Chapter 12 I Hear A Symphony #2
“There never is,” said Eric with a grin. “But he manages to be one nevertheless.” Eric often came to Davey’s rescue when Tommy teased him. He was a gentle soul, and Eric saw that. “Hello, Davey, good to see you.” They shook hands, and Davey said hello to the rest of us.
“Come on, then. Let’s join the queue.” Sissy, ever the teacher, herded us towards the line of people standing along the wall leading to the entrance.
I looked around for Michael, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.
He’d told me he was coming. Maybe he was already inside?
I hoped he hadn’t got cold feet and decided not to come.
The queue moved quickly, and soon enough, we were standing in front of a mountain of a man crammed into a tuxedo.
He looked us up and down, probably to check we were all over eighteen, or that we didn’t look like we’d cause trouble.
Satisfied with his assessment, he grunted and stepped aside to let us into the club.
“Get me a vodka and orange, will you?” Sissy said to Frank. “I need to find the little girls’ room.”
After we’d bought the drinks, Alan and Jane found us in the club.
There were a few dirty looks shot at them as they walked through the crowd, which pissed me off but was not unexpected.
It was none of anyone’s business who a person loved, but because Alan was Black and Jane wasn’t, people thought they were allowed an opinion.
I already knew who Jane was because I tended to know everything that went on around Becontree, Dagenham, and beyond. But I was curious to see how my friends would react to her being white. I hoped they’d be fine–they were good people–but you couldn’t always predict these things.
Alan took his girlfriend’s hand as they came over to us, which got a few nasty looks and mumbled comments from strangers in the room. Could have been worse.
“Everyone, meet Jane.” The pretty redhead smiled at us and then blushed.
“Jane, this is Frank, who I’ve known forever. His wife is around here somewhere. Tommy and Mick went to school with Frank. Davey works at the factory with me, and Tommy used to work there, but he’s a librarian now. And this is his friend and lodger, Eric.”
The poor girl looked like a rabbit who just walked into a fox’s den.
“Don’t forget, or you’ll fail the written exam.” I tried to make her feel more comfortable, but her eyes widened as my joke fell flat. Looking down at the floor, her cheeks reddened again.
“He’s teasing, love.” Alan reassured her.
She blushed and let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, of course he is.” She lifted her head again and smiled at us. “It’s a bit nerve-wracking meeting everyone. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Eric, ever the gentleman, took over the conversation and chatted politely with Jane. Within minutes, they were nattering about university, or maybe rugby. I wasn’t paying them much attention, to be honest.
As much as I wanted to be here for Alan and get to know Jane, I was worried about Michael. What if he was sick? Or maybe he’d been held up at work? I hoped he’d get here. I was eager to see him. I’d enjoyed spending time with him lately. He was different to this lot–not in a bad way–good different.
I was so lost in my thoughts, I jumped out of my skin when the object of my daydream tapped me on the shoulder.
“You made it!” I swung around to see him.
“Of course I did. I said I would.” His eyes shone as he smiled.
The urge to hug him almost overwhelmed me, which was strange because I didn’t have the same reaction to seeing Tommy or Frank.
Then again I’d been more concerned I was about to get beaten up.
I was sure I would’ve wanted to hug them if they’d said hello like normal people.
“I’m glad you’re here.” I opted for patting him on the shoulder awkwardly instead. Well done. Much less weird.
“Do we get introductions, dear? Or are we all expected to stand here, goggling at each other?”
I hadn’t even noticed the man standing next to Michael.
He was around the same age as my friend but taller and broader.
His blonde hair was artfully styled in a way that made it look messy and unworked.
It made sense for Michael to bring another Face with him.
He had plenty of mod friends–I’d met a few of them–but I’d not bumped into this bloke before.
“Sorry, where are my manners?” Michael said, “Mick, this is Robert.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Robert didn’t sound like he was pleased at all, and the sneer on his face didn’t convince me either. When we shook hands, he held on for a second longer than he should have and glanced down my body before looking me in the eye again.
“Same to you,” I said. He was gorgeous. And clearly batted for my team, but something about him pissed me off.
“Michael–and Robert–these are my friends. Michael, you know Tommy and Eric. Then we’ve got Davey, Alan, Alan’s girlfriend Jane, Frank at the back there, and his missus is in the bog.”
“Charming,” Robert said, wrinkling his nose.
