3 Heads & a Tail (12 page)

Willy bent over, spread his legs, gave a
little
wiggle to annoy Ben, ai
med and took his shot. Whizz!
He missed!

“
Ha!
”
yelled Ben, punching the air.

“
No way!
”
said Bill, thumping his glass down on the table in mock anger.

“
Yes, way!
”
grinned Ben.

“
Alright!
”
cried Josie.

Willy sighed, pretended to hide his face
in embarrassment
, and took up his pint.

Ben grinned and took the cue
. He focused, pretending not
to watch
Josie
'
s reaction
out of the co
rner of his eye, and potted their remaining ball. Clean and simple, d
own it went.
He didn
'
t look up, but quickly chalked the cue and moved on to the black, shooting it
smoothly
into the pocket.

Willy gasped.

“
Yay!
”
said Josie.
“
We won! I just won my first doubles game!
”

“
W
e just won
our
first doubles game,
”
corrected
Ben, laughing at his two crestfallen mates.

“
Are we having
a rematch?
”
asked W
illy, finishing his drink.
“
I
'
m going to the bar if anyone wan
ts another
.
”

“
What do you think?
”
asked Ben.

“
Well,
”
considered Josie,
“
Kay seems to have abandoned me
and it
'
s not too late yet, so I reckon one more pint please
,
Will, and one more game will be
okay
.
”

“
Cool
with me
, too,
”
said Bill
.

Willy went to the ba
r, and Josie asked
the
guys how long they
'
d all been friends
.

“
Since we were this high
,
”
said Bill, pointing to his knee.

“
And he doesn
'
t mean when we fell down drunk,
”
said Ben.

A
long time then, thought
Josie. He must have grown up in the same area where they lived now
.

At 11 o
'
clock,
with
a win
a piece
, they conceded that it was time to go home. Bill and Willy headed in one direction, and Josie and Ben
wandered off
in the other.

“
I guess they
'
re kind of
crazy,
”
said Ben.

“
They
'
re funny,
”
countered
Josie.
“
I like them. That was fun.
”

“
Good, I
'
m glad you enjoyed it.
”

“
What
'
s not to enjoy? A good thrashing at pool!
”
she giggled.
“
Well not really a thrashing, I guess, as they
won one!
”

“
Yeah, they did a
nd I can tell you
now
they are
going to
want a rematch. In fact, they
'
ll demand it,
”
added
Ben
, laughing
.

“
They
'
re on!
I like that pub. Funny name, good ale, nice band, pool
,
a
nd you can roll home afterwards!
”

“
You
sure can.
Well, here we ar
e.
Home again.
I
'
m glad I bumped into you.
”

“
Yeah, it was fun,
”
she
said, and then got that funny déjà vu feeling
,
like
she
'
d done this before.
She also began to feel a bit w
oozy. Too many pints of ale!
Her head began to spin.

“
Are you
alright, Josie
? You
'
re swaying a
little
.
”

“
Yep, ye
p,
I
just drank a little too much,
”
she said, straightening up and smiling.
“
I
'
m fine, really.
”

“
Do you want to sit down for a minute?
Before we go in, I was wondering if you
'
d like to go with me to
the...
”

Ben didn
'
t g
et to finish his sentence. T
he front door
flew open
and Glen bounded down the steps, almost knocking
him
over
.
“
Calm down,
boy!
”

Glen yelped and bounced around, overjoyed to see his young master.

“
I swear he
'
s trying to tell you something,
”
laughed Josie
, stifling an urge to hiccup
.
The steps were spinning slightly.
“
He looks intelligent enough to talk!
”

“
Hey
,
Josie!
”
came a
deep
voice through the darkness. It came from the doorway, which was wide open. David was standing there in just his jeans. His muscles rippled in the shadows and his teeth
glinted
– a
perfect
, almost unnatural white
. He looked like a model for Levis as he stood there, with one arm raised against the doorframe
, his bicep bulging
.
“
I missed you
,
girl!
”

Josie went bright red. Ben looked up with a
start
and
frowned.
Glen stopped bar
king and lay on the ground, whining
softly.

“
What
'
s going on?
”
Ben mumbled to himself, scratching his head
.

Josie
just stood there. The ale had definitely kicked in and she realised she was drunk. Everything was moving in a haze, dream-like. She needed to lie down... now!

“
Are you coming in or
are you just going to stand
there looking confused?
”
asked David.
“
I
'
ve got some cold beer
s
in my room if you want
one
.
”

“
I f-fink I need some t-tea,
”
replied Josie.

“
Ay, wha
t?
”
mumbled
Ben.

He stood and stared as Josie drifted sleepily up the steps towards the doorway. David flicked his hair in his usual nonchalant way, which Ben could only guess w
as classed as sexy by 99.9999
% of
the
women
in the world
– and
quite a few guys too
.
Ben
froze
as Josie
'
s fingers trailed across
David
'
s chest
as she passed him in the doorway. They both disappeared inside
.

“
Damn!
”
He
'
d definitely lost more than a game of pool today.

Sighing,
Ben
slumped
down on the
stone
steps and replayed what had just happened in his
head. He couldn
'
t believe it
.
It didn
'
t make sense. He thought there
was
a spark between himself and Josie. Had he imagined it?
Glen whined by his feet and put his big, soft head into his lap.

“
Thanks
,
boy,
”
said Ben, looking down and ruffling his ears.
“
I really needed that.
”

Above, the full moon
was glowing, nestled in a cloud-
free
sky.
New beginnings, he thought, staring up at it. Silver stars twinkled all around. It was time to stop dreaming.
N
ew
beginnings...

Sorry
,
Ben, I wanted to
warn you when
I realised what was going on,
but
I had no way of telling you – you
wouldn
'
t understand me, me being a dog. Pretty obvious I guess. Not sure what I was thinking
there
. So here we are,
just the two of us,
sitting on the step, looking at
the moon. Well it
'
s a pretty nice moon.
“
Voof.
”
Kinda glowing
,
it is. Really bright.
“
Voof
,
voof.
”
Oops, he frowned. Best I
don
'
t howl at the moon I
suppose
– guess
he won
'
t find that funny
tonight
.

David is now on
my
'
t
o bite in an ideal world where anything goes
'
list. In reality, I
'
d get arrested. Well, Ben would get arrested
,
and I
'
d end up in a dogg
y home or in big doggy trouble
at least
.
It g
ives me the shivers just thinking about it. I
'
m not letting David take me for walkies or s
troke
me ever again. Nope.

Poor Ben,
he
looks
so sad. I
'
ll just nuzzle him
. Y
ep, he likes
that. Nestle my head
right
there on his lap and
look up at him with my big, brown eyes. I know that works wonders!
I
s that a little smile I see? Ok
ay
, maybe not, but he
'
s stopped frowning. I
'
ll just
stay like this for a while. Oo
ps
,
my eye i
s twitching. It itches! Oo
h
,
my ear is flicking. Flick, flick, please scratch it
,
Be
n, please, doggy please. Ah,
nice. Shucks
!

What is
Josie
thinking? David is totally the wrong choice. They don
'
t match. They are totally different. Like a cat a
nd a dog. Nope
,
he
'
s not a dog – insult
to me. Like a cat and a mouse.
That
'
s more like it, D
avid
being the cat, of
course,
'
cos he
'
s
looking fo
r a catch and she
'
s it
.
I didn
'
t think she liked him. I thought she lik
ed Ben. Ben is nice. What
'
s wrong with her
?