alfredbulbasaur Posted December 29, 2003 Author Share Posted December 29, 2003 “Oh for God’s...†I looked round at the kid who’d practically run straight into me. He looked back at me for a second, only to see me giving him one of the evilest glares I’ve ever given anyone in my life. “You see that?†Beth nodded her head. “Kids, eh?†“He wasn’t even looking where he was going though! I mean, I’m sure I didn’t go running round like an idiot when I was that age.†“You’ve obviously got a very selective memory then, haven’t you? Anyway, what do you expect on a busy Sunday down the shops?†“I guess...†“Fancy a coffee or something?†I nodded. At least there weren’t going to be any kids in there, which could only be a good thing down Hounslow high street at the weekend. Many years ago the entire area had been pedestrianised so that little children could run around like idiots without fear of being run down by a Land Rover which, in my opinion anyway, was very much a bad thing. For one, if there were cars about the stupid little kids wouldn’t be running all over the place and bumping into me. And secondly, if any of the little bleeders did happen to decide to run about like an idiot, they’d buy themselves a first class ticket to the local hospital, which would certainly teach them a bit of a lesson. Well, maybe that’s being a bit harsh, but there has to be a happy medium, just anything to stop my knees being constantly headbutted by little idiots... “So you OK then?†I took the coffee cup from my mouth. “Yeah, fine. Why do you ask?†“Oh, just wondering. How’s everything going with Jen?†“Fine...†“Just fine?†“Look, I don’t mean to be rude but could we talk about something other than me and Jen? Seems like the only thing that we ever talk about round here...†“OK, I was just wondering... What do you want to talk about instead?†“I don’t know... Are you alright?†“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?†“Well, there was that little incident last week.†“Oh...†Suddenly Beth’s usually happy and smiley expression disappeared from her face. I was starting to wish I had talked to her about Jen. “Sorry. If you don’t want to...†“Nah, it’s OK. Don’t know if Jen told you but... Well, I got Dad to bury her in the back garden, next to where Snowy is.†“Oh, that’s nice.†“Yeah, it was in an odd sort of way. It seemed to help actually sort of saying goodbye. And anyway, I’m sure that Snowy’ll look after Jess up there in kitty heaven or wherever they’ve gone...†“Yeah...†There was a moment where the conversation dried up for a moment. We both started drinking our coffees, somehow hoping that we could perhaps get away from the whole dead pets topic that I’d so tactfully brought up. In the end it somehow managed to get worse... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted December 29, 2003 Author Share Posted December 29, 2003 “Hey guys!†I looked over my shoulder. “Oh, hi Joe.†“Hey Nick, hey Beth.†“What are you doing here?†Beth asked him. “I thought you were working.†“Oh, I was,†he said, sitting down in the empty chair beside me. “I sort of got the sack.†“What did you do this time?†I asked. “What do you mean?†“Well, you don’t normally get sacked for just doing your job properly.†“Nah, it was nothing like that. My twat of a boss just had it in for me.†We both looked at him. “What are you looking at me like that for?†“Because we don’t believe you!†“It’s true! He just didn’t like me.†“And you didn’t do anything to upset him then?†“Of course not!†“Really?†“Yeah!†“Sure?†“Yeah.†“Positive?†He glared at us for a moment. “Look, I might have sort of tried it on with his girlfriend...†Beth groaned. “So you wouldn’t have said that that would antagonise him in any way?†“Look, it doesn’t really matter now does it? I’ve got the sack. I am a sacked man. I’ll just have to get on with life.†He looked over Beth’s shoulder, smiled and then looked back towards us. “And it looks as if things are picking up already...†“What are you on about Joe?†Beth said, giving him a quizzical look as she spoke. “Well, I think that blonde over there in the corner has looked over here about three times already now...†“Pfft, let me...†“No, don’t!†Joe said quickly. “If you look over there it’ll be really obvious that we’re talking about her, and then I’ll look like an idiot.†“And what would be new there?†I said snidely. Although Joe was generally a good guy, he could turn into a right muppet when it came to girls. “Oh very funny Nick. I don’t see any ladies giving you the come on, do you?†“She looked in our direction for God’s sake! She might not be giving you ‘the come on’. She could just be, and this is a long shot, just looking over here.†“Yeah right, just looking over here...†Beth said sarcastically. “You crack me up sometimes.†“Laugh all you like, but I know that she... Look, she’s looking over here again!†Joe looked over Beth’s left shoulder and I looked over her right, trying to make it look as normal as us two staring at someone across the room could look, but unfortunately I failed. She noticed that I was looking, and somewhat surprisingly seemed to like it, giving me a cheeky little smile before looking back at her friend and giggling. “Oh yes. Me one, you nil I think.†“You know, she’s probably in here waiting for her appointment at the opticians so that she can have her eyes tested. I mean, who in their right mind would want you over me?†“Well, obviously she does, and she looks pretty normal to me.†“Yeah, but who says that she’s going to be normal when you talk to her?†“And who says I’m going to go and talk to her?†“Oh, you’re not?†“No.†“Only because you know she’d tell you to get lost as soon as you opened you stupid mouth.†“She would not!†He looked at me for a moment. “Prove it.†“...Alright then, maybe I will.†“Pfft, £10 says she tells you to get lost.†I thought about it for a second before holding my hand out. “You’re on mate.†He took it, shook it and I stood up and started wandering over towards her table. This was going to be the easiest £10 I’d ever... “Hang on...†I said to myself as I approached the table. I’d suddenly realised that I’d forgotten something very important, or rather someone very important. I had a funny feeling inside me that Jen wouldn’t look too favourably on this should she find out about it. I looked back towards Beth and Joe. Beth had a funny look on her face, almost as if she knew as well as I did that I was being an idiot. I was wishing she’d told me a bit earlier. Joe was willing me on; desperate for me to make an idiot of myself, something I’d definitely do if I turned back now. There was only one thing for it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 29, 2003 Share Posted December 29, 2003 oh no...oh no....oh no. *panics* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted December 30, 2003 Author Share Posted December 30, 2003 “Hi,†she said, smiling as I slowly approached her table. “Er, hi,†I said nervously. Her friend got up. “I’ll get us another couple of drinks.†“Oh, cheers Nat. So what can I do for you?†“Erm, well...†“Hey, there’s no need to be scared, have a seat. I won’t bite...unless you want me to.†I laughed nervously and sat down on the chair in front of me. I looked back over my shoulder towards Joe and Beth. She was looking stunned that I was actually seemed to be doing this, while Joe was still urging me on, probably shouting ‘get in there my son’ or something similar in his head... “Well,†I said, looking back at her, “I kinda saw you looking over towards me earlier.†“And you were kinda looking over here at me too.†“Er, yeah, so I kind of thought I’d come over here and perhaps buy you a coffee or something...†“Yeah?†“Yeah, but then there’s this tiny little problem.†“And what’s that?†“Well...I’ve kind of already got a girlfriend.†“Oh.†“Yeah, so I was kind of wondering whether you’d mind pretending to give me your number or something. It’ll make me look less of an idiot to my mate over there.†She stared at me for a moment before picking up her half empty cup of cold coffee and emptying the whole thing over my head. There were a few gasps from other people in the shop, not to mention quite a few laughs. “Thanks for that,†I said, smiling sarcastically at her through gritted teeth. “Fúcking prÃck!†she shouted, picking up her bag and storming off through the door. I turned back towards my table to see Beth looking even more stunned that she did a minute ago and Joe laughing his stupid fat head off. He only stopped when I’d sat down, and even then it was to ask me exactly what I expected him to. “So come on then, pay up!†“Er, I think not. You said she’d tell me to get lost, whereas I think you'll find she just swore at me.†“But she...†“Look Joe, do you want to drop it, or shall I express my current high levels of anger by rearranging your face?†He looked at me for a moment. “Er, I think I’ll drop it please.†“Good,†I said, trying and failing to dry myself off a bit with a napkin. “Now can we please go somewhere else now? If I stay here much longer I think the laughter might end up permanently etched in my brain...†Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 hahaha! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 4, 2004 Author Share Posted January 4, 2004 English FA Cup First Round vs Oldham Athletic (a) This was always going to be an exciting occasion for me. The FA Cup was one of the most famous and prestigious competitions in football and for me to be a part of it was something special. OK, maybe it wasn’t the biggest match there had ever been, but it was probably one of the biggest ties of the first round. Oldham were sitting in sixth, just four places behind ourselves, and we were under no illusions that this would be anything but a difficult game. Perhaps this was the perfect time to bring a fresh face into the side in the shape of Celtic’s Colin Healy. He would slot into the right wing back position with Michael Dobson struggling for fitness after a knock in training the day before. Martin Rowlands would wear the captain’s armband in Dobson’s absence. Healy nearly made an instant impact. He made a strong challenge in midfield, got up quickly and played a superb ball down the right for Leon Constantine to chase and cross into the area where Kevin O’Connor fired just over. Things didn’t go our way down our end just a few minutes later either. Chris Killen received a long pass from Clint Hill and played a great ball forward to Carlo Corazzin to run onto. He got to the ball just before Scott Marshall, held him off and hit a decent shot low past Paul Smith into the bottom left corner to give Oldham the perfect start, and give us a bit of a mountain to climb after just six minutes. We had to try and get a grip on the game if we were going to get back into it. Healy continued to impress down the right, playing Jamie Fullarton into the area so that he could slice a shot high and wide, whilst I had a couple of long range efforts quite comfortably saved. Meanwhile, Oldham continued to threaten our goal, with Killen looking very impressive up front, beating Leo Roget on the end of the area before firing in a decent shot that Smith got a hand to. Matty Appleby also got in on the act for Oldham, driving a low shot from twenty-five yards just wide of the post. It seemed as if we were going to go in at half time one down, but just before half time that changed. I played the ball into Constantine’s path on the left and his shot was well blocked by Fitz Hall, and went behind. I went across to the left to take the resulting corner and floated it towards the near post where O’Connor rose above his marker to head home from close range. It couldn’t have come at a better time with us going in at half time with a confidence boost, while they went in with their heads down. However, after the dreams of going on a surprise cup run came a nightmare of a second half. Not long after the break Hill hit another long ball forward looking for Killen, who again flicked the ball on looking for Corazzin but the ball went straight to Roget. Unfortunately for us Roget wasn’t really playing attention, and he let the ball slide past him and allowed Corazzin to get onto the ball and, just like in the first half, he fired the ball past Smith to give the home side the lead. This left us with a problem. We had just over thirty-five minutes to try and get something back, and as the game went on it became increasingly obvious that we weren’t at all likely to do so. Every time we got the ball even remotely near the penalty area a misplaced pass or a well-timed challenge would rob us of the ball, and only long range efforts from me, Rowlands or Healy gave Les Pogliacomi in the Oldham goal anything to do. In fact, as we pushed further forward in a desperate bid to make something happen, it became increasingly likely that Oldham would seal the match, which they did with just over five minutes remaining. Josh Low played the ball in from a corner, and had the ball headed straight back to him by Fullarton on the near post. Low then looked up, played the ball across the box to the substitute John Eyre, who hit the ball first time hard towards the bottom right corner, past Smith’s outstretched hand and just inside the post to put Oldham through to the fourth round, something which, to be fair, they pretty much deserved. This left us with just the league to concentrate on now, and we were determined to make a better fist of that. Final Score:- Oldham 3-1 Brentford Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 7; Roget 6, Christanval 8, Marshall 6; Naysmith 6, Healy 7, Fullarton 6, Rowlands © 7, Greenan 7; Constantine 6 (Peters sub 75, 6), O'Connor 7(1). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Blimey... Just popped back onto the board for the first time in a few months and caught up on the last four pages. Pure, pure class. I'll be sure to keep up with this one more often. Great stuff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 8, 2004 Author Share Posted January 8, 2004 Cheers wirra ------------------------------------------------------------------ “Jen, I’m telling you it wasn’t anything to worry about!†“Oh yeah, nothing to worry about is it? You just go round asking other girls out even though we’re already together, and I’m not supposed to be worried?†“It wasn’t like that...†“Then what was it like?†There was a pause. “Come on, what are you afraid of? I mean, it’s not like I’ve got anything to be worried about, is it?†“Look, I went over to her table to talk to her, that’s all. If I hadn’t Joe would have gone on about it all afternoon.†“And our relationship means less to you than what Joe thinks about you?†“Of course it doesn’t!†“Well that’s not what it sounds like to me, OK?†“I didn’t go over to her to ask her out, I just wanted it to look like I did. I was going to talk to her for a bit, maybe buy her a coffee...but I sort of got nervous and just asked her to pretend to give me her number. That’s where the coffee over the head came in...†“And that’s what really happened?†“Of course it is! Why would I lie to you?†“Why would you lie to me? Perhaps because you’ve been chasing after other women behind my back and you’re trying to worm your way out of it now that you’ve been caught out.†“...OK, maybe I would have a good excuse to lie to you if it weren’t for the fact that I’m telling you the truth!†“I’ve only got your word for that, haven’t I?†“I know, and I’m asking you to believe me in the same way that I’d believe you, OK?†I reached out in front of me and took her hands in mine. “Do you trust me?†“I...I...†she said, looking down at the floor nervously. “Jen, look at me.†She slowly turned her head towards me, and I looked into her eyes. “Do you trust me?†There was a nervous pause before she finally responded. “...Yeah, yeah I do.