I felt Matt behind me as the door opened and shut again.
"C'mon then." I said to him, unable to hide my grin. Match day's were exciting, almost intoxicating, made worse by the company I kept.
"Someone better mark our territory." Dave said, putting his arm around my shoulders and leading me out of the pub, I just had enough time to grab my camera off of Terry. I'm sure Matt was behind me and I'm sure I saw Bovver smack into him. "Cos with them slimy journos around, we could lose our girl." He said, grinning right in my face. I heard Pete's laugh and put my head on Dave's shoulder so my mouth was close to his ear.
"Not fucking likely." I whispered before shouting "United" as loud as I could. He pushed me away and covered his ear whilst all the other guys clapped. I smirked at him and felt someone knock into me. There was Bovv, standing next to me and scowling as he always did.
"Do me a favor?" he whispered in my ear. I looked up into his eyes and nodded. "Steal us one of them stupid jackets you wear." he went back to looking ahead.
"I can try." I told him. He nodded at me again and without thinking we shifted so that we were in lines, we always stood in lines and in the same order. I'd noticed other firms do it as well. It came naturally to us now. We all began chanting the hammers song, every now and then mixing in a united and some claps.
It was a short walk to the stadium, one that we did in a large crowd. Most of the guys pulled their hoods or collars up as we got closer but I knew I couldn't, I had to find my rather understanding boss. When I couldn't find him I began to bite my lip slowly until I heard someone shouting out my Publishing name.
"There you are Lou." My bosses assistant said, pulling me through the media entrance and handing me my media jacket. I never used my real name, it was too risky being part of a firm but it also saved my uncle, and my father when he still cared, the embarrassment of me having anything to do with journos. Even if I was only taking pictures.
"I almost panicked then." I smirked at him, he laughed nervously. "Look," I changed my voice to sound innocent and stepped closer. He was awkward looking and you could tell he never got laid. "I know your not meant to do this, but my friend is such a huge fan, I would love to be able to take him into the media lines." I fluttered my eyelashes a few times but he shook his head. "Please? It's his birthday and I'll do something to return the favor." I said, tugging on the skin on my lip.
"Fine." he groaned, pulling out another jacket from his bag and handing it to me. "But you owe me Lou." I beamed up at him and kissed him on the cheek before skipping off to find Bovver.
"Did you see that? Bloody girl gets everyone wrapped around her finger." Pete told Matt as they watched Baily flirt with a guy Matt thought he recognized. He didn't say anything as they watched her skip back to Bovver. "The Muppet thinks he's pulled as well, like she'd ever go near a journo. Even got Bovver to act like her little puppy dog." He finished, shaking his head and walking to the stands.
"Does it matter? If there together, I mean." Matt stuttered. He couldn't understand why everyone hated journo's so much or why everyone was saying so many things that didn't add up.
"The thing is, they're not. Sure they kiss and fuck 'n' all that but it ain't nothing steady. Both got bad tempers see, it's just easier to call her his. She's off limits anyhow. Anyway c'mon it's football day." He said, dropping his voice as low as it would go.
I watched most of the match through the lens of my camera, not allowing myself to get to involved in case I missed a shot. I managed to get some good ones which was promising. It was just before half time when I risked looking up into the crowed, I saw the guys, cheering and jumping, Matt as lively as all the others, I smiled at the look on his face before turning back to the game.
Bovver hadn't been in the crowd though. I looked back through the lens and followed the ball like I always did, something made me stop though. I risked a look over at the Birmingham fans and groaned, there was Bovver bold as brass swearing and shouting at them. It took two security guards to drag him off and I couldn't help take a picture of the three men battle. It was one to annoy him with later.
I went back to the match as quickly as I could and panicked and took some not so good shots of one of the Birmingham players. The rest of the match was quick, with two more goals from West Ham, meaning we won. I snuck out through the media entrance and got to Bovver before any of the guys did. I still had the camera swinging round my neck, I felt him twist the strap round his fingers.
"How long before you get me fired, you fucking genius." I laughed, hugging him. He laughed back and pulled out a box of cigarettes out his pocket and handed me one.
"Gotta get my kicks somehow." he said as I pulled out my lighter and handed it to him. It was around then that the rest of the guys came out.
"Fucking quality son, fucking quality." Dave said as they all congratulated him, Swill nodded at me.
"You're the stuff of legends." Pete said, pulling him into a strangely manly hug.
"Yeah, well, you had your hand's full didn't ya bruv." He replied. still in a bad mood them.
"Don't worry, it ain't over yet boys, word is these twats are gonna have a pop." Dave said, emphasizing the P sound.
"What you heard?" the were getting excited now.
"Ahh, the usual, fucking zoo-losers, there's like 50 more of them mobbing up the tube right now. It's gonna kick off near East Ham." Dave told us, somehow he always knew what the other firms were going to do next. The boys all said their pieces about finding them. They began to walk off.
"Maybe I should head home?" Matt shouted, Pete walked back to him to talk to him about basic tube safety on a match day.
"Look, I gotta head off as well, send these pictures off." I said, leaning up and kissing Bovver on the cheek.
"See you at the pub later then?" He asked me, trying to kiss me again. I nodded walking off, "For fuck sake, wouldn't he be better in a creche?" Bovv shouted as he heard what Pete was saying, I caught up with Matt easily as we walked in the same direction.
