by Woods, Karen
“Look, look over there.” Fallon tried to break free. Lesley’s fingers were digging into her cheek, she was hurting her.
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” Fallon’s eyes were wide open now, and Lesley knew that she’d seen Dalton. She stood in shock, her legs buckled, and Lesley had to hold her up by the waist. “Cheeky, lying bastard. I knew it. I fucking knew he was up to no good.”
Fallon marched over towards him, she was raging. She held a look that would have killed in her eyes. Her teeth were gritted tightly together and her fists were clenched at her side, she was ready for him. Lesley was right behind her, she had her back. Dalton was whispering sweet nothings into Kirsty’s ear as Fallon stood in front of him. “I hope you’re telling her about your girlfriend in Manchester?”
Dalton turned his head quickly, he was white as a sheet. “Fallon, what are you doing here, I thought...”
“I know what you fucking thought, you wank stain. So is this her?”
Kirsty stepped forward to add her two pennies worth, but Lesley gripped her by the throat. “You keep out of this, Miss Fancy knickers. It’s between these two.”
Dalton held his hands to his head; he was dragging at his thick crop of hair, he was captured bang to rights. “Fallon it’s not what it looks like, Kirsty is just a friend.”
Kirsty started shouting now and Lesley let her go. “I’m a friend now am I?”
Dalton’s game was up and now he had the two girls stood in front of him demanding some answers. His words were stuck in his mouth and he was sweating like a pig. Kirsty stood with one hand resting on her hip. “So Dalton, who’s it going to be. Me or her?”
Fallon growled at her. “Listen yo-yo knickers, he hasn’t got a choice any more, I’m going. I don’t do sloppy seconds, you’re welcome to him.” At that moment Dalton realised that Fallon was the one he wanted. She started to walk away and he ran behind her.
“Fallon wait,” he screamed.
Kirsty was trying to follow them both but this time Lesley dealt with her properly. “I’ve told you bitch, keep out of it. If it wasn’t for you they would still be together. I hope you’re happy now, you posh slut,” Lesley slapped Kirsty in her face, and you could see the fear in her eyes as Lesley flung her to the other side of the room.
Dalton was struggling for breath; he was chasing Fallon down the road. After a few seconds she stopped dead in her tracks, she turned around and waited for him to catch up to her. Staring at him she shook her head. “I knew it. I could sense it you know. I’m not fucking daft. Why didn’t you just tell me, instead of making me come to London and make a dick out of myself?”
Dalton sank to the ground, he was begging at her feet. The sound of footsteps approaching could be heard, it was Lesley, she was like a charging bull. “Please Fallon, I’m sorry,” he sobbed.
Fallon looked strong, the vein at the side of her neck was pumping. Bending down to his level, she spat into his face. “I might not have loads of money, but I do have pride and self-respect. You go and live the life you want. I hope you’re happy. But remember this,” she looked up and saw Lesley was watching her every movement. “You’ll never get anyone who loved you like I did. You go and have the rich life with your rich girlfriend, but mark my words, one day you’ll regret this.”
Dalton was screaming below her, trying to grip her hands. “I regret it now Fallon, please, I’ll do anything. I’ll even come back to Manchester with you.”
She stood up and Lesley was by her side, she draped her hand around her shoulders. Fallon took a deep breath and mumbled to her friend. “Get me away from here, please.”
Lesley started to walk off, as she twisted her head she could see Dalton still on his knees on the floor, she sat Fallon on the brick wall nearby. “I won’t be a minute,” she said. The sound of her heels running along the pavement could be heard. A group of people were now gathering around Dalton, they seemed eager to watch the drama. Lesley stood in front of Dalton as he got up from the floor. She hissed as their eyes met. Swinging her fist back, she swung it into his face with force, his head jerked to the side. “That’s from me to you. Fallon’s a lady, but I’m fucking not. Don’t you ever set foot back in Manchester you cunt, because if you do, I’ll make sure you leave in a body bag. Do you hear me?” Dalton was trying to talk as a trickle of blood slid down his mouth. Lesley was gone.
