Putting The Buzz Back Into The Bees...

[alfredbulbasaur]

“Come on Nick!†Mick shouted from the coach door. “We’re running behind already without you making us later!â€

“Yeah, just a sec...†I said, picking up my bags. Someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“Um, excuse me...†they said. I turned around, and saw a guy not much younger than me. “Could I have your autograph, Mr Greenan?â€

I was quite chuffed. No-one had really recognised me yet, and having someone recognise you enough to want your autograph was a pleasing experience. "Yeah, sure. You got a pen...?"

“Oh yeah, just a second...†he said, before rummaging through both his trouser pockets in search of one. I looked round to see a few of the other guys smiling at what was happening.

“I’ve got all their autographs already,†he said. “I’ve got autographs of almost every player who’s played here since 1993.†He grinned, looking extremely pleased with himself.

“Yeah?†I said. I guess it was sort of impressive, especially when he handed me a rather thick book full of the said autographs. I had a flick through, trying to see if I recognised any. “Whose is that?†I asked, pointing to a particularly swirly signature.

“Oh, that’s Neil Warnock,†he said, his face beaming. “After Brentford, Sheffield United’s my favourite team. I think he’s great. I’d quite like him to come down and manage Brentford really...†Mick glared at him. “Not that there’s anything wrong with the current management, that is...â€

“Right...â€

He took the book from me, now that he’d finally located a dirty looking biro.

“OK, could you sign there?â€

“Do you want me to write anything in particular?â€

He looked a bit confused.

“...What’s your name?â€

“Steven.â€

“OK, ‘To Steven, all the best in the future, Nick Greenan’.†He looked pleased. I handed the book back to him. “Here you go.†His face lit up.

“Oh, cheers Nick, that’s great!â€

I picked up my bag, and gestured towards the coach. “I’ll be off now then...†He looked sort of disappointed.

“Oh, OK then. Good luck with the game today!â€

“...Cheers. Bye.â€

I turned round and left him staring at his autograph book with an almighty grin on his face. Smithy was laughing at me.

“What?â€

“Ah, don’t worry. With time you’ll learn to avoid him.â€

“What’s wrong with him? He didn’t seem all that bad for a nerd, I suppose...â€

“Oh, you’ll see soon enough...â€

“Get on the bloody coach!†Mick screamed.

“Alright, alright,†I muttered to myself, jogging up the stairs. This wasn’t going to be a very fun coach trip, I could tell...

[alfredbulbasaur]

English Second Division vs Port Vale (a)

After a surprisingly good start to the season, we another away day, this time at Port Vale. They were well fancied to do quite well this season, and although their early season form didn�t paint that picture with just a solitary win to their name, they would surely start to move up the table. Hopefully only after we'd finished with them, of course...

We were still without captain Michael Dobson, whose injury on the opening day was still keeping him out of the team, so we named the same side that faced Wrexham in midweek. We hadn't done that badly without him, I guess.

Unfortunately in the first half we didn�t do that well. Vale didn�t seem interested in attacking, and instead sat back hoping to catch us out on the break. This meant that many of our chances were from distance with their defence proving difficult to break down, something we only managed to do once in the entire first half. Matt Carragher tried to run the ball out of defence down the left side, but instead lost the ball to me. I looked up, swung a right footed ball into Kevin O'Connor, whose header was well saved by Mark Goodlad. O'Connor pounced on the rebound, but Goodlad was again equal to the task and beat it away.

Unsurprisingly we went in with the game scoreless. They managed a solitary shot on goal from about 30 yards out, which Marc Bridge-Wilkinson put well wide. However, with a couple of pot-shots from around the edge of the area from me, Jamie Fullarton and Martin Rowlands, we weren�t a great deal better. We certainly had to up our game in the second period.

And that was exactly what we did. Vale held the ball in defence before Neil Brisco attempted to play the ball past Leon Constantine, and failed. Constantine then ran through unmarked, but Goodlad again pulled out a fine save to deny us the lead. Constantine then went even closer a few minutes later when Fullarton made a good run down the left wing, crossed well only for Constantine to head against the post.

We sensed that we were starting to dominate the game, and continued to push for the opening goal. Brisco again dawdled on the ball with Gary Naysmith dispossessing him this time. He knocked a ball into Constantine's path, who was again denied by Goodlad. However, the rebound fell straight to O�Connor, who somehow managed to send his shot wide. It was a bad miss, and you started to get the feeling it just wasn�t going to be our day, especially when I found myself clean through from a Fullarton pass, and just as I was about to round the keeper Carragher appeared from nowhere to muscle me off the ball. I looked round to the referee who wasn't having any of it.

The breakthrough finally came just four minutes before the end. Eddie Hutchinson and Rowlands passed the ball between themselves 40 yards out, waiting for something to open up in front of them. I obliged, making a run towards the right-hand corner of the penalty area, exactly where Hutchinson sent the ball. Goodlad came to smother the ball, but my first touch took the ball past him, and from a tightish angle I rolled the ball into the empty net, and ensured that our travelling supporters would go home happy, and we'd go home with the three points.

Final Score:- Port Vale 0-1 Brentford

Team:- (3-5-2) P. Smith 7; Roget 8, Christanval 7, Marshall 8; Naysmith 8, Hutchinson 8, Fullarton 8, Rowlands © 8 (J. Smith sub 89, 6), Greenan 8(1); Constantine 6 (Peters sub 79, 6), O'Connor 7.

[alfredbulbasaur]

"...Are you sure she'll be there...? Yeah...? Is he going to be there...? Oh right...No, it doesn't matter, I just need her to be there...She'll definitely be there...OK, cheers Joe. Bye."

With the success I was having on the pitch, I was in an unusually good mood. I don’t think I’d really been this happy since my sister went to France for a week. However, I knew that there was definitely room for improvement. It just needed the last piece of the puzzle to slot nicely into place, and that was where tonight came in...

"You come here often?" she asked.

"Er, yeah, sometimes. Depends on work."

"Oh yeah? What do you do?"

"I'm a footballer."

"Really?" She seemed dead chuffed. "Who do you play for?"

"Brentford."

"Oh...†She seemed quite disappointed by my reply, something that I’d started to get used to when I told them who I played for. Somehow Brentford didn’t quite have the glamour of an Arsenal or a Chelsea. “I didn’t know they even had a team... Still, you off to some proper team soon?"

I smiled wryly. "Erm, not quite yet, but you never know."

And then I saw her.

"So, do you wanna-?"

"Listen..." I paused to think for a moment. "...Sorry, what's you name again?"

"Kate."

"Right, Kate, I've gotta go somewhere. Nice talking to you."

"But you were going to buy me a drink!"

I dug a couple of quid out of my pocket, and put it on the bar.

"Have one on me..."

Thankfully, she wasn't part of the plan. Being one of the better looking girls from Feltham, she of course had the brains of a rubber duck, was half as interesting to talk to and would have had to put clothes on to be arrested for indecent exposure. Thankfully, the most beautiful girl in all of London had just arrived...

"Beth!"

"Nick!" She seemed surprised to see me. "I'm surprised to see you. I’d have thought you had a match or whatever..."

"Nah, not for a few days now." I looked over her shoulder. He was here.

"James mate, good to see you!" I said, pretending I was in any way pleased to see him.

"Er...Nick, isn't it?"

"Yeah, Nick. So, what you two doing here, as if I need to ask..."

"Oh, James isn't staying," replied Beth.

"Yeah?†I could barely contain my excitement. “Where you off to mate?"

"Oh, I've got work tonight."

"And what do you do?"

"I work in this big warehouse. You know, lifting stuff about, doing this and that..."

"Really? Sounds great. What sort of warehouse?"

"Er, I'm not sure...it's big and white. Not really anything special..." He was being particularly thick tonight, and that was saying something...

"Nah mate, I mean what stuff's inside it?"

"Oh right, I get ya now. It's a bit of everything really, depends what they decide to get in stock, don't it?"

"Great..." I looked at my watch, trying to give him a hint. He took it.

"Well, I'd better be off. I'll see you tomorrow babe." He leaned over and gave her a goodbye kiss, and left. And now I knew what I had to do...

[Steve Dine]

good stuff as ever Mr. Greenan

[alfredbulbasaur]

It was the whole point of going out that night - to talk to Beth. I had to tell her how I felt for her, and I had to do it now. Everything else was going so well, so I decided to do this while I was on a roll. But it wasn't going to be easy...

"So what-"

"Beth, I-"

There was a momentary pause while we realised what happened. I smiled, and decided to let her go first.

"Go on, what were you going to say?"

"Oh, I was going to ask what you were doing here tonight. You don't normally come out on your own very often..."

She was right. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy going out for the night, it was more the fact that I didn’t particularly like drinking on my own. Not being the most confident of people seriously hindered my ability to pick up someone to talk to, and the prospect of sitting at the bar alone getting drunk didn’t really appeal to me. Luckily for me that wasn’t often a problem since either Joe or Beth were usually out doing something, and if they weren’t and I fancied doing something it was never particularly difficult to twist their arm...

"I guess... Anyway, Joe said you might be here, so I thought I’d come and say hello. Well, that and I was getting bored at home...â€

She smiled. “So I just about beat staying at home and watching telly?â€

“Well, I’d rather come and have a drink with you than have Alan Titchmarsh go on at me to plant my petunias as early as possible next spring. I mean, I haven’t even got a sodding garden...†Beth smiled. She always seemed to find my mini-rants amusing. “Anyway, I wanted to have a little chat with you..."

“Oh yeah? Anything important?â€

“Well...I guess it is, yeah.â€

She started to look quite concerned. "...Is there something wrong Nick?"

I picked up on her nervous expression, and started to shake my head. "Oh no, it’s nothing bad, no. It’s just...well, it's just a bit difficult to say."

And then the moment came. She was staring at me with quite a worried look on her face. I don't think she was going to ignore me this time.

"Beth...I think I love you."

The worried look on her face quickly became a very shocked look.

"...I’m sorry?" Her reaction so far wasn't exactly filling me with confidence.

"Over the last few months, I've come to realise how much you mean to me. I don’t us to be just friends any more...I want us to be more than that."

She still looked stunned, and her lack of any response other than staring at me wide-eyed was now starting to worry me.

“Well...say something.â€

“I’m sorry, I don't know what to say... I never expected you to say something as...stupid as that..."

"Stupid?" This didn't seem to be going well.

"Yes, stupid. I thought we were friends..."

"We are..."

"Then why are you trying to ruin things?"

I was really starting to get worried now. "I'm not! I'm just...trying to move things on a level..."

"Well that's not going to happen! I don’t want anything like that from you Nick; things were great the way they were...â€

She stood up quickly, and started shaking her head. She then opened her mouth as if to say something, but she didn’t bother, she just turned on her heels and left. I just sat there, and anyone sat nearby was now staring at me.

“What?†I said, picking up my drink. I downed the rest in one go, and slammed the glass down on the table in frustration. That didn't go exactly to plan...

[alfredbulbasaur]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steve Dine:

good stuff as ever Mr. Greenan <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank you very much Mr. Dine. And yes, real names as usernames are cool.

[stevethedog]

Beth ya wally he plays for Brentford!

Nice one Nick.

[alfredbulbasaur]

The next day wasn't much better. A solid day of training after a good night's sleep is bad enough, but after what had happened, it was ten times worse. Mick said he wanted a word at the end of the day, which after my sub-Phil Neville standard performance that day I was half expecting.

"Mick?" I said, poking my head round his office door. He was asleep. I went in anyway, and cleared my throat loudly. That did the business.

"Eh...what the...oh, it's you Nick. What do you want?"

"Er, you wanted to see me?" He had a blank look on his face, before he suddenly realised what I was on about.

“Oh yeah, I did. Well, I was going to ask if there was something wrong. I mean, I’ve seen some rubbish efforts in training before, given a few myself to be honest, but today was just...shocking.â€

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just...I didn’t get much sleep last night. I’ve had a lot on my mind.â€

“Let me guess...it’s a woman, right?†I sighed, and nodded my head. “I knew it! Only a woman could get a man in a state like that. I mean, take my Betty for example. She was a right nightmare at first, kept trying to give me the brush-off. But I knew her game, she was just playing hard to get. They love it, they want you to go round chasing after them as if they’re the most important thing in the whole world, and even then they’ll probably want more from you...â€

“...So what did you do?â€

“I kept at it. Every available opportunity I went to see her, to give her flowers, chocolates. I mean, you name it, I did it...â€

Then I remembered something. “...Hang on, I thought your wife’s name was Julie?â€

“Oh, it is. Betty had a restraining order put on me, couldn’t go within 50 yards of her in the end...â€

“...Thanks Mick, that’s been really helpful.â€

“Really? I’ve got some more I can tell you if you want...â€

“Oh no, I think that’s...enough for today. I’ll try and pick things up again tomorrow.â€

“OK then, you do that.â€

And off I went. That had sort of cheered me up in a strange way. But just as I started to get back up, something came along to knock me back down on the way home...

