. Grenades. Backed up hyper-drive.'
'Dude!' Steve bellowed. 'What system?'
'Oh, the BS6..'
'Lads! Lads! Can we stop talking about this, please?' I butted in.
'Why?' Steve asked.
'Because it's my night and I want to enjoy it.'
'What do you mean it's your night?'

Oh shit. Blown my cover.


'What?' I blinked.
'It's your night?'
'Yeah, well...' I struggled.
'Is this about Allison?' Tommy asked.
'Who?' Steve asked.
'Might be.' I shrugged.
'Allison.' Tommy told Steve.
'Who's Allison?' Steve asked me. Or Tommy.
'My sister.'
'His sister.' I nodded to Tommy.
'What about her?' Steve asked.
'I might be...you know...going out with her...for a drink...next week.'

Steve stared at me.


'Oh...Allison. Check outs? Short hair?'
'Yeah.'
'Yep.' Tommy confirmed it.

Another spell of silence.


'Isn't she a lesbian?' Steve asked.
'No!' I said.

I looked at Tommy.


'Is she?'
'No.' He confirmed it.

Thank God.


'Well...congrats dude.' Steve held up his bitter.
'Cheers.'
'So, you might be going out with her? You two get chatting over a check out and now you might be going out with each other?'
'So?' I shrugged.
'Well, you did go and watch her play at Spence's too.' Tommy said.

Yet another spell of silence. This time longer and full of thought.


'Is that why we went to Spence's?' Steve leaned back.
'What? No.'
'To see her?'
'Allison.' Tommy confirmed it.
'Shut it, you.' I told Tommy.
'And is that why we're here? To celebrate you going out with her?'
'Might be going out with her.' 
'For fucks sake, Tommy!' I blurted.
'I'm off!' 

Steve sprung off his stool, grabbed his leather coat and rushed out the door. A few regulars at the bar turned and stared at me, the silence filled by Tommy slurping the last of his cola. Steve found out that I was using him to get closer to Allison. Not really a night to celebrate. Tommy put his empty glass on the table.


'Can I have another one?'