Chapter Twelve
Now
I took the paper bag off the shop assistant and made my way out of Burton. I had only bought one pair of jeans with me, all my shirts were in the washer when I set off from my flat in Kingston so I couldn't bring any with me, just the one on my back.
I hadn't even spent much which wasn't too bad. It didn't help that I was paid two week ago and my next wage was going to be down by two weeks so it will be all going on my rent and a bit of food shopping. My wage was hardly anything to write home about as it is and when you have a car and a small flat, bills go before anything else.
To be fair, if I had the time I would have just gone home and picked some up.
I stood at the crossing waiting for the green man to light up. Scanning my eyes over the dozen or so people waiting at the crossing with me, I paused. Was that? I shook my head, no it couldn't be... could it?
She turned her head around to get her hair away from her face due to the wind. Damn! It was. What were the bloody chances of me walking into her on some random street in the city?
Squaring my shoulders, I stepped around an old couple to stand next to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She whipped her head around and glared at me like I was some homeless person daring to ask her for a bit of change.
Her eyes widened when she realised who it was and she took a bright green earphone out from her multiple earring clad ear. "Jamie?" She cried. She didn't show much else on her face so I couldn't tell if she was shocked, mad or happy to see me. Her blue eyes were just as round as saucers and her mouth parted open like a fish.
I nodded my head to confirm it was who she thought. "It is." I replied with relief. It felt good to see her. I had not seen her in three years - since I disappeared actually - and when I used to hang around with her, it was cool. Sure, she used to be screechy and she was always that one friend who annoyed the crap out of all the lads but she could be hilarious.
Her facial features suddenly twisted into pure madness, I saw her hand flying in the direction of my face so I caught her hand just before it made contact. With the talons on the end of her nails, that would have done some serious damage.
I kept hold of her wrist, attracting the unwanted attention of a few onlookers. "What the hell was that for?" Had I done something to her? I mean, I know I didn't go to the... you know what? She doesn't have a reason, that intended slap was totally uncalled for.
"Don't try that again." I warned as I let go of her wrist. I wasn't being slapped for any reason – especially in the city. Any unwarranted attention was not welcomed.
Her face stayed in its twisted manner, her blue eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at me. The green man lit up and everyone else who was waiting began to cross. She had obviously decided she didn't care because she stood rooted on the spot.
I began to move around her and it was then that she realised that we should cross.
She whipped her tiny frame around and stomped across the road. What was her deal? I never thought too much of her when we were kids but as we grew older I could tolerate her more. I genuinely had not done anything to her!
Once we had crossed the road, she turned left – the same direction that I was going in. Once we made it to the end of Princess Road, she turned right – again, the same was I was going. I tried to stay as far back as I could because I did not want to come across as creepy.
She turned her head as she turned left and saw me. "Why the fuck are you following me?" She sneered.
I rolled my eyes, "And why would I do that?" I replied, my voice rough and low. We were stood outside of a car park and it was fairly obvious – at least to me – that we were parked in the same place.
"It is you Jamie, that is why."
"And what is that supposed to mean? You think I've been stalking you? Get a grip." I told her annoyed. Did she honestly think that highly of herself? Who even was she now? She was always cold but she was never this bad!
"Then what are you doing? You cannot just tell me that after three years you just happened to walk into me."
"You know what? I haven't got time for this. I haven't done anything to warrant this abuse as far as I am aware." We were stood just off the entrance to the car park, facing each other. She was bending her neck up so that she could face me and we were stood not half a metre away from each other.
I could see how pale she was and the bags under blue eyes were noticeable. Even the way her upper back was slumped forward slightly told me that this was a girl who was not happy in her life – far from it. She had even placed her shopping bags on the floor which suggested she was not very fit.
"Are you being fucking serious?" She snapped. When she saw my deadpanned, serious face she let out a huff and if she was anything younger than five, I knew she would have stomped her foot petulantly.
"I am."
"You are unbelievable, how can you NOT know what is wrong?" She was shouting now. I had to keep looking left and right to make sure that no one was listening in. Plus, for some reason, whenever a male and female begin to fight in a street some cocky ass prick always steps in trying to save the girl and I can't be dealing with all that. I needed this situation sorting now.
