LITMIR.BIZ

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taking the mick, because that’s what you do with sisters. Sure, this couple opposite could be platonic friends, but I have my doubts. I don’t believe in platonic friendship. Take Tasha; she wants to be friends – I can’t stand the thought of losing your friendship, Joe! Like you should have thought of that before you split with me. It was your choice, Tash. I don’t reckon a bloke and a girl can be friends without sex coming into it somehow. Unless, of course, you don’t fancy the girl one iota. But then, she might fancy you. Which is worse in a way

      And so I was drifting off again when the bloke spoke to me.

      “Are you going to Manchester?” he asked.

      I started. “Yeah, yeah.”

      “Us too.” His voice, his body language all gave away that he wanted to talk. So I couldn’t see that I had a choice.

      “We’re running late,” I said.

      The girl joined in now. “Yeah. Half an hour, they said at Wolverhampton. We’ve been staying with friends from the university there.”

      “Yeah, I was with a mate from Birmingham.”

      “Are you a student too?” she asked.

      “Will be. Next year. It’s my gap year,” I said. Weird how it’s easier to talk about yourself to strangers. I could feel my earlier reluctance to speak dissolving. I liked the way this girl was taking an interest in me.

      “Cool,” she said. “What are your plans?”

      I explained about the glandular fever and how I was earning money so I could travel – backpack, maybe – in the spring. I didn’t tell her that I seemed to be spending most of it on clothes and CDs and booze.

      “Where are you thinking of going?” the bloke asked. He had bleached hair, wore glasses with thin black frames.

      “Maybe Thailand, or India. I haven’t really looked into it yet.”

      The girl smiled. “Nick’s been to India.”

      I looked interested. I was, a bit. “Backpacking?”

      “No. Teaching,” he said. “I was involved with a scheme that sent classroom assistants to Indian schools. I lived there for six months.”

      I was impressed, and jealous, too. But this bloke – Nick – he didn’t seem as if he wanted to go on about it. I appreciated that. Still, I was curious.

      “Did you live with Indians, like?”

      “I had lodgings in a house and shared a room with one of the other assistants. A lot of the Indian families gave us hospitality. India changes you – you look at the world differently afterwards.”

      “You mean, coming to terms with the poverty and that?”

      “Yeah,” Nick nodded. “That, and just comparing other cultures. And it makes you appreciate different things about living here.”

      “Like what?” I asked.

      Nick paused before he answered, as if my question had made him think.

      “The freedom to move about,” he said, which wasn’t what I was expecting. I found myself cheering up. It put me in a better mood to be able to talk about something not to do with my life.

      “Have you travelled?” I asked the girl.

      She shook her head deprecatingly. Yeah, she was pretty Not my type, but pretty.

      “I’ve not had the chance yet. I did my art foundation course last year and I’m hoping to go on to college next year, but right now I’m getting some cash together.”

      “Sounds familiar,” I said.

      We all smiled, as if it was us three against the world, cash-strapped and just travelling. It was great, finding people to talk to like this, people I could relate to. I revelled in my luck at actually sitting opposite this couple, rather than a Palm-Pilot-obsessed man-in-a-suit, or a family with noisy kids. And weirdly, the sun made a last effort to brighten up the late afternoon sky Fields rushed by on both sides.

      “So you live in Manchester too?” I asked them.

      Nick answered. “Not in Manchester exactly. Just outside Todmorden. West Yorkshire.”

      “Yeah – I know it well.”

      “We share a house there.”

      “Like, together?” I mumbled. I was fishing to see if they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

      The girl laughed. “Not together in the way you mean! There are a few of us. We’re renting an old farmhouse.”

      “Nice one!” That sounded great to me.

      “What about you? I’m Kate, by the way” The name suited her. It was fresh and wholesome. And by now my tongue had loosened. My earlier blues had lifted completely Words were coming easily

      “I still live with my parents – no choice, if I’m going to get some funds together. I probably wouldn’t mind if I’d planned to stay at home, but I imagined myself somewhere completely different. But I’m not complaining – they stay out of my hair. But it’s their place, know what I mean?”

      Kate nodded vehemently Nick asked if I wanted anything from the buffet. I thanked him and asked for a coffee. I offered him the money but he was adamant in refusing it. This left me and Kate.

      “I bet you have lots of friends, though?” she asked.

      “Yeah, but they’re all at uni. Not all of them,” I corrected myself “but the crowd I went around with last year have all gone.”

      “Your school friends, you mean?”

      “Yeah, mainly”

      “Which A2s did you take?”

      “Maths, Politics, Economics. Actually, I’ve got a place to study law next year. At Bristol.” I said this to impress her. She seemed the sort to fall for that. She was, too. She raised her eyebrows and smiled.

      “Why law?”

      “Well, I got fed up with all of my A2s. I couldn’t see myself studying any one of them exclusively And even though I know law doesn’t guarantee you a job, it must improve your chances. But I don’t see myself as one of those city lawyers raking it in through extortionate fees.”

      Kate was nodding, as if she emphatically agreed with me.

      “I’d like to get involved with legal aid,” I continued, “helping the sort of people who find themselves outside the system. What appeals to me is representing people who can’t represent themselves.”

      At that point Nick came back with drinks – a coffee for me, a fruit juice for Kate and a bottle of water for him.

      “Nick – he wants to be – you haven’t told us your name yet!”

      “Joe. Joe Woods,” I said.

      “Joe’s going to be a lawyer.”

      “But as I was saying to Kate, not at the business end. With the underprivileged.” This was a kind of reverse boasting. It was true, everything I said, but I hoped they would see me as a nice guy I wanted to create a good impression, and so I selected the things about me that I felt would go down well. Doesn’t everybody do that?

      “But a lot of the people I was at college with were studying for a good job, pure and simple,” Nick said, unscrewing his bottle of water. “It was all about money”

      “I know what you mean. But that pisses me off. Like, it’s a pretty meaningless world if you’re only looking after number one. To me, job satisfaction isn’t just about your salary, but about feeling you’ve done good.”

      “Oh, I so agree with you!” Kate said.

      “Are you religious? A Christian, or something?”

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