†“Thank you,†I said, leaning forward and putting my arms round her. “Why would I want anyone else when I’ve got you, eh?†“I just got scared that you’d got bored of me...†“How could I ever get bored of the girl that I love?†As soon as I’d finished speaking Jen quickly pulled herself away from me. “You...you love me?†“Of course I do. Why would you ever think anything different?†She smiled and then leant forward to kiss me, something she didn’t stop doing for some time. Perhaps I should make an idiot of myself more often... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 9, 2004 Author Share Posted January 9, 2004 “That was fun,†Jen said as she buttoned up her jeans. “We should do it more often.†I smiled at her. “Better than that Radiohead gig we went to a few years back?†“No, of course not. Getting to see the love of my life in person will always be the greatest moment of my life...†“Oh thanks,†I said sarcastically, “that makes me feel really special...†“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being second best. If it helps, I do sometimes think of you and not Thom when we’re together.†I smiled. “You know, I think that does help actually.†“Good,†she said as she sat beside me. “Anyway, perhaps there’s something we need to talk about now.†“Oh no, this can’t be good,†I said jokingly. She didn’t seem to appreciate it very much. “Nick, I’m trying to be serious. Perhaps it’s time we started telling people about us.†“Oh...†“I mean, if Joe had known about me and you then he wouldn’t have gone on about that girl in the coffee shop, and then we wouldn’t have had that little argument...†“Yeah, but if we hadn’t had that little argument, we’d wouldn’t have been able to...make up.†“Nick...†“I know, I know, I’m sorry. I’ll be deadly serious from now on... It’s been nearly a month now, hasn’t it?†“Three weeks, twenty-nine minutes and...†She looked down at her watch. “...seventeen seconds by my watch.†I gave her a funny look. “What? Us girls like to remember dates and things, gives us something to have a go at you guys about.†“Oh great, so you’re going to expect me to remember loads of trivial stuff like the time and place that we first held hands or something?†“That would have been down the park when we were about five if I recall correctly, just before you discovered that girls were evil.†“But that is so true! I mean, name me one evil man.†“Hitler.†I gave her a funny look. “Yeah, but he doesn’t count.†“Why not?†“Because he was... He... Oh just shut up, you’re all evil. Fact.†Jen grinned. “I know, I never said we weren’t. Why do you think we’re always stringing you guys along just so you can ask us out and we can say no and make you look like an idiot? Because we’re pure evil, that’s why. You still love me though, don’t you?†“Oh you bet... In fact, perhaps I should let you have you wicked wicked way with me again some time soon, yeah?†“Oh yeah, definitely...†she said, moving her lips closer and closer towards mine before putting her hand across mine. “...right after we’ve told our parents. I don’t want to have to keep sneaking about, keeping it a secret from everyone. I don’t like lying to my mum about where I’m going, who I’m going out with and that sort of stuff.†“OK, OK, we’ll tell them. Who do you want to tell first, my mum or yours?†“Oh yours, definitely.†“Why?†“If we tell my mum first we won’t be able to tell your mum full stop on account of me being dead.†“You think she’ll be that bad?†“No,†she said, shaking her head. “She’ll be worse...†Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 11, 2004 Author Share Posted January 11, 2004 English Second Division vs Notts County (a) However, before I had the pleasure of talking to my mum about my love life, we had to travel north to face Notts County. They had drawn their FA Cup match at Rushden, and as such our scheduled match next Wednesday was brought forward by a week, meaning we had less time to prepare for what would certainly be a big match. We went into the match in second place in the table, while Notts County were miles behind us in third place, behind us on goal difference only, and even then it was very close. After a disappointing performance at the weekend at Oldham, we decided to make a couple of changes. Colin Healy, who had looked quite impressive on his debut, was moved into central midfield at the expense of Martin Rowlands, who had been looking a little tired in recent matches, while the right wing back position and captain’s armband was retaken by Michael Dobson. Unfortunately for us though the changes seemed to make little difference to the team. While we didn’t exactly look bad, we never really threatened Stephen Mildenhall’s goal except from distance, and everything kept falling apart once we got anywhere near their penalty area. County on the other hand looked quite good. Mark Stallard and Danny Allsopp looked quite impressive up front, and in the end it was no real surprise when it was one of them who broke the deadlock. Paul Smith took a goal kick poorly and sent it straight to Stallard, who wasted no time in spotting Allsopp ahead of him completely unmarked. By the time that our defenders had realised what was going on Allsopp had hit the ball past Smith from the edge of the area, and we were behind. We tried our best to pull one back in the ten or so minutes left before half time, but it never looked particularly likely. Dobson managed to get a few decent crosses into the box but they kept on evading anyone in a red and white shirt, with Kevin O’Connor perhaps the guiltiest of wasting a decent opportunity when he completely missed the ball on the edge of the six yard box. All in all, it wasn’t the best first half performance we’d ever given. The second half wasn’t any better. Ian Richardson hit a long ball forward six minutes after the restart that Leo Roget failed to deal with, and Danny Allsopp picked up the ball down the right. He promptly played the ball into the middle where Stallard was standing unmarked, ready to tap the ball in to give his side a two goal lead. It certainly wasn’t the way we wanted to start the second half, and the frustration was obvious. We started giving silly free kicks away all over the place, started arguing with the referee, something Healy got booked for, and we lost any fluidity we had in the first half. Mick didn’t seem too keen to change anything just yet, with Rowlands the only real option we had that could make a significant difference, and even then with his lack of fitness it was debatable whether it was worth bringing him on when the game was probably already gone. Perhaps he believed that we’d somehow create something if we carried on playing like we were playing, that it would just require a bit of patience. And in the end, we did somehow create a decent chance. I played a good ball over the top of their defence for O’Connor to chase on the right. He got to the ball before the defender and swung an excellent cross into the middle for Leon Constantine to nod in at the near post. Except he didn’t. Instead he somehow managed to head the ball well wide of the near post from about six yards out, something that even my sister wouldn’t have done. In the end the inevitable defeat came. We knew that we needed to do a lot better than this in future if we were going to win promotion, which was of course very much still a possibility. With Sheffield Wednesday somehow losing at home to Hartlepool, we were still only four points away from the top spot, although there were now two teams between them and ourselves. At least we had the chance to get back to winning ways on Saturday when we hosted bottom of the table Plymouth. Still, knowing us, we could well struggle in that one too... Final Score:- Notts County 2-0 Brentford Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 6; Roget 7, Christanval 6, Marshall 6; Naysmith 7, Dobson © 7, Fullarton 6, Healy 8, Greenan 8; Constantine 8, O'Connor 7. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 12, 2004 Author Share Posted January 12, 2004 “Mum,†Jen said, “me and Nick have got something to tell you.†Mrs Taylor looked at her for a moment and then carried on looking through their fridge. “OK, go ahead then...†“Well, it’s kind of important.†Jen looked at her mum for a minute, and she looked back at Jen. “OK, just give me a minute.†“Thanks Mum. We’ll be in the front room...†So that was where we went, where we sat down and where we waited nervously to tell Jen’s mum the news. One of the many things that Jen and I had in common was our families. We both had sisters, with Lauren being a few years older than Jen and Char being a couple of years younger than me, and we both lived with our mums, something that, along with the lack of any father figure in either of our lives, had always made us quite close. We could both talk about how annoying our sisters were, how out of order our mums had been making us do something when we wanted to do something else, and how the gaps in our family lives were affecting us, although it was something Jen very rarely spoke about nowadays. She always claimed that she’d moved on, that she wasn’t at all sad about not having her dad about, but she’d always be a little funny every year around the day that he died, something she’d always deny. I think this year she went with the tried and trusted ‘there’s something in my eye’ excuse when I caught her crying... This was of course the second time we’d had to tell someone about our relationship. It had been agreed, or rather Jen had insisted, that we should tell my mum first. We both knew that my mum was relatively easy going, and was never really going to be anything but vaguely pleased for us. Sure, it was as embarrassing as hell telling her that I had a girlfriend, and having her get all funny about it and start teasing me about it, something that Jen found rather amusing and joined in with. The jokey atmosphere soon disappeared though when my sister entered the room to discover the news, and promptly told Jen to get her eyes tested. She then went on to say that she was quite surprised that we had gotten together, saying she always though that even I could do better. Char had always been very fond of Jen... “So what is it that you two want to talk to me about then? You’re not in some sort of trouble are you?†“Mum, of course we’re not! God, you always have to assume the worst, don’t you?†“I’m sorry, it’s just that normally the only time you get me to sit down so you can tell me something is when you’re telling me bad news. Remember the time when you told me about all the trouble you were having at school?†“It’s nothing like that, honestly. It’s good news, isn’t it Nick?†She looked at me sitting on her left and smiled. “Yeah, I’d definitely say it was.†“Well come on, tell me then. I do have things that need doing.†Jen then took a deep breath, before finally coming out with it. “Me and Nick...we’re sort of an item.†“Oh...†“We would have told you sooner, it’s just that we wanted to make sure before we said anything.†“How long has this been going on for then?†“A few weeks, although there was definitely something there for a while before that.†“I see. And have you been...you know...together?†Suddenly a look of horror appeared on Jen’s face. I can’t say I felt too comfortable either. “Mum!†“Sorry, it’s just I’d like to make sure that you’re being responsible and that you’re...taking the necessary precautions, that’s all.†Jen was now visibly cringing with embarrassment. “You’ve got nothing to worry about on that front Mrs Taylor,†I said. “Both Jen and I have been making sure everything’s been...safe, OK?†“Thank you Nick, that’s nice to hear. We wouldn’t want any little accidents happening, would we Jennifer?†“...No, we...erm... Can we go now?†“Yes, of course you can.†Jen almost instantly shot up off the sofa and towards the hallway, with me following along just behind. “Oh, and thank you for letting me know about this. If I hear odd noises coming from your room I’ll now know to leave you alone, won’t I?†Jen looked at me in horror. “Oh God,†she whispered, “she’s going to be listening out for it now.†I laughed. “It’s not funny! From now on I’ll just keep seeing my mother going ‘ooh, better not disturb them while they’re busy’ every time we start doing anything. I’ll never be able to have sex again...†“What, never again?†“Well, maybe not for another couple of hours or so...†I smiled. I knew having a girlfriend was going to have some benefits... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 18, 2004 Author Share Posted January 18, 2004 English Second Division vs Plymouth Argyle (h) It was back to business on Saturday as we played host to Plymouth. After the disappointing result at Notts County in midweek we needed to bounce back as soon as possible, and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to do just that. Plymouth were really struggling this season, already cast adrift at the bottom of the table with just nine points from their sixteen games, whilst a woeful six goals in the 'for' column of the table told its own story. With this in mind, Mick decided that I deserved a rest from the first team. I wasn’t too pleased about it to be perfectly honest, as I really wanted to play and possibly get a few goals, but I was told it would benefit me later on in the season. With matches against our main promotion rivals Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday on the horizon, perhaps that was a good thing. As well as my absence from the team, Martin Rowlands again found himself sitting on the bench with Colin Healy keeping him out of the team in central midfield. Clearly Mick felt that the team would be good enough to beat Plymouth without us, but instead, for the first half at least, the match was a dull mix of Plymouth battling and poor play by us. Our solitary chance came just after the half hour mark when Kevin O’Connor was put clean through by Healy, but he panicked as Romain Larrieu closed in on him and O’Connor shot straight at the keeper. However, it proved to be a blessing in disguise when Scott Marshall picked up an injury to his foot just before half time, forcing Mick into making a first half change. With no defenders on the bench a bit of a reshuffle was going to be needed, and when Rowlands was sent on in Marshall’s place it sparked us into life. He went straight behind the front two instead of the ineffective Eddie Hutchinson, who filled in at right wingback for Michael Dobson, who was now playing in central defence. The change made an almost immediate impact just after half time. Gary Naysmith played the ball down the channel on the left for O’Connor to chase, and he played an almost perfect ball for Rowlands to tap in at the near post to give us the lead. With Plymouth’s truly terrifying goal scoring record of about a goal every three games we knew that a single goal may well be enough to beat them, but we couldn’t just expect to have done enough already. We had done easily enough just after the half hour mark though. Jamie Fullarton picked up a poor pass by Martin Phillips in midfield and played an immaculate ball through the gaping hole in the centre of the Plymouth defence for Leon Constantine to chase. He picked the ball up, ran through on goal and then calmly stroked the ball past the helpless keeper to double our advantage. Just a minute later and we were further in front. Fullarton again made an interception in midfield before playing a good ball forward, this time for Rowlands to run onto and curl past the keeper from the edge of the area for our third and his second, an excellent haul given he’d only been on the pitch for about half an hour. It seemed that I might finally have a rival for my position in the team... It wasn’t really much of a surprise when a fourth goal followed along shortly after. Their heads were down even more than when they’d walked out onto the pitch, and when Craig Taylor realised that he wasn’t going to get to Constantine’s cross from the right before Rowlands he just pulled him down for a blatant penalty. Somewhat surprisingly it was Philippe Christanval who was nominated to take the kick, especially with Rowlands on a hat-trick, but the Frenchman stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way. Unfortunately the match ended on a slightly sour note. Fullarton, who had been excellent in the engine room in midfield, got in a tangle with Ian Stonebridge and ended up pushing the striker to the ground. Already booked after an earlier foul, the referee showed him his second yellow of the afternoon and Fullarton was off to have an early bath. It didn’t make any difference to the match, which as a contest had long been finished, but would mean he’d miss the match at home to Hartlepool next week. However, if we could manage a repeat performance of this second half next week, it would be questionable whether it’d matter. Final Score:- Brentford 4-0 Plymouth Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 7; Roget 8, Christanval 8(1), Marshall 7 (Rowlands sub 43, 8(2)); Naysmith 8, Dobson © 8, Fullarton 8 (off 83), Healy 8, Hutchinson 8; Constantine 8(1), O'Connor 8. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