I mean, I literally could not understand why she was mad at me. How could she have expected me to go to the funeral? I wouldn't have managed it all the way through. I was never going to go to it, but surely she would understand? Or at least, she should.
I stood closer to her, I was not trying to be intimidating but if it got her to shut up then I could not give a crap. "I told you Chantelle, I have no fucking clue why you are mad at me." I snapped, before pausing and adding, "Is it because I didn't go to the funeral?"
Her head whipped up, "What fun-?" She cut herself off and her facial features suddenly softened. She opened her mouth to say something else but closed it straight after. What was she thinking? What was she about to say?
She stayed silent for a good, few minutes, her concentration face on. Finally she let out a sigh, "Yes it is."
"Well I am sorry I didn't go but I couldn't watch that. I was a wreck. I did not want anyone to see me." I explained. I was also on the run, but even if I could have gone I wouldn't have.
It was also coming up to the three year anniversary; she died on the 1st July 2012.
She nodded her head, "I understand. I am sorry I went mad at you, it was just a shock to see you again. It has been so long since I have seen you that I didn't know what to think." She missed her too; her whole demeanour just screamed – I miss my best friend - and it is killing me inside knowing that she has died.
Even before I started dating her, Chantelle and she were close. They were best friends from the age of about seven and as they grew older they could practically read each other's minds. When they did that, it proper creeped me out because when I thought of Luke, the last thing I wanted to know was what he was thinking.
I did not even know how she took finding out about her death – I bet she was inconsolable. It was extra guilt that was piled on top of me. I took her best friend away from her. I am selfish and I just never even thought of anybody else back then.
I had always kept my family life and my 'working' life separate – or I tried my best to and when I came back to the city the last thing I wanted was to see anyone from my family life that weren't my brother or sister. The people involved in my family life, as far as I was aware, never knew about my dealings.
I always lead them to believe that I had a standard office job in the city that I was dedicated to so I had to work long hours. Megan never thought anything of it, as long as I let us have our weekends together – which I always tried to do, obviously when deals were going down I had to leave but I cut them down to the bare minimum – so we usually just spent the weekend doing all sorts, from going to Alton Towers to taking a walk along the beach.
"Do you want to go and grab a coffee? Catch up?" I wondered, shocking myself. I did need to get back to the house but then I also wanted to make sure she was okay. It must have been the guilt talking; it seemed to be making my judgments a lot lately.
She bit her lip and faced her car. After a few moments silence, she popped the trunk and placed her bags in the boot. Closing the door, she turned to me. "Yeah go on then, I haven't seen you in ages."
*****
We grabbed a coffee each and just settled on a table outside of a café. It was a tiny little place around the corner from the car park. Neither of us could be bothered trailing back into the centre just to get some generic coffee from bloody Starbucks or Nero. A normal cup of coffee is all you need sometimes. Screw all that mocca, chocca crap.
I had been to it before but it was owned by someone else when I last came here. I didn't even realise it was the same café until I saw the outside. I didn't notice it going in but sat outside it my eyes wandered a bit more and I realised. The familiar light blue paint that was peeling off the walls and the black, swirling writing saying The Little Café – was still there and something which hadn't changed since I last came here about ten years ago.
The weather was also behaving itself right now so we thought we may as well make the most of it.
"So, Jamie, what do you do now?" I eyed her up suspiciously. Did she know the reason behind Megan's death? Did she know about my history? Did she want to know? Why would she ask that question?
I shrugged, I needed to play it cool. There was no point second guessing everyone she wasn't your brother or Tony. "Just a bin man, nothing fancy. How about yourself?"
"I do the Human Resources for a tiny company up where we used to live." She replied, not looking too interested in it.
"I take it, it isn't interesting then?" I chuckled before taking a sip of my drink.
She shook her head, "God no, if the money wasn't as reasonable as it is, I'd have left the place years ago." She laughed. "I do know the owner pretty well though so I guess it has its perks."
"Oh, who owns it?" I wonder if I know them?
"Stuart Fox."
"The Liverpool fan? Damn, I hadn't heard that name in a long time." I whistled. "Last time I heard his name, he was on his way to Oxford, what the bloody hell happened?"
