Soul Protector (18 page)

Kerry and Joe, and all of
Mike’s mates had stopped talking and were staring at us, aware this
was the first time we’d met since he broke my heart.

“Never been better,” he said,
in an American drawl, which was strange for a boy originally from
Bristol. I had to stifle a giggle. Now didn’t seem like the best
time to offer condolences for the break up between him and
Michelle.

“Yes, you’re looking well,” I
said politely, wishing for the moment to be over.

“I’m doin’ just fine babe,” he
drawled, and then actually buffed his nails on his sweater.

“That’s really good to hear,
Mike. I had to pause and suck in my cheeks. “Take care of yourself,
okay.”

He realised he was being
dismissed. He took one last look at Dan, and then winked at me
before sauntering off towards the bar with his friends trailing
behind. I saw Kerry shrug at Joe.

“Don’t tell me, an old flame?”
Dan asked, his eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, I’m afraid so,
definitely a fizzled out one though.”

Dan smiled, before turning
round to carry on his conversation with Joe. Obviously he wasn’t
the jealous type. That was good.

We were doing a lot of talking
and laughing and I was reluctant to leave the table, but after
about an hour, I couldn’t wait any longer. “I’m just popping to the
ladies,” I announced.

“Ooh, I need to go too.” Kerry
jumped up and looped her arm through mine.

We walked off with Joe
commenting, “What is it with girls and toilets?”

As soon as the door shut in the
ladies, Kerry spun round towards me. “Oh my God, he’s to die for.
Where did you find him?”

I grinned. “I met him at…”
Damn, why hadn’t I rehearsed something?
Kerry was my best
friend and I really didn’t feel comfortable with all these lies. “…
In town,” I finished hastily.

“You lucky cow, has he got a
brother?”

“Erm, yeah he has actually.
He’s an identical twin.”

Her jaw dropped. “No way, when
can I meet him?”

“Kerry, what are you like? What
about Joe.”

“Oh you know me and Joe. Our
relationship is very… open.”

“Hmm, I’m not sure Joe sees it
quite like that.”

“’Of course he does, he knows
the score.” She winked at me and her cheeky smile made her dimples
grow deeper.

As we walked back towards Dan
and Joe, we had to fight our way through the crowd at the bar and
got split up. I was trying to side-step a large group of girls,
when Mike jumped out and blocked my path. Kerry, unaware I was no
longer trailing, went on without me.

“So, Gracie, how are you
really
?” At least he’d dropped the American twang.

“I told you, I’m good
thanks.”

“Yeah, you are,” he said,
looking me up and down. “In fact you look better than usual, you
look extremely hot.”

“As opposed to my usual frumpy
self you mean,” I shot back, desperately wanting this conversation
to be over.

“So then, what about ditching
that guy you’re with, and you and me meet up later?”

I shook my head in
disbelief.

Mike carried on, undeterred.
“Babe, you have to admit, you and me were great together. Don’t you
miss me even a little bit?”

I looked up, locked eyes with
him and answered honestly. “No.” Well, it was an honest answer for
the last few days anyway.

“Oh come on, Gracie, you were
never any good at playing hard to get. I know you’ve missed me. You
must’ve done, ‘cause I’ve missed you every single day since we
split up.”

“Forget it, Mike. It’s not
going to happen.” I tried to hide my irritation and made to walk
away, but Mike moved closer and grabbed hold of my wrist. I could
smell beer and stale cigarettes on his breath.

“I can’t forget it. You don’t
realise how desperate I’ve been to see you.”

And for some strange reason I
felt the same way, until recently.

I concentrated on trying to
twist my wrist out of his grasp. “Mike, let go please – you’re
hurting
me.” I spoke quietly, desperate to avoid making a
scene.

“Gracie,
come on.
You
and me, we’re meant to be together.”

I stopped struggling and fixed
him with a glare. “And that’s why you made a play for my little
sister, is it?”

He looked wounded. It was as if
he couldn’t believe I’d brought up the subject of his
misdemeanour.

“Oh no, I didn’t make a play
for anyone, that was all her. She practically threw herself at
me.”