Lesley and Fallon sat waiting for their train home, they’d sobered up in an instant. Once they’d picked up their suitcases there was nothing left in London for them both. Fallon was quiet and Lesley was worried about her, this behaviour wasn’t normal. The sound of the train’s engine was like Fallon’s heart pounding in her chest. Reaching up to her neck she yanked at her silver chain as if it was burning her skin. Flinging it on the floor she looked at Lesley. “What a knob head I’ve been. Why didn’t I listen to everyone? They all said he thought he was better than me, why the fuck didn’t I listen?” Tears fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks like a river of sadness.
Lesley slowly bent down and picked the chain up from the floor. She slid it back inside her friend’s pocket; she knew she’d regret throwing it away. Fallon’s shoulders were shaking up and down and people on the train were looking at her. One woman who sat not far from them, mouthed to Lesley. “Is she alright?” Lesley nodded her head and rubbed her friend’s shoulders.
Fallon lifted her head up and looked at Lesley. Her eyes held the saddest look ever. “I’m going to show him you know. I’m going to show them all. Just you wait and see.”
“I know you will, kid. I know you will,” Lesley whispered.
CHAPTER TEN
As the months flew by Fallon seemed to be coping with the break up. Dalton had been phoning her constantly, but she refused to speak to him. It was like he never existed. Every now and then you could see Fallon touching her neck for her chain, she seemed lost without it. Letters had been coming for Fallon every week for months, but Beryl kept them away from her daughter. She’d opened the letters and read all Dalton had to say, but it was too late, there was no way she was letting him ruin her daughter’s life anymore. He was a waste of space in her eyes. And no one would ever make her see any different. Beryl hid all the mail away in her bedroom underneath a loose floorboard, nobody would ever find them there. This was her secret hideaway and even Bob didn’t know about it.
Meanwhile Fallon had enrolled in college. All she did was study and lock herself away in her bedroom. Lesley and Billy were now a couple, it was official. They’d gone public with their relationship and they were expecting a baby. Everybody seemed happy except Fallon. She still struggled for money, but shoplifting always helped her buy the books she needed to further her education and anything else she needed. She shoplifted most days and didn’t care if she was arrested or not. At first Fallon wanted to be a nurse, but as time went on she set her heart on becoming a doctor. She wanted to go to the top and nothing or no one was going to stand in her way, she was so determined. College life was hard for her, she’d struggled in high school and college was no different. Lesley started the course with her at first, but now she was pregnant she told her that her heart wasn’t in it anymore and she wanted to concentrate on being a mother. Lesley and Billy moved in together and their abode was something to be proud of. Fallon had been there a few times in the past and they both seemed happy. Billy was stepping up to the mark of becoming a father and always made sure he provided for Lesley.
Fallon sat with her mother as she watched Coronation Street. Beryl was chugging on a cigarette and grey smoke was circling around her face. She seemed in a world of her own as she watched her favourite characters in some explosive episode. Her father Bob was lying on the sofa and he was snoring his head off, grunting like a pig. Times had been hard for the family lately, and her Dad dealt with it the only way he knew how, he got pissed. Fallon was studying for her exams and she looked bored as she sat twisting the silver pen in her fingers. Books were scattered all about the floor near her feet.
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Beryl kept looking at her from the corner of her eye and knew she was troubled. Stubbing her cig out in the ashtray she spoke. “Why don’t you cart that revision and go out for a bit. You’re always swotting. Go and get a life.”
“Mother, I need to make sure I pass these exams, otherwise what chance have I got of getting in university.”
Beryl raised her eyes, “Fuck university, go out and enjoy yourself. If I had my chance again, do you think I would have ended up here with that lump of shit,” she pointed her finger at Bob lying on the sofa. “I could have had the pick of the bunch, back in my day, but one drunken night of passion with lover boy there and it was all over.”
Fallon smiled, her mother could always make her laugh. “What, are you saying; you were a bit of a player back in your day?”