"NICK!"

It was James. He didn't look too pleased. Neither did Beth chasing after him.

"You been trying to chat up my bird?"

"Sorry?"

"James, let’s go, yeah? It's not worth it..." Beth said, grabbing his arm as she tried to pull him back, but he just shrugged her off.

"No, some things have gotta be said. Did you try and chat up Beth?"

"What does it matter? She turned me down anyway..." I turned to walk away.

"OI! I'm not finished with you!"

I turned round to face him again, and soon his fist met my face, before I met the floor.

"JAMES! STOP IT!" screamed Beth, as she tried to hold him back. He was much stronger than her, but he didn't put up much resistance and soon turned to walk away. She looked at me as I tried to sit up. "Are you all...?"

"Leave him!" James bellowed. "Now come on!"

Beth looked at me for a second, and I looked at her, before she turned and walked off with him. She didn't look back...

[alfredbulbasaur]

English League Cup First Round vs Peterborough United (h)

Just over a month into the new season and the first cup competition rolled into town. To open our League Cup campaign, we were drawn at home to fellow Division Two side Peterborough, who had made an indifferent start to the season, with a couple of good wins, and a couple of heavy defeats. We were hoping for the latter tonight.

At last we could welcome our skipper back into the side, with Michael Dobson taking Eddie Hutchinson's place at right wing-back, and retaking the captain's armband from Martin Rowlands. But as one player came back from injury, another dropped out of the side. Kevin O'Connor, who had missed the opening two matches through injury, was sidelined with a knee injury, and was expected to be out for up to two weeks. Mark Peters deputised for him up front.

Unlike the game at the weekend we got off to a flying start. With only a couple of minutes on the clock, Rowlands played a great through ball into my path but I managed to make a hash of my shot, and in the end effectively just passed it back to Mark Tyler. He was again called into action a few minutes later when Dobson played a ball down the right looking for me. I then played it back to the somehow unmarked Leon Constantine, who went to control the ball and shoot. Unfortunately he got the 'control' part of that hopelessly wrong, and Tyler smothered before Constantine could even try the 'shoot' part.

It wasn't plain sailing at the back either. Fullarton knocked a lazy pass to Rowlands which Mark Arber easily read, and raced through after intercepting the pass. He then barged his way past Philippe Christanval, before shooting over the bar from near the penalty spot. It was a huge let-off, and we were incredibly lucky not to be behind.

And then came a few minutes of complete domination. Paul Smith hit a goal kick long down the middle, which I headed towards Peters. He ran in on goal, shot low and forced a good save from Tyler. It would have been a great save had he not diverted the ball straight to me in the six yard box, and I finished comfortably from a few yards out for my third in three games.

A couple of minutes later my fourth in three games arrived, in a very similar manner to my opener. I gave the ball to Peters inside the area, and Tyler again closed in to smother. This time instead of diverting the ball to me off of Tyler, Peters just played it under him, and I easily made it two from a yard or two further out than before.

Three minutes later the ball was in the back of the net again. Matthew Gill was dispossessed by Leo Roget, who hit the ball long upfield hopefully looking for one of the two strikers. Tyler raced out of his area to clear the danger, but he was stunned to see Arber head the ball out of his path straight to me 35 yards out. It was further out that my other two goals, but I hit the back of the net all the same, and I had myself a hat trick in five minutes.

It could have been four for both me and the team just before the break too. Peters took the ball past Jelleyman down the left and crossed it in towards me. I controlled it on my chest, let it bounce, and tried an extravagant left foot shot on the turn. It would have been brilliant had it gone in, but in all honesty it didn't go anywhere near, and threatened the floodlights more than the goal.

We really didn't want the first half to end. We were going through their defence like a very sharp knife through very soft butter, and Rowlands was picking up everything in the middle of the park, and playing the ball about dangerously.

We continued our spectacular performance early in the second half when Gary Naysmith ran down the left against Gill. His attempted cross hit the defender, but the ball fell kindly for Naysmith, who drilled the ball straight across the box to the other wing back Dobson. He hit it on the volley right footed, and nearly burst the net. But he didn't, since it went inches wide.

As the second half went on we started to relax, and pretty much play for the three-nil win. Only my free kick from 25 yards threatened the goal, and that was pretty easily saved by Tyler.

All in all it was a great night for both me and the club. I'd got a hat trick, and would have gone home with the match ball had the moneymen said we couldn't afford to give precious balls away, and the club was through to the second round where we'd face First Division Gillingham away from home. It would be a difficult match, but if we put in another performance like that, we'd win hands down.

Final Score:- Brentford 3-0 Peterborough

Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 7; Roget 8, Christanval 8, Marshall 8; Naysmith 8, Dobson © 8 (Hutchinson sub 65, 7), Fullarton 7, Rowlands 8, Greenan 10(3); Constantine 8, Peters 8.

[alfredbulbasaur]

“And that’s...another strike!â€

Jen punched the air with delight as I looked with dismay at the scorecard. She’d got more points in that go that I had all night...

“Well done...†I said, getting up to have my go.

“Nick, what’s wrong?â€

I picked a ball up, and took aim.

“There’s nothing...â€

I lobbed the ball down the alley. It bounced about a third of the way down, bounced again, and went straight down the side.

“...wrong.â€

Jen smirked. “Nothing wrong, eh? That’s why you’re getting beat by a girl then?â€

“I haven’t lost yet. I’m only ten...twenty...thirty... So what? It’s only a game...â€

I bowled another ball aimlessly down the right hand side. At one point it looked like it might just clip the outside of the back pin, but it fell away a few metres short.

“Do you want me to ask someone to put the sides up?†I glared at her, not wanting to even give her an answer. “OK, OK, I won’t. It’s just I know seven-year-olds who could do better than you tonight...â€

“Then why don’t you go and play with one of them then?â€

Shortly after saying that I realised how nasty I was being, without any good reason whatsoever. She hadn’t done anything wrong after all.

“I’m sorry Jen, I didn’t mean...I’m just not in a very good mood, that’s all.â€

“Do you want to talk about it?â€

“Not really.â€

“Come on Nick, you know you can tell me anything.â€

I exhaled loudly. “...I told Beth, didn’t I?â€

“Oh...†She put her ball back in the rack, and sat down opposite me. “By the way you’ve been acting tonight, I’m guessing it didn’t go all that well then.â€

“That’s an understatement. I went to go and see her last night and tell her how I felt, but she said I was being stupid and trying to mess everything up.â€

“You seen her since?â€

“Yeah, just after I finished training today. Of course, James did his best to make sure I couldn’t see her...†I pointed to my eye and the massive bruise right under it.

“So you didn’t accidentally get a ball kicked at you?â€

“Nah...â€

We just sat there for a few moments, not really sure what to do. I couldn’t really be bothered to carry on with the bowling any more, and I didn’t really want to talk about Beth either. I was just hoping that Jen didn’t want to talk about it either.

“So...what are you going to do now? About Beth I mean?â€

“I don’t know... I don’t want to push her away by trying to force things.â€

“You want me to talk to her? See what she thinks.â€

“Would you?†She nodded. “Thanks Jen, I’d really appreciate that...â€

“Well, I can’t have my two best friends falling out just cos you’ve been an idiot, can I? Anyway, do you want to get back to being thrashed or not?â€

“Nah, I’ll let you have this one. Just don’t tell anyone, OK? I’ve got a reputation to think about...â€

[alfredbulbasaur]

I’d been sitting on the bench by the pond for a good ten minutes waiting for Jen to turn up. It was very odd, she was normally so punctual. It was usually me turning up late and her saying it wasn’t a problem, even though you could tell she was quite annoyed. Jen was like that though, she’d often make out she was perfectly fine when in fact she was almost the complete opposite. You could find her somewhere nearly crying her eyes out and she’d still insist there wasn’t anything wrong, it was just the was she was, and was partly why she was such a good person to talk to. She’d never try and lumber you with her problems because she’d be too busy trying to help you out with your problems. I sometimes felt a bit guilty doing this, knowing she had all these things on her plate, but I guess it was just her way of getting things off her mind...

“Sorry I’m late, but you know what me and Beth are like when we get chatting...â€

I looked up from my feet to see Jen standing in front of me and smiled. “Don’t worry about it, I’ve only been here for a little while anyway...â€

She then sat down next to me and pulled some chewing gum out of her pocket.

“Oh yeah, I meant to ask how all that was going now.â€

“It’s alright at the moment, I guess. I haven’t had a cigarette for about three weeks. The last time I did that I was about fourteen...â€

"That’s good to hear. Keep this up for a bit longer and you’ll hopefully have it all sorted out, won’t you?â€

“I wish it was as easy as that...â€

She put some gum in her mouth and started to chew on it.

“Anyway, I thought we were supposed to be talking about you, not me.â€

“Oh yeah... So what did Beth say then?â€

“Well, she’s still a bit confused about what’s going on. She never expected you to say something like that, it threw her a bit.â€

“I know, I know... I had to tell her, it’s been eating at me inside for weeks now. Did she say what she felt for me?â€

She sighed and looked down at the ground, her face telling me more than words could. “...I’m sorry Nick, but she’s just not interested in you in that way.â€

“Ah, you don’t have to apologise. You’ve not done anything wrong...â€

“Yeah, but I just feel so bad for you. I know how much you wanted this, and for things to go this badly...â€

“Nah, it’s not that bad. Me and Beth’ll be fine in the end.â€

“Yeah, that’s what she said. She still wants to be friends, but she says that you two need to talk before things can get back to the way they were.â€

“And I’ll bet she expects me to go to her.â€

“Of course. But of course you’re not going to, you’re going to wait for her to come running like you always do.â€

“Of course.â€

She smiled and shook her head a few times. “You two are so bloody stubborn, aren’t you?â€

I nodded. “Yep, that’s us. Anyway, these things always end up alright. One of us ends up giving in eventually, after someone gives us a helpful shove in the right direction...â€

“I wonder who that could possibly be?â€

I smiled, and then remembered what I’d been thinking about earlier.

“...So, what’s up with you at the moment?â€

“What do you mean?â€

“Well, is everything alright with you at the moment? Anything you want to talk about?â€

She looked at me suspiciously. “...No. Why would you think there was?â€

“Oh, no reason. I just thought that since you’ve been helping me that I might be able to repay the favour somehow.â€

“Nick, I’m fine. If I wanted your help I’d ask, OK? Anyway, I can think of a much better way for you to repay the favour.â€

“Oh yeah?â€

“Yeah, I’m starving. How about you buy me a burger or something?â€

“...OK then, but on the way there you have to tell me about all the other stuff you and Beth talked about.â€

“Sorry Nick, but if I told you I’d have to kill you, and then I wouldn’t get my burger.â€

“Oh, that serious is it? You tell her who this guy you’ve got a crush on is then?â€

“Er...no.†She looked at me nervously. â€Look, I told you before. I don’t have a crush on anyone, alright? Now come on, let’s go. I haven’t had anything to eat since breakfast...â€

[alfredbulbasaur]

English Second Division vs Wycombe Wanderers (h)

After Wednesday’s stunningly successful performance it was straight back into the thick of it on Saturday with the visit of Wycombe. It wasn’t a fixture we were particularly dreading, and when you saw Wycombe languishing in 23rd place in the table you had a feeling this might not be the most challenging of matches, even though we still had Mark Peters deputising for the injured Kevin O’Connor up front.

And almost right from the off it looked like it might be the walkover many in the crowd were predicting. They tried to launch an attack right from the kick-off but Steve Brown made a hash of a pass and gave it straight to Jamie Fullarton who launched the ball straight upfield in my direction. A nice bit of control later and I was running towards the goal, the defenders desperately trying to catch me but to no avail. In the end though they needn’t have bothered as I somehow managed to lose my footing as I shot and sent it straight into Martin Taylor’s grateful hands. As he hoofed it down the pitch and I picked myself up off the ground I looked at the clock. Thirty-two seconds gone. That would have been a hell of a start...

We could really have done with that early goal as Wycombe were determined to show that they were better than 23rd place, and came at us with a series of decent attacks, one such attack ending with Scott Marshall blocking a goal bound shot from Craig Faulconbridge on the line after a good bit of play from Jermaine McSporran down the left.

And that wasn’t their only chance either. Dannie Bulman went on a run through the centre of our defence and Fullarton eventually decided he wasn’t going to go any further and hacked him down just outside the penalty area to give them a free kick in a very dangerous position. Darren Currie lined it up and struck it towards goal. Paul Smith in the goal didn’t even bother moving and was mightily relieved when it skimmed the outside of his right hand post and rattled the advertising hoardings behind the goal.