I\'m Not Ruud Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Looks like everything's good on both fronts I'm always looking forward to each new update, this is quality reading! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 seconded Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 19, 2004 Author Share Posted January 19, 2004 Cheers guys. Unfortunately that dreaded uni thing has started up again, so there may be a slight irregularity on the updating front, although I am determined to get this bástard finished. it's not even halfway through the first season for crying out loud... --------------------------------------------------------------------- “Wakey wakey Nicky, time to get up!†I sat up in bed and looked at my alarm clock. It wasn’t due to go off for another couple of hours. “Come on, get up!†“Yeah, OK. Keep your hair on...†After a couple of minutes trying to get my head round the fact there was now apparently a seven o’clock in the morning, I stumbled down towards the front room where it became blatantly obvious what was going on. “Happy birthday Nicky!†“Oh God, don’t start calling me Nicky again...†Mum laughed. “Sorry. Well open your cards then!†She handed me a small pile of envelopes which I duly opened. It was the usual suspects as usual. Mum with her jokey card, Char with her homemade card because she can’t be bothered to actually spend more than about 20p on me, a couple of aunts and that was about it. They didn’t look particularly impressive as they sat upon the TV but I was hoping that I’d get a few cards later on when I met up with a few people for a drink or two. Hopefully one of their cards would have some money in it... After that came the inevitable present opening. Every year since I was old enough to care about how many presents I got I’d got fewer presents than the previous year, which given I didn’t exactly start off with a barrel load of them in the first place meant this year’s haul wasn’t particularly great. First off was Mum with the tried and trusted HMV gift voucher, as she’d say she didn’t know what CD to get for me and asking me to tell her would ruin the surprise, so I might as well just go and get it myself. This was followed up by a couple of DVDs that she knew I was probably going to buy myself, including one that would make a very good Christmas present for Jen if I didn’t think it was any good, some rubbish football manager game which she’d bought mainly because of me actually being in it and a couple of other bits and pieces. Char was of course a completely different kettle of fish. When it was her birthday she was always very pleasant. She’d use the “it’s my birthday†line almost incessantly, be it to get Mum to make her a drink, to try and stop me throwing cushions at her, to get out of having to brush her teeth or basically any time that she thought she could use it to her advantage. On my birthday she’d be thoroughly miserable, taking the pÃss out of my presents, especially those bought by anyone else. This didn’t go down too well with Mum usually. Despite the fact that the insults were clearly aimed at me, calling a Die Hard DVD that I got “basically just some bloke running about in a vest a bit until he rescues everyone in a stupid and utterly ridiculous wayâ€, and that anyone wanting to watch such a thing was “a fúcking moronâ€, it didn’t reflect too well on Mum as she thought it was a particularly good present, which of course it was. Char was just a muppet. Char’s presents were always interesting. Last year I bought her an Alan Partridge DVD for her birthday, which she thoroughly enjoyed. In response to that she bought me a Coldplay album for my birthday. Whilst I didn’t particularly have anything against Chris ‘I love trees and hug them day and night’ Martin and his faceless associates, I didn’t particularly appreciate the fact that right after having the said CD bought for me £10 vanished from my wallet and miraculously turned up in my sister’s hand. This year I attempted to guarantee myself a good present by upping the stakes with a signed Westlife album. Despite having to go and get it signed over three months before, something I had to do on my own as Jen refused to risk her musical credibility by being seen anywhere near Westlife, and keep it hidden in my room until her birthday, she didn’t seem to really appreciate it. She was too busy being upset that she missed the chance to go and see them herself. And when she finally revealed her present, I wasn’t too surprised at the quality of it. “Oh, some blank minidiscs. Nice.†“I wasn’t going to buy you any of that shÃtty music that you like, so I thought that if you put it all on some of those then you can listen to them with your headphones on and save us having to listen to it.†“Well, it’s well thought out, I’ll give you that, although I could easily suggest the same for you and your music.†“What are you talking about Your music is shÃt, end of story. No-one who isn’t a complete and utter freak listens to that rubbish.†“And I’m supposed to take the ramblings of a Westlife, Blue and Busted fan seriously.†“Oh shut up! I hate you!†she screamed before setting off down the hallway to sulk in her room. I had a look at her present. I suppose it wasn’t all that bad really. And anyway, the best present of all was yet to come. I got to run around in the wind and rain and play in a football match... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 English Second Division vs Hartlepool United (h) This was probably one of the last things I needed to be perfectly honest. After the hours of fun in the morning with Mum getting over-excited and Char being an idiot, I got to the ground to find most of my fellow supposedly professionals deciding to take the opportunity to have a bit of fun at my expense. I really had a feeling that the picture of me with a blow up doll that I’d received as a warm and heartfelt present would come back to haunt me at some point in the future. It wasn’t a great deal better when I finally got out onto the pitch. With multiple shouts from the stands of “Come on Nicky!†coming from Mum as I warmed up, it was possibly going to be a day to remember. It could have got worse though. All my friends who were also in the stands cheering me on could have joined in with my mum in calling me Nicky, and they could have gone on to encourage normal spectators to join in with them... However, it was a relief when the actual match started. As he’d been sent off in the previous game against Plymouth, Jamie Fullarton was suspended for this one, meaning Martin Rowlands finally made a return to the starting lineup. He played just behind the front two, with Eddie Hutchinson, who’d made little impact there last time out, slotting into central midfield, while Ibrahima Sonko replaced Scott Marshall in central defence after the Scot picked up a small knock in training during the week. The main and personally most interesting change was that of me replacing Kevin O’Connor up front. While O’Connor hadn’t been doing too badly up front so far this season, he didn’t seem to be scoring as freely as Mick would have liked, and that led to him being dropped. Coupled with Rowlands’ impressive performance off the strikers in the last match, it made perfect sense to give him another run-out there, with me showing what I could do as a fully fledged striker. But instead it was my skills as a provider that got the first chance to shine. When I was brought down on the left wing by Jonathan Bass, we were awarded a free kick right by the corner flag, meaning the boys from the back came forward for this one. I picked myself off the ground and swung the ball into the near post and there was Sonko, making a late burst into the area, to head the ball home from a few yards out. With just five minutes on the clock we really couldn’t have wished for a better start, and with Hartlepool not setting the world alight with their current form, you thought that this might be the start of a rout. You would have thought wrongly then, because Hartlepool came back and showed the ability that won them promotion from the Third Division last season. They started playing the ball about nicely and forced us to rethink our plan of just playing right through them. In fact, when they got the equaliser it wasn’t exactly a surprise. Gordon Watson picked the ball up near our penalty area and decided to turn and run at Philippe Christanval, who wasted no time in making a challenge. Unfortunately for the Frenchman he didn’t manage to get the ball whilst getting a great deal of player. More unfortunately for him was the fact that they were inside the penalty area, and the referee saw enough to award a penalty, which Darrell Clarke converted. This certainly wasn’t what we had in mind, and we wanted to reassert our authority on the match as soon as possible by going ahead again, which was exactly what we did a few minutes later. Hutchinson made a strong run down the left of the pitch and stood a deep cross up to the far post where Leon Constantine was waiting. He leap into the air well and nodded the ball back across the goal brilliantly, deceiving the goalkeeper and hitting the inside of the post before going into the back of the net. It continued to be a close affair right until the hour mark. Hartlepool weren’t going to give up, and we weren’t going to hand them another equaliser if we could help it, but when I swung a corner in from the right which Constantine nodded home after sneaking round at the far post again, it looked like the final outcome of the match was pretty much decided. In fact, it only became more emphatic. Gary Naysmith did well down the left to beat two men and then did even better to swing in an extremely dangerous cross towards the near post for Rowlands to nod in powerfully. If the result had been in any doubt at 3-1, it was certainly done and dusted now, which was exactly what Mick thought when he decided to make a change, and to give me a head start on my birthday party preparations by bringing O’Connor on in my place. Soon after that any remaining life in the game fizzled out somewhat, and when the final whistle came to confirm our victory it was met with a great deal of cheers from the home supporters, especially my personal little fan club, who had never stopped chanting my name even when I was doing something as mundane as doing my laces up. It would have been nice as well to have got a birthday goal, something that I was slightly disappointed about when Mick took me off, but in the end I guess it was for the best. I mean, I might need to save some of my energy for the evening... Final Score:- Brentford 4-1 Hartlepool Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 7; Roget 8, Christanval 8, Sonko 8(1); Naysmith 8, Dobson © 8, Hutchinson 8, Healy 8, Rowlands 8(1); Greenan 8 (O'Connor sub 76, 7), Constantine 8(2). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 I knocked on the door and then looked down at my watch. Quarter past... I was late as usual, which given we were all getting together because of me meant that being late wasn’t one of my better ideas. Still, I thought as I looked through the front window, my absence didn’t seem to be bothering anyone too much. “You’re late Nick...†I turned towards the now open front door and almost had to pick my now wide open jaw up off the floor when I set eyes on Jen. She looked absolutely amazing. I mean, I usually thought she looked pretty good in her usual combo of baggy jeans and a t-shirt, but seeing her in a pair of extremely tight and low-hung jeans coupled with a top that had no back and very little front was another thing altogether. “Come on, come inside! I’m freezing...†“Well you should try putting some clothes on then, shouldn’t you?†She grinned. “You complaining?†“Oh, of course not, that top looks great on you. I’m sure it’d look better off of you though.†“Really?†she said, moving closer to me. “Perhaps that could be arranged...†She then put her arms around me and started kissing me. Perhaps this was going to be one of the better birthdays that I’d... “Nick! You...†Suddenly we stopped what we were doing and we both looked over Jen’s shoulder at Joe, standing there in the front room doorway. “...Made it.†“Alright Joe?†I said sheepishly. “What were you two...?†“Oh nothing,†Jen said. “I was just saying happy birthday to my boyfriend, that’s all.†Joe looked at us, his eyes on the verge of popping out of his skull. “You...and Nick?†Jen looked at me for a second before looking back at Joe and smiling. “Yeah...†“Wow...†I wasn’t exactly sure what he was most surprised about to be honest. Perhaps it was that it was me and Jen together, not just me and some random girl or Jen with some random guy. Perhaps it was that I actually managed to somehow get myself a girlfriend. Or perhaps it was the fact that there appeared to be women out there who liked me more than they liked him that was giving him the biggest headache... “Anyway,†Jen said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the three of us, “maybe we should let the others know what’s going on, yeah?†She looked at me before taking my hand and leading me towards the front room. It didn’t look like I had much choice... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 A few minutes later quite a few people were sharing Joe’s rather surprised expression. Lauren, who had officially come down for the weekend to bring back a few things before she came back from Cambridge for Christmas, but was primarily here for the party, seemed quite surprised, constantly asking Jen why she hadn’t already told her. It seemed a bit odd with Lauren suddenly playing the caring sister all of a sudden. After all, the only things that they ever had nice sisterly chats about were which guy Lauren had slept with that week, how drunk she was at the time and his rating out of ten on the Official Lauren Taylor Shagometerâ„¢. Instead it was usually Beth who Jen went to with any girly type problems or worries. Beth had known how Jen felt about me for years now apparently. Lauren was finding out for the first time tonight... Speaking of Beth, she was unsurprisingly the least stunned to see me and Jen together. She wasn’t really letting on that she already knew about us, coming out with comments like ‘Don’t they look good together?’ and following up anything that we did together with a nice long ‘Ah...’ before turning towards Matt, the guy she’d brought along to meet everyone, and planting a great big kiss on his lips. It seemed that me and Jen weren’t the only couple to come out into the open that night... Joe and Alex, who, like Lauren, had pretty much just come down for the party, sat there for the majority of the time with bemused looks on their faces. Joe wasn’t having much luck with any of the female guests that Jen and Beth had invited as they were all too busy trying asking Jen about her lovely new boyfriend. This normally led to his Plan B: to make himself feel like a stud again he would just take the pÃss out of resident all-round loser in love Mr Greenan. It seemed that Joe would need to devise a Plan C sooner or later... Alex, however, was more interested in using my new-found romantic status to wind Joe up even more. This of course led to the inevitable... “So Nick, you done the deed yet?†...coming up. I wasn’t surprised when he slipped it into the conversation as soon as Jen’s back was turned, but I was a little surprised at how easily he’d said it. Everyone else was shocked to see us just holding hands, so for him to openly talk about us having sex came as a surprise, and I wasn’t quite sure what to say. It was probably a good thing then that Jen bailed me out... “Excuse me! That’s private, and is something that I’d like to keep between myself, Nick and the busy, busy springs in my bed thank you very much.†The three of us stared at her. Alex and Joe were getting over the fact they’d lost their key weapon in their mickey-taking arsenal, and I was surprised that Jen was being so casual about it. “What? Aren’t us girls allowed to boast about our conquests too?†she said, wearing a cheeky smile as she spoke. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one pleased to have finally gotten the old virginity monkey off their back... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBA Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 When I get some proper time I'm going to read through all of this - looks excellent Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SBA: When I get some proper time I'm going to read through all of this - looks excellent <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Trust me, it is Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
