CHAPTER 23
It had started with a meeting at the Indian street food place on St Mary’s, where we each dawdled our way through a meat thali and a bottle of their IPA. Ange must have caught me looking at her front, and grinned up at me.

“No good hunting, Jen. They’re for work”

“Er, what are?”

“The tits, of course. All part of the look; pulls in the men, the boss says. Bit of illusion there, in my case: push up bra, very low top, chicken fillets under each bit of the real me”

“Do you always tease like that?”

“Nope. Only when I can see it’s working”

“Right. We’ve sort of answered that question, I think. So what’s this about stalking me?”

“Ah! Nothing to worry about. Seen you in the Smugglers, like when you were with that straight couple. Saw you talking to Lil a lot, so, well, killed two birds”

“Sorry?”

“Asked if I was right, and you were single as well as, you know, not into solids. Gay. She seems very fond of you, Jen”

I could almost see the fishing line, so cut it.

“Ah, Lil and I are mates, but neither of us is into, you know, women like us”

“Butch?”

“I suppose so. I just prefer, we both do, someone a little more…”

“Girly?”

“That’s one word, I suppose”

“The other thing I already knew”

“What other thing?”

“Jen, half the city thinks you’re trans, the other half has heard your explanation”

“You have done your research. Always so methodical?”

“Not always. That snog wasn’t planned”

“Methodical and opportunistic both”

“That’s me! Where are we off to now this is gone?”

“Smugglers do you?”

“Perfect. Where are you from, Jen?”

“I’m living in Grangetown, but I’m from Tonypandy, up the Valleys. You?”

“Christchurch”

“Where the hell’s that? England?”

“South Island. New Zealand. Shall I just say ‘I wir dinnim jeans’ and that’s done? Dad was a foreign office gofer, and we lived all over. Accent ended up a bit diluted”

“I think I can hear a bit of it now, Ange”

“Ah, it comes and goes. At home, it’s really broad, or when I get a bit pissed. I thought Valleys girls were a bit accent-heavy, too”

“Yeah, well, studying in the city you get tired of people laughing every time you use the ark builder as a negative answer”

That brought a “No, ah?” and a rather loud laugh.

“I’ll get this, Jen. You can do our next meal”

We ambled off to Marlene’s place, arms linked, and as we entered my usual bar, the queen herself called out, “Look what the fucking cat’s dragged in!”

Pause…

“I’m not saying which of you is the cat. Go to the bar and buy drinks. I need money”

“Hiya Lil. This is Ange”

“She found you, then? Still got Thumper on, Jen. Ange?”

“The Gold, please. And it’s Jen’s round”

“Start as you mean to go on, woman!”

Ange grinned at me happily.

“Oh, trust me, Lil, that is exactly what I did!”

“Oh?”

I raised a hand to slow them down.

“My turn! We were on nights over New Year’s, Lil”

“That must have been fun”

“Exactly. Lots of puke about, for starters, plus fights, and people not that concerned about privacy”

“Ah. Where I live gets that. Streams of piss down the walls. Not nice”

“And it’s not just the pissing they do where they can be seen”

“Oh god---not Newport Travelodge style?”

“What do you mean?”

She had been pulling our drinks as she spoke, and as Ange and I took our first mouthfuls, Lil began.

“Had a customer, she used to come in for a couple of nights then vanish again. Living in West London, coming over every month or two to work at the visa place on Newport Road?”

Ange simply said, “I know it”

“Aye. Well, her works people booked her stay each time, and once they saw they could save money by putting her up in Newport, getting the train in each day for work”

I almost spat.

“Bloody Newport? They got no clue at all?”

“Obviously not, Jen. So, it’s Summer, no aircon, just a tabletop fan, so they have the window open. That place, the ground floor is actually just about the first floor. Right across from the station, little alley below her window. One in the morning, and there’s a couple having a knee-trembler against the wall under her window, about ten feet from her bed”

The “Oh god!” came simultaneously from both Ange and myself, and Lil just grinned.

“Oh, I once had a fling with a girl from up on Tyneside. Woman who lived behind her Mam’s place ended up in the papers. Got an injunction banning her from having sex with the windows open. Lesley said she’d heard her lots of times, and she was very loud, very demanding, and VERY specific”

She swiped my card for the ale.

“So is that how you two met?”

I looked at Ange, and she pointed at me: your turn, woman.

“Well, we had a spot we think the local bars had marked out for us, down by Mill Street. I went in to cadge a couple of flasks of hot water for our break, Ange here gave us one of tea and one of coffee instead, and then the bongs were going, so she just, you know, traditional new year thing”

“A snog. It was a snog, wasn’t it?”

I nodded, but Ange was shaking her head.

“No, Lil, it wasn’t ‘a snog’, because after I let her go, she pulled me back for another one”

“That’s my woman! And, with perfect timing, this actually is my woman. Hiya, sweetheart”

Amina pretty much repeated Ange’s actions, just with Lil as her target, and as soon as she was released, I made the introductions. In the end, we stayed at the bar, so that Lil wasn’t left on her own. It was a quiet night in the pub, apart from the ever-present disco, so Marlene left us largely alone, apart from one tongue-in-cheek dig about barmaids preferring to drink other than at their own establishments, and what that said about other pubs in comparison to Marlene’s own bijou etc.

Ange lived in a new-build flat at the west end of Splott, off Sanquhar Street, and when we had finally come to ‘last orders’, I asked her how she was getting home.

“You’ve got a bloody short memory, Jen! Forgotten our deal?”

Amina started laughing, as usual, trying to muffle it as I asked, “What deal?”

When Ange replied, “That you’d get the next meal”, Amina lost it completely. Lil was smirking, as I simply sat wordless in my confusion.

“Jen?”

“Yes, Lil?”

“Here’s a clue for you. What’s the next meal?”

“No idea. We need to compare days off”

“No, Jen. No. What is the next meal that you will be having?”

“Er… Oh”

My next meal would be breakfast.

Amina finally managed to stifle her giggles.

“Let me, Jen! Ange?”

“Yes?”

“Traditional question, aye? Your place or hers?”

“My toothbrush is in my handbag, which should answer that one”

“Right. How much longer for you, lover?”

Lil looked over to Marlene, who made a shooing gesture.

“Boss says I’m off now, love”

Amina pulled out her mobile phone.

“Right. Hang on… Hi, Mam. Nowish be good, ta. Can you squeeze in two more? Yes, Jen. Oh, very much so, but she might need to top up her brekky supplies. Quarter of an hour? Lovely! See ya out the front!”

As she put her phone away, she said, “Mam taxi. What you got in the fridge, Jen? She says that the Polish shops off Clare Road will be open, and that little supermarket, if you need anything”

Everything was going so bloody quickly.

We walked out together into the cold rain, sheltering in the doorway until Hira pulled up in her ‘family’ car, a medium-sized Toyota, and we squeezed in, Lil in the front, me behind Hira and the other two beside me. We hadn’t gone twenty yards before Ange had her hand on my thigh, so I returned the gesture in kind. I knew I had a mix of stuff in, for I had filled the fridge and freezer just before the New Year shifts, so no supply stop was needed. Hira simply pulled up by my rear door, waved good night, and left, probably to ensure her daughter didn’t say anything too rude. I pulled out my key, looked down at Ange, and said, stupidly, “Here we are, then”

She simply pulled my face down, kissed me hard, and said, “No. here we are still standing in the bloody rain. I hope you’ve got a warm bed to get me into”

I opened the door. I shut and locked it behind us. Our clothes ended up on the floor. If I had had stairs, that’s where they would have been.

She didn’t need the padding; as far as I was concerned, she was perfect.