However, just three minutes later Wycombe presented us with a free kick in a similar position. Paul McCarthy had decided he’d test how strong Leon Constantine’s shin pads were by giving them an almighty boot just as he received the ball, and the referee rightly gave us a free kick and McCarthy a good talking to. Constantine was angry to say the least when the ref didn’t produce a card, so the ref proved he hadn’t left his cards behind in the dressing room by showing Constantine a yellow. I wasn’t too bothered by this as I was too busy lining up the free kick and trying to decide what to do with it. It was quite central so I could probably go either way if I wanted. In the end Taylor made my decision for me by standing on the left hand side of the goal and hoping the wall would cover the other side for him. So when I dinked it over the wall and towards the top right hand corner he desperately scampered across the goal and threw himself towards the ball in an ultimately pointless attempt to keep the ball out of the net. Luckily for him the post did that job for him, at least it would have if he hadn’t been right in front of it when it bounced out and he sent it straight into the back of the net for the opening goal of the match, and the only goal of the first half.

The second half was much more action packed than the first, with chances left right and centre, the first falling just a few minutes after the restart. Taylor, keen to make amends for his own goal in the first half, sent a long goal kick forward and straight onto Leo Roget’s head, and he played it down to Philippe Christanval. The Frenchman looked up, took one touch and then belted it forward, looking for someone to make the run in behind the defence. Luckily for him I had made the run and found myself one on one with Taylor, who came rushing out of his goal to meet me. He shouldn’t have bothered as I just skipped round him and rolled the ball into the empty net to give us a two goal lead that we’d thoroughly deserved.

But on the hour mark Wycombe struck back. Chris Vinnicombe hit a long ball forward that McSporran tried to run on to, but Smith came running out his area to head it away. Unfortunately he showed why he’s a goalkeeper and headed it straight to Stuart Roberts, who couldn’t miss from twenty odd yards out and halved the deficit.

One minute later the deficit should have been eradicated completely. Brown played a delightful through ball forward which McSporran again chased and got on the end of. Smith again came out to meet him and somehow put enough pressure on McSporran to force him to miss the target from just inside the area when you’d have put your house on him scoring.

After that very close shave with being level again we tried to force a third goal out of the match, and it duly came with eighteen minutes remaining. I took a corner from the left hand side and aimed for the near post where McCarthy headed the ball back to me. I took one touch and then crossed low on my left. It sailed through the crowd, bounced and was finally met by the swinging right boot of Leo Roget, who thumped the ball into the net to put us two ahead again.

Soon after we were three ahead. Constantine and Peters linked up beautifully to give Peters a great shooting opportunity on the corner of the six yard box, which he attempted to play through Taylor’s legs. The keeper managed to get a touch on the ball and prevented it from going in, but not from going straight to my feet, and for the second time in the afternoon I had the easy task of putting the ball in an unguarded goal.

It was another great performance. Just like against Peterborough I’d managed to put the ball in the net three times. Maybe there was a bit of assistance from the post and keeper for the first, and maybe it wasn’t credited to me, but I was still happy with what I’d done, and the team had showed that we could be real promotion possibilities this season, not just the pretenders many people had said we were.

Final Score:- Brentford 4-1 Wycombe

Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 7; Roget 8(1), Christanval 8, Marshall 8; Naysmith 8, Dobson © 8, Fullarton 8, Rowlands 8, Greenan 8(2); Constantine 6, Peters 8.

[alfredbulbasaur]

“So, what do you want to do today then?â€

We’d been sitting in my room for a good half an hour now not really doing anything in particular. Jen had come over partly out of boredom, and partly out of sympathy I think. She’d been deliberately spending a lot of time with me over the last few days, probably because of what had happened with Beth. She knew I wasn’t going to go and talk to her, and she knew I wouldn’t go out anywhere if I thought Beth would be there, so Jen had decided she’d be the one to try and cheer me up.

Unfortunately for her there wasn’t a lot going on here to cheer me up. Mum and Char were in the front room watching some rubbish film they’d taped off the telly last night because they were either too tired to stay up past ten o’clock or too wimpy to sit in the semi-dark watching a horror film about as chilling as the average episode of Bob the Builder. As bad as it was though, I’d normally have watched it with them anyway if it wasn’t for the fact I’d watched it the night before when it was actually on. And normally I’d say that Jen and I could join them and watch it, but she had the misfortune of actually seeing it at the cinema, and had no desire to see it again. She’d told me before how bad it was, but part of me just wanted to see if it was really as bad as she said. And it wasn’t as bad as she said to be honest. It was worse...

So in the end we’d just decided to go to my room and work out what we could do from there. I’d offered her a game on my computer, but she declined.

“Those things make my head hurt,†she’d said. “I can’t play on one of those for more than fifteen minutes without feeling sick.â€

So I turned the TV on, and remembered that it wasn’t working properly and the coat hanger I’d used as a temporary replacement was only capable of picking up ITV, which during the day in the middle of the week isn’t something to write home about. Believe me, I’ve tried to endure Quincy on so many levels, but no matter how I look at it, it’s crap. So that plan went out the window. Next came the stereo and the inevitable arguments over what we should play on it. As usual Jen flicked through all my CDs, already knowing exactly what she was going to suggest.

“...Why don’t you put OK Computer on for a while?â€

Jen had a major thing for that album. I didn’t usually mind, but sometimes you’re just not in the mood to hear someone wailing on about how bad things are while sitting at home with their millions, and I certainly wasn’t today, but I knew that the slightest bit of criticism for the mighty Sir Thomas of Yorke would prompt Jen to give me a broken nose, so I reluctantly agreed. This then killed off what little conversation there had been up until that point, and any attempts to restart it would result in a shrill “Shh! I love this bit!†as soon as I opened my mouth.

But in the end this new source of some mild entertainment was cut short as Mum poked her head round the door to complain about the noise. Apparently the murder scenes where it looked like someone was attempting to kill an old pillowcase full of tomatoes with a plastic sword that you could get free with a Happy Meal just weren’t realistic enough with Paranoid Android belting out over the top of it...

So back came the silence. Jen slumped back in her chair, visibly getting bored now. My eyes scanned the room, desperate for anything remotely entertaining to do, but when all I could come up with was a tea-stained chess board buried under a pile of old school books I knew things were desperate. And even if I did ruin what little reputation I had with Jen for being remotely ‘cool’ buy suggesting a game of chess, she’d only say no. She probably still hadn’t forgotten about the time I accidentally made her swallow a pawn in Year 4...

“Nick?â€

“Hmm?â€

“I said what do you want to do today?â€

“Oh. I don’t know...â€

“Didn’t you have any plans for today?â€

“Well, I had kind if intended to sleep for most of the day.â€

â€Oh, don’t mind me then. If you want to get back to sleep, go ahead.â€

“I don’t think I’ll be doing that somehow. Last time I fell asleep with you here you put my hands in a bucket of cold water in an attempt to make me wet myself...â€

She looked at me with an embarrassed look on her face. “I told you before, that was Beth’s idea. Anyway, it’s not like it worked...â€

“Yeah, whatever...â€

She grinned. “Well, I think I’ve had quite enough fun here for today. I might go and bother Beth for a little bit. Wanna come with?â€

“Nah... Me and Beth still aren’t really speaking after everything that’s happened.â€

Jen suddenly looked very worried. “You two haven’t had another fight or anything, have you?â€

“Oh no, nothing like that. I’m just giving her a bit of space for a while, and given she hasn’t tried to talk to me I’m guessing that’s what she wants too.â€

“Well, as long as that’s all it is... You two have been friends for as long as I can remember, and there’s no reason why that should change now, is there?â€

Jen then stood up, put her bag over her shoulder and walked towards the bedroom door. I started to get up off the bed.

“Don’t worry Nick, I’ll see myself out. Haven’t you got some sleeping to be doing?â€

“...I guess.â€

“I’ll see you later, yeah?â€

“Yeah, later.â€

My head fell back against the pillows behind me, and I looked at the clock on the table beside me. I really should plug that in one of these days...

[alfredbulbasaur]

I woke up with a jump, and then about a second later my head nearly imploded.

"Oh, Jesus H...what time is it?"

"Just after 10," said a familiar voice. I looked up. It was Beth.

"...Hi,†I said, surprised to see her. “I’m surprised to see you here. I didn’t think you’d want to know after the other night...â€

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I handled that really badly, and I’ve had some time to think. I think we need to talk.â€

"Oh yeah?" I said, as I tried to sit up in bed.

"Yeah. We've been friends for years now, but there's only so much that friends can do, and there's so much more we could do if we were more than just good friends."

"Yeah, I know. But you don’t want to... Hang on, what are you saying?â€

"Oh, why don't I give you a clue?" she said, as she started to unbutton her blouse.

"Er...what you doing?" I said.

"Oh come on Nick, I know you want it," she whispered as she removed her top.

I blinked for a second, not really knowing what was going on, and when my eyes reopened, she'd removed a lot more than just her top.

"What's going on?"

She climbed onto the bed, crawled over to me, and kissed me. When she pulled away, there was something...different about her.

“You been chatting up my bird?â€

“James?†I said, not knowing what was going on.

“I asked you a question!†he shouted, before punching me in the head, which then banged against the wall behind me. Beth was now standing behind him.

“Come on James, smack him!â€

“...Beth?†I looked at her, before my view was obscured by another flying fist.

“Smack him now!†James duly obliged.

“...Why are you...?â€

“NOW!†He connected with my face again.

“...What did I...?â€

“NOW!†He pulled his arm right back, and connected right between my eyes.

I woke with a jump. I instantly put my hands to my face, checking for broken noses and smashed teeth. I didn’t find any.

“You getting up today?†Mum said, standing at the door.

“Yeah, maybe in a minute...â€

[Guest]

This is truly classic... and I'll add my name to those who are enjoying the many spin-off stories more than the CM part... i'm sure you could easily just drop the whole football part and keep the fans reading.

Brilliant stuff mate I'll make sure I keep up to date

[alfredbulbasaur]

Cheers Wirra, nice to hear people are enjoying what I'm writing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

English Second Division vs Bournemouth (a)

After extending our unbeaten start to the season to eight matches and moving up to second in the table, we travelled down to the south coast to face last year’s Division Three playoff winners Bournemouth. We had hoped to be travelling with a full strength lineup after Kevin O’Connor’s recovery from injury, but on the same day that he resumed full training Scott Marshall twisted his knee, and could be out for a couple of weeks. That meant that our Senegalese defender Ibrahima Sonko could come into the back three as a straight replacement, and O’Connor replaced Mark Peters up front.

We couldn’t really have got off to a much better start. Just a few minutes into the game we broke up a Bournemouth attack and counter attacked quickly. Leon Constantine made a break down the left, went past Stephen Purches and waited near the corner flag while me and O’Connor made our way into the area. He went to the back post, I went to the near post, and when the ball was floated in towards me I made no mistake with the header from just outside the six yard box to give us the lead.

And it could have been so much better just a few seconds later. From the kick-off Scott McDonald sent the ball back to Warren Cummings, who promptly lost the ball to Constantine to leave the striker clean through on goal and only the keeper to stop him from making it two. However, Constantine’s finish was woeful, trying to dink it over the keeper while he was practically still on his line, giving Neil Moss no more than a simple catch to keep it out.

From here on it started to get a bit worse. Marcus Browning was playing well in midfield and was frequently sending good looking balls towards McDonald, but our defenders were doing a good job stopping them. However, on one occasion Leo Roget couldn’t get to it and McDonald was clear in behind him, although the defender did make amends by chasing him down and putting pressure on him, something which surely must have contributed towards McDonald’s awful shot which went well over the bar.

We were being restricted to mainly counter attacking, but with a pacy frontline like ours that wasn’t a problem, something we nearly proved just after the half hour mark. Michael Dobson cleared long down the centre of the pitch, and seemed to put the ball straight onto Cummings’ head, but for some reason the Bournemouth skipper decided to let it bounce and gave me an opportunity to nick it off of him. I nodded it past him before he even knew I was there and was now clear of the defence. As Moss came out towards the edge of his area, I suddenly got caught in two minds. Do I try and dink it over him and leave him stranded? Do I go round him and run it into the net? Or do I do neither and pass it straight back to him? Yep, I chose the third option, and wasted a glorious opportunity to put ourselves firmly in the driving seat of the match, something we’d end up regretting a few minutes later.

Up until this point in the match, Jeff Smith had done very little. I can’t say I knew anything about him before the match, and I’d be lying if I said I knew any more about him at that moment in time. However, he went on to produce the best moment of the game by beating not one, not two, but three players down the wing. First he went by a rather poor ‘challenge’ from Constantine, before skipping past Gary Naysmith a few seconds later. Leo Roget then went out to meet him, but he too was beaten, and with Smith now clear on the right, he produced a great ball into the area which was rightfully met by a great finish in the middle to give Bournemouth a well deserved equaliser. The one thing that ruined it was probably the fact that it was our own defender Philippe Christanval who produced the great finish, shooting superbly low past Paul Smith, giving the keeper absolutely no chance of stopping it. If only he could do that down the other end...

The second half continued in much the same way as the first half. Bournemouth pushed for a goal, pressing us well back into our own half, while we worried them at the back with quick and incisive counter attacks. But while this went on for a while, there were very few chances being created. Alan Connell had a shot from inside the area turned over by Smith, McDonald had nearly got onto a few through balls, and O’Connor nearly made a scoring return to the side with a well struck half-volley from 25 yards, but neither keeper was really threatened.