I glared at him through the red
mist that had descended. My free hand itched to slap him, but I
came to my senses and realised he wasn’t worth the hassle.

“Goodbye, Mike,” I said through
clenched teeth.

He must have realised he’d
crossed a line, because he let go of my wrist and stood back,
allowing me to march back to the others. I took some deep breaths
along the way to try and calm myself down.

When I sat down, Dan leaned
towards me, concern flashing in his eyes. “I was just about to come
over. It looked like he was hassling you.”

I forced a smile. “No, no, we
were just catching up for old time’s sake.”

Dan searched my eyes for the
truth and a frown appeared. I could tell he wasn’t going to be
fobbed off.

“Alright, that’s not exactly
true. He wanted to hook up later, but I told him I’m not
interested.”

Dan looked over to where Mike
was standing and shook his head. I thought he was going to go over
and say something, so I felt relief when he looked away again and
relaxed back in his seat. Joe asked him another football related
question and they were soon back deep in discussion about some
referees’ poor decision-making.

Kerry leaned towards me and did
a stage whisper. “What was that all about?”

“Oh, just Mike being an idiot,”
I said quietly.

“Why, what did he say?”

I sighed. “He wants us to meet
up later.”

“Meet up!” Kerry shouted. She
was starting to slur her words and discretion wasn’t her strong
point after a couple of drinks.

“Shh, keep it down. Obviously
I’m not going to. He’s only saying it because he’s jealous of
Dan.”

“Well, he always was a
dickhead.”

I picked up my drink and had a
long sip. My ears pricked up when I heard Joe ask Dan what he did
for a living. Dan didn’t miss a beat and mentioned something about
a confidential project for the Government. I was pretty sure he
didn’t like having to lie, so I thought I should dive in and change
the conversation. I was about to mention something about the X
Factor, when I heard Mike and his mates getting rowdy at the
bar.

I looked in the direction they
were standing. The pub had thinned out a bit, and I could see them
clearly. My heart sunk when I noticed they were looking our way. I
got a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that Mike hadn’t
finished with me yet, and I was about to be proved right.

They went quiet, and within
seconds a soggy bit of tissue landed on our table. I heard
sniggering and looked up to see a couple from Mike’s group getting
ready to flick more bits of paper in our direction. To my side I
saw Dan tense up. He was looking in their direction, and had pushed
his chair back ready to stand up.

“Dan, just ignore them, they’re
not worth it,” I said.

“They’re a bunch of pricks. You
really don’t want to mess with them,” added Joe. “We can move on if
you like.”

“No,” said Kerry firmly. I’m
not having that bunch of idiots ruin our evening.”

With that she hoisted herself
out of her seat, and marched over in their direction.

“Kerry, don’t. Just leave it.”
I called out to her.

I was wasting my breath. In
typical Kerry style, she was fired up and ready to give them a
piece of her mind.

“Ooh, here comes Gracie’s
friend. I’m
scared
,” said Mike. His mates laughed as he
pretended to cower from her.

She stopped just short of where
he was standing and narrowed her eyes. “Look children, I know
you’re struggling to entertain yourselves, but surely you can come
up with something better than this.”

I cringed as a couple of Mike’s
mates moved closer to her.

Joe was only half-perched on
his chair, ready to step in if it got ugly. I tugged on his
t-shirt. “Joe, get her to sit back down, this is
not
going
to end well.”

I knew Mike had a sharp tongue,
but I was sure he wouldn’t physically hurt her. It was his friends
I was worried about.

Joe shook his head. “You know
what she’s like once she’s got a bee in her bonnet. There’s nothing
I can do to stop her.”

Mike was stood facing Kerry
with his arms crossed. I could tell he was enjoying winding her up.
A smile formed on his lips as he began to retaliate.

“Just pop your dummy back in
your mouth and go and sit down with your nice little friends. We
certainly don’t need Gracie and her posse to entertain us.”

Kerry rocked back on her heels.
“Oh is that right? Or could it be that you’re jealous?” She started
jabbing her finger in the direction of his chest. “Well I’ve got
news for you Mike. Gracie may have spent the last few months moping
over you like some lovesick puppy...”

Shut up, Kerry, shut up.

