The Weekend - Completed

Chapter 11

By the time we got to 'The Swan' I was exhausted by the events of the day. The tumultuous, emotional rollercoaster I'd been on since I'd arrived only an hour ago had left me not only drained but a little anti-social as well. I trudged lethargically though the oversized door.

It was just after four on a drizzly, Thursday afternoon, the thought of going to the pub had appealed to me because I was looking forward to a couple of hours relaxation and some easy conversation. Back in the real world kids were just getting in from school, mums were making the dinner; workers were impatiently glancing at the clock as the last hour idly ticked by. Walking into the bar I'd expected to see the obligatory half dozen or so old men propping the bar up and talking to the landlord, as was their daily routine and Mark with one or two other boys playing pool.

I was not expecting the place to be heaving, the noise from inside hit me like a blast of icy, cold air, and took my breath away in much the same way. Opposite the door was the aged, dark wooden bar, it ran the width of the room but was only a couple of feet deep. The optics and brass which adorned the bar glimmered in the glow from the many lights. From what I could see there was an elderly couple behind the bar, and despite their advanced years they worked quickly and kept the horde of thirsty academics sated and controlled. Over to the right was the games area, this housed two pool tables and a dart board; it was from this direction I could hear our names being called.

"Daniel, James over here" Mark shouted as we walked over to meet him. As I looked around I recognised several faces from the party I'd been to during my first visit, most of which I still couldn't put a name to, a few of the girls from Katie's dorm waved over for me to join them, I indicated to James my intention.

"I'll bring you a drink over" he said as we went our separate ways. I was regaled with a chorus of salutations and smiles; Sarah shifted to the left and patted the vacant space on the bench next to her for me to sit down. Around the table we exchanged pleasantries until James arrived with my drink, scooting me along he sat on my right. James sat very close to me and only spoke when asked a direct question; even then his answers were expressed with clarity and brevity, with no wasted words. I glanced at him worriedly several times and he half smiled at me, I know this was suppose to make me feel better but his eyes betrayed his true emotions and I squeezed his hand gently and mimicked his expression. Sarah caught our interaction and clearly misinterpreting it, her eyes widened and a vibrant, stunning smile lit up her face. She nudged me playfully and giggling through her words asked,

"When did this happen?" not giving me time to answer she continued, "James is so lovely, I'm so happy for you", I cut her off before she could go any further.

"Slow down! We're just friends...for now" I said hoping this would put pay to her enthusiasm. I know I had promised James I'd be his pretend girlfriend, but I didn't want to lie to her, she'd been one of the few people here who I knew didn't have an edge to them, she was just nice, someone you can trust and I wanted to be as honest as I could be, at least to her.

"Come on let's have a game of pool", James said, getting up from the bench and dragging me across the room."We're up next" he announced to the cluster of friends ensconced amongst the games area.

"Actually, its winner stays on", Chris boomed, "I'm just racking up, Mark you don't mind if little Alex has a go, this'll only take a couple of minutes" he said smirking. I think half the student population knew Mark had a bit of a soft spot for me, so Chris knew he wouldn't object and I could see from his sneer my humiliation over the next couple of minutes would be his revenge for our last encounter.

"You can break, do you need me to explain the rules to you sweetheart?" he asked patronisingly, "Or do you need me to show you how to hold the pool stick... in this game we call it a cue".