That was until the 92nd minute. Connell again tried a shot in the area but Roget blocked it and Jamie Fullarton hit it long towards me and Mark Peters, who was on as a substitute. I nodded it down to him, he took a touch to control it and then played a great lofted through ball to send me clean through again. After my last effort in a situation like this, I’d decided that no matter what happened I was going to lob it over Moss’ head. He came out, I looked up and lobbed it over his head, and the ball floated beautifully in the air before coming to an abrupt halt as it hit the net. However, it wasn’t the back of the net it hit, but instead it landed on the roof of the net, much to my displeasure.

Thankfully for me the final whistle went, because after that last minute miss my head was all over the place, knowing that it was the difference between three points and just the one, although in the end neither team really deserved to come away from the game empty handed as we’d both played well, although there weren’t a great deal of clear cut chances, and the ones that did come our way were generally wasted by me.

Final Score:- Bournemouth 1-1 Brentford

Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 7; Roget 7, Christanval 8 (Somner sub 87, 6), Sonko 8; Naysmith 8, Dobson © 6, Fullarton 8, Rowlands 8 (Hutchinson sub 75, 6), Greenan 8(1); Constantine 7 (Peters sub 75, 6), O'Connor 8.

[alfredbulbasaur]

“Nick?†Mum said, poking her head round my bedroom door.

“Yeah?â€

“There’s someone to see you...â€

I looked left towards the door, and as Mum turned and walked away, I saw her standing there behind her.

“Hi Nick.â€

“Oh, hi Beth.†I turned my TV off, and waved my hand, inviting her to sit down on the end of my bed. She did. “What can I do for you?â€

“...I just wanted to talk.â€

“Oh right, talk. You didn’t seem to want to do that the other day when I was lying on the ground after your boyfriend smacked me...â€

“Yeah, I know, and I’m sorry about that. James was well out of order doing that. You know I had to tell him, don’t you? I mean, he would have found out sooner or later, but I never thought he’d react like that...â€

“Well,†I said impatiently, “have you come here to talk about your boyfriend, or is there something else bothering you?†I knew I was being a bit hard on her, but I really didn’t seem to care less at that moment.

“Nick, why are you being like this?â€

“Why do you think? You could have just let me down gently, not have a go at me and get me beaten up...â€

“I didn’t get you beaten up! It just happened... And how else did you expect me to react? I wasn’t expecting you to do something like that, was I?â€

“Yeah well, I did, so we’re going to have to deal with it...â€

“It’s not that easy, is it? If we go back to being just friends like before, then every time we’re doing something I know you’re going to be wishing we were doing something more, and I don’t know if I can deal with that...â€

She just sat there, perched on the end of my bed, looking at the floor. I sat there looking at her.

“...Why were you so quick to say no to me?â€

There was a long, uncomfortable pause.

“...I don’t know really... I guess I just don’t fancy you. You’re my friend, you know? I don’t want anything more than that from you.â€

“...Fair enough. You could have said that in the first place, couldn’t you?â€

“Well, I was surprised. Anyway, there are loads of girls out there who’d love to go out with you.â€

“Yeah right...â€

“Trust me, there are, but you’re gonna have to go look for them. They’re not as far away as you’d think...â€

“Maybe, but the one I want to go out with doesn’t want to know, does she?â€

“Oh, don’t be like that. It’s not going to change my mind, is it?â€

“And what is?â€

I realised how desperate that made me sound as soon as the words left my lips. She looked at me, knowing how upset I was inside.

“Nick,†she said, taking my hand in hers, “you are one of my best, and oldest, friends, and I don’t want to lose you, OK? But you’re going to have to accept that that’s all you’re ever going to be. I know you don’t want to hear that at the moment, but it’s the truth, and the sooner you realise that, and move on, the better for both of us.†She looked at the clock on the wall behind her. “I’d better be going; I’ve got work in an hour. I’ll see you later, yeah?â€

“Yeah, whatever,†I said, deliberately trying not to look interested. She got up.

“I’ll see myself out then...â€

She closed my bedroom door as she went out, but it was only a minute or two before it was opened again.

“She wasn’t here for very long, was she?†Mum said, poking her nose in right on schedule. She looked at me. It wasn’t difficult to tell I wasn’t in the happiest of moods. “...Have you two had an argument or something?â€

“...Just leave it, yeah?â€

“Don’t take it out on me just cos you two have fallen out! I haven’t done anything wrong!â€

“Yeah, whatever,†I said, turning my TV back on. She looked at me disappointedly, and closed the door. That was two people I’d been unnecessarily nasty to so far. I was obviously on a roll...

[alfredbulbasaur]

“Right, the next thing we’re gonna look at is their formation,†Mick said, pointing to the chalkboard. “Now, in their last match against Wrexham they played a four-four-two, but they have been known to dabble with three at the back, and play a system like ours. If they do that on the day, I want our wing-backs pushing theirs right back into their own half, and make them play as full backs, alright?â€

He looked around, waiting for some kind of visual response, hoping that someone was still awake.

“OK, if they play the same team as last week, which we think they will, we’ll see...â€

I would have said this was where I stopped listening, but the truth of the matter is I was never listening in the first place. I was too busy staring out the window at the downpour that had forced us inside for an impromptu tactics session. There wasn’t really any point. Mick would spend a good hour telling us about how the other team played, how the individual players played, and how we should play to combat how they play. But in the end he’d end up telling us to play exactly the same way as we always did, no matter who we were playing. Every single week it was the same, and every single week it got more and more frustrating.

Of course, since I wasn’t paying attention to Mick’s enthralling lecture, my mind wandered off to other issues, namely Beth. It was really starting to give me a headache. On one hand I wanted her so badly that every time we’re in the same room and I saw her with someone else it hurt like hell, and because of that I was lashing out and being nasty and spiteful towards her. I knew that if I kept that up, I’d end up driving her away, and that was the last thing I wanted. I still desperately wanted her to be my friend, but for the moment knowing that she didn’t want to be anything else still got to me every time she was around.

So I had to do something to get my mind off of Beth and onto something, or someone else. But how was I going to do that? I’d tried before without any luck. I’d start talking to them about anything really, but I’d end up coming across all desperate and soon enough they didn’t want to know. And if I was somehow fortunate enough to come across anyone who did want to know, I’d end up comparing them to Beth, and in my biased eyes they wouldn’t come close, and I’d end up making some pathetic excuse in order to get away.

I looked up at Mick, hoping he’d started to finish. He was still talking about how our five man midfield had an advantage over their four man midfield, even though he’d said they’ll possibly play five too. He kept gesturing towards the chalkboard, drawing arrows as he went, showing where we should make a run, and how to get in behind their defence. He made it seem so simple, so black and white. If only everything was like that...

[alfredbulbasaur]

English Second Division vs Tranmere Rovers (h)

Just four days after a decent away point at Bournemouth, we played host to Tranmere Rovers. They were desperate to get back to where they were a few seasons ago, where they were in Division One and frightening many Premiership sides in the cups, and with Tranmere already settled into a playoff position at this early stage of the season this didn’t look like being an easy match by any stretch of the imagination. Thankfully we had a near-fully fit squad to pick from for the match, with Scott Marshall the only player absent through injury. That didn’t really bother us too much, especially with Ibrahima Sonko, his replacement, looking in quite good form after having to warm the bench for a few of the opening games of the season.

With two teams that were near the top of the table and were playing well you’d have thought you could expect a decent match. Instead it was a bitty, scrappy affair at the start with very little space for either midfield to create even a half-chance, let alone a clear cut one.

So it was not really surprising when the opening goal came about from a mistake by the other team. Jamie Fullarton won the ball in the centre of the park and quickly gave it to me. I had a look up to see what was on ahead of me, but apart from a half-hearted run in behind the defence by Kevin O’Connor all I saw were Tranmere players running towards me, desperate to close me down. So I panicked and tried to hit the ball through the defence to O’Connor but overhit it and it ran through to the keeper Russell Howarth, who decided to hit it first time up to the strikers to try and launch a counter attack. But instead of clearing it upfield he scuffed it and hit it straight to Michael Dobson on the right wing. I was still running towards the penalty area after playing the overhit pass through, and Dobson picked me out as I approached the area. I took one touch to control it before rolling the ball under him as he made a desperate attempt to smother the ball at my feet, and we were one-nil up.

But it wasn’t long until that lead was seriously threatened by the visitors. A decent passing move just outside our penalty area saw Jason Price pick up the ball 25 yards out before beating Philippe Christanval with his pace. Sonko then came across to cover for his defensive partner, but only succeeded in bringing Price down on the edge of the area. The referee wasted no time in pointing to the spot despite the protests from the majority of our players and the crowd that Price had dived, and Simon Haworth placed the ball on the spot hoping to score his eighth goal of the season. He struck the penalty firmly towards the bottom left corner, but dragged it a good few feet wide of the post, and we kept our slender advantage.

The rest of the first half passed relatively free of incident. I tried to lob the keeper from about thirty yards, but nearly lobbed the stand behind the goal, while Andy Parkinson was shooting whenever he got the ball in our half without really testing Paul Smith in our goal.

It didn’t get much better in the second half either. O’Connor did get down the right, beat Richard Hinds and whip in a dangerous cross just after the restart, but it sailed over my head at the near post and Leon Constantine was asleep at the far post and let the ball go past him when he could have been in with a great chance.

But eventually there was another goal deep into stoppage time at the end of the game. Tranmere were going all out for the victory with the majority of their team camped out in our penalty area while they pumped long ball after long ball towards them looking for the elusive equaliser. We knew that if we could get the ball up towards Constantine, who was the only player we’d left up front, we’d have a chance of hurting them on the counter, and when Leo Roget hoofed a long ball forward to him we were in business. He held it up on the halfway line while burst down the left completely unmarked, and he rolled it into my path with only Graham Allen and their keeper between me and the goal. I ran at Allen and hit the ball past him, hoping that my pace would get me to the ball before he could, and it worked perfectly. I continued my run into the area and Howarth came out to try and make a smothering save, but as soon as he got close to me I rolled it to my right where Constantine was waiting to roll the ball into the empty net, and he made no mistake in wrapping up the three points.

In the end we probably just about deserved the victory. We’d come the closest to creating proper chances, and while they had wasted a glorious opportunity from the spot they didn’t really create anything else of any note, and it would have been harsh if they had someone got something out of the game.

Final Score:- Brentford 2-0 Tranmere

Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 7; Roget 8, Christanval 8, Sonko 7; Naysmith 8, Dobson © 7, Fullarton 8, Rowlands 8, Greenan 9(1); Constantine 7(1), O'Connor 6.

This win, coupled with Notts County’s defeat at Swindon, meant we were now top of the table.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

P GD Pts

1 BRENTFORD 9 +12 21

2 Notts County 9 +10 20

-------------------------------------------

3 Bristol City 9 +10 20

4 Sheff Wed 9 +9 20

5 Brighton 9 +9 19

6 QPR 9 +6 16

-------------------------------------------

7 Tranmere 9 +9 15

8 Chesterfield 9 0 15

9 Grimsby 9 +4 14

10 Oldham 9 +4 13

</pre>

[alfredbulbasaur]

I should have been down the pub celebrating, but instead I was down the pub drowning my sorrows. We’d gone the first ten games of the season unbeaten and were sitting pretty on top of the Second Division, but I couldn't care less. What had happened with Beth had really gotten to me. It was the way that she’d completely dismissed it that hurt the most. She could have let me down gently, she could have said she was flattered, and if the timing was better then maybe we could have had something. I mean, I probably wouldn’t have cared if she’d lied, just anything other than what did happen, but to handle it like she did...that was different. I just couldn't take it.

So after the match, I wandered down to the pub on the corner. I just sat at the bar, hoping no-one was going to come up and ask for an autograph. They'd have probably got a black eye to match mine instead. But I guess it was inevitable that someone was going to talk to me. It just wasn't who I was expecting...

"Hi Nick."

"Jen? What brings you here?"

"I was just passing, thought I’d pop in for a quick one on the way home. Didn’t expect to see you here though.â€

"Well, it’s obviously your lucky day..."

I turned back towards my drink and picked it up. It took her a couple of seconds before she came out with it.

"...Nick, when are you going to stop moping about over Beth?"

I slammed my glass on the bar. “I’m not moping about because of her, I’m just...not in a good mood, that’s all.â€

“You haven’t been in a good mood for a few weeks now, not since you told Beth. I don’t think it’s just a coincidence, is it?â€

“Yeah well, it’s her fault. She knows where I am, and if she wants to talk, she can come to me.â€

"She said she did come and talk to you though.â€

“Maybe, but she didn’t have anything to say that I wanted to hear.â€

“And what did you want to hear? That she’s madly in love with you?â€

“...Has she said something to you?â€

She exhaled loudly. “Nick, she doesn’t want you! That’s why she’s going out with that James.â€

"Ah, good old James... I ****ing hate him. I hate everything about him. His face, his stupid, idiotic laugh, his hair... You seen how much gel he uses in his hair? Makes him look like a twat...â€

She gave me one of her looks. “I don’t think you’ve got any right to comment

"Yeah well, I’m going to get it cut sooner or later aren’t I? It’s getting harder and harder to see the ball through my fringe...†I noticed I'd finished my drink. "Can I have another pint, mate?" I turned to Jen. "You want anything?"

