Chapter 3
When Patsy got to Liz's house her friend had to say she did look very nice.
She had gone for a red dress to match her hair and it hugged her figure. She did not know why she had bothered putting her own best dress on for it was clear who was going to be the belle of the ball that evening and she did not think it was going to be her. She had been a fool to think she was going to take any attention.
"Ahh lass, you do not know how pleased I was when your mother said you were going to come with me tonight. I know you have not had an altogether easy week, but I swear to you, you are not going to regret coming with me."
"I had better not," said Liz with a smile which made Patsy laugh.
"You do look very nice."
"Patsy, if you think you can get around me like that…"
"Then I am sure I am going to be absolutely right." Her friend finished her sentence for her.
It was clear if she had felt any pity for her then that time was done, and they were all moving on.
Well, maybe it was for the best.
"Oh, Patsy you do look very nice," said Carol as she came into the hallway to see two girls together."
"Thank you Carol!" she said with a beam for the two of them had gone far beyond Mrs Greenwood a while ago though Patsy did have the good grace to blush a little when she remembered the phone call the two of them had had earlier.
"Would you two like a lift then are or you just going to stand there?"
Liz had not registered that her mother had the car keys in her hand but when she did she had to say she was rather grateful. "You really are desperate to get rid of me today, aren't you?" her daughter teased.
"Desperately – the sooner the two of you are gone the sooner I can curl up with a good book."
And to her, there could be no better day than that.
X x x
And so it was that under not so much duress Elizabeth Greenwood found herself at the barracks pub. As much as she tried to tell herself she was putting her non-date with Flynn behind her, it did not much feel as if that was what she was doing when she had turned up in the very outfit she had picked for their night. Her best dress…
But then that was her fault.
The older Patsy and Liz got, the more than had been heading out to clubs and pubs – though they were yet to hit the magic eighteen, Patsy always said it was amazing what you do with a wink and a smile and the more that the two of them were heading out on the town, the more Liz was inclined to agree with her.
As a matter of fact, she did not think her and Patsy yet looked old enough to go into some of the places they were going.
But they had got in all the same.
And sometimes it was her opinion that the age you had to be was just a number. She was sure her mother and father had drunk when they had been her age and as long as she did not get smashed which she had not yet, they did not seem to mind her going out for one or two either.
But then the three of them had always been close and she was sure the two of them had always trusted her.
There was no reason in the world for that to change.
On going into the officer mess, she realised that, predictably, it was a male-dominated environment. The chairs and the bar were made of a dark mahogany and the chairs which they were to sit in were leather.
She could see that the place they were in was the life and soul of the barracks and as it was passed six on a Saturday evening, there were plenty of people there ready to let there hair down after the stress of the week.
There were girls like her and Patsy clearly out for a good night and there were plenty of older women too. She wondered if they were married to the men who stood in their uniforms drinking and if they were, what their lives were like.
That was when the lad that she could only assume, from the way Patsy beamed and waved, was Dan came in to view.
Well Liz had eyes and she was not going to deny the proof of what she could see with them – and that was that he was a very handsome lad.
What worried her though was he was not on his own. When Patsy had said that she was going to set her up at the start of the week she had not thought she had meant it.
Now she saw she had been a fool.
"Oh, darling you look lovely, it is so good to see you," said Dan as he came up to Patsy and gave her a kiss. Now that she could see them together Liz could see there was something there and felt less resentment towards her friend than she had before.
In fact, she was glad to be here so the two of them have their time together.
"And this has to be your friend Elizabeth. Pats had told me so much about you," he said to her warmly.
"Whereas I have not been able to repay the favour and could tell Liz next to nothing about your friend." Patsy giggled. The lad behind Dan was just a little shorter than he was, though not by much, had the starting of a moustache about the top of his lips – which even Liz would admit made him look more of a man than Flynn had ever looked and had brown hair. Though Liz had no way of knowing for sure, she had a feeling he was rather muscular under the khaki green he was wearing right then.
All the resentment which Liz had felt towards Patsy rushed back at that moment for that was the last thing she had wanted her to draw attention to.
But it was done now.
"Elizabeth – and Patsy – this is Private James McDonald – but all of his friends call him Jim – or Mac!'.
"Well, in that case, I had better call you Jim as I mean to be a friend," said Patsy as she went the customary handshake in favour of kissing his cheek but.
But Liz did not follow suit. This was all too much for her. "It is nice to meet you."
"And yourself," he said to her. If there was a difference in the way that Liz and Patsy had greeted Jim then there was a difference in the way he greeted them as well.
He had been glad, of course, he had to meet this woman who his friend had told him so much about but – but he did not think Patsy was a patch of her mate.
"Very nice to meet you."
"And you."
She had to admit if she was going to be set up with anyone then she was glad it was him. The Irish accent had always left her a bit weak at the knees.
"Well, I hope the two of you don't mind but I would very much like to dance with Patsy," Dan announced with a smile.
He did not have to say he missed her for it was clear to all four of them that he had. Liz sighed for there was a horrible creeping sensation in her which said she now understood why Patsy had been so unimpressed by Flynn it was because she was used to better.
"Are we not even going to get a drink first?" asked Patsy.
"Well, I would say yes but I cannot but help think that would be the two of us wasting time," beamed Dan and Patsy only just had time to turn back to Liz as he pulled her off.
"Play nice," hissed Patsy and Liz not so sure if she felt as if Patsy saw her as a dog or her friend but there was no time for her to find out.
She and Dan were off and Liz found herself with a solider which was just the situation she did not want to be in when the week had begun.