Beryl made sure Bob was fast asleep and sat forward in her chair. She held her head to the side and shivered as she went back into her past. “Malcolm Smith was the man for me. Even now I still think about him, he was my Prince Charming.” Fallon looked at her in more detail. She seemed alive and her eyes danced with excitement as she spoke about her previous partner. His name on her tongue was like a gift from the Gods. Beryl leant over the arm of the chair and rested her hands under her chin. “Oh, they were the days, let me tell you. Malcolm was the love of my life. We were going to get married you know,” her eyes flickered as if she was holding back years of stored emotions. “He was a good man. He always worked and promised me the world.”
Fallon grabbed a cig from her mother’s packet. Smoking calmed her nerves and helped her to relax. “So, were you going to marry him before you met my Dad?”
Beryl looked deflated. She pulled her threadbare cardigan around her body. Goose pimples were all over her arms and she rubbed at them slowly. “I loved Malcolm with all my heart, but his family was better than ours and everybody said it would never work. After a night out we had a blazing row, and I walked away from him telling him it was over. I was a stubborn bitch, even back then,” she sniggered. “He tried to get back with me, but I was proving a point to myself. Anyway, to cut a long story short I met your dad one night when I was out in the pub. I was upset, and he made me laugh,” she poked at Bob’s stinking feet at the end of the sofa. “He was a good looking fella in his day too, and he always made me piss laughing. A right joker he was. He was just what I needed, or so I thought.”
Fallon was hanging onto her every word. She’d never heard her mother talk about her love life before and always presumed she’d always loved her father, but looking at her now somebody else still held her heart hostage. “So what happened then?” Fallon asked eagerly.
“I got tubbed, that’s what fucking happened. Just once I had sex with your Dad and I was done for. Super sperm I called him.” Fallon raised her eyes as her mother continued. “Well, my family went berserk. My Dad went to see Bob, and that was it, we had to get married.” Fallon was chewing on her fingernails, she wanted to know more.
“So what happened to Malcolm, did he not try to stop you from getting hitched?”
Beryl sank her head low, and a tear fell from her eye. “Oh, he tried love, but I was soiled goods wasn’t I. He told me if I got rid of the baby we could go back to normal, but it would have never worked out. The trust was gone.”
Fallon blew her breath and shook her head. “Fucking hell Mam, I bet you were gutted?”
Beryl looked in a trance and her eyes were closing slowly as if she could see the face of the man she still loved. “That’s life for you cock, one minute you’re on top and all full of happiness and the next you’re lay next to a drunken, farting, stinking bastard like your father. It’s just my fucking luck.” Beryl cackled and started to cough. Banging her hand on her chest she gasped for air. Fallon watched her and she was getting ready to stand up to help, but she calmed down.
The room was quiet, Fallon looked at her mother. “Mam, do you still love Malcolm?”
Beryl nodded her head slowly and placed a hand over her heart. She was tapping her fingers on it rapidly. “Yes love, I always have and I always will, but ay, these are the hand of cards I’ve been given in my life, and I’ve got to play them the best I can. I think your Dad was a bum deal though, but, that’s life.”
Bob was moving about on the sofa and Fallon dipped her head back into her books. Was Dalton always going to be the man she loved, even if she met somebody else? Surely not? Fallon closed her books with a firm hand. “You’re right, you know Mam. I deserve a break from all this studying. I’m going to our Billy’s. Lesley is due to have the baby soon and I’ve not spent any quality time with her for ages.”
Beryl smiled, her job was done. “Make sure you put all those books away first, because,” she gritted her teeth and snarled at her husband. “He’ll have them away. You know what he’s like, anything to make a quick few quid.”
Fallon stood up, “Don’t worry Mam; I’ll stash them in my hideout. I know what he’s like. He’s nicked loads of my stuff in the past, has light-fingered fucking Larry. Once bitten, twice shy.” The room was filled with laughter. Fallon left Beryl to watch the rest of her TV programmes. Beryl sat thinking, was she doing the right thing in keeping all the letters from Fallon? Her own tragic love story now played on her mind. What if Dalton was the love of Fallon’s life just like Malcolm was hers. Was she being spiteful? Beryl played with the cuff of her blouse and thought about how her life had turned out; she sat shaking her head looking at Bob sleeping.