“… In fact, after what you did,
she’s been a complete mess. She wouldn’t come out with any of her
friends, had no interest in anything - totally heartbroken over a
prick like
you
.”

Both Dan and Mike turned their
heads in my direction and I felt their eyes burning into me. The
plastic stirrer I’d been absentmindedly fiddling with snapped under
the pressure of my touch. I looked down at the table and wished the
ground would swallow me up.

“But…” she carried on, “just a
few short days ago, she perked up. She’s sorted. She’s got someone
else and she’s over you. So you’re
too
late
, Mikey
boy. Got it? You’re
too
late.”

I looked up and noticed Mike
had stepped back from Kerry. He was still looking my way with a
mixture of disbelief and concern. One of his mates, who I
recognised as Craig, took Mike’s place and put his face up close to
Kerry.

“Shut up little girl,” he spat,
and gave her shoulder a hard shove.

“Hey, don’t touch her,” shouted
Joe, jumping out of his seat. Dan got up with him.

A couple of staff scrambled to
get out from the bar to intervene, but it was Dan who got there
first. He pushed Craig hard, knocking him away from Kerry. Craig
quickly found his balance and squared up to Dan.

“Come on then,” he said to Dan
with his face all red and twisted, “you and me.”

Dan stood his ground, towering
above him.

“Gents pack it in or take it
outside,” shouted one of the barmen.

I was relieved when Mike jumped
in-between the pair of them, turning his back to Dan and putting
his hands on Craig’s chest. “It’s okay mate, we’re leaving,” he
said firmly. “Come on lads, let’s go and find somewhere with a
better atmosphere.”

Craig was panting. He didn’t
take his eyes off Dan as he walked over to his pint and downed it
in one go before slamming the empty glass on the bar. Then he wiped
his mouth with the back of his hand and followed his mates out the
door.

Mike trailed the group and just
before he left, he took one last look in my direction. I thought he
was going to say something, but in the end he just turned and
walked out of the pub.

Joe, Dan and Kerry made their
way back to our table. The previous happy atmosphere was replaced
by a tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“I’m sorry Gracie,” Kerry
whispered, “but he needed telling.” She was clearly shaken. I leant
over and stroked her arm.

“It’s okay; I know you were
only trying to help.”

“Dickheads,” muttered Joe.

I looked up at Dan to see what
his take was. He didn’t say anything, but his body language spoke
volumes. Before, he’d been leaning towards me, our legs touching.
Now he was turned towards Joe and putting as much distance between
us as possible.

I had to get him talking. I
needed to know everything was okay between us. I took a deep
breath. “Dan, thank you… for helping.”

“Yeah mate, you were awesome,”
Joe added.

Dan’s eyes flicked over in my
direction. I desperately tried to interpret his expression, but it
was unreadable. I sagged as he turned and directed his reply to
Joe. “No problem. I was glad to help.”

My mouth became unbearably dry.
I cleared my throat and took a sip of my drink.

Kerry was chatting about Craig
being a psycho. She did her best to include me and Dan in the
conversation, but it felt forced and awkward. It was obvious the
earlier buoyant mood had completely disappeared.

Icy dread washed over me as Dan
pulled his jacket off the back of his chair and started to slip it
on. He smiled towards Kerry and Joe. “Listen guys, it was great
meeting you, but I’ve got an early start in the morning.”

“Oh mate, come on, one more for
the road,” said Joe, unaware of the undercurrent.

“Sorry I can’t. I really do
need to go.” I noticed he directed the last sentence towards me. I
swallowed hard, trying to force down the lump that had lodged in my
throat. I knew I couldn’t hold on to someone like him forever, but
I couldn’t believe I was about to lose him so soon.

We should go too,” said Kerry,
pushing her seat back to stand up.

“Wha..?” Joe looked baffled,
but after a stern look from Kerry, he relented and stood up.

“Do you need a lift back,
Gracie?” Kerry asked, looking from me to Dan.

I shot Dan a hopeful look too,
but he was either oblivious, or he chose to ignore it.

“Yes please,” I answered in a
small voice.

Dan turned to face us. “Right,
see you around then guys.”