"Well, the two of them might not be getting a drink, but I could do with one myself," Jim told Liz with a smile. He could tell she was nervous for some reason and he did not want her to be. If there was anything which he could do to ease that then that was what he was going to do he said to himself. "Can I buy you one?"
Elizabeth nodded with a grin. She had a feeling so far she had not made herself very attractive as a blind date so that had to change.
"Yes please," she replied and together the two of them moved towards the bar.
And there to her surprise was a young woman named Alice behind it, who she knew from school.
She would not say the two of them were friends, but they certainly did not dislike one another.
The fact of the matter was that for a long time they had just moved in different sets.
Liz had never wanted to go into the library on lunch as she had preferred to have a proper bit of time off chatting in the library – but that was where Alice had chosen to hang out.
As she and her companion reached the bar, the girl's eyes met, and Alice gave her a smile.
"Alright, Liz – I did not know you came down here much."
"Well, I don't really but Patsy had a hot date and now this young man has offered to buy me a drink."
"A diet coke?" smiled Alice with a little wink that said something might end up in there.
"And for yourself Jim."
"A pint please, wee Alice." Liz could not help but think the name was appropriate – Alice barely reached five foot.
"The two of you know each other already," then asked Liz.
If she was going to sound this guy out then it was going to be a lot easier to do with a fellow woman on her side and more than that, Alice was one she had known for years. No, the two of them were not close friends but she might be able to give her the nod in regards to him one way or the other.
"When you work at the officer's mess, I think you get to know all the lads." Smiled Alice.
"But I thought you were only seventeen."
She did not see how she was able to serve spirits but then she was one of the eldest in their year group.
Alice shrugged.
"My uncle is an officer here – no one is going to argue with him or it very unlikely."
Liz smiled. It was true what they said – even in a little town such as there's, it was definitely more who you knew that what you knew.
Well, she thought it had to be nice work if you could get it – it had to be a bit more glamorous than working at the Spoon, though one way or another though she did not think she would change places with her for a gold clock.
"I have not seen you up here before, Liz," said Alice – "if he gives you any trouble you just come and find me, and I will have a word," she said teasingly and Jim laughed.
It was clear they had a good relationship (which Liz thought boded well), but Alice was not the one who Jim wanted to spend his time with that night.
"Is he likely to?" questioned Liz.
Alice gave a playful shrug. "Couldn't possibly say."
"Now our Alice likes me, so I can't imagine why she is saying all these terrible things," teased Jim.
"I couldn't say!" she repeated but then withdrew to serve her next customer. She had a feeling it was time to leave the two of them to enjoy their date.
"Shall we?" Jim asked.
The two of them went back to find a table.
Well, she had to say she had not looked for anyone to buy her a drink that night.
But then it struck her that she had been so caught up thinking about the night that was never going to be she had not quite focused on the one that was happening, right now, then.
It was only when he cleared his throat that she realised after they had found their seats they had sat in silence for a while.
"Is something gridding your gears?" the lad across the table asked.
Well, he was straight talking which she was sure was refreshing.
Normally the lads her age would try and do anything not to talk about something which was bugging her if something was. This was not the case here. She had a feeling he did not have the patience for it.
"You know what something was but I am not going to let it anymore."
She looked over where Patsy was laughing in with Dan. She should be doing the same.
Even quiet little Alice at the bar was smiling more than she was.
Time to turn her attention to the night she was having.
"So how old are you?"
"Seventeen – I will be eighteen early next year. What about yourself?"
"I am sixteen but not for long," she said to him with a smile. She hoped she did not seem to him as if she was a sullen teenager.
"And what is it you do, Elizabeth?"
"Well, I think I am going to go back to school to get my O Levels and I work in a café called the Greasy Spoon."
But there was no need to ask what he did.
She nodded. He was but a year older than she was and she did not think she could ever think about joining the army - leaving home as he had done.
"What made you join up?" she was not sure if that was to personal a question but – but it was out there now.
"I guess because I wanted to get out a little – I wanted to travel, to see something of the world and because had no bloody idea what else to do."
The troubles in Ireland meant that he felt he did not have much there and his mother had encouraged him to go into the army. If he had stayed home, she said he was exactly the sort of hothead who going to find himself in trouble and he knew for her sake that was something which he could not afford to do. And if he did then his father was going to give him a right hiding.
Not that his dad had been too happy when he had made the choice to join up. He was of the opinion his own generation had seen enough of the war and he had wanted a lot more for his son. But his lad had had to do something and on a good day, his father would say he had picked the lesser of two evils.
"It is hard to know, isn't it?" she sympathised.
The two of them were little more than teens and yet she felt as if the whole world wanted them to know just what they wanted to do.
"Aye, it is. Now I think the two of us have done enough talking for now. Will you dance with me Elizabeth?"
She swallowed. There was nothing a lot of people who called her Elizabeth. It was mainly just her parents when the two of them felt she had done something very wrong but to her surprise, she liked it when he did it. There was something warm about it.
She did not know if it was the accent but there was something about it and that was for sure.
But at the same time as she was nodding she was getting up on her feet.
Yes, she would dance with him, she did not think she could think of anything she would like more right then.
"So, what was it then? What was getting to you earlier?"
He had asked her a very straight question once more – which deserved a straight answer.
"I had a date this weekend, but he stood me up. Worse than, that he never even called to cancel – I had to call him."
Jim smiled. "Thank god."
Her eyes went wide with shock for a moment at the thought he was saying it was good a lad had dared to treat her that way but then she saw his joy and soared from the fact he saw it as his own way in with her and she could not help but laugh as well.
All in all, she knew for all her protests, she was going to have to thank Patsy for that evening.
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