Jimmy did not know many people to invite to a house party, because almost all the people he knew at Bankside were boarders. Most of his local friends he knew from the rugby club, and he did not want word getting back to Jocky about Gemma, so Jimmy agreed to let Gemma invite some of her friends along to make up the numbers.
Jimmy invited Jack Randle, one of his partners in crime from Momo’s, the weekend before, and Jack confirmed he would invite a couple more day pupils from Bankside, who he said were sound, so Jimmy decided that would be enough. Somewhere between eight and ten people would more than fill the seating in the living room.
Everyone was told to bring their own booze. Jimmy bought a couple of low-cost cases of beer and some cheap bottles of sparkling wine, to leave in the kitchen, for anyone who ran out or turned up empty handed. He also bought himself a case of Stella Artois, which he hid in the garage.
Guests had been told to arrive at nine o’ clock, which gave Jimmy time to pop down to The Crown for a few pints first.
“What time’s this party of yours kicking off, Jimmy?” Asked Jodie, one of the bar staff, when Jimmy ordered a drink.
“I’m not having a party. A couple of friends are coming over at nine o’ clock. Who told you there was a party?”
“Some of my friends from college are going. I can’t come until after I finish my shift, though. So I won’t be there before twelve.”
“Which friends? Do I know them?”
“I doubt it. We all go to the same agricultural college as Gemma.”
Jimmy was worried his little social gathering had been promoted as some kind of annual barn dance and he was going to have a house full of young farmers, getting drunk on cider and vomiting all over the place.
“How many people has Gemma invited?”
“I’m not sure, maybe four or five people.”
“Male or female?”
“All girls, of course, you’re supposed to be inviting the boys.”
“What has Gemma told you about tonight?”
“She said there’ll be loads of cute guys from Bankside there.”
“Oh. Right. I’ll see you there later then.” Jimmy really needed to speak to Gemma, but they had arranged to see each other at the house at nine.
Finding teenage boys to come to a party because there were too many girls should have been a very straightforward task. But Jimmy did not know who he could call. He was expecting Jack at The Crown at eight, plus the two friends he said he could vouch for, but that still meant they were short. They would have to get busy on the phone at Jimmy’s house to boost male numbers.
Jack arrived at The Crown just after eight, with Mike and Andy Gibson. Mike was in the year above Jimmy and Andy was in his final year.
“And then there were four,” Jimmy said, as introductions were made. He knew the Gibsons from school, but not socially. He was more used to seeing their father in The Crown on Saturday nights, when he was clearing out the boarders at ten o’ clock. “I haven’t seen you two in here on a Saturday before.”
“It’s a bit awkward if Dad’s working,” said Mike. “But Jack said we’re all going to your place. We’ve picked up some beer.” He held up a couple of bags and Andy was carrying a third.
“Do you want a quick one here?” Jimmy asked. “Or shall we just head up to the house?”
“I think we’d rather just get going.” Jack looked at the others who were nodding, in confirmation.
Jimmy explained the situation while they walked and they joked about the male to female ratio, excluding Jimmy, who was spoken for. Jimmy pointed out to Jack that his amore from Momo’s might well be among the invitees and that he should not be counting any chickens.
Andy knew a couple of other day pupils, whose parents also worked at the school, as did Mike, and they did not think they would have any difficulty in getting them to come over, if needed, but they wanted to meet the girls first. If they were all hot, then no problem. If there were only one or two cute ones then they wanted to be sure not to invite any guys who might spoil their chances. Jimmy could not argue with the logic. He was just glad that he had some options.
At the house, they all grabbed a beer and made themselves comfortable in the living room. Waterfront Beat, a police series, set in the Liverpool docks, was on BBC1, but nobody was paying any attention to the TV as they were all busy talking.
Jimmy was surprised at how quickly he bonded with the two Gibson boys. They were both bright, in the top class brackets for their respective years, and took great joy in telling stories about and impersonating their father. But there was obviously a lot of respect for him, too. Jimmy doubted that either of them took the mickey in his presence. His reputation in the school, for still thinking he was in the Royal Marines, extended into his family life and the boys had to remind him on occasions that he was their dad, not their drill sergeant.
The conversation soon moved to sport. All four of them were regulars in the school gym. Jimmy worked out because he played rugby two or three times a week and the Gibsons because they were both keen footballers. Jack was not actually involved in any competitive sport, so the Gibsons decided that he was gay and just liked looking at the bodybuilders.
“We’ll soon see who’s gay,” Jack said, not giving them the satisfaction of biting. “What time are the girls getting here, Jimmy?”