They all waved and mumbled greetings with a smile, then as if on cue, Sissy came back from the toilets.
“Ah, here she is. Sissy, this is my friend Michael. I mean not just mine. Tommy’s and Eric’s too. He’s all of ours. Our friend, I mean. And Robert.”
What the hell was wrong with me? Michael had a smirk on his face while his friend Robert looked bemused. Sissy also swallowed a giggle.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you all, darlings,” said Michael. “Excuse me if I don’t shake everyone’s hand, I'll get a cramp by the time I’m finished.” He winked and a laugh rippled through the group.
“And this is Jane, Sis.” Alan sort of thrust the poor girl towards Sissy who looked puzzled for a minute and then broke into a huge smile.
“Hello there!” she said. “Alan didn’t tell me that his Jane was Jane Matthews!"
Jane smiled back at Sissy but still looked terrified.
“Didn’t you know?” I asked. “Sissy, you’re slipping! Time was, you’d be the one with all the best gossip.” I winked at her.
“Yes, well some of us have to grow up, you know.” She scowled at me. “And besides, Alan must have known that Jane and I used to work together.” She spun on her heel and pointed her finger at Alan. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Alan held up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t know. Why would I? Do you expect me to remember every detail of your life?”
“Yes, I do… I’m very special and important,” she huffed and folded her arms, but there was humour in her eyes.
“Oh, be quiet. I bet even Frank doesn’t know everything about you,” Alan scolded.
“Of course he does. Frank is an attentive husband who pays attention to his wife,” Sissy said.
“Yeah?” A wicked grin flashed across Alan’s face. “Alright. Frank, what was the name of the school Sissy used to work at with Jane?”
“Now don’t get me involved,” Frank blustered. “This isn’t about me. This is about you and how much attention you pay to Sissy. Not me, you.” Frank’s cheeks went the colour of a phone box as he sputtered.
“The chap doth protest too much methinks,” said Michael in a stage whisper, and I laughed really loudly. No idea why; it wasn’t that funny. Robert scowled at me, and Michael gave me a funny look.
“Go on, Frank, tell them,” Sissy said to Frank, who had turned purple. He opened and closed his mouth but no words came out. Just as it looked like smoke was about to come out of his ears, loud guitar sounds filled the air.
I smiled to myself. Frank caught a break there.
I shifted my focus to the old theatre stage at the front of the room.
The four-piece band sure looked the part.
The lead singer looked like he’d nicked Steve Marriot’s dry-cleaning; he was so like him.
All four of them were blonde and gorgeous, and they all wore perfect mod clothes.
It soon became obvious that was the reason they’d been booked for the gig. And the only reason. The music was absolute rubbish. They played all original songs but nobody had ever heard of them so it didn’t get the crowd going. The fact that none of them could play very well didn’t help either.
Looking around at my friends, it was clear that they didn’t think much of them either. Tommy and Frank were shouting into each other’s ears and gesturing wildly while looking pissed off. Michael and his smarmy git of a friend were standing too close and giggling like school girls.
By their fourth song, the crowd was turning nasty. People started heckling them, and a chant of “Who Are You?” got so much support that it drowned out the music. When some idiot threw a beer bottle on the stage, the band walked off, which inspired the loudest cheer of the night.
The lights came up, and a very flustered looking man in a tux came onto the stage.
“Sorry, ladies and gents, it appears The Adders are having some technical problems.”
“Yeah, they’re technically shit!” shouted a fella near the front and was met with laughter.
“I’m sure they’ll be back on the stage in no time.” Everyone started booing and jeering. The man muttered something incoherent and walked off.
“I suppose that’s the end of it, then,” Tommy said when the booing stopped.
“Home, then?” asked Eric.
I didn’t feel like ending the night. It had been ages since we’d all got together, not to mention Michael had only just got here and I’d been looking forward to seeing him and him meeting everyone.
“There’s a cafe around here that stays open late, if anyone fancies it?” said Frank, and relief surged through me.
Everyone agreed, except Michael’s friend Robert, who had to get up early or something.
I couldn’t understand why he’d come if he knew he wouldn’t be staying.
Not that I minded, he seemed a bit stuck up, and I didn’t like the way he kept touching Michael–because it was too obviously queer, not because it was Michael.
I would have felt the same if he’d been that flirty with Tommy or me.
He was going to get us chucked out or arrested–the way he carried on.