I\'m Not Ruud Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Seconded! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 24, 2004 Author Share Posted January 24, 2004 Cheers guys, nice to see you're enjoying it. The rest of the night went pretty much according to plan. After a couple of drinks at Jen’s we made our way into town for a few more drinks before drunkenly stumbling back to Jen’s again. Joe was still on the prowl, desperately trying to chat up Beth’s friend Mel to save what would so far in his eyes be interpreted as a wasted evening, and his chances rose dramatically when Beth left us to go and spend the night at Matt’s. There was no-one to protect Mel from the wicked advances of the evil Joe now... Lauren was, as usual, completely and utterly inebriated after having had one too many of those lovely cocktails with the pretty umbrellas in them, which had now found their way from her glass to her hair. This meant that me and Jen, who weren’t exactly stone cold sober ourselves, had the honour of practically carrying her home whilst she declared her undying love for everyone around us, fluffy little kittens and some bloke standing outside the chip shop. I don’t think the woman he was with appreciated that too much to be honest... Eventually we got back to Jen’s though. Lauren went straight up to her room and made an instant attempt to try and sleep off her drunkenness, while Joe kept trying it on with Mel before earning himself a slap round the face and the cold comfort that he’d be sleeping on the sofa alone that night. I of course had no such problem, and was upstairs with Jen to receive my ‘special birthday present’ almost as soon as I’d got through the door. I was right earlier on. It was one of the better birthdays that I’d had... And so as my birthday and November drew to a close with me lying there with Jen in my arms, I looked forward to the future. Everything was still to some extent up in the air for Jen. She’d had various uni interviews over the last week or so, with the biggie at Cambridge still to come at the end of the week. Add that to the exams she had come January and it was pretty clear to see that she was going through some of the most important days of her life so far. I wasn’t going to have it that easy either. With Brentford being out of the FA Cup already, we had no game on the coming Saturday, meaning I had a nice two week break before the busy festive period which could well decide which division we’d be in next year. Defeats against Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton and we could be well off the pace and looking at a playoff place at best. A couple of good results though, and we could perhaps get ourselves to the top of the table at the turn of the year, and make our bid to bring first division football to Griffin Park next year that much more realistic... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 25, 2004 Author Share Posted January 25, 2004 “What time is it?†Jen asked me after looking at her own watch for the seven hundredth time. “Why ask me? You just looked at your watch.†“I just want to make sure it’s right. What time is it?†I sighed. “Half past nine.†“Ten minutes to go then...†She’d been like this for a while now. She’d already had a fair few uni interviews so far, but Cambridge was the biggest and, in her opinion, the most important. She kept looking at her heavily packed schedule for the day, which consisted of a whopping three interviews. It seemed a bit unfair from where I was sitting. I mean, UCL only had one interview and they gave her a couple of Mini Rolls, although that was probably because UCL’s a bit rubbish... “Anyone sitting here?†We both looked up and to our right at a guy standing there, pointing at the empty chair next to Jen. “Nah,†Jen said. "Go ahead.†“Cheers.†He sat down next to her, looked around the room a couple of times and then exhaled loudly. “I’m Sebastian by the way.†“Oh right. Well, I’m Jen.†He then stuck his abnormally long neck out past Jen and looked towards me. “And you are?†Jen smiled. “Oh, that’s Nick. He’s my moral support.†“I’m also her boyfriend,†I added, smiling at him. “OK, whatever,†he said before looking back at Jen. “So what you apply for?†“English.†“Oh OK... I’m a maths person myself.†Jen smiled. “I nearly applied to do maths, but then I realised I wasn’t insane...†“Er, I think you’ll find that maths is much better than English. What are you going to do with English? Write some crappy story?†“Well yeah, maybe one day, but first I’m gonna be a journalist.†“Yeah? What kind?†“Erm, I’d quite like to work for a music magazine actually.†“Really? You like music?†“Yeah, quite a bit. Isn’t that right Nick?†She looked back towards me smiling. “Oh yeah, she’s got loads of CDs and Radiohead posters all over her walls.†He looked at her for a moment. “Oh... I thought you said you liked music.†Jen looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. “Erm, I did.†“Yeah, but you also like Radiohead. You can’t really like music all that much, can you?†“What are you on about? Radiohead are bloody brilliant.†“No they’re not. I could name about a thousand bands that are better. The Rapture are better. Bearsuit are better. Even the fûcking Stereophonics are better than that pretentious load of wánk.†Jen looked at him for a moment. “Yeah, whatever mate. I guess you’re entitled to your opinion...†“Of course I am, and I was giving it to you. Do I have to end every sentence I make with ‘in my opinion’ or something?†“Well, if you’re going to just go round slagging off what I’ve said when you don’t even know me then yeah, you probably should.†“I don’t need to know you to know that you appear to have the worst taste in music ever. Next you’ll be telling me you like Athlete or something...†“And what would be wrong with that?†“They’re fûcking shÂit.†Jen looked at him for a moment. “In my arsing opinion of course.†“Well I think they’re alright, OK?†“You know, I think I may go and talk to that vending machine over there. I sure it’s not shÂit enough to like fûcking Athlete...†“Yeah, you go over there,†she said as he stood up. “Perhaps while you’re there you could get it into your stupid fûcking head that other people have different opinions and preferences to you. Oh, and good luck with the interview and everything. I really hope you get in, you sad little prÃck." “Same to you bitch, same to you...†He then turned and started to walk away from us. I started to get out of my chair to perhaps knock some sense into him, but Jen stuck out her arm to stop me. “Leave it Nick, he’s not worth it. It wouldn’t be good for you to get done for beating up some idiot, it wouldn’t look good for me as far as getting in here is concerned and, although he could probably do with a good kicking, he’d probably just turn round afterwards and tell you that your punching method is shÂit and his is much better.†I sat back down and sighed. I bet Jen was hoping that all of these Cambridge types were going to be as friendly as that... [This message was edited by nickgreenan on 25 January 2004 at 10:31.] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz the Imp Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Athlete rock! This is quality, kep it up Nick! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted January 29, 2004 Author Share Posted January 29, 2004 Cheers Daz, although I do hope you were joking with the Athlete rock thing ----------------------------------------------------------- Things didn’t really get a lot better. The highlight of the day for me was probably when Lauren turned up to wish her sister luck before showing us to the college bar and doing her best to get Jen drunk, nearly making her miss her third and final interview. Jen was pretty unhappy about this, especially with things going ‘so bloody awfully’, although we always knew that meant she’d done perfectly well. I mean, the amount of times she’d come out of an exam and complain she’d failed only to be greeted by a big fat A afterwards was ridiculous. The main reason neither of us were in a particularly good mood was probably something to do with the journey on the way up. It was bad enough with a 6:30 start on the underground up to King’s Cross, but it got worse when the train we’d been sitting on for about half an hour was eventually cancelled as the train operators had helpfully not bothered to employ a driver to actually drive the train. Couple that with the world’s most organised bus service – organised with the sole purpose of pulling away from the bus stop when people actually turned up after our train arrived – and you had a pretty enjoyable trip by all accounts. The journey back wasn’t much better. The bus-train combination worked to perfection again with the train leaving the station at the moment that we arrived there, leaving us to shiver together with some old woman on a bench with only an extortionately overpriced and weak as pÃss cup of coffee to comfort us, although we did have our scintillating conversations to keep us going. That is we would of, had Jen not fallen asleep and then been utterly miserable when I had the nerve to wake her up when our train turned up late. By the time we got back the planned night out to celebrate the end of all Jen’s uni interviews was well and truly told to get lost. I was tired and grumpy, Jen was practically asleep and incredibly grumpy, and in the end we decided that any night out that would end at around eight o’clock when we would inevitably fall asleep wasn’t really worth the trouble. But after all that effort sitting on god knows how many trains for god knows how many hours I was sure of only one thing. Jen better bloody well get into Cambridge now... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldritch7 Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Remove Jen & the football & this is my life... Actually that's quite depressing. Top stuff as ever though, keep it up. Athlete do suck, too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted February 1, 2004 Author Share Posted February 1, 2004 Cheers Eldritch7 ---------------------------------------------------------------- The next couple of weeks before Christmas went by pretty uneventfully, although as far as football was concerned it was a slightly mixed bag. First came a great 5-1 win at Grimsby, with both myself and Leon Constantine bagging a brace. With Grimsby having been in the First Division last season, this win should have been a massive confidence booster. Instead it gave us a minor lift before we battled our way through a horribly scrappy 2-1 win at home to Peterborough. Kevin O’Connor’s two goals in the first hour of the game were just enough to give us the three points despite a late surge by the visitors which could have cost us dearly. However it was the next match away to Colchester that cost us dearly, with a poor 1-0 defeat at Layer Road really hurting us before the hugely important festive period. With games against some of the top teams between Christmas and the new year, we could have done with a bit more of a boost, but these were games we were going to have to win if we wanted to win promotion, and we were determined not to let this opportunity pass us by. Off the pitch things were still going very much according to plan. Mum was getting quite excited about Christmas for some reason, and her ridiculous over-enthusiasm was somehow rubbing off on Char. My hopes for a present a bit more substantial than a pair of socks or something equally rubbish from her seemed to actually have a small chance of coming true for once. As well as everything at home going well, everything with Jen was going pretty much perfectly, especially since she’d lightened up a bit after the Cambridge interview. As far as she was concerned the pressure was temporarily off until her exams in January and she was determined to enjoy herself while she could, spending quite a lot of time with me, Beth and the rest of us before she’d have to almost shut herself away with all the revision and other such fun things that exams brought along. Of course, she did have the return of Lauren, who came home for Christmas a few days after Jen’s interview, to contend with, but Jen’s answer to that was just to spend more time with me. I’d have to buy Lauren an extra nice present this year... Somehow everything was going well with Beth too. It was very odd for the three of us to be pretty happy at the same time, what with the nice and complicated little love triangle that never really existed often coming between us, but things did seem to be coming together well for all of us. As far as the educational side of her life was concerned she was about to go down the whole uni road that Jen had just been down, although she wasn’t anywhere near as concerned about it as Jen was. She knew she’d be fine in her interviews, with her womanly charms taking care of that side of the process, and her grades, whilst not being spectacular, were good enough to get her into a decent enough uni and into a nice media studies type course. As far as she was concerned, this was the logical step to getting her into international superstardom, the ‘profession’ she’d dreamed of being in ever since I’d known her. Various attempts at finding what she’d actually be famous for doing had failed over the years, with ballet dancer, horse rider and star of stage and screen all failing miserably during her childhood, but that never had never put her off. She was determined to get there in the end, and it didn’t matter if that meant applying to sit in a house full of cameras for a couple of months, attempting to follow in the quite horrific footsteps of Will Young and his fellow morons, or removing the majority of her clothes in front of a photographer, something which she’d never been particularly shy about doing. I’m sure I’ve mentioned Jen’s drunken swim in Feltham Pond before. Well, perhaps I should have mentioned that she wasn’t the only one who took to the water, although she was the only one who actually kept any of her clothes on. Why oh why I decided that it would be better to stay in and watch TV that night I’ll never know... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted February 3, 2004 Author Share Posted February 3, 2004 “Oh great, socks.†I looked up at Mum. She was smiling, waiting for a bit more of a response. “You can never have too many socks.†“I...guess you can’t. Thanks Mum.†I looked over at Char. She hadn’t bothered opening my present yet, which was greatly annoying after all the effort of wrapping it up. Five different layers of paper, each one containing something to either change the shape, texture or sound, meaning that the DVD I’d bought her now looked triangular and rattled like a packet of Tic-Tacs. But of course she wasn’t interested. She was too busy playing with her new phone, the one that was the only one on the market that was better than mine. I looked towards my pile, if you could call it that. A couple of CDs, some socks, a talking Homer Simpson alarm clock that was already starting to annoy me after Char had played ‘Oh, but I got up yesterday!’ fifteen times in a row, a David Beckham autobiography from my aunt so that when I felt the need to wear a skirt and convince the world that I’m an utter moron I’d know what to do, and a scarf. I didn’t really blame them for my mediocre selection this year. I mean, I never helped things by answering every ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ with ‘I don’t know, why don’t you use your imagination?’ And I guess it could have been worse. At least it wasn’t another home-knitted jumper... The rest of the morning went by like usual. Mum spent most of her time putting together that work of art known as one of her Christmas lunches, Char was watching the DVD that I’d bought her and she’d looked very disappointed to receive once she’d eventually unwrapped, and I was watching it too, pretending to hate it but secretly enjoying it. Lunch came along, which this year strangely bucked the usual trend of being about an hour or so late, and went with only a mild tantrum from my sister over the lack of paper hats on our heads. The next item on the agenda would have been the ever-exciting ‘let’s sit in front of the TV and watch some rubbish because we can’t be bothered to do anything else’, but this year was even worse. My mum had bought Char another Monopoly game... However, this year I was spared the awfulness of arguing with my sister whether I’d landed on Old Kent Road or Mayfair or whether that £500 that mysteriously appeared in Mum’s hand was indeed the missing one from the bank. This year I had someone to go and see... “Hey Jen.†“Nick... What are you doing here?†“I said I’d drop by, didn’t I?†She smiled. “Merry Christmas.†“Merry Christmas to you too.†“I like the hat,†I said, pointing to the paper crown on her head. She quickly realised she hadn’t taken it off before opening the door and hastily took it off and hid it behind her back. “Mum made me wear it.†“Yeah, I bet she did... Got a couple of presents for you.†“Really?†“Yeah. They’re nothing much, but I think you’ll like them.†“Well you’d better come upstairs then, hadn’t you? I might have a present or two for you...†Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted February 4, 2004 Author Share Posted February 4, 2004 “Oh great, socks.†I looked up at Jen. She was smiling, waiting for a bit more of a response. “I saw them when I was looking for your proper present, and I just thought of you as soon as I laid eyes on them. Besides, you can never have too many socks.†“I guess you can’t. Thanks Jen.†I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and then removed one of the presents from my coat pocket. “Here you go. It’s nothing special.†“I’ll be the judge of that...†she said, taking the small CD shaped package from my hand and ripping away at the wrapping paper to reveal... “Ooh, a PJ Harvey CD. Cheers, been wanting this for ages.†“Well I noticed you’ve picked it up a few times when we’ve been down the shops but you never actually bought it. It is OK, isn’t it?†“Yeah, it’s great, thanks. I’ll listen to it later, but I’ve got quite a lot of listening to do already.†I looked over to my right at the quite large pile of freshly unwrapped albums on her desk. “You are such a music freak, you know that?†“Oh I know...†She smiled and then looked eagerly at the presents sitting beside me on the bed. “Are they for me too?†“No, I just bought them for myself, wrapped them and felt like showing them off in front of you.†“Really?†she said sarcastically. “What did you get?†“Well, why don’t you have a look?†She picked them up and started opening the envelope that was holding... “Oh wow, driving lessons! How did you...?†“You’ve been banging on about wishing you could drive every time we’re on the bus. And anyway, the sooner you can drive the sooner I can blag lifts off you.†She smiled and picked up the other present. “Thanks, but unless this is the world’s smallest car you’re going to have a long wait.†I laughed. “Well, I did think about getting you a little toy car to play with, but I decided against it and got this instead. It’s not much...†Jen opened the box that had been wrapped up and revealed the small bracelet inside. “Remember when you were younger and you and Beth had those friendship bracelets that you got when you were on holiday? I remembered how much you liked your one and how disappointed you were when it broke, so I thought I’d get you something just like that. Is it alright?†She looked down at where she’d tied it around her wrist. “It’s perfect. I wish I had something else to give to you now.†She then looked at me and smiled. “Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to improvise...†I smiled. This was definitely going to be better than watching the Queen’s speech... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted February 14, 2004 Author Share Posted February 14, 2004 English Second Division vs Brighton and Hove Albion (h) So this was the big one. Brighton, relegated from the First Division last season and currently sitting on top of the Second Division came to visit us, the third placed team, which was exactly where we’d finished last time they were in the division with us. We knew that in order to get our promotion challenge back on track after the costly defeat at Colchester we’d have to play extremely well and get at least a point, otherwise they could extend their lead over us in the table to seven points with exactly half the season gone. While it wouldn’t be impossible to overcome, it would be pretty difficult what with their essentially First Division strength squad, while we struggled along with our threadbare squad. Luckily for us though we had a full squad to select from, which meant that Martin Rowlands was again in the starting lineup just behind the front two, with Leon Constantine partnering me up front in a partnership that had paid dividends against Hartlepool and Grimsby, with nine goals scored in those two games alone. We were definitely hoping for something like that in this match... However, at the start it didn’t look like being a particularly good game. Despite the big Boxing Day crowd in who were creating a great atmosphere, the match was undeniably flat. Passes were going astray and the few chances, if you could call them that, were wasted. I forced a decent save from Michel Kuipers when clean through on goal, but I was given offside, and Rowlands managed to get a decent enough shot from distance that, although it had the keeper scrambling to his right, never looked like beating the keeper. Unfortunately for us though, Brighton did manage to beat out keeper. With twenty minutes on the clock Danny Cullip hit a long ball forward to Paul Kitson and forced Paul Smith to come racing out of his area in a desperate attempt to clear the ball. However, instead of just hoofing the ball into the rather full stands, he gave the ball straight to Dean Hammond in midfield who had the simple task of just floating the ball into the empty net to give them one of the softest goals they’d score all season. That was pretty much the only incident of any note in the first half. They seemed pretty determined to now sit on their lead and were pouncing on our players as soon as we even got a sniff of a chance, and we were too busy getting involved in a physical battle in the middle of the park to actually create anything worthy of a mention, which meant that it was no surprise when we went down the tunnel a goal down. The second half started a bit more brightly though. I made a decent run down the right and cross the ball towards the near post where Constantine was waiting to head the ball into the back of the net. Kuipers had other ideas, and made a sprawling save at the foot of his near post to deny us an equaliser and Simon Rodger cleared upfield before either me or Rowlands had a chance to pick up any scraps. However, as we pushed further forward looking for a goal we started to leave gaps at the back that Brighton were attempting to exploit. Bobby Zamora nearly found himself in behind us on several occasions, and even then he was peppering our goal with decent shots and forcing Smith to really earn his pay this week. We were still having some decent chances though. Colin Healy had a couple of good efforts saved, one a volley from the edge of the after a corner was headed out and another where he found himself on the end of a long throw that had been flicked on by Rowlands at the near post. On both occasions Kuipers spread himself well and parried the ball, and irritatingly for us on almost every occasion he made a save it either stayed in his hands, went behind or fell straight to a Brighton player. In the end our efforts to force a goal cost us at the back. Paul Watson launched a counter attack by hitting the ball long to Kitson, and he slid the ball between Roget and Christanval to send Zamora clean through. Smith came off his line to try and make it difficult for him, but Zamora just dinked the ball over his head and into the empty net behind him to seal the victory for the visitors. After that our heads certainly dropped, We knew we weren’t going to pull it back, the fans were showing how much they thought we could pull it back by making for the exits, and we were consigned to a costly defeat in the grand scheme of things. Still, we had a nice and easy match to come shortly after. Some Sheffield Wednesday team, whoever they are... Final Score:- Brighton 2-0 Brentford Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 6; Roget 8, Christanval 7, Sonko 7; Naysmith 7, Dobson © 8, Fullarton 7, Healy 8, Rowlands 6; Greenan 6, Constantine 8. This defeat left us seven points behind the leaders Brighton after half the season gone, although the second promotion spot was certainly still a possibility. Sheffield Wednesday in second were just a couple of points ahead while Notts County, who had overtaken us after our defeat, were only a solitary point in front of us. However, we would have to be careful as well of the looming challenge of QPR, who were now a point behind us. However, at least a playoff place was certainly still on the cards... <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pld GD Pts 1 Brighton 23 +23 52 2 Sheff Wed 23 +21 47 ------------------------------------------------ 3 Notts County 23 +16 46 4 BRENTFORD 23 +24 45 5 Q.P.R. 23 +20 44 6 Port Vale 23 +14 39 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7 Chesterfield 23 + 2 39 8 Bristol City 23 + 8 37 9 Barnsley 23 + 5 36 10 Oldham 23 +10 34 11 Rushden 23 + 5 32 12 Blackpool 23 + 3 32 13 Tranmere 23 - 7 30 14 Peterborough 23 - 9 29 15 Grimsby 23 - 4 28 16 Wrexham 23 - 4 27 17 Luton 23 -13 27 18 Colchester 23 -16 26 19 Stockport 23 -10 25 20 Swindon 23 -15 23 ------------------------------------------------ 21 Bournemouth 23 -14 22 22 Wycombe 23 -21 21 23 Hartlepool 23 -16 19 24 Plymouth 23 -22 18 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted February 20, 2004 Author Share Posted February 20, 2004 “So what are we going to go as?†I looked up at Jen. “Eh?†“The party?†I continued to look at her with a ridiculously puzzled expression on my face. “Beth’s party? The New Year’s Eve one?†Oh yes, how could I forget? The wrapping paper from Christmas had barely settled on the floor before we were all supposed to be getting terribly excited by the whole New Year thing. I’d never been that fond of the whole thing to be honest, there were far too many times I’d made a bit of an idiot of myself, and as well as that you had the whole ‘having to write the date differently’ thing that I wouldn’t pick up properly until mid-February. I was convinced half the time it was still 1999 halfway through April the next year... However, despite the fact that I had made a fool of myself a few too many times, New Year’s Eve parties weren’t usually that bad a thing, especially as every year we didn’t have any big plans to make. We all knew we were going over to Beth’s for the traditional party there. Her mum and dad had been throwing these parties every year for...well, pretty much forever. I couldn’t remember a New Year’s Eve that I hadn’t spent over at Beth’s house, be it when I was six and we played upstairs while everyone’s parents enjoyed themselves, when I was eleven and me, Beth and Jen nicked a few drinks and got utterly pÃssed in her shed, or when I was fourteen and I revisited the good old shed to find Beth busy with one of her boyfriends. However, my eighteenth New Year’s Eve promised to be one of the more interesting ones. Beth’s parents had decided to enlist their daughter in the party planning team, and she came up with the quite brilliant idea of making it fancy dress, which meant it was doubly likely that I’d make an utter idiot of myself. I mean, getting horribly drunk and doing something really stupid was one thing, but to do it dressed as a superhero or something was quite another, and that was why the whole costume decision thing had to have a bit of time spent on it. Jen suggested that we go as everyone’s favourite footballer and his wife, David and Victoria Beckham, which seemed quite fitting to be honest what with me being a footballer and Jen not being able to sing. Beth suggested that we go as Adam and Eve, as it would save on the cost of any costume as few leaves to cover certain areas wouldn’t be hard to find. I suggested that I’d probably need a lily pad rather than just a leaf to cover myself up, but that was only met with a “yeah, you wish†from Jen. Either way, it had to be a step up from my last appearance in public in fancy dress. I wasn’t even the best Batman there... