Closer than Blood: Friendship Helps You Survive. Julie Shaw

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      ‘Uh-huh,’ Doreen said sagely. ‘Looks like it.’

      ‘Say something, Dor?’ Joan said. ‘He’s a Hudson, remember. I doubt he’ll waste energy on small talk. No, he’ll nut him, most probably,’ she finished, sucking the last of her milkshake up her straw. ‘Looks like it might be a lively kind of night after all.’

      ‘But there’s three of them!’ Shirley squeaked. ‘Why would he –’

      At which point, Keith did. Just as her brand new friend Joan had predicted, he landed a body-bending punch into the hapless lad’s chest then followed it up with the promised head-butt for good measure.

      She banged her own milkshake glass onto the bar and ran towards them.

      ‘Keith!’ she yelled anxiously. What on earth was he thinking? There were three of them! And even as she screeched at him, they were all jumping in.

      Not that it seemed to dampen Keith’s enthusiasm for defending her honour. ‘You think you can chat up my bird, do you?’ he screamed at the boy, simultaneously ducking from the blows raining down and launching straight back in with his fists. But however fearless he was, he was surely no match for three of them, and Shirley decided she’d better get stuck in as well, by trying to grab the smallest of the three of them. He shook her off as if she’d been no more than a gust of wind on his back, though, and as Keith saw her stagger backwards, it only served to rile him more. Back in he went, blood pouring freely from his nose now, kicking and punching past any resistance, and beginning – incredibly – to get the upper hand, as well.

      And then Bert arrived to break the fight up. Keith saw him, too. ‘You want a go as well, Bert?’ he growled, ‘go ahead and be my frigging guest, pal.’ He raised his fists just as three men in suits grabbed him from behind. Bert grinned – he’s actually enjoying himself, Shirley realised – as, while two of the men quickly and surely grabbed Keith’s arms, Bert and the third man grabbed his feet. Between them, as the three other lads stood back to inspect their bruises, they lifted him off the floor.

      ‘Let him go, you bleeding bullies!’ Shirley yelled, tears springing in her eyes, but as she raised her fists to pummel the back of the nearest of Bert’s henchmen, Keith spun himself around somehow, twisting his neck so he was facing her.

      ‘I’m all right, Shirl,’ he reassured her, winking at her as if in endorsement. ‘I’ll meet you at the other end of the car park, okay?’

      She could only look on, stunned and shaken, as they carried him by his wrists and ankles to the double doors that led to the car park, looking for all the world as if they were giving him the bumps for his birthday.

      Oh, God! she thought anxiously. He wasn’t about to get a beating, was he? The thought galvanised her and, with a weak smile at her new friends, Joan and Doreen, she hurried after them, just in time to experience another shocking moment as they swung Keith back in unison before launching him straight across the car park.

      They were all laughing, as well, which made her furious. ‘You bad bastards!’ she screamed, elbowing them out of the way. ‘You could have killed him!’ But by the time she’d run across to him, he was (miraculously, it seemed to Shirley) already getting back up again. He must be like a cat, she decided, as he sprung to his feet, engineered to always land the right way up. He began dusting himself down. Muck and gravel stuck to him like a new suit. ‘Are you all right?’ she asked anxiously, wincing at the blood smeared on his face.

      ‘Me?’ he asked, as if it was a completely unexpected question. ‘Course I am, love. I’m used to that from them pillocks. Don’t you worry, Shirl. Wait till I see them one by one, though.’ He grinned. ‘Trust me, they won’t be laughing then.’

      Shirley certainly wasn’t laughing now. Did he mean the lads, or Bert’s hard men? Either way, was he totally insane? He was certainly fearless, she conceded as he brushed the last of the dust from his lapels. ‘Keith, you’re still bleeding,’ she told him, anxious anew. Had they broken his nose? Would he end up with it all bent and lumpy like his mate Titch’s? It was definitely still oozing blood. It was beginning to get dark now, and she could see it glistening by the light of the car-park security lamp.

      He pressed the back of his hand to his nose and then held it away from him, tutting, before pushing a hand inside the sleeve of his other arm and tugging down a length of jacket sleeve that had obviously been tucked up inside. That done, he carefully wiped his nose with it, before tucking the sleeve carefully up again. The jacket, she realised, had cuffs that matched the collar. Or would have, had the sleeves not been six inches too long.

      ‘What?’ Keith was asking her, and she realised she was standing there, gawping. And, transfixed as she was by the bizarre thing she’d just witnessed, she didn’t know quite what to say. There was something so singular about what he’d just done that all her anxiety melted away. Instead, she found herself collapsing into a fit of giggles.

      Keith stared at her for a moment, just like Titch had earlier, as if she was mad. ‘What’s so frigging funny?’ he wanted to know.

      ‘Oh, Keith,’ Shirley spluttered, ‘you should have seen your face! When those men got you, and it was just when you were going to hit that lad, and then you were, like, so surprised – so, like, “What’s going on here?” and next minute you were up in the air, and … oh my God, I’m going to wee myself if I’m not careful …’

      She crossed her legs, tears of laughter spilling onto her cheeks now. What had happened here? By rights she should be sickened and terrified. And here she was laughing like a drain. What had happened here? It was the funniest, yet oddest night of her life, and she didn’t think she’d ever felt quite so alive.

      Keith grabbed her arm, placed it over his, pulled her close against him, linked their fingers, and she felt the same thrill she’d felt earlier on. ‘Come on, you bleeding nutter,’ he said, glancing down at her watch. ‘Look at the time. Let’s get you home before that dad of yours sets his firing squad on me, shall we? I can’t be doing with bullet holes in this friggin’ jacket as well. It’s not even mine, I borrowed it off our Annie’s husband.’

      Shirley glanced at her watch too. It wasn’t even much past nine yet.

      ‘But what about your friends?’ she asked.

      ‘Oh, I dare say they’re still in the pub. Besides, I didn’t come out with them, did I? I came out with you.’

      His gaze met hers then and she thought she might melt from the heat in it. ‘But we’re all right for time,’ she said, as they left the car park. ‘We don’t have to hurry.’

      He squeezed her hand and smiled at her. ‘Yeah,’ he said softly. ‘I know that as well.’

      When they reached Shirley’s road, her dad was standing on the doorstep, just as he’d promised, one hand in his pocket, the other curled around something that glinted metallically in the moonlight. There was no sign of her mam – probably keeping well out of his way. She groaned. ‘Oh, God, he’s only bloody standing there with his alarm clock!’ she said. ‘Honestly!’

      ‘Here we are, Mr Read,’ Keith called to him. ‘Safe and sound and home on time.’ He slowed and stopped then, still a few doors from hers. ‘I better leave you here, love,’ he whispered, his breath tickling her neck. ‘If he sees the state of me he’ll probably have a fit, won’t he?’

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