"He knocked up some girl in college." She informed me.
"No shit, really?" I cried. I couldn't help the smirk on my face. He once told me that he was better than me and all of our friends towards the end of high school then for some reason wouldn't speak to us. I mean, it wasn't much of a loss but it feels good knowing that karma bit him in the ass.
She nodded her head, smirking. "Yeah, the little brat is seven."
"Brat?" I frowned. Did she not like kids or something? I mean, she never came across as the sort of anti-maternal type. To be fair, I thought she may have been married by now.
"It storms into the office after he has finished school and just starts shouting the place down and running around everywhere. One of my colleagues once just 'dropped' something on the floor and sent him flying."
I widened my eyes, how could she find that funny? "Tell me you're joking."
She shook her head, "No, it was hilarious."
Okay, so remind me not to get on her bad side then! "Do you see anyone else from school?" I was changing the subject pretty quickly. I didn't mind kids and I knew that some of them could get on your nerves but damn, that is nasty!
She nodded her head, "I see a few, a lot of them moved back to town once they finished university." She replied. "I see Jenny Watson a lot because she works behind the bar of the Red Lion and I did see Molly last week but I didn't say hi."
"Do you see any of the lads?"
"I see Luke every now and again but that's it. None of them have stayed in touch and I can't remember a lot of their last names to add them on Facebook so I just have a chat with them if and when I see them."
"I'm surprised you see Luke still. He didn't mention it."
"Oh, have you seen Luke? That was going to be my next question actually."
"Yeah, I'm crashing at his for the time being."
She frowned, "Are you not back for good?"
I wasn't going to tell her about my brother and sister. She knew them but not very well plus I couldn't really mention them without telling her about the gangs and I wanted to avoid that just in case she brings up why I left.
"No, I'm just here to visit Luke and my family. I am glad that I bumped into you though. I haven't got your new number otherwise I would have mentioned it." I lied. I was never going to get in touch with her. I didn't want to merge my old life and new life too much but I didn't lie about it being nice to see her again because it was.
"Oh, how is your brother and sister, it is Zak and Lexi isn't it?" I nodded my head.
"Yeah and they're doing great. Lexi is doing a law degree," I boasted with a proud smile. I needed to show her that I wasn't depressed and lonely and that I felt like killing my brother right at the moment. I wasn't going to show her I was angry with them both because that would ask questions I didn't want to answer.
"Oh, that is good!" She smiled.
"So, are you dating anyone?" I pushed the conversation forward again. She didn't appear to be with how she was talking but it sounded like I was interested in her life.
"Don't even get me started." She muttered. I took another sip of my coffee, getting ready for a long story.
"Why?"
"I've just got out of a relationship about three months ago. The guy was a right ass. He kept getting jealous so I thought, you know what? You can fuck off." She told me proudly.
"Good on you."
"I mean, I enjoy hanging out with Luke, he is a right laugh and the bloke wouldn't even let me and Luke sit in the same room together. It got so bad that if we were with friends the only bloke that was invited was him."
Well that didn't sound too good! "Shit, you are okay aren't you? What did Luke do?"
She smirked, "Well, when I finally told Luke, he threatened to beat him up for me but I didn't want to get him involved..."
"So?"
"So instead of Luke giving him a kicking, I punched him square in the face and then give him a swift kick to the balls. I wasn't being treated like I trash and I certainly wasn't going to let some other bloke come and do my dirty work for me."
That is the Chantelle I knew! Feisty as ever!
"Where he is now?"
"He still lives near me but whenever I see him I just squeeze my fist together and he runs off in the other direction. So much for being tough! He used to talk the big man all the time! Well ha! Not with me he bloody won't!"
I smirked. "So, I take it you are single then?"
"Yeah, I mean I'm only twenty-four I am going to enjoy it."
We continued talking and chatting up until it was closing time. It was so nice to just be able to talk to someone without the gangs being mentioned or my past. All that mattered was having a laugh and we arranged to meet up again on the Friday at the Red Lion and I was told to bring Luke along.
Hopefully, I might actually have a bit of fun while I'm there instead of stressing too much or always looking over my shoulder to make sure no one is watching me.
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