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted February 22, 2004 Author Share Posted February 22, 2004 English Second Division vs Sheffield Wednesday (a) But before that I had the little matter of another crucial match in our bid to get out of the Second Division. After the Boxing Day defeat to Brighton we needed a good result to give ourselves a boost to kick-start the second half of our season, and to be perfectly honest Hillsborough probably wasn’t the best place to do that. Wednesday were a couple of points ahead of us in the table already, and we really couldn’t afford to let that gap get any bigger. So in our bid for a decent result we made a couple of changes, one forced and one unforced. Ibrahima Sonko was on international duty with Senegal and Scott Marshall took his place in the back three. However, the other change was pretty unexpected with Jamie Fullarton, one of our more experienced players, not only dropped from the starting lineup but the whole match squad, which came as a quite a surprise to both myself and a few others in the dressing room, especially Eddie Hutchinson who would replace him in the centre of midfield. While Fullarton’s form recently hadn’t been all that impressive it wasn’t exactly bad, and you’d have thought he’d get the nod in a match of this magnitude. It was a decision that looked even more baffling once the match had started. Without the battling qualities of Fullarton in the middle of the park Wednesday were practically just walking through our midfield and only a few well timed challenges from our defenders prevented the home side going ahead in the early stages of the match. Derek Geary twice had decent shots saved, one well held by Paul Smith, the other spilled and then pounced on before Leon Knight could get there. Shefki Kuqi was also causing us all sorts of problems in the air. Darryl Powell twice broke well down the left and swung crosses into the area for Kuqi to head powerfully towards goal, both going behind although the second needed a bit of help from Smith. However, Kuqi wasn’t going to make it a hat-trick of misses, and when Craig Armstrong hit an in-swinging corner kick from the left Kuqi rose unmarked at the near post and headed home with ease, and while he ran off to celebrate we just looked around at each other. I mean, when one of their main aerial threats is completely unmarked for a corner then you knew something wasn’t right. Still, we had over three quarters of the game to get back into the match and get something from the game. That’s what made it all the more disappointing when the minutes continued to tick by without us even having a kick of the ball in their half. There were completely on top of things, creating chance after chance after chance, and when they got a second goal the only surprising thing was that it had taken them so long and that it was one of our players who scored it. Powell again crossed the ball into the area from the left but nowhere near as well as he had been doing, so Smith came out confidently to collect the ball. However, Marshall decided to go for the safety first option and head the ball behind, but the sudden sight of our goalkeeper bearing down on him to get the ball made him take his eye off the ball and instead of putting it behind for a corner he put it into the back of the net to give the home side a two goal advantage before half time. We knew we’d lost the game there and then. The own goal was the only shot we’d managed in the first half, and in the end was the only shot we had in the entire match. Wednesday continued to dominate the match in the second half but weren’t trying anywhere near as hard as they had done in the first period, and only managed a few dozen chances, with substitute and former Brentford striker Lloyd Owusu very nearly getting a couple of hat-tricks in the dying moments. In general it was an awful performance, but under the circumstances it was absolutely shocking. We were going to have to play a lot better than that if we were to make anything of this season, that was for sure... Final Score:- Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Brentford Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 6; Roget 7, Christanval 8, Marshall 7; Naysmith 7, Dobson © 7, Hutchinson 6, Healy 7, Rowlands 7; Greenan 7, Constantine 6. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrier Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 Hey Nick great story, but i need more updates! + this reply will get it back to the top of the page Top stuff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted March 9, 2004 Author Share Posted March 9, 2004 Yeah, I'm aware of the shoddyness of my lack of updates. The dog ate them, honest. Anyway, hopefully I should be able to get back on track with this. I bet you're all delighted about that ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Who are you supposed to be?†I glared at him. “Darius.†“Oh...†“You know, the one of that Pop Idol thing? The one who went on about the love in the room and stuff?†“Oh yeah, yeah, I see it now. It’s really good...†He then quickly made a break for anywhere else that wasn’t stood there talking to me. I wasn’t surprised by how rubbish this had turned out. Obviously the person who’d suggested my ‘costume’ to me because of my apparently similarity to the talentless popster was clearly talking out of their arse and now I just looked like I hadn’t bothered to dress up, making me look like such an evil party ruiner. Elsewhere Beth, or rather Britney, was running around like a headless chicken as she was for the first time one of the co-hosts of the party and was spending much too much time trying to make sure everyone else was having a fun time, something that most people were having already, especially when both Alex and Joe turned up trying to be Neo out of The Matrix. They really should have turned up as the pantomime cow that they’d promised. At least they’d have been planning on making fools of themselves. Jen looked very nice as usual, joining Lauren in becoming one of those Hawaiian dancer people, although it was probably just a ploy by Lauren to show off as much flesh as possible and therefore pretty much guarantee herself some action later in the night. Hopefully Jen was banking on getting some too... “Darius?†I looked up. “I’m sorry?†“Darius. It’s who you’re supposed to be, right?†“Er, yeah...†She smiled at me. “I’m Kelly, Lauren’s friend.†“Oh right. That’ll explain the outfit then.†“Yeah, it was her idea. Jen wasn’t too keen at first, but you know what Lauren’s like. Once she decides she wants something she usually gets it, one way or another.†I smiled. “And what exactly did Lauren have to do to get Jen to wear that then?†“Oh, I couldn’t possibly tell you that! It’s top secret, very hush-hush...†“Like that, is it?†I held out my hand towards her. “I’m Nick. Nice to meet you Kelly.†“Nick...? Where have I...? Oh, you’re not Jen’s Nick, are you?†“Indeed I am.†“Oh...†I looked at her. She’d suddenly gone from seeming quite chirpy to a little down. “Haven’t disappointed you now, have I?†“Heh, don’t flatter yourself. Mind if I sit down?†I shook my head. “Course not.†She smiled and sat herself down next to me. Perhaps tonight wasn't going to be the complete wate of time I thought it was going to be... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted March 15, 2004 Author Share Posted March 15, 2004 Kelly and I just sat there for a while chatting. Whether she was genuinely interested in getting to know me or was just looking for an excuse to not have to dance embarrassingly like Jen and Lauren were was another matter, but I didn’t particularly mind. I guess it was more interesting that sitting on my own for a bit. The main problem though was that she already seemed to know a scarily large amount of things about me. She knew what I did for a living if you could call it that, she knew the kind of stuff I liked, the kind of stuff I didn’t like and what I’d had for dinner the previous night. I knew her name and that she looked quite nice in a grass skirt, which meant I was just spouting dull question after dull question after dull question. She didn’t seem to mind though and happily told me all about herself, things like where she lived, what she did at uni and how she thought her ex-boyfriend was “a complete and utter fuÂÂÂckwitâ€. Somehow she was giving me the impression there wasn’t going to be a glorious reconciliation somewhere down the line for them... However, I was never going to be able to just sit there all night talking to Kelly. Someone made certain of that by wandering towards me and throwing herself into my lap. “Hi Nick, how’s it going?†Jen then gave me a quick peck on the lips before I had a chance to answer her question. Kelly looked at the two of us uncomfortably. “Erm, I think I might leave you guys to it.†I turned to look at her. “Nah, don’t be silly. I’m sure Jen’ll be off again in search of something nice and alcoholic in a little bit.†“And what are you trying to imply there then? Are you calling me some kind of alky?†“Oh God no, not at all. I mean, you never ever touch the stuff, do you?†“Nah, never,†Jen said just before finishing off the first of what would probably a long line of vodka and oranges. I laughed, and then turned again to my left. “So Kelly, what do you...?†She wasn’t there. I looked at Jen. “Did you...?†She shook her head, and then slid off of my lap and onto the now empty seat next to me. “I’m sure she'll turn up sooner or later. Anyway, gives us a bit of time together, doesn’t it? Want another drink?†“Yeah, go on then,†I said. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t end the year completely and utterly piÂÂssed, would it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted March 16, 2004 Author Share Posted March 16, 2004 Two hours and far too many drinks later I was still sitting on the sofa that I’d occupied for the majority of the night. However, I was now having to share it with Beth and some guy who, at the start of the night neither of us had ever seen before, although Beth certainly acquainting her tongue with the inside of his mouth to make up for it. Jen was off somewhere else attending to Lauren as far as I knew. For Lauren one drink was usually one too many, so half a dozen was near coma-inducing and Jen, being the kind and loving sister that she was, decided that she’d make sure that her sister was OK, which meant that I was going to have to get up and find my own drink. I got up and wandered towards the kitchen quickly in the hope that I could get back to my seat before someone robbed it, but someone stopped that plan in its tracks... “Hello again,†a voice said from behind me as I was rummaging through the fridge. “Oh hi Kelly, I was wondering where you’d got to.†“Oh, I’ve been about, not that you’d know. Is this the first time that you’ve actually got up all night?†“Third actually. I’ve been to the toilet twice.†“Really? I assumed that you had a cup you were going in...†I smiled. “Ah, seems like you’ve had a good time then.†She smiled back at me. “Yeah, yeah I have.†We stood there for a second looking and smiling at each other. “Good to hear. It’s been alright, hasn’t it?†“Come on guys!†someone shouted from the front room. “It’s only a couple of minutes until midnight!†“Well, we’d better join everyone else then. Wouldn’t want to miss all the excitement of counting down from ten, would we?†“Oh no, definitely not...†she said before leading me back into the front room. I was right about one thing at least. In my absence my seat had been stolen, with Beth and her new friend now all over each other on the sofa, completely oblivious to the crowd that had now gathered in the room. I had a quick look around the room. Jen was nowhere to be seen. “Hey, have you seen Jen anywhere?†Kelly shook her head. “Nah, haven’t seen her for a while, not since she went upstairs with some guy.†I looked at her with an extremely worried expression on my face. “She what?†“Oh, I didn’t...I was only joking Nick! Aww, that’s so sweet of you to get all worried like that over a little joke.†The relief that I felt when Kelly said it was a joke was probably obvious to the entire room. “You really shouldn’t say things like that to me...†“Sorry. Anyway, as far as I know she’s still upstairs with Lauren, so unless they’re much much much closer than sisters should be you’ve got nothing to worry about. And even if you do...well, I do a very good impression of Jen if that’s any help.†I smiled at her. Everyone else was busy counting down the seconds, but for some reason that didn’t really appeal to me at that moment in time. “Really? What kind of impression? Just the voice or what?†“Well,†she said, moving a little closer to me, “why don’t I show you?†That was when she kissed me. Being just a little drunk at the time it took me a while to realise that she shouldn’t really be kissing me, and I certainly shouldn’t have been kissing her back, but for some reason my drunken logic wasn’t saying stop. If only Jen wasn’t standing on the other side of the room staring at us in horror... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted March 21, 2004 Author Share Posted March 21, 2004 As soon as I pulled away from Kelly I saw Jen out of the corner of my eye. She was just standing there looking at us, mouth open and a look of despair in her eyes. I turned to look at her, but as soon as I did she turned around and ran out through the back door, and started off down the garden path. Kelly put her hand on my shoulder. “What's wrong?†I looked at her for a moment, and then ran past her, out the door and after Jen. “Jen!†“I don't want to talk to you Nick. Just go away, OK?†she said as she continued to walk away from me. “Please Jen, at least give me a chance to explain!†She turned back towards me. “Go on then! Explain why you were kissing someone else!†I quickly racked my brain for a decent excuse. Somehow I doubt that the tried and trusted “I was at the dentist†or “the dog ate it†would work in this case... “OK, I can’t explain, but please don’t go! I didn’t mean to do it!†She looked at me in disbelief. “And that’s supposed to make it all better, is it?†“No, of course not! Look Jen, I love you, not anyone else.†“Well you’ve got a funny way of showing it, haven’t you?†“Look, I’m sorry. I’ll stand here and say ‘I’m sorry’ a million times if it’ll help.†“And why should I believe you’re sorry? I mean, if you’re going to go round doing things like that while I’m not looking then why should I believe a single word you say?†“Because I’m asking you to, that’s why. I swear it’ll never ever happen again.†She looked at me for a moment. “I want to believe you when you say that. I want to believe that you’ll never hurt me like this again, but I can’t. How do I know that on another night, at another party, you won’t go and do this again? How do I know you’ll stop next time? How do I know that you haven’t done all this before but I never found out?†“No, Jen, this is the first time I’ve ever... Please, I’ll never do this to you again. I mean, look at me. Do I look like I’m ever going to do this to you again?†“No, you’re not...†I breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Oh, than-“ “...because I’m not going to give you the chance. I don’t see how I can trust you any more and I can't be with someone that I don't trust.†I looked at her for a moment as what she’d just said dawned on me. “I’m sorry Nick. It’s over.†She then turned round and started walking towards the back gate. “Jen, please don’t... Jen! I love you Jen!†She didn’t look back... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 For a while afterwards I just sat there in the garden on the grass. Everyone else was back in the house starting the New Year in the way they meant to go on, but surprisingly I wasn't really in a partying sort of mood any more. I couldn't believe how stupid I'd been. I mean, I'd lost Jen because of a stupid kiss. I'd traded my partner and best friend in the whole world for a few seconds kissing a virtual stranger. I can't think of many other times I'd been that pathetically stupid. "Hey, what are you doing out here?" I looked over my shoulder. Obviously Beth had found a way to remove herself from her new boyfriend's lips. She started to walk towards me, furiously rubbing her bare arms as she went. "Jeez, you must be freezing out here! Of course, you are wearing a little more than me..." She then sat herself down on the grass next to me and sighed. "So what's up?" I looked at her. "You didn't see?" She shook her head. "See what?" "...It's over." Beth looked at me. It was pretty obvious she didn't have a clue what I was on about. "Over...? What's over?" "Me and Jen. We're finished." The puzzled look on her face changed to one of shock. "What...? Wh...why?" "I think it was because she didn't approve of me kissing other girls behind her back." "Oh Nick, you didn't?" I nodded my head. "Why do I have to go round fuÂÂÂÂcking everything up all of the time?" "Oh Nick," she said as she put one of her arms round my shoulders. "It'll be OK, you'll see. You never know, t might be all back on again in the morning." She smiled at me. I think we both knew that it wasn't really going to make much of a difference what she said or did, but I guess it was nice of her to bother trying when we both knew that she'd rather be back inside getting busy with that guy. "Hey, you wanna crash over here tonight? I know you were planning on staying over at Jen's, but I guess that's not gonna happen now..." "Yeah, that'd be great Beth, thanks." "OK then, you can have the spare room if there's not anyone busy in there already." She then stood up. "I'm going back inside. You coming?" I shook my head. "Nah, I might stay out here a bit longer, try and think what I'm going to say to her." "Ah. Good luck then." "Cheers." I had a feeling I was going to need it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted March 29, 2004 Author Share Posted March 29, 2004 English Second Division vs Bristol City (h) This was probably the last thing that I needed to be honest. After all the events of the night before I didn’t really feel in the mood to play a game of football, but perhaps it would help me take my mind off things for a couple of hours. Perhaps if I turned in a top-notch performance then Jen would be impressed and forgive me. Well, maybe not, but at least I might feel a little better about myself if I managed to give a half decent display for the fans. At least they still seemed to like me... There were a couple of changes, one forced and the other unforced. Ibrahima Sonko returned from international duty just in time to replace Philippe Christanval in the back three, the Frenchman having picked up a small knock in training leading up to the match. The other change saw Kevin O’Connor make a return to the starting lineup at the expense of Martin Rowlands, who was rested. This meant I slotted back into my more familiar role behind the front two for the first time in a couple of matches. We almost had a dream start to the match when, after just a couple of minutes, I was brought down on the edge of the area and the referee gave us a free kick. I picked myself up off the ground and went for a curler on my left foot, aiming for the top right hand corner, but it hit the wall on its way through and looped up towards the top left corner, leaving City keeper Steve Phillips completely wrong-footed. If the wall hadn’t taken all the pace off the ball it would have been a certain goal, but as it was the keeper was just able to scramble across to the other post and claw the ball away. After that the game settled down and the visitors came into the match a bit more. Scott Murray started to worry the defence, especially Leo Roget. Roget picked up a booking early on for a mistimed challenge on the Bristol winger, which not only meant that he would miss our next game through suspension, but also meant that he was walking a tightrope in this match. Murray was attempting to take full advantage of this, singling Roget out time and time again to run at, knowing that Roget wouldn’t be able to tackle him unless he knew he was going to win the ball. As such Murray was getting enough room to swing in a few decent crosses, the best of which was met at the far post by the head of Christian Roberts, but the header flew inches wide of the post. That near escape serves as a kick-start for us though. Colin Healy knocked a superb long ball over the top for Leon Constantine to chase and get to ahead of the keeper. He tapped it to his right for O’Connor to score the inevitable goal, but somehow O’Connor miscontrolled the ball and lost possession. However, luckily for him he lost possession to me, and I smashed the ball low into the net before Phillips had a chance to close me down. The second goal that followed just after the half hour mark was quite similar to the first. This time it was Eddie Hutchinson who knocked the ball over the top and I was the one who ran onto it. The Bristol defence just stood there staring at the linesman expecting the flag to go up, but as soon as they realised that the flag was never going to come I’d already gone round the keeper and rolled the ball into the empty net for my second of the game. Our little spell of pressure continued and yielded another goal just two minutes later. Again the simple formula of a decent ball through the defence to find a well timed run worked a treat, with my ball picking out Constantine’s run. He, just as I had done a few minutes before, skipped round the exposed keeper with ease and tapped the ball into the open goal and effectively killed the game off in the 36th minute. However, if there was any chance that City would make a comeback from 3-0 down, there was no chance whatsoever of a recovery from 4-0 down. With half time fast approaching O’Connor made good progress down the left hand side of the penalty area and stood up a decent ball to the far post. It sailed over Constantine’s head, over the outstretched arm of their keeper and right onto my head a couple of yards away from goal at the far post, and I made absolutely no mistake in grabbing my third goal of the match and my twentieth of the season. After all the excitement of the first half the fans were hoping for something similar in the second period, but unfortunately for them it never happened. Roberts fired in a couple of shots from distance that stung the hands of Paul Smith in our goal, and I had more than a couple of vague opportunities to further add to my goal tally, but neither side quite managed to pull anything off in the second period. Either way it was a vital win for us. This win helped us bounce back after a poor run of three straight defeats, and helped reignite our automatic promotion bid. However, I had other business to attend to before our next match at home to Blackpool a week later. I was going to need to put in another stellar performance there too... Final Score:- Brentford 4-0 Bristol City Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 8; Roget 8, Sonko 8, Marshall 7; Naysmith 8, Dobson © 8, Hutchinson 8, Healy 8, Greenan 10(3); O'Connor 8, Constantine 8(1). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted March 31, 2004 Author Share Posted March 31, 2004 “Jen!†I hammered my fist against the front door for the seventeenth time. For the seventeenth time there was no response. I knelt down on the doorstep and opened the letterbox. “Oh come on Jen,†I shouted, “this is silly!†I took my mouth away from the letterbox and peered through it instead to see if there was anyone moving about. I knew she was in there. I mean, it was either that or she’d gone out without her coat or shoes and had a special machine that occasionally made her bedroom curtains move as if there were someone trying to look out of the window without being noticed. “I’ve already told you Jen, I’ll stay here all day if I have to. If I have to stand here and tell you and the whole street how sorry I am and how much of an idiot I’ve been then I will, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m going to do what it takes to get you to listen to me, OK†I waited for a few seconds, desperately hoping for even the tiniest of responses from inside the house, but there was nothing. “Jen!†I shouted as I hammered against the door for the eighteenth time, before I gave up and slumped down on the doorstep with my back against the front door. “OK, have it your way then. I’ll just wait here.†I folded my arms and started racking my brain, searching for even the slightest idea of what to do next. Was this really the best way to try and get her back Maybe it was being a bit pushy, coming here and laying siege to her front door, but maybe that was a good thing. Maybe this would prove to her just how much she meant to me. Suddenly I heard the noise of a door being opened and I fell backwards into the house. “Jen doesn’t want to see you. Isn’t that obvious†“Oh God, Lauren!†I said, picking myself up off the doormat and back onto my feet again. “You’ve got to help me!†“Help you Why the hell would I want to do that Do you know what you’ve done to my sister†I started to sense that Lauren wasn’t exactly on my side here. “I know, I know, and I’m sorry. I just need to tell Jen that, to try and make things right again.†“And why should she give you the chance If I was in her shoes then you’d have been lucky to just get away with this as easily as-“ “Lauren...†We both looked up the stairs. Jen was stood there in her dressing gown, peering down at us. “I’m sorry Jen, I know I shouldn’t have let him in. I just wanted to tell him to get lost, that’s all.†“It’s OK Lauren, I...†She paused for a moment before turning her head to face me. “Nick, I...I don’t want to see you at the moment. What you did...it really hurt me.†“I know, and I-“ “Please Nick, just listen. I need to sort things out in my head, OK If you really do care about me as much as you say you do then please just give me some space. This is something I need to decide by myself.†I sighed. “OK, I’ll leave you to it. Let me know when you’ve...made your decision, alright†She nodded. “Sure.†I smiled at her, and turned back towards the door. Lauren wasted no time in opening it wide open for me, but before I left I felt I had to do one last thing. I turned back towards Jen, looked right into her eyes and opened my mouth. “I love you Jen.†Jen looked at me for a second before she turned round and went back up the stairs. And that was it. Now I just had to wait and see what she wanted to do. I had a feeling that it was going to be a long couple of days... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted April 7, 2004 Author Share Posted April 7, 2004 “Look,†Beth said, putting the drink she’d just bought me down in front of me before sitting herself down in the seat opposite mine, “Jen’ll come round in the end.†“You reckon?†“Of course she will! She loves you too much to just throw it away over some silly meaningless kiss. I mean, you said she’s trying to figure things out in her own head right? That means that she must still at least have some feelings for you, otherwise there’d not be anything to sort out.†“I guess... But how much time am I supposed to give her? Days? Weeks? Months? I’m not sure if I can really take much more waiting...†“Just give her however long she needs. It’ll all sort itself out in the end,†she said, rubbing my hand in an attempt to make me feel better. It kind of worked. “Thanks Beth. You know, it was nice of you to ask me out tonight. I mean, I’m sure you could have a bit more fun with some other guys, if you know what I mean.†She looked at me with a half amused and half shocked expression. “No, I’m not sure I do know what you mean Nick. Why don’t you go into a bit more detail?†“Well, what about that guy you were all over at the party? I’m sure he’d be more...entertaining company than me.†“Oh that’s not very likely. We’re kind of already split up, although we weren’t exactly very together in the first place.†“Really? I guess that’s a bit rubbish then.†“Yeah, I guess, but I didn’t really want to talk about it tonight to be honest. I didn’t want to burden you with my petty little relationship problems when you’ve got all that stuff with Jen to think about.†“Nah, don’t worry about it. It would be good to get my mind off of it for a while. What went wrong then?†“Well, I caught him with some girl actually.†“Ah...†“See, that’s why I didn’t really want to talk about it, but you and Jen are different. You regret what you did. The only thing that he probably regrets is that I wasn’t there in bed with him and his other bird...†“I’m sorry to hear that.†“Thanks. I’m not too bothered about it really. Sure, he was quite good looking and stuff, but he wasn’t all that really.†Beth sighed. It looked like I wasn’t really the only one who wasn’t particularly happy with life at the moment. “You alright Beth?†“Yeah, I’m...†She looked down at her now empty glass. “You fancy another drink or twenty? I feel like getting completely and utterly wasted.†I smiled. “Yeah, why not? Let’s make this a night we can’t remember...†I woke up. It was morning. As soon as my eyes opened, I had to close them again. Bright light and hangovers don't go well together. It was obviously quite late, so I looked around for something with the time on it. Something caught my eye though... “...Beth?†Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted April 8, 2004 Author Share Posted April 8, 2004 Beth rolled over, bumped into me and woke with a jump, but that was nothing compared to when she nearly jumped out of her skin when she realised it was me who she was laying next to. “Nick?! Oh God, what are you...? What am I...? Oh God...†I just stared at her, not quite able to believe what I was seeing. Of all the stupid idiotic things I could have done... “Oh God, how could we? I mean, Jen... Oh God, she’s going to kill me. She’ll never want to speak to me again, not after this. She’ll never forgive me, never...†She was right. Jen was never going to forgive either of us after this. If the last couple of days had taught me anything then it was that faithfulness was very important to Jen, and getting into bed with Beth wasn’t exactly the most faithful thing that I could have done. “And what about you two? I’ve ruined everything between you two now, and it’s all my fault. I had to go and ruin things for you, I had to go and fuÂÂÂck things up. Oh God...†Then something crossed my mind. “Beth...†“What?†I paused for a minute, thinking if this was really the best thing to say, but I didn’t think I had a choice. “Jen’s not going to be angry.†She looked at me in disbelief. “What are you on about? She’s going to be absolutely fuÂÂÂcking furious!†“No, she’s not going to be angry because...because we’re not going to tell her.†“Wh...what? “We’re not going to tell her. There’s no point. It’ll just ruin things for everyone.†“But...but...†We looked at each other, exchanging nervous glances as we digested my not-so-cunning plan. “I don’t know Nick. I don’t want to have to lie to Jen, it’s not fair on her.†“Do you think I want to lie to her either? If we tell her this it’ll break her heart. She’ll hate me for sleeping with you. Anyone else and it would be bad enough, but you... She knows how I felt about you, and she’ll get the wrong end of the stick and think I was waiting for this to happen all this time or something.†Beth suddenly looked a bit more nervous than she already did. “That’s not true, is it?†“No, of course it’s not! I love Jen, OK? I’m just not doing the best job of making sure she still loves me, that’s all.†She closed her eyes for a moment and then sighed. “We never ever mention this again, OK? We leave what happened last night there, in the past. We don’t ever speak about it, not to each other, not to anyone. We try and pretend it never happened, right?†I nodded. There was a horrible feeling in my gut about all this. I knew that I was doing the wrong thing in lying to Jen about this, but telling her didn’t make any sense. Perhaps in this case the two wrongs of me sleeping with Beth and then lying about it would make a right. I was certainly hoping they would anyway, I didn’t really have much of a choice anymore... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian of Nazareth Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 Jesus Christ. From a guy who can't to manwhore in just a few months Congratulations Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostwriter Posted April 11, 2004 Share Posted April 11, 2004 just caught up, class as per usual definitely having a bit of luck with the ladies as well , although it is all bound to end in tears Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevethedog Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I wonder if they are going to make a film about this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted April 17, 2004 Author Share Posted April 17, 2004 Cheers guys. Not sure if there's a film in the pipeline yet steve, but I'd suggest a cast of me as..erm..me, and Katie Holmes as Jen. Yeah, that'd be really nice... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- English Second Division vs Blackpool (h) In the end it seemed that giving Jen a bit of time and space to get her head sorted was a good idea. Whether I’d have been able to have a vaguely normal conversation with her anyway after what happened with Beth was another matter, but with the matches coming thick and fast at the moment I had something to take my mind off the current disaster area which was my love life. Blackpool were having a distinctly average season so far. Languishing in mid-table obscurity at the moment, they probably weren’t going to be dragged into the relegation dogfight at the foot of the table, but probably weren’t going to make a serious challenge for the playoffs unless they started to show some significant improvement, and we were hoping that we wouldn’t be the first team to see such a change. After beating them fairly comfortably at the start of the season away from home 2-0 we were looking for a similar scoreline, although we were going through a consistently inconsistent phase at the moment, playing brilliantly at times and awfully at others. As far as the lineup was concerned there was just a single change, that being Philippe Christanval coming back into the side to replace the suspended Leo Roget. Martin Rowlands, who was apparently being watched by a couple of First Division clubs such as Derby, was still not fully fit and had to again settle for a place on the bench, meaning Kevin O’Connor could continue up front. It was questionable whether we could have possibly got off to a worse start than we did. Ex-Manchester United winger Ben Thornley got the ball down the left in acres of space and used the time he had to whip in a great ball to the far post, where John Murphy half volleyed the ball past a helpless Paul Smith just 40 seconds into the match. The crowd, which had only really just got started, fell silent except for the small pocket of supporters who’d made the long trip down from the north, and we had to make sure that we didn’t let our heads drop on the pitch either. It was lucky for us then that Blackpool’s defence didn’t seem to have improved much since the last time we’d faced it. A few quick passes and well timed through balls seemed to cause them all sorts of problems, and it was just 7 minutes until they finally cracked, albeit slightly fortuitous. Christanval sent a long ball forward that Leon Constantine flicked on towards me. I tried to burst into the box but with Blackpool skipper Ian Hughes in close attention I decided on an early shot before Hughes had the chance to rob the ball from me. I struck the ball hard, aiming for the top left hand corner but instead hit the outstretched leg of Hughes, which sent the ball looping up into the air and into the top left corner. It wasn’t exactly what I’d planned to happen, but it was an equaliser and I didn’t really care less how it had got in there. However, to make up for the good piece of luck we’d just received we handed the lead straight back to Blackpool. Keith Southern sent a long hopeful ball forward which went straight into the hands of Smith in goal. Unfortunately for us it came straight back out of his hands and fell at the feet of Richard Walker, who couldn’t really miss an open goal from a few yards out. It was, to be perfectly honest, a shocking mistake from Smith who always seemed to have an extremely safe pair of hands, and was exactly the last thing we wanted to happen after just getting ourselves level in the game. The rest of the first half and beginning of the second half was pretty mundane stuff. We kept trying to force another equaliser but there was just that little something missing at the end. It was either the decent cross to find one of our players unmarked in the box, the final ball to a well positioned striker or the decent finish when I found myself with the ball on the left of the area and didn’t even hit the target. Our luck just didn’t seem to want to change, but we did seem to be bringing it on ourselves a bit as well. After a really decent spell of pressure just after the hour mark where we had three successive corners after a good long range effort from Colin Healy was well blocked, Blackpool tried to hit us on the counter attack down the right hand side of the pitch. Danny Coid linked up well with Murphy and ran at Eddie Hutchinson near the corner of the penalty area. Coid knocked it past him, went to run round him but Hutchinson just barged him over, seemingly happier to give away the free kick rather than actually put the effort in and chase after the ball. If only he’d actually realised that they were inside the penalty area and he’d just given away the most pointless penalty ever then he might not have done what he did, but in any case Leam Richardson stepped up and sent Smith the wrong way to give Blackpool a two goal lead. That was enough for half of the supporters, who decided they’d leave us to lose the match on our own. I didn’t last much longer either, and was replace by Mark Peters after a distinctly average performance in a desperate attempt to make a late comeback. Instead it was 4-1 soon after Peters’ introduction. John Hills took a corner on the left hand side which Murphy met unchallenged in the middle of the box. The ball hit Hutchinson just in front of Smith, who looked to have the ball covered, and ricocheted off of Hutchinson’s leg and went into the net. By the time the final whistle had put us out of our misery there were only really Blackpool supporters left in the stands, and they were too busy celebrating an unexpectedly emphatic victory to boo us off the pitch like we’d deserved. It was an awful performance, and to lose at home to a team like Blackpool so badly really brought into question whether we were indeed good enough to go up this year. If we carried on playing like that then we’d probably be more suited to the Third Division rather than the First. Final Score:- Brentford 1-4 Blackpool Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 6; Marshall 7, Sonko 7, Christanval 8; Naysmith 8, Dobson © 7, Hutchinson 6, Healy 8, Greenan 7(1) (Peters sub 76, 7); O'Connor 6. Constantine 8. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted April 20, 2004 Author Share Posted April 20, 2004 Unfortunately, a hugely disappointing defeat at home was to be one of the high points of the day for me. Almost as soon as I got out of the ground and was just about to set off home my phone started making a nuisance of itself, beeping furiously until I opened the message it was so desperate for me to read. “Could you come over to mine sometime this evening? We need to talk.†This was it. After nearly a week of trying to figure things out on her own, Jen finally wanted to talk to me. I wasn’t sure if I was pleased that she was finally going to put me out of my misery. I mean, it was going to be great if she was going to say that things should go back to how they were before all this mess happened, but what if that wasn’t what she wanted to talk about? What if she wanted to tell me it was over? What if she wanted to end things between us completely there and then? And then something else struck me. What if she somehow knew about what happened between me and Beth? I hadn’t spoken to Beth for a couple of days, as we were both a little bit busy doing various things and, to be perfectly honest, things were a little uncomfortable between the two of us still. Maybe she’d let something slip in front of Jen somehow. Maybe she’d just come right out and told her in an attempt to soothe her slightly guilty conscience. She did say that she didn’t want to lie to Jen, so perhaps she’d already given up trying after just a few days. Then I realised I was being stupid, not that that was anything particularly new. There wasn’t really any point in me getting all worried about what Jen was going to say. Sure, she could be about to tell me to get lost, but she might not be. Sure, she might have somehow found out about me and Beth, but she might not. Things might be perfectly fine for all I knew. I just had to get myself calmed down, sort my head out, work out exactly what I was going to say and go round there and find out. If only it were that simple... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted April 21, 2004 Author Share Posted April 21, 2004 “Oh, it’s you.†I smiled weakly. “Hi Jen.†“I didn’t think you were going to come round so soon after the match, so I was just about to eat something.†“Oh, I can come back if I’m-“ “No, don’t be silly. Come in.†I stepped through the doorway and Jen closed the door behind me. Before I’d had the chance to even try and say anything she’d raced off to the kitchen. “Sit yourself down in the front room, I’ll just be a second.†I took my coat of and went to hang in on one of the pegs by the door when I noticed my hand slightly shaking. This was getting silly. I’d been going through what I was going to say and what Jen was going to say almost non-stop on the way over to her house, so much so that I’d been muttering to myself on the train home, getting myself some pretty odd looks from my fellow passengers as I did my resident mentalist impression. And as I sat there on the sofa, waiting for what seemed like eternity for Jen to return from the kitchen, I started up again. How was I going to change her mind if she said something I didn’t want to hear? Try and play it cool, sweet talk her round to my point of view? Start arguing in an attempt to show how much she meant to me? Perhaps I should- “You say something?†I looked up at Jen, now standing just in front of me with a puzzled look on her face. “Oh no, I was just...†“You know, they say that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness,†she said, sitting down on the sofa alongside me. “Oh I’ve gone way past the first signs, believe me.†She smiled briefly before her scarily serious face shortly returned. “Look, perhaps we should...get down to business as it were, yeah?†I nodded. “OK, I’ll go first. Over the last few days I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my life, things like what I want to do, where I want to be, and who I want to be there with me. I’ve been trying to look at the bigger picture, trying to see who and what’s there...†She paused for a moment. “...But you don’t see me there, do you?†“Nick, can you let me finish please? I’ll say what I have to say and then you can have your turn, OK?†I nodded my head again. “Thank you. Anyway, as I was saying, I’ve been looking to the future. I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but I got a letter from Cambridge the other day. They’ve offered me a place to there next year.†“That’s great,†I said, responding before my brain could remember that it was supposed to be keeping my mouth shut. “Sorry.†“It’s OK, I’m pleased too. I mean, I’ve still got a hell of a lot of work to do but it’s a step in the right direction. So hopefully in however many months it is I’ll be off there to take the next big step in my life, which would mean we’d already be on borrowed time. I’m sure you’re not planning on staying round here forever. I’ll bet there are loads of teams that would love to have you playing for them, and if you went off somewhere in the summer then we might end up on opposite sides of the country to each other or something. We’d probably barely see each other-“ Suddenly I felt I had to interrupt. “Is this your way of saying that you don’t want to be with me anymore?†She looked at me for a moment before turning away and closing her eyes. “Nick, I’m...†“Jen, why don’t you tell me the real reason why you want us to split up and stop hiding between this ‘I’m trying to think of the future’ rubbish? I know you. You’ve wanted this for a long time and you wouldn’t just end it because we might have to spend a little bit of time apart. Don’t you think I deserve an honest answer or something?†She sighed before turning back towards me. “You are my best friend in the whole world Nick. You’ve helped me through so much of my life up until now and you know and understand me better than anyone else ever will do. I never want to lose that between us, and yeah, when we’re together and happy it’s great. I feel so lucky, so special, but it’s when we’re not happy that scares me. When you do things like you’ve already done to me it tears me apart, and that was only a kiss. When we stood there, arguing away in Beth’s garden, I remember looking at you and, for a split second at least, I actually thought I might hate you. I never, ever want to feel like that again as long as I live, but if we’re together then I don’t trust you enough anymore to believe that something won’t happen. I’m scared that if we’re together then one of us will do something that’ll not only ruin what we have together as lovers but also what we have together as friends too, and I’m not willing to gamble on our friendship Nick, no matter how good the rewards might be. Do you understand?†I continued staring into space in a sort of disbelief. It was exactly what I didn’t want to hear, but I just couldn’t blame her whatsoever for saying it. “Yeah...†“Good. Look, I know it’ll be hard at first for us to try and be just friends again. I know things won’t just change back overnight, but I want us to try and work this out. And who knows, maybe one day somewhere along the line there can be something more between us again. I thought that what we had for a while was pretty good, right? Nick?†“Oh...yeah, sure.†I was trying my best not to seem too upset, too angry, too bitter, but it didn’t seem to be working too well. “So,†Jen said, trying to keep the conversation alive somehow, “is there anything you want to say?†I paused for a moment, trying to think if it was worth the bother of trying to change her mind, but I couldn’t see a point. “No, not really. You’ve pretty much said everything that needs to be said I think. In fact,†I said as I stood up, “I think I mighty go now actually.†“Oh, you don’t have to.†“I think it’s best if I do. You’ve got your dinner to be eating, and I... Look, I’ll see you later, OK?†“Yeah, of course.†I turned quickly towards the door and went to go through it before Jen stopped me in my tracks. “I’m really sorry Nick, you do know that, right?†I looked back at her. “Yeah,†I said nodding, “me too...†Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 20, 2004 Share Posted May 20, 2004 You can't leave us hanging like this, what's happened?!? More dramatic tension than an episode of Eastenders........ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredbulbasaur Posted May 20, 2004 Author Share Posted May 20, 2004 sorry, i have those evil things known as uni exams to sort out at the moment and as such i haven't had much time to do this properly, although i will start doing this again in about a month or so. see you then Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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