"...Yeah, I'll have a pint too."

"A pint?†I said, surprised. “Something must be wrong with you to get you drinking that much."

"Oh, it's all this uni stuff at school. They keep saying I should look at going to somewhere like Oxford or Cambridge.â€

I looked at her with a puzzled look on my face. “That’s good, isn’t it?â€

“Well yeah, I guess so, but I’m gonna have to get four A’s to get in somewhere like that, so all my teachers are putting all this pressure on me to do really well. With that and all the stuff I get off Mum about how I’ve got to do as well as Lauren... I just don't want to mess everything up..."

"Hey, it'll all come together...like...peas in a pod...or something. Listen, it sounds like you just need a good night off from all that work rubbish. You can stay here with me and get drunk. How's that sound for a fun time?"

She smiled. "Well, I'd better get drinking if I want to catch up with you, hadn't I?"

"Yes, you had. Now get that one down you," I said, passing Jen her pint. She downed most of it in one. I was quite impressed. "That's the spirit! Now just another half dozen of them and you'll be where I am..."

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 right towards my clock. Something caught my eye though...

"...Jen?"

[stevethedog]

Nicely done mate, what will Nick do now!?

[Guest]

hehe this is great, and u know the best part isnt even the football, bit strange for a cm story. go nick.

[alfredbulbasaur]

Jen started to move about a bit just before her eyes opened. There was a split second where she didn’t really notice what was going on or where she was, but it didn’t last. She looked around trying to work out where she was, but got the most obvious answer when she looked to her left to see me lying there. She then let out a small gasp and grabbed as much of the duvet as possible to cover as much of herself as possible.

“Nick? What...? Why...? Oh God, we didn’t...did we?â€

“...I guess we must have.â€

“What? Don’t you know?â€

There was a brief pause. Could I have slept with Jen and not remember that it even happened? No, I’d remember something as memorable as that, wouldn’t I? But when I tried to think back to what happened last night, there was nothing, absolutely nothing. Not a blur, not a distant memory of a drunken fumble, not anything.

“No... Don’t you remember?â€

“...No.â€

We both just lay there for a few moments, mainly digesting the fact that our first sexual performances had been so forgettable that we couldn’t even remember they’d happened. That really didn’t do my confidence any good whatsoever. I wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved that I’d finally got it over and done with or upset that I appeared to be so rubbish at it.

“...Well, we must have. I mean, what else are we going to do in bed naked?â€

Jen suddenly got very nervous and started to move towards the edge of the bed, and further away from me.

“How do you know I’m...? Have you been looking?â€

I raised my hands, desperately trying to protest my innocence.

“No, no, not at all. It’s just that I don’t think that that’s my underwear on the floor over there...â€

I pointed to the clothes that were scattered all over the floor. We’d obviously been in a bit of a rush to get them off...

“So,†I said, desperate not to let another deathly hush fall over the room again, “what do we do now?â€

“Erm...I don’t know. Get dressed?â€

I nodded. “Yeah... Sounds like a good idea.â€

It was here that we both tried to get up off the bed, both of us trying to take the duvet with us and nearly ripping it in half in the process. We both looked at each other.

"Right,†she said, “turn around."

"What?"

"Turn around and face the wall, I don't want you...seeing anything."

It was a bit late for that I thought as I turned to face my wall. I still couldn't believe I couldn’t remember anything. It was supposed to be a night I'd remember for the rest of my life, that I'd been looking forward to for the majority of my life, and for it to not even be a blur was more than a bit annoying. And then it hit me. Well, a pair of trousers did...

"Put them on," a now fully clothed Jen said.

"Alright, turn round then. I'm not showing you mine if you won't show me yours..."

"Oh very funny..." she said sarcastically. I should have realised earlier that my humour was going to be wasted on her at the moment...

[Steve Dine]

This is really good reading Nick

[alfredbulbasaur]

Cheers guys.

---------------------------------------------------------

About half an hour later we were sat next to the pond. Jen said she needed to get out of my room, and we didn't really fancy watching This Morning with Mum so we went out for a walk. There was something about the pond that was nice and calming. The calm, gently rippling water. The ducks fighting over a bit of bread. The shopping trolley bobbing up and down in the middle. Jen didn’t look too good at all. She reached into her pocket, pulled out some cigarettes, and lit one up.

“Jen...â€

“Don’t start Nick, I’m not in the mood.â€

“But you were doing so well! I mean, you said you hadn’t had one for a long time now.â€

“Well that was a lie... I have been cutting back, just the occasional one or two.â€

I looked at the near empty pack in her hand.

“Or twenty...â€

“Yeah well, I’ve had a lot on my mind with school and stuff, and now this...â€

“Well, I can assure you it wasn’t intentional...â€

We just sat there for a minute or two, neither of us paying any sort of attention to the other. Jen sat there puffing away, and I just stared at the water.

"What are we going to do Nick?" she said.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. What are we going to do about...us?â€

“Well...â€

“I’m not saying there has to be an ‘us’ though, we could just be friends again...â€

I looked down at the ground, and then up at Jen.

"...I don't know. What do you reckon?"

She paused for a minute, before sort of shrugging her shoulders.

"...I don't know."

This wasn't going to be easy. We were pretty much still in shock that this had actually happens. Jen was the last person I’d thought I’d sleep with, although I didn’t mean that in a bad way. She always seemed more of a best friend or sister type figure to me, rather than a best friend with potential for more. But perhaps that was why inside there was a feeling that this might not have been such a bad thing really. Jen was a great girl, I probably knew her better than I knew myself, and surely that would be a great basis for a relationship. The only problem I saw was that I didn’t seem to have that overwhelming physical attraction towards her that I had for Beth. That wasn’t to say she wasn’t good looking. In fact, she was pretty great looking, but there wasn’t something that made me want a repeat performance of last night.

Finally, she broke the silence.

“...Look, maybe we should just give things a few days to cool down, and see what we think then, yeah?â€

I nodded my head in agreement. “Yeah, sounds like a good idea. So, how long...?â€

“Well, I’ve got a bit of coursework that I really need to do, and my aunt over near Woking said a while ago I could stay there for a few days sometime, so I might go there for a bit. It’s nice and quiet up there and there’ll be no distractions, so I should be able to get some work done there. I’ll probably come back Sunday some time, so we can talk then I guess.â€

“Yeah...â€

Jen stood up.

“Well, I’m off home. Mum’ll probably be wondering what happened to me...â€

“Yeah... Do you want me to walk back with you?â€

She shook her head. “Nah, I’ll be fine. Besides, I could do with a bit of time to myself before I’m off. I’ll give you a ring later, yeah?â€

“Yeah, OK. See you.â€

“Later Nick.â€

And off she went. I had a lot of thinking to do before Sunday...

[alfredbulbasaur]

English Second Division vs Swindon Town (h)

At least I could get my mind off of what happened with Jen on the Saturday, where we played host to Swindon. They hadn’t had a great start to the season, lurking near to the foot of the table, but had proved to be more than a match for some of the better teams, beating Notts County in their last home match. However, their away record so far was pretty awful, with just a solitary point on their travels in five matches and combined with our excellent home record so far this season, we were extremely confident of keeping our place at the top of the table after this match. We named the same lineup that had beaten Tranmere in midweek, with Scott Marshall still not fit enough to retake his place in the centre of our defence from Ibrahima Sonko.

In the end, we couldn’t have got off to a better start if we’d tried. Gary Naysmith played a long ball towards Leon Constantine, who flicked the ball behind the defence towards Kevin O’Connor, sending him clear and with only Bart Griemink to beat. O’Connor tried to go round the keeper on his outside, and just about managed to get past him, but was pushed too wide for a shot. Luckily for us the Swindon defence had gone completely to sleep and hadn’t bothered to pick up Constantine in the middle, and he met O’Connor’s cross with his head to put us ahead after just four minutes.

Swindon’s day didn’t get much better. Five minutes after the goal Matt Hewlett limped off with an injury, and when a short while after that Stefani Miglioranzi was stretched off after a heavy collision with Martin Rowlands, it just didn’t look like being Swindon’s day. In fact, the only highlight they could draw from the first half was the good form of keeper Griemink, although the fact that he got the chance to show off his abilities so frequently was mainly down to some shambolic defending rather than good play by us.

The second half was no different. We continued to go through their defence with ease, but couldn’t find the second goal that would pretty much seal the victory, partly due to excellent goalkeeping, and partly due to wayward finishing. Indeed, just after the hour mark we really should have scored again. Alan Reeves hit a long ball forward straight to Gary Naysmith, who controlled well and launched a counter attack down the left, playing the ball into my path. I cut inside, ran forward unopposed and hit a stinging right foot shot low towards the bottom right corner, which Griemink did well to parry, but only straight to Constantine. He picked the ball up with Griemink on the ground, and no defenders anywhere near him, but his first touch was abysmal and pushed him too far wide for a shot. His cross wasn’t much better than his touch either, as it sailed over both my head and O’Connor’s, and Jamie Fullarton just about managed to keep it in play wide on the left. Even then the chance hadn’t completely passed, as Fullarton played a dangerous ball into the middle which was missed by most of the defenders, and I managed to scuff the ball wide from about ten yards out.

However, the crowd were not to be denied the second goal that their enthusiastic support deserved. Matt Somner, on as a substitute for Sonko, hoofed the ball hopefully upfield looking for O’Connor’s run in behind the defence. Griemink came racing out of his area and headed the ball clear. At least it would have been clear, had it not gone straight to me about forty-five yards out, and I lofted the ball into the empty net to score my tenth goal of the season. The crowd loved it, and so did I. OK, it wasn’t quite up there with that Beckham goal a few years back. I mean, I didn’t even have a goalkeeper to beat and I was closer in, but it was pretty good all the same.

Unsurprisingly for a team that had managed a whopping zero shots on goal in the opening eighty-six minutes of the game, Swindon gave up and conceded defeat. In the end they were lucky to only lose by two, and had it not been for Griemink it could have been far worse, something that could perhaps come back to haunt us at the end of the season, should goal difference be needed. However, we stayed on top of the Second Division for now, and could now focus on the League Cup match in midweek at Gillingham. I, however, had something else to deal with first...

Final Score:- Brentford 2-0 Swindon

Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 7; Roget 7, Christanval 8, Sonko 8 (Somner sub 79, 6); Naysmith 8, Dobson © 7, Fullarton 8, Rowlands 8 (Hutchinson sub 79, 7), Greenan 8(1); Constantine 8(1), O'Connor 8.

[alfredbulbasaur]

I looked at my watch. Half past two... She was late. I was worried enough as it was without her being late. I got my phone out and was just about to ring her before something touched me on the shoulder.

“Jen!†I said, nearly jumping a few feet into the air. “Don’t do that!â€

“Calm down Nick,†she said, highly amused at what she’d just done. “You’re a bit edgy today, even for you...†I couldn’t for the life of me think why...

“So, how were things at your aunts?â€

“Oh, great,†she said. “It was nice to see her again and to get away from everything for a few days, you know?â€

“Yeah...â€

And then things went silent. I think we both knew what was going to happen next, but neither of us seemed to be able to bring the subject up. She cracked first.

“Nick, while I was gone, did you think about...us, at all?â€

“It crossed my mind, yeah...â€

“...And?â€

“...I don’t know. You’re a great girl, and you know I love you, but I’m not sure if it’s in...that way.â€

“Ah...†I wasn’t sure if that was a good ‘ah’, or a bad one. “I guess that’s that then...â€

I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant. “So, we’re going to go back to normal again?â€

“Yeah...†She was staring at the ground. “Sounds like the right thing to do...â€

“...Is that what you want though?â€

She smiled weakly at me. “Yeah, of course it is...â€

I sighed. “Well, that’s all that out of the way then. Do you want to-“

She stood up suddenly. “Hey, I’ve just remembered something I’ve got to do back at home. I’ll-â€

“...Are you alright Jen?â€

She nodded her head very quickly. “Oh yeah, I’m... I’ve just got stuff to do. I’ll see you later.†She then turned around and started walking away.

“Yeah, later...â€

[Guest]

poor jen

[Fehnern]

Great story!

I like most of the stories being posted here, but this is the best I've read so far!

Keep it up!

[alfredbulbasaur]

The rest of the week was a weird one. With the League Cup match away to Gillingham coming up on Wednesday there was quite a lot of interest from the local press. The guy whod come down a few weeks earlier to talk to me was there, but he didnt seem interested in talking to me. He was much happier trying to 'interview' Leon Constantine's sister...