*
Fallon tapped on the door at Billy’s house. She could hear shouting from inside. The door was open a bit and she pushed it open slowly. The hallway was dark and the only bit of light was coming from under the door in the living room. Slowly her hand reached for the silver handle on the door to open it. Billy was stood over Lesley and she could see his foot swinging out to kick her. Lesley was sat with her hands over her head crying and pleading with her partner. “What the fuck is going on?” Fallon shrieked.
Billy spun his head round and looked frantic. “How did you get in here?” he gritted his teeth and bent down screaming into Lesley’s face. “You’d better sort it out. Do you hear me? A man wants his tea on the table when he comes home, alright.”
She grabbed her brother’s hand and pulled him away from Lesley. “For fucks sake Billy, just leave her alone will you?” He marched from the front room; he was slamming doors and cursing as he left the house.
“Lesley, are you alright? What the fuck has happened?” Lesley looked thinner than usual. Her cheek bones were prominent and her complexion was grey. She struggled to get up from the floor, her belly was stopping her. Lesley was due any day now and by the looks of things the baby could have popped out that second. Fallon clocked the bruises all over Lesley’s arms, they looked purple and sore. She grabbed at them and looked in more detail at the discoloured skin. “Is this what he’s done to you?” Lesley looked horrified, she wasn’t expecting this.
She dragged her hand away and tried to cover her arms up with her woollen jumper. Sitting down on the sofa she bowed her head low. “How the fuck, have I ended up like this? I would never let anyone treat me like this. What the fuck is up with me?”
Fallon sat by her side as she watched her friend break down in tears, this was so unlike her. “I’ll go and make us a brew. Just you sit there and calm down for a minute.” Fallon went inside the kitchen. Stood with her body held against the wall she stamped her feet.
“Why Billy, Why?” the sound of sobbing could be heard from the other room. Fallon popped her head back inside as she flicked the switch for the kettle. Lesley was holding the lower part of her stomach.
“Are you okay, is it the baby,” Fallon asked.
Lesley’s face was blood red and she looked like she was going to burst. “No, it’s not the baby, it’s me.” Fallon cradled her in her arms.
“What’s going on Lesley, please, please, tell me. We’re friends remember.”
Lesley sank to her knees and her bottom lip quiver
ed as spit hung from the side of her mouth. “It’s being going on for months. I thought it would stop, but he just gets so angry for no reason.”
Fallon helped her back up from the floor onto the sofa. “Why didn’t you tell me what’s been going on?”
Lesley licked her dry cracked lips and sat twisting her fingers on her lap. “I felt like a failure to be honest. He doesn’t do it all the time, just every now and then when he’s in a bad mood.”
Fallon’s nostrils flared as she marched about the living room. “My Mam will go absolutely sick when I tell her he’s been hitting you, you just wait and see.”
Fallon punched her rounded fist into the palm of her hand. Lesley quickly turned her head and gripped her arm. “Please don’t tell Beryl. We can work this out. He’ll go mental if he knows I’ve been telling people about this.”
Fallon screwed her face up. “Shut the fuck up, I’m telling her, if our Billy is a wife beater,” she opened her eyes wide and stared at her friend, “Because that’s what he is you know, a wife beater, my mother has a right to know. I just can’t believe you’ve been putting up with this shit.”
Fallon sat back in her seat and pulled her fags from her packet, flicking her lighter she drew her face towards the flame. “Our Billy is the most laid-back person I know. What’s happened to him?” Lesley stood up and walked to the door. She disappeared for a minute and then came back inside.
Her face looked relieved. “I was just checking he was gone because if he hears me chatting about his business, he’ll go mad.” Fallon looked at her best friend in more detail. She was never this weak person she could see stood in front of her, what had happened? Fallon searched her own conscience and realised that she’d been so locked up in her own life that she’d forgotten all about her friend. Lesley had always been there for her in the past and she knew she’d let her down big time.