At Seventeen
Chapter 8
"You came," he said breathlessly. The look on his face
told all. He had doubted that they would have. Immediately he ushered them into
the pub. It seemed a lot quieter than usual, but then again, people were
straining their eyes to see the two girls next to him. Their talk soon resumed,
and the atmosphere became louder and busier.
Mark sat at a table at the back. Eimear's first impressions of him were good. He
was tall, dark, handsome - the stereotypical perfect guy. He caught her eye and
smiled. Bryan sat down with Jane, and Mark made space for Eimear. "So,
Eimear?" he asked, trying to be unassuming. She flashed a smile. "I'm
not anyone else." "She always says that to everyone," said Jane
in a dull tone. "She's so boring." Her hand was in Bryan's, and she
had a look on her face that said that anything not involving Bryan was really
not worth talking about. Knowing Jane's mood swings, Eimear was not perturbed by
this comment, although other girls might have quaked at it.
Mark glanced at Jane, sizing her up. As far as he could see, she was clearly
into Bryan in a big way, but apart from that, he couldn't see any good point
about her. She didn't seem bright, or witty, or charming, or even friendly. She
was decent looking, but not what he'd call beautiful. Her friend seemed much
different though. He turned to Eimear and smiled. "Kian was supposed to
join us, but he hasn't turned up yet."
"Well, he might have trouble getting away," said Bryan, staring at
Mark intently, giving the message 'They don't know about Shane'. Mark gave a
slight nod back. "How do you mean?" said Jane. But Eimear, not so slow
on the uptake, had guessed there was some story behind it that the lads did not
want them to know. And to Bryan and Mark's astonishment, she caught both their
attentions, gave a brief grin, and convinced Jane that she was desperately
needed to accompany her to the ladies'. The twosome left Bryan and Mark; Bryan
gave Eimear the thumbs up as she left, and Mark shot her a grateful look. They
needed to talk - alone.
"What do you think?" murmured Bryan, after they had left. He was
trying to sound nonchalant, but so far was failing miserably. "About Jane,
you mean?" "Yeah." "You sure you want my honest
opinion?" Mark looked at Bryan seriously. "Oh no, you didn't like
her." "No, Bry, let's just say first impressions weren't good."
Mark put his lager down as he reflected on Jane. "She didn't seem- well I
suppose she's good looking, and she likes you, but is that really enough?"
"Course it is!"
"But Bryan, she's really not-" Mark paused, trying to find words that
wouldn't offend Bryan. "She's not very bright, she doesn't seem very
interested in anything, no interests, no nothing. She lives for you, and that's
very nice and all, but when she does nothing else, it can't be right."
"She has her friends." "Yeah, Eimear. I can understand how you
fancied her. I just can't figure out how you prefer Jane to her."
"Look!" Bryan stood up. "Jane is fantastic! She's everything to
me!" "Are you sure about that?" queried Mark, in a low tone.
"If in six months, nine months time, she wants to get married, what do you
say then? What do you do when we go back on tour again? Are you going to keep
seeing her? You meet other girls and they seem interested in you. They're
brighter, more full of life, prettier even. You're still going to be
faithful?" "For God's sake, Mark, I haven't even thought that far down
the line."
"But you have to, Bry," said Mark, desperately. "'Cause I can
tell that's what she wants." "I don't know. I just don't know."
Bryan put his head in his hands. "I've only spent a day with them,
honestly. You've only spent three minutes with them!" "Long enough to
know." There was silence between them both. "Do you want to go outside
for a breath of air?" was Mark's break to the quiet. "Yeah. Jane won't
be back yet."