Mick was busy for most of the day giving interviews for various local newspapers and radio stations which meant he had very little time to concentrate on what little training we were doing over the other side of the training pitch. It was ironic really that we ended up doing the least amount of work in training for the biggest match of the season so far, but I can't say I was too disapppointed about that.

Away from the pitch though I was really starting to get confused. I was still pretty upset about everything that had gone on before with Beth, but now I had the incident with Jen to think about as well. I had been desperately trying to remember what actually happened that night, how wed ended up in bed together, but the only think Id managed to remember was falling over on the way home and banging my head on someones car, setting the car alarm off in the process, but even that I wasnt completely sure about.

Jen had been a bit funny on the couple of times Id seen her since then, something Id fully expected. Although wed always been really close, thered never been any indications that anything like that would happen. I didnt have any feelings like that for Jen, and Id never noticed Jen showing any signs that she felt anything for me. Perhaps it was just the drink that made us do it. I wasnt normally too bad when I got drunk, but Jen turned into another person completely after a couple of pints, something she always regretted the next day. Whether it was the time Beth convinced her that her hair would look good in a nice shade of pink and she spend the next three days desperately trying to wash it out, when she got on the wrong train and ended up in Brighton, or when she thought itd be a good idea to go swimming fully clothed in the pond, shed always do something stupid when she was drunk. I guess she could just add the other night to that list...

But although wed gone through a potentially difficult situation, we were still talking to each other, something I still couldnt say about myself and Beth. She still hadnt tried to talk to me after the other week, and I was starting to get worried. Id sort of decided that I wasnt going to make the first move here, that she would have to try and make it up to me, but I was starting to have second thoughts about that idea. Id even thought about going round there while Jen was away, but when I got to her road I saw James car outside, and I certainly wasnt going to go and talk to her while he was there.

And then I got thinking. Why would Beth want to go out with him over me? I knew what shed said, that she didnt feel that way for me, that she didnt want to be more than my friend, but there was something inside me that made me think that Beth thought James was better than me, and without wanting to think too highly of myself, I couldnt understand it. James was an idiot. He stopped bothering to go to school when he was 13 and had been working in the same warehouse for three years, lifting whatever crap theyd got in that week and, depending on what they had in, taking a few things home for himself, meaning he was not only a quitter, but also a thief. Hed already proven he was a bit of a thug for smacking me in the face, and to say he wasnt the sharpest knife in the draw was an understatement, so the thought that Beth would rather be with James instead of me didnt exactly do my self-confidence that much good. But it did give me an idea. If I could somehow prove I was better than James, maybe shed think again about me, and there was no better place to start than on the football pitch...

[alfredbulbasaur]

English League Cup Second Round vs Gillingham (a)

So, the biggest match of my short career so far came a couple of days into October at the Priestfield Stadium. In the grand scheme of things it wasnt really all that important. It was only the second round of the League Cup, and the big boys of the Premiership werent even in the competition yet. However, it would do our confidence the world of good to turn over a First Division side on their own patch, and would prove us as serious promotion contenders, something we were starting to believe ourselves.

As far as the team was concerned, there was only one change, with Scott Marshall coming back into the team after injury, replacing Ibrahima Sonko, who dropped back down to the bench. Leon Constantine had picked up a small knock to his ankle, but was given the go ahead to start. Whether hed finish the match was another matter altogether...

Gillingham were desperate for an impressive performance. Languishing in 21st place in Division One, they needed a turnaround in fortune soon to avoid a relegation battle, and this was going to be a hurdle they had to clear if they wanted to prove to their supporters that they could pull away from the bottom.

It was Gillingham who started by far the brighter of the two sides. Marlon King was worrying us with some really dangerous runs, and when Leo Roget and Philippe Christanval got mixed up on the edge of the area and gave the ball to King just two minutes into the game, it looked like we could be in trouble early on. King took it wide on the left, crossed into Tommy Johnson who blasted the ball high towards the goal, only for Paul Smith to pull off a great save to turn the ball over the bar. We were certainly going to need him to be on top form if we were going to pull this one off.

King and Johnson continued to cause us problems at the back, with King doing the majority of the running while Johnson threatened us in the air, with a couple of decent headers forcing good saves from Smith. But it was King who really should have opened the scoring. David Perpetuini hit a long ball forward towards King, and the ball found him after Christanval lost the flight of the ball and let it go over him to leave King clean through. Smith came out to try and force King to beat him, and in the end King wasnt up to the challenge. His shot lacked power, and Smith managed to get a hand to it, and then get hold of the ball at the second attempt.

But it wasnt all one way in the first half. No, we did actually manage to occasionally get the ball into their half, sometimes with one of our players actually in control of the ball. By the end of the half we did even manage to have a shot on goal, although Martin Rowlands effort from thirty yards ended up nearer the corner flag than the goal. In the end, we were extraordinarily fortunate to go in at half time with a clean sheet. We just had to pray that somehow we could keep it for another forty-five minutes at least.

However, the second half was a completely different story. Somehow when we passed the ball about, it stuck with us. Their passes were going astray, and as we started to build up a bit of possession their frustration became obvious, with tackles flying in from all angles, with Ty Gooden particularly fortunate not to pick up at least a booking for a really poor challenge on Leon Constantine.

Suddenly we started to believe we could win this, and started to create some really good chances. Michael Dobson fed Kevin OConnor in the area, and he turned Perpetuini brilliantly, and shot powerfully towards the bottom corner, but only hit the stand behind the goal. That wasnt all either. I skimmed the top of the bar with a curling free kick from twenty-five yards, and Martin Rowlands found his long range shooting boots that deserted him in the first half and peppered Jason Browns goal with strikes from around the edge of the area.

But when the golden chance came, we wasted it. Gary Naysmith swung a free kick into the area from wide on the left near the halfway line, looking for someone at the near post. OConnor missed it at the near post, Constantine missed it in the middle, and the defence left it to go behind for a goal kick. However, they completely forgot about me coming round the back at the far post, and I stooped to head the ball towards the goal. Had it been on target, it would have been a guaranteed goal. Brown had no idea what was going on and would have had no chance of saving it. But it wasnt on target, and it rippled the side netting. It was a great chance, and Id blown it.

However, just five minutes later I got the chance to atone for my mistake. Perpetuini decided to bring the ball out of defence, but only succeeded in giving it away to Jamie Fullarton. He looked up to OConnor now unmarked, and slid the ball through to him. He ran through on goal, shot low and Brown pulled off a good save. It would have been a great save, but the rebound went straight to me on the edge of the area, and I thumped in into the unguarded net with my left foot.

That goal left us fifteen minutes away from a minor upset, and suddenly Gillingham, whod had all the play in the first half and were battering us, were looking like being knocked out, and they responded by throwing everything at us, fortunately with no success. Mamady Sadebe did manage to hit the side of the net from a corner, but that was the closest they came to equalising.

It was a great win for us and saw us through to the third round, where we could face someone like Man Utd, Arsenal or Liverpool. Instead we got Norwich. You cant win them all, I guess...

Final Score:- Gillingham 0-1 Brentford

Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 8; Roget 7, Christanval 8, Marshall 6; Naysmith 7, Dobson © 7, Fullarton 6, Rowlands 8, Greenan 8(1); Constantine 6 (Peters sub 85, 6), O'Connor 8.

[alfredbulbasaur]

After our League Cup win, Mick decided to be generous and give us the day off training on Thursday, which I was quite pleased about. I hadn’t had many real days off for a while now, and this would give me a chance to catch up on some of the things I’d been meaning to do for ages now. I could have gone and got my sister’s birthday present, picked up a couple of CDs for myself while I’m out too. I could have fixed my wardrobe after the door fell off when I slammed it one time too many. I could have gone and bought a whole new wardrobe. I could have done so many things, but in the end I wasn’t really surprised when I ended up spending the majority of the day sitting by the side of the pond drinking.

Me, Joe and Jen had been sitting there for a few hours now. We’d originally decided to have a mini party, partially to celebrate my victory the night before, and partially because we didn’t really have anything to do, but when we couldn’t decide whose house to go to on the way back from the off license we ended up on a bench by the pond. Joe and Jen were seemingly in a race to see who could polish off their six-pack first, while I was being a very good boy and sticking to the bottle of Coke I’d brought with me. They didn’t seem too pleased at first, but they didn’t seem to care any more...

“Nick man, I’m telling you! Me and you should go out on the town, get ourselves a few drinks, check out the talent. Who knows, maybe you could finally break your duck, eh?â€

Jen coughed loudly. Joe took his beer can from his mouth and gave her a funny look.

“You alright Jen?â€

“Oh yeah,†she said, looking at me. “I’m fine, just clearing my throat...â€

“OK then... So what do you say Nick?â€

“Er...â€

“Oh come on! It’ll be just like old times, you know, me, you, Al... Well OK, Al won’t be there, but still...â€

“...I don’t know.â€

“Oh just say yes for God’s sake,†Jen said angrily. “It’s the only way you’re going to shut him up...â€

Joe laughed. “Hey, what’s wrong Jen? That time of the month?â€

“...Fúck off Joe.â€

Jen stood up, threw her now empty beer can on the floor and walked off towards the road. When I looked back at Joe he was busy opening another can for himself.

“Jeez, what’s wrong with her?â€

“I don’t know. I’d better check she’s alright...â€

“Nah, leave her man. If she wants to be a stroppy cow, let her.â€

“You know, you can turn into a right twat when you get drunk.†He gave me an ironic grin. “I’ll be back in a minute...â€

I then got up and started off down the road towards Jen, shouting to her as she went. After a few cries she eventually stopped and turned around, and it wasn’t too long until I’d caught up with her.

“You alright?â€

“...Yeah, I guess so. I’ve just had a bit too much to drink, and he was starting to annoy me.â€

“Well that makes two of us. Look, come back and stay for a bit longer. If he starts up again I’ll push him in the pond or something...â€

Jen laughed. “As much as I’d like to see that, I think it’d be best if I went home. I’m starting to feel a bit iffy so...â€

“OK then. You want me to walk back with you?â€

“Nah, I’ll be fine. See you tomorrow, yeah?â€

“Yeah, will do...â€

I looked back towards where we’d been sitting to see Joe throwing things at the ducks. Perhaps he wouldn’t mind if he went in and joined them...

[alfredbulbasaur]

Er, just thought I'd let anyone who's eagerly awaiting updates for this (yes, I know you don't exist, but hey...) that the updates may be even more spasmodic than beofre, what with uni starting up (meaning lots of studying/drunkeness to be getting on with). But believe me, it will get updated. There's at least 50 pages on my computer on Word that hasn't been posted yet...

[Robbo#]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by nickgreenan:

There's at least 50 pages on my computer on Word that hasn't been posted yet...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good stuff, this is excellent...long may it continue!

[Guest]

well i shall keep checking, im definately eagerly awaiting updates

[alfredbulbasaur]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ricc:

im definately eagerly awaiting updates<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good, because that's what you're getting.

-------------------------------------------------

English Second Division vs Stockport County (a)

It was back to league action at the weekend as we travelled north to lowly Stockport County. They hadn’t looked too impressive so far this season, and could be found down in 23rd place already looking at a possible relegation battle. We of course had no such problems. We had a fully fit squad available, and Scott Marshall continued his comeback to the first team after his recent injury problems, and Leon Constantine was now fully fit again after a minor ankle injury, which meant we could name the exact same lineup that faced Gillingham in midweek. We were definitely hoping for a repeat performance.

However, it wasn’t the repeat performance we had in mind. Just as Gillingham had done on Wednesday, Stockport battered us at the start of the match and forced us back into our own half, creating some really good chances, with Aaron Wilbraham twice going close with headers in the opening half hour, while Kevin Ellison looked dangerous from anywhere around the edge of the penalty area, forcing some good low saves out of Paul Smith.

With just under ten minutes to go before half time a long ball forward by Jim Goodwin found the head of our centre back Scott Marshall, who nodded the ball down to Leo Roget alongside him. Unfortunately for us, Ellison easily read the pass and nipped in to steal the ball. Roget made a decent attempt to recover the ball but Ellison eluded him and proceeded to belt an absolutely unstoppable shot towards the top right hand corner from twenty five yards past the despairing dive of Smith to put us behind.

What we needed was a quick response, but we never looked like getting it in the first half. We were sluggish all over the park, passes going astray and every time we went even close to creating a half chance we blew it. I managed to trip over the ball on the left after trying one stepover too many, and Constantine missed the ball completely when he was presented with a shooting opportunity in injury time.

