Josephine Cox - Girl on the Platform

‘Great!’ Then Mark had another idea. ‘Why don’t we give the theatre a miss, and go straight to the clubs?’

‘No. We’ll go and see the show like we planned. There’ll be time enough for the clubs,’ Pete told him.

‘Yes, but we’ve got to find somewhere to stay the night. By the time we’ve done that and then gone to the show, there won’t be much time left for clubbing, will there?’ Mark was disappointed. ‘Why do you want to see Joseph anyway?’

Pete explained, ‘Because my dad gave us the tickets so we could see the show. Anyway, I thought you wanted to see it? If I remember rightly, it was you who watched the talent competition on TV from start to finish. You were the one who voted for that Lee bloke to win, and now you’ve got the chance to see him on stage. So what’s the problem?’

‘I’ve never been to a musical before.’

‘Yes, and now you can…thanks to my dad.’

‘But what if I don’t like it? What if I want to come out halfway through?’

‘You won’t.’

‘Okay, so what if I make it to the end, and it’s really late when we get to the clubs? All the best looking girls will be taken.’

‘That won’t happen.’

‘How can you be so sure?’

‘ Think about it,’ Pete urged. ‘When we get off the train, we’ll get the taxi driver to drive us to a B&B. Then after we’ve checked in, we’ll grab a bite to eat and make our way to the theatre. We’ll be out of the theatre well before midnight, so by the time we get to the clubs, they’ll be hotting up.’

Mark grinned. ‘D’you reckon?’

‘Too right!’ Pete assured him. ‘You’ll have the girls swooning all over you.’

Mark laughed out loud. ‘Sounds good to me!’

For a time they sat quietly. Mark closed his eyes and thought about the wonderful night he was in for, and all the good looking girls he was going to meet.

Pete gazed out of the window. Like Mark, he was really looking forward to checking out London night-life. But he felt strangely uneasy. His thoughts were still back there, with the girl on the platform. She had stirred memories in him, painful memories that he would much rather have forgotten. Memories of another girl, younger, cruel and cold; his first real love.

Mark saw Pete lost in thought, and he was intrigued. ‘Hey, you!’

Pete looked up. ‘What?’

‘You look awful. Anybody would think you were going to the gallows, instead of heading for the best time of your life. What’s wrong with you?’

‘Just thinking, that’s all,’ he gestured out of the window. ‘Why don’t you carry on looking at the scenery,’ he suggested, ‘…and leave me alone?’

‘Suit yourself!’

Mark returned his attention to the landscape, but it was only a moment before Pete started to apologise. ‘Sorry, mate. It’s just that, well, the girl back there on the platform…’ He looked away.

‘What about her?’ Mark sensed Pete was about to confide in him. ‘I saw how taken you were with her…fancy her don’t you?’ He grinned, not expecting for a moment what Pete was about to confide in him.

‘I know it sounds mad but…she sort of reminds me of myself,’ Pete began quietly. ‘That’s what drew me to her.’ He smiled. ‘There’s something about her…’

Intrigued, Mark leaned forward in his seat. ‘What did you mean just then?’

‘When?’

‘Just now…when you said she reminded you of yourself?’

‘Nothing!’ Pete was wishing he had kept his thoughts to himself. ‘Just forget it!’

‘No!’ Mark urged him on. ‘C’mon…what did you mean?’

Pete took a long, noisy breath and paused for a second or two. Then he began to voice his thoughts. ‘She looked wounded…like she’d been hurt by somebody…’

Mark joked, ‘What…like she’s had a row with her parents…or something? Sorry, mate, it’s tough but we all have to deal with life’s little crises.’

Pete gave him a shrivelling glance. ‘You’ve no idea, have you?’ There was a touch of envy in his voice.

Mark had never seen Pete like this. ‘She’s really got to you, hasn’t she? What’s on your mind—what’s all this about? Is there something you’re not telling me?’

Pete looked him in the eye. ‘I reckon she’s been hurt like I was seven years ago,’ he confided. ‘It seems like yesterday, I remember it so clearly. It took me a long time to get over it.’

‘Get over what for pity’s sake?’

Pete told him. ‘I was working at Jason’s carparts warehouse. There was me and three other blokes in the warehouse, and two girls working the phones.’

He gave a slow, wry little smile. ‘Then Claire was taken on to man the office. She was bright, funny and genuine. To cut a long story short, I invited everyone to my eighteenth birthday party, including her. We got on really well and we started going out. She was the first girl I fell in love with.’

‘Wow.’ Mark was impressed. You don’t waste time. So, what happened?’

Pete continued, ‘Claire was my first real sweetheart, and to be honest, I worshipped the ground she walked on…bought her things, and did everything she wanted. Anyway, it was a month or so later, when I took her to Barney’s Club in town. She got a bit drunk and when it was time to take her home she laughed in my face and then I couldn’t find her…she just disappeared.’

Remembering how it had been was still painful after all this time. ‘I searched everywhere for her…asked everybody if they’d seen her but nobody had. Then one of the girls told me she’d seen Claire about an hour before, making her way to the cloakrooms.’ He shrugged his shoulders, ‘I heard a noise at the back of the cloakrooms and there she was, with Jack from the warehouse. I thought he was a mate, but it turned out that was the second biggest mistake I’d made. The two of them had been together even before she started at the warehouse, and between the two of them they had milked me for every penny I’d got. They were laughing at me behind my back.’ He looked out the window. ‘It was all a big joke to them.’

Mark was shocked. ‘So what did you do?’

Pete smiled. ‘The only thing I could do! I just walked away, from her, from my work.’ He shrugged his shoulders, but Mark could see the shame on his face. ‘A clean sheet, and a lesson learned.’

‘Right!’ Mark had never been let down like that, but he realised how it might damage somebody, especially at eighteen. ‘So, you think that girl on the platform had something like that happen to her?’

Pete shrugged again. ‘Dunno, but I recognise that look,’ he admitted. ‘Kind of faraway, not really caring.’ He grinned suddenly. ‘I might be totally wrong, and she’s just wondering what to have for tea. But, I do know this much…’

‘What?’

‘I’m going to see her again.’

Mark warned him. ‘Beware strange girls. If you’re not careful, they’ll eat you for breakfast!’

Pete laughed aloud. ‘Shut up, lunatic!’

‘Hey!’ Mark jolted him out of his moodiness. ‘So, you really think we’ll score tonight then?’ Rubbing his hands together, he gave Pete a cheeky smile.

‘I’ve already said, haven’t I?’ He had already forgotten about the girl who cheated on him with a mate—though the image of the girl on the platform lingered. ‘Hey! Tonight might be the night when you meet your future wife. Have you thought of that?’

Mark was horrified. ‘I’m not looking for a future wife. I haven’t got time to settle down, not when I can pick and choose.’

Pete wagged a finger. ‘One of these days, some girl will come along, and sweep you off your feet.’

‘No way!’ Mark had no wish to be tied to one woman. ‘I’m a free spirit…born to play the field.’