It didn’t get any better in the second half either. Ellison kept firing in dangerous shots from distance, and the midfield and defence combined to give us little room to breathe, let alone play football. The only players who were doing remotely well for us were the two wing backs, Michael Dobson and Gary Naysmith, so it was no surprise when our best chance was created by one of them. Just after the hour mark Dobson made a good interception on the right and immediately played a diagonal ball over the top of the Stockport defence where myself and Constantine found ourselves completely clear. Constantine moved left towards the ball and as he closed in on substitute keeper Lee Jones I pulled away towards the penalty spot, screaming for the pass which would give us an almost certain equaliser. Unfortunately it never came, as Constantine found it a chance too tempting to spurn, and went on to fire straight at the keeper, who deflected it behind for a corner kick. Neither of us could really believe that we hadn’t managed to score, and Mick wasn’t at all impressed if his shouts from the dugout were anything to go by. I can’t say I was too impressed about the lack of a pass either, but I didn’t see the point in yelling at Constantine about it. I’ve always been too nice for my own good...

That chance was our last in the game, as Stockport continued to stop us playing and held on for the three points, something we were not at all pleased about. We had expected to win coming into the game, especially after our League Cup exploits, but simply didn’t play anywhere near as well as we could, and deserved to be beaten.

Final Score:- Stockport 1-0 Brentford

Team:- (3-5-2) Smith 6; Roget 7, Christanval 7, Marshall 7; Naysmith 8, Dobson © 8, Fullarton 6, Rowlands 8, Greenan 6; Constantine 7, O'Connor 7.

This defeat cost us our place on top of the table, in fact dropping us down to third and out of the automatic promotion places. Of course, it was still very much early days, but with some strong teams around us we would need all the points we could get, and costly defeats like this wouldn’t help matters at all.

This was our last match for two weeks, with England facing New Zealand in a friendly and Macedonia in a Euro 2004 qualifier, so we had plenty of time off. I was sure I’d find some way to pass the time...

[alfredbulbasaur]

“Oh, it’s you... What do you want?â€

It had taken quite a while for me to buck up the courage to go over to Beth’s, and I didn’t really expect her to be particularly nice to me. After all, she’d made the effort to try and patch things up with me, but I’d thrown it back in her face.

“Don’t be like this Beth.â€

“Well, you weren’t exactly very welcoming last time I saw you.â€

“I know, I know. I’m sorry about that...â€

“Is that what you came to say?â€

“Not really. I came to wish you a happy birthday. What, did you think I’d forget about it or something?â€

“No, I just...â€

“Didn’t expect me to care about it? It’s your eighteenth, and I know how much you’ve been looking forward to it.â€

She smiled at me. “Thanks Nick, this means a lot to me.â€

“Hang on a sec, that’s not all...â€

I then reached into my jacket pocket and took out a small, poorly wrapped box.

“Here you go. I completely forgot about getting a card. I hope you don’t mind.â€

“No, it’s fine...â€

She was examining the present I’d given her, looking at the bottom, the top, the sides, giving it a good shake and trying to get an idea of how heavy it was.

“You know, you can actually open it.â€

“I know, but it’s more fun to try and guess what it is first, and then it’ll be a nice surprise when it isn’t the jumper you thought it would be.â€

“So, what do you reckon it is?â€

“...I don’t know. It’s not heavy, it doesn’t really make much of a noise, and it’s small... It’s a pencil sharpener, isn’t it?â€

I laughed. “Jesus, how did you guess? Come on, just open the bloody thing!â€

“OK then...†She tore away the wrapping paper with ease. “It’s a box. Is the pencil sharpener inside?â€

“You’ll just have to open it to find out, won’t you?â€

“I guess so...â€

Finally she did open the box. As soon as she saw what was inside her eyes lit up.

“Oh Nick...†She removed the necklace from the box and held it up in front of her. “It’s beautiful. Why did you...?â€

“Remember that time we all went up to London to do some shopping and we looks in that jewellers for a bit of a laugh?â€

“Yeah, and I saw that necklace that looked exactly like the one my gran used to... You remembered...â€

“You went on about it all the way home, didn’t you? I was up there, looking for the perfect present, and I saw it. It just seemed like the right thing to do.â€

“But it must have cost a fortune!â€

“Maybe, but it was worth every penny just to see you happy again...â€

She smiled at me. “Thanks Nick. I’ll wear it to the party tonight.â€

“And I’m sure you’ll look great as always.â€

“Well, you’ll be able to see it for yourself, won’t you?â€

The lack of any response to what she’d just said pretty much said everything. Her happy face soon turned to one of disappointment.

“...You’re not coming, are you?â€

“I’m not sure. I might do.â€

“But you’ve got to come! It wouldn’t be right if you weren’t there. You haven’t missed one of my birthday parties since that time you cried when I beat you at pass the parcel...â€

“Hey, I really wanted that pencil case, OK?â€

“Well, it was my birthday, I was meant to win it!â€

“Yeah well...â€

“Come on Nick, you know you want to come.â€

“...What about James? He won’t want me there.â€

“I’ll deal with him. It’s not his party, and it’s not up to him to decide who I can and can’t have there. If he steps out of line, I’ll sort him out.â€

“...I don’t know.â€

“Oh go on! For me?â€

She looked straight at me and pulled the saddest face she could muster. She knew I’d cave in if she looked at me like that, with her sad eyes staring right at me.

“...What time does it start?â€

She smiled. “Eightish.â€

“Well, I’ll see you then.â€

“Thanks Nick. I’ll see you later.â€

“Bye.â€

Beth closed the door and I started to walk back down her garden path. I didn’t have a long time to get ready now...

[Guest]

an update woo. look, youve left us all in suspense now! grr!

[alfredbulbasaur]

When I got home, the first thing that I had to do was to decide what to wear. Given that I’d not ever really been intending to go to the party I hadn’t got anything new in, which meant I had the usual selection of rubbish clothes that I wore most of the time and weren’t really suitable, or my party shirt. I’d worn it to almost every party I’d been to for the last few years, but I didn’t really know why. It wasn’t lucky, I didn’t pull every time I wore it, the colour was quite badly faded and the faint smell of vomit it had picked up wasn’t particularly attractive unless you happen to be a bluebottle or something.

That meant there was only one thing to do. I had to run down the shops and get something new. So that was why I was stuck clothes shopping in Hounslow. It was usually my idea of hell, but I really wanted to make a good impression tonight. Beth seemed really happy with the necklace, and I was pretty sure it would have cost more than whatever James had stolen from work. But that wasn’t really the point. I certainly didn’t want her to think I was trying to buy her affections, but I knew that having a bit of cash handy might prove to be useful in the long run.

No, I had to try and get Beth to see me for the kind, generous, funny and all-round great person I was, or at least make her think I was some of those things, and I’d start by trying to make myself look as good as possible for tonight. I took a shirt off the rack in front of me, moved across to the mirror and held the shirt up, trying to picture what it’d look like on me.

“Er, can I help you?â€

I turned round to see a young guy standing behind me.

“No thanks, I’m...â€

“Nick?â€

I gave him a funny look as he said my name.

“It is you, isn’t it?â€

“Erm...â€

“Do you remember me?â€

“Erm...â€

I looked at him, desperately trying to work out who he was. His name badge gave me quite a good idea...

“It’s Steven, isn’t it?â€

“You do remember me! Oh, I thought you’d forgotten! I asked for your autograph a few weeks ago, remember?â€

Suddenly I did remember him, and I now had an overwhelming urge to leave as soon as quickly.

“Oh, yeah, of course I remember. Now, I think I’d better...â€

“You like that shirt?â€

“Yeah, I guess, but it’s a bit pricey.â€

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I’ll get you 10% off.â€

“Really? Thanks.â€

“You’re welcome. If you’d just like to follow me...â€

We then walked over towards the till when he scanned in the barcode, pressed a few buttons, looked very nervous when the assistant manager wandered over, and eventually gave me a bag with the shirt in it.

“OK, here’s your change and your receipt. Oh, and good luck in the match next weekend.â€

“Cheers.â€

“And don’t forget to drop by now that you know where I am, OK?â€

“Oh I won’t...†I said, leaving the shop as quickly as humanly possible. I now had another reason not to ever go shopping here ever again...

[alfredbulbasaur]

"So when's everyone getting here?"

Alex gave me a funny look. We'd been sitting in his front room for about half an hour now, and we were still waiting for some more people we actually knew to turn up. There'd been a few of Beth's friends from work and a couple from school turn up so far, but we didn't really know any of them. I only knew one of their names...

Joe had been here for a while now, but was far too busy to sit down and talk to us. One of the good things about one of Beth's parties, at least from his perspective, was that she had a rather large amount of stunningly attractive female friends, all of whom never said no to a party. It was a shame then that Beth had told them that he was gay...

However, it did promise to be a pretty decent night. Alex's parents were away for a couple of weeks, meaning we had their rather large house to ourselves, and there was going to be plenty of room to polish off the ridiculous amount of alcohol lying around in the kitchen. Add that to the fact that Beth was now talking to me again and it started to look like being a pretty enjoyable time. Now all I needed to make it perfect was for her to open her eyes and give in to my frankly irresistible charms...

"Oh, am I not entertaining enough for you?"

I shook my head. "Oh no, you're a barrel of fun... It's just it's not much of a birthday party without the birthday girl, is it?"

"Hey, don't complain. This way we all get more birthday cake, and there's more chance that I'll win at musical chairs."

"I don't think we're going to be playing that somehow."

He suddenly looked very disappointed. "We're...not? But there is a clown coming later, right? Right?"

I looked over his shoulder. "Nah mate. The clown's already here..."

Joe glared at me. "Hey, I heard that, and you'd better take it back! I may be a lot smaller than you-"

"That's in every department if the girls I've spoken to are anything to go by..."

"Yeah, but at least I've done more than just speak to girls Nick."

His reply wasn't particularly surprising. Whenever anyone ever said anything against him, he'd whip out his heavily-notched bedpost to boast about. It was a particular favourite to use again me as, with him not knowing what had happened between me and Jen, he still believed my bedpost was completely notch-free...

"Oh right... And who's to say I haven't done more than talk to a girl recently?"

"So what did you do?" Alex asked. "Hold her hand?"

"You know what I mean. How do you know I haven't, and just not told you about it?"

They both looked at each other for a minute before they both burst out laughing. They didn't stop for quite a while.

"OK then," Joe asked, finally managing to regain his composure. "Who was the unlucky lady?"

For a second or two I actually contemplated telling him the truth, but somehow I didn't think he'd believe me. "...Nah, I don't kiss and tell."

"That's because there's nothing to tell! Isn't that right Jen?"

I quickly looked over my right shoulder to where he was looking and nearly froze. There was something different about Jen, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. She looked pretty much the same, apart from the extra

effort she'd made for the party, bringing out one of her best, and most revealing tops for the special occasion. Her hair wasn't any different, and she was still wearing her favourite battered pair of two year old trainers, but for some reason she looked different to the last time I'd seen her.

"What's that?" she said.

"Oh, Nick's just been telling us how he finally got off with some bird."

Jen looked at me. "Really? Been telling porkies again, have we Nick?"

"No, I..."

"How many times is that now?" she asked Joe.

"Er, fifteen by my count, but that depends on how many times you count that Vicky that he made up..."

"I didn't make her up!"

"Oh, so it was just a coincidence that no-one else knew anything about her, you accidentally lost her phone number and you forgot where she lived?"

"Yeah..."

Joe laughed. "Nice try Nick. Now, where are the drinks Al?"

"Oh, they're in the kitchen. Just go help yourself if you want anything."

"Thanks mate, I think I might just do that..."

Joe and Alex then got up and wandered off towards the kitchen in search of refreshments. Jen was just about to join them before I stopped her.

"Why...why didn't you...?"

"Why didn't I back you up?" She looked at me and grinned. "Hey, I want them to think I've got some standards..."

[ghostwriter]

This gets better and better

Brilliant story, enjoying it lots.

Keep it up

[Harleqin]

This is a great story. I've been away for some time and were browsing the stories and this one really stood out. Very well done. I hope you can keep it up. Just don't run out of background stories too soon

[I\'m Not Ruud]

great story! i just read it all! i can't wait to see what happens. oh the perils of love and football...

[alfredbulbasaur]

For the next few minutes I just sat there on my own. Joe and Jen had gone off to talk to a few people, Jen catching up with a few old friends, while Joe was hoping to make some new friends. Alex had been in and out of the room as more and more people arrived, said hello and walked past me to gather on the other side of the room where everyone else was. Oddly Beth still hadn’t got here. She was traditionally late for most things, but you wouldn’t have expected her to be almost an hour late for her own party.

But for once I wasn’t thinking about Beth. As I sat there, I stared across the room at her, just chatting away to a couple of old school friends that she hadn’t really kept in touch with. I had no idea why, but I just couldn’t keep my eyes off her. Sure, she looked great, but then again I always thought she did. The problem was what I was thinking about there and then, about how stunning she looked, about what we’d done together just a couple of weeks ago, and how I wouldn’t mind doing it again...

Why though? We’d always been about as close as I thought we could ever be, and I’d never really though about Jen in that way. She obviously didn’t think of me in that way, otherwise she’d have said something after the other night, wouldn’t she?

Maybe that was it. Maybe the fact that we’d spent the night together had triggered something in my brain and made me think that we could do it again. After all, Jen was the first girl to ever show any interest in me in that way, albeit she was horrendously drunk and probably didn’t really have a clue what she was doing. The look of horror on her face that morning when she realised what she’d done said more than a thousand words ever could.

However, just as I seemed to be on the way to getting my head around what was going on, Jen broke away from the people she was talking to and was heading for the kitchen before she noticed me sitting on my own on the sofa.

“Why don’t you come over and join in the party Nick? You must be getting pretty lonely over here.â€

“Nah, I’m fine...â€

I looked up at her. She had a sort of concerned look on her face, and sat down next to me.

“Are you alright Nick? You’ve barely said anything since I got here.â€

“...Yeah, of course I’m alright. Why wouldn’t I be?â€

“You sure? You know that you can tell me, whatever it is.â€

How could I though? I didn’t know what it was myself, so I had no idea how I could tell her about it. Even if I could, she wouldn’t want to hear it...

“It’s... No, it’s nothing.â€

I looked at her again. The concerned look on her face hadn’t gone, and it looked like she wasn’t going to let this one go...

“You reckon I should just leave the door half open? I’m getting sick of having to get up and answer it every two minutes...â€

“Al! Alright mate?â€

He gave me a strange look. “Er, yeah...†He waved a hand in the general direction of the sofa. “D’you mind if I...?â€

I shook my head, and Alex sat down next to me. He didn’t realise he’d completely killed off the conversation I was having with Jen, although I certainly wasn’t complaining...

“You look nice tonight Jen. Isn’t that right Nick?â€

I looked to my right, not really sure what to say. I didn’t want to sound too enthusiastic in case she thought something was up, but then again I didn’t want to be harsh and possibly hurt her feelings.

“Yeah...†I said, nodding my head. “You look great.â€

Jen smiled back at me, almost as if she was a little surprised by what I’d said. “...Thanks Nick. You don’t look too bad yourself.â€

There was yet another knock on the door. Alex groaned. “I really should have left that bloody door open, shouldn’t I?â€

[alfredbulbasaur]

A bit of a belated 'thank you' to the people who said nice things a couple of posts before this. Thanks!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Alex got up and, with an annoyed expression on his face, strolled towards the front door. The sound of raised, arguing voices made it pretty clear who was waiting to be let in...

“Come on Beth...†James said. “It’s your birthday! You’re supposed to be happy.â€

“Well perhaps I’m not in a very happy mood right now, OK?â€

“Look, I’ve already said I’m sorry. What more do you want me to do?

“Just shut up, OK? You’re really starting to do my head in...â€

None of us really knew what to do. It was pretty obvious that this argument had been going on for a bit now, and we all seemed really reluctant to get involved in any way. In the end, the duty of peacemaker fell to the host for the night.

“Hey...†Alex said nervously. “Erm, you’re late!â€

“I know, I’m sorry about that Al. Somebody’s car broke down...â€

“Yeah, something wrong with the engine or-“

“Excuse me,†Beth said, interrupting James’ reply. “Didn’t I tell you to shut up?â€

James just stood there with a gormless expression on his face, not sure what to say, or whether he dare say anything at all.

“As I was saying, the car broke down so we had to walk the rest of the way. It wouldn’t have been too bad normally, but these shoes ain’t really designed for walking that far.â€

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You’re not that late, and it’s not like we’ve started anything yet. Well, except for the drinking...â€

“Well, I should get a move on and get myself a drink, shouldn’t I?â€

“Yes, you should. Just go in the kitchen and get whatever you fancy. There’s some stronger stuff in the cupboard above the fridge in case you’re interested.â€

“Cheers Al,†she said, smiling as she wandered off towards the kitchen. James still hadn’t moved and was still standing in the doorway.

“Er, you don’t have to stand there all night mate. Just sit down, get yourself a drink or whatever, OK?â€

“Yeah...â€

He didn’t look particularly happy to be here, and none of us were at all surprised. We’d known for a while now that he didn’t seem to like any of Beth’s friends. Of course, he didn’t like me, that much he made obvious when his fist introduced itself to my face, but it wasn’t just me that he disliked. He’d given Joe the rather affectionate nickname of ‘Rat-boy’. Apparently the thinking behind this truly hilarious nickname was the fact that Joe was quite small, and that he used cheesy chat up lines, which on consideration was probably the cleverest thing James had ever thought up himself. He of course would argue that his idea of universities offering degrees in pornography studies, which would involve both practical and theoretical elements, was the cleverest thing that anyone in the entire universe had thought up, but then again that was just what he was like. He was an utter twat.

As well as not liking Joe, James had taken a bit of a dislike to Alex, although the exact reason behind this was a well shrouded mystery. It may have been the fact that on their first meeting Alex accidentally spilled a little bit of James’ pint which had triggered a hatred deep inside James’ tiny little brain. It may have been that Alex had the audacity to talk to Beth while they were on a date and, completely shockingly, actually touch her without his permission. There were other theories that it could have had something to do with the fact that Alex was Welsh, but that was obviously just a silly rumour...

However, he had originally liked Jen though. That much didn’t really surprise any of us, since Jen has always been a thoroughly likeable young lady. When they first met, she made the effort to try and be nice to him by talking to him about the things he liked and pretending that she enjoyed the same things. This required her to talk for about half an hour about how much she loved cars, beer, football and women, with the last topic revealing that the first thing Jen looks for in a woman is her smile, closely followed by a good sense of humour and a nice, firm pair of breasts. This revelation had, of course, led James to believe that Jen was a lesbian, and he went on to invite her to join him and Beth one night for a bit of fun. Jen politely declined the offer, telling him he was ‘a fúcking little shít’, and that there must be something seriously wrong with Beth if she sees anything remotely likeable in him. He didn’t seem to like her as much after that...

So as he sat down in the chair opposite me, Jen and Joe, we weren’t at all surprised when he didn’t say anything or for that matter look remotely interested in even participating in a conversation. We had hoped that when Beth emerged from the kitchen, he’d go and join her and we could get back to talking about how much of a tosser he was. Instead we had to sit there in silence until Joe decided that enough was enough, and that someone just had to say something.

“So... Car broke down then?â€

“Yeah. Engine or something. Just died.â€

“Oh... You think it’ll cost much to fix?â€

“Er, probably not. I’ve got a mate who works in a garage, so he’ll do me a bit of a deal. Anyway, I’ll probably just borrow the money off Beth anyway. I mean, what’s the point of having a girlfriend if you can’t borrow money off them?â€

“Yeah...â€

“So, what you three up to tonight? You all got your eyes on the ladies?â€

Jen smiled at him sarcastically. “Yeah, definitely. See that redhead over there?†We all looked as she nodded her head towards one of Beth’s friends over the other side of the room. “I’ve heard she’s a right goer in the sack, and... Actually, I might just go over there and ask her if she’ll join me upstairs for a while. Excuse me...â€

Jen then got up and wandered off towards Beth and her gaggle of friends, leaving me and Joe with James to deal with. I knew exactly what was going to happen next...

“Well,†Joe said, standing up as he spoke, “I might go and get a drink. Anyone want one? No? OK then...â€

So it was just me and him. Could this night have got any better?

[Guest]

this is quite brilliant. should be published infact.

[alfredbulbasaur]

Cheers Ricc. Nice to see you're still enjoying it.

------------------------------------------------------------------

It was very difficult to know exactly what to talk to James about really. The only thing we had in common really was that we both knew Beth, so it wasn’t really surprising that when he eventually decided to start a conversation, she was the subject...

“Saw that necklace that you bought Beth. Very nice. Kinda looks real too...â€

“Well, that’d be because it is.â€

“Must have cost you a pretty penny then.â€

“Yeah, it cost a bit.â€

“Still, I’d bet it’s a drop in the ocean for a flashy footballer like you.â€

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call Brentford all that flashy, but yeah, I guess I’m not doing that badly out of it.â€

“And that necklace was just your way of reminding Beth of just how well you’re doing for yourself?â€

“No, the necklace was my way of saying happy birthday to one of my best friends.â€

He attempted to give me a menacing glare, but instead ended up looking even more ridiculous that he did normally.

“Don’t play games with me Greenan. I know what you’re trying to do. You think that you just have to flash the cash to make Beth come running, but it won’t work.â€

“Nah, nah, it’s nothing like that mate...â€

“I ain’t your mate, OK? You carry on trying things like this and I swear I’ll...â€

“You’ll what?â€

James suddenly looked to his left to see Beth standing next to him.

“Beth... Me and Nick were just having a little chat.â€

“Really? Perhaps we ought to have a little chat then, yeah?â€

“Yeah, OK. What about?â€

“Well, perhaps we could talk about a guy who’s gone out his way to be nasty to my friends, whose idea of a romantic night out is a quickie round the back of the pub, and, to be honest, is really, really starting to annoy me.â€

“...What are you trying to say?â€

Beth closed her eyes and groaned. “Oh God... James, I don’t like you any more. In fact, I think I might actually hate you, so why don’t you do us all a favour and just fúck off, OK?â€

Not for the first time tonight, James just sat there with a blank look on his face, no idea whether to do as Beth had said, or to stay and try and get her to reconsider, to beg her to give him another chance. In the end, he just sat there and did nothing.

“Well go on then! Go!â€

“Beth...â€

“James, just go, yeah?†Alex said, feeling that, as host, it was his job to diffuse a possibly difficult situation.

James looked at Beth for a moment before reluctantly standing up. “...I’ll give you a call tomorrow, yeah?â€

He waited for a few moments, hoping for some kind of response, but he didn’t get one. He turned round and headed off towards the door. As soon as we heard it close Jen went straight over to Beth and put her arms round her.

“Oh Beth...â€

“Hey, don’t worry ‘bout me. I’ve sort of wanted to get rid of him for a while now, but I wanted to get a present off of him first.â€

Jen pulled away from Beth and looked at her. She didn’t seem to believe her. “You sure?â€

“Yeah, course I am. When have ever seen me get upset over a guy?†They both smiled at each other. “Now why don’t we get this party started?â€

It was one of the best ideas I’d heard all night...

[Steve Dine]

brilliant as ever Nick

[I\'m Not Ruud]

and the soap opera continues...

[alfredbulbasaur]

The rest of the party went along pretty uneventfully. Everyone was generally having a good time, with Beth determined to make up for the rather sour start to the night by getting as drunk as possible as quickly as possible, which certainly livened things up. Joe continued to pursue as many of Beth’s friends as possible, but continued to get knocked back. I mean, it wouldn’t be fair on poor old Graham if Joe cheated on him, just because he was feeling a little confused...

Alex continued to patrol the house, making sure that everyone had enough to drink, that the music wasn’t too loud or quiet or depressing or anything else that anyone could complain about and that generally everyone was having a good time. He didn’t seem to have time to have a good time, what with him having to get up every other minute to answer the door, but he didn’t seem to mind. The party seemed to be a success, despite a minor hiccup near the start, and that made him happy.

Jen spent the majority of her time with Beth and her friends, drinking, chatting and laughing about this and that, although she did occasionally break away from the pack to have a chat to me, still sitting in the same chair I had been all night, and only occasionally talking to whoever walked past me and could be bothered to even acknowledge that I was there. She was still convinced that there was something wrong, and seemed pretty determined to try and find out what it was. I kept on telling her there wasn’t anything wrong, and that she should go and join the others, partly because I knew she’d have a better time with them tonight, and partly because I was pretty determined to try and find out what was wrong with me myself...

As the night had gone on, I had become more and more confused as to what the hell was going on in my head. At first, all I had to try and deal with was that suddenly I found my best friend of over ten years really, really attractive, and why on Earth I was suddenly feeling what I felt for her. But as well as that, I now had the problem of Beth. I’d wanted Beth and James to split up for ages now, as with him out of the picture, my miniscule chances of perhaps doing something with her were ever so slightly increased.

However, there was something much more prominent in my mind at that moment. Every time Beth had ever split up with a boyfriend, she’d almost instantly celebrate her newfound freedom by jumping into bed with someone, and this occasion didn’t seem to be any different. She was practically grabbing hold of any guy that happened to go near her, and some of them had to try very, very hard to get away from her, although why they’d want to was beyond me. This led me to perhaps thinking that my miniscule chances with Beth could perhaps be upgraded to remote or better, especially with Beth knowing that I’d be up for it. Perhaps if she was just after sex, she might come to me for it...

Unfortunately, I was always far too nice for my own good, and would never have taken advantage of Beth in that way. As much as I wanted to, it wouldn’t be right for me to sleep with Beth just because she was trying to get back at James. I wanted her to sleep with me because she wanted to, and that didn’t seem very likely from what I’d gathered so far...

Perhaps that was why I was feeling what I felt for Jen. If I couldn’t have Beth, who else could I have? Jen was the only other girl I really knew, and I’d never really managed to perfect the art of chatting girls up, so she seemed like the next logical choice. But was that it? Had our one night of drunken passion awakened feelings for Jen that I never even knew I had? And if it had, was there necessarily anything wrong with that?