“They were supposed to be here at nine, but there’s no hurry.” Jimmy reassured him. “The barmaid from The Crown isn’t going to be here until after her shift, and wherever the rest of them are, they will be getting pissed, so they should be feeling friendly by the time they get here.”
“Which barmaid is coming?” Jack asked.
“Jodie. The sexy blonde one.” Jimmy had always fancied her and rather wished that he was free to do some flirting of his own tonight. “I’ve told her she can ask the other staff, too.”
“I thought you already had a bird coming tonight, Jack?” Andy reminded him. “I might have to look after the barmaid for you.”
“Mandy might be coming,” said Jack. “But we’re not going out or anything. I can still have a crack at something else.”
“Good luck with that!” Andy laughed.
“Maybe they will bring a nice boy along for you, eh Jack?” Mike was still trying to get a bite. “A bodybuilder, perhaps?”
Jack just gave a long sigh, shook his head and waved a middle finger in Mike’s direction.
“When was the last time you got laid, Bro?” Andy had decided it was time to pick on his little brother.
“Yeah, yeah, okay. Who wants another beer?” Mike’s face and body language told the story, as he got up and headed to the kitchen. He was smiling but in a resigned way, which said ‘I’m a virgin and I don’t need my brother to remind me in front of everybody again.’
Jack was very quick to jump on the bandwagon and followed him into the kitchen giving him some abuse in return for the gay jibes.
“I think Jack only lost his last week,” Jimmy said. He and Andy were the only two left in the living room. “But you’d think he was into double figures already, listening to him.”
“I had a long-term girlfriend in the fifth year,” Andy told Jimmy. “So we ended up having sex when we were both still fifteen.”
“Fourteen here.” Jimmy said. But not wanting to sound boastful, he added: “Not that it’s anything to be proud of. The girl in question has been responsible for at least ten first timers.”
“Sounds like a classy bird,” Andy grinned. “Do you still have her number?”
§
It was gone ten o’ clock when Gemma arrived, with her friends from the agricultural college. At least that is where they were supposed to be from. Besides Gemma, there were four more girls and two guys. Jimmy did not know any of them and Jack’s little friend from the week before was not among them, which meant Jack could flirt to his heart’s content. But, more importantly, none of them had brought anything to drink.
“Why hasn’t anybody brought any booze?” Jimmy took Gemma to one side and asked her. “This isn’t a freebie for your mates.”
“Don’t worry.” Gemma was already slurring her words. “Jodie is going to bring some from The Crown, later.”
“That isn’t for another two hours.” Jimmy was not pleased she had deviated from the original plan of arriving at nine, with alcohol. “There’s enough beer, but do you expect two bottles of wine to last that long?”
“Don’t be such a party pooper. Your dad has more wine and stuff.”
“No, he fucking doesn’t,” Jimmy was losing his temper. “And if any of those muppets go anywhere near it, everybody’s leaving... including you.”
Gemma just brushed past him and went to join her friends.
The party soon shifted from the living room to the kitchen. That was where the wine and beer could be found, and it was soon descended upon by the new arrivals. The kitchen, therefore, was where the girls were, and they were soon descended upon by Jack, Andy and Mike.
Jimmy was quite happy for people to stay in the kitchen, where he could watch over proceedings. There was less chance of anything getting damaged and spillages in the kitchen were easily dealt with.
He soon realised that his initial reaction was a bit over the top. Probably brought about by the fact that there were two guys in the group. Everyone was chatting away merrily, they were only drinking the cheap beer and he had two cases of that to last until Jodie arrived with reinforcements.
Jimmy found out that the two guys were not from the same agricultural college, but had just been chatting with the girls when it was time for them to go. The girls invited them along and, naturally, when five girls asked them if they wanted to go to a party, they jumped at the chance.
Robert only lived a couple of streets away and went to the same local college as Jimmy’s sister. John, his friend, lived in a town a few miles away and was staying with Robert overnight. It was John who asked Jimmy if he could smoke.
“No, sorry, you’ll have to go outside,” Jimmy told him. “I’ll open the back door to the patio for you.”
“Okay, thanks.” John was waving a small, metal tin at Jimmy. “Is it alright if I skin up inside, though?”
Jimmy recognised the picture of the leaf on the tin as a cannabis leaf. He was quite a Bob Marley fan and even had a picture of him, smoking a huge joint, on the wall in his bedroom. But he had never encountered its use first hand and was not sure about people taking drugs at his house.
“Hang on a minute, would you?” Jimmy needed some advice. He went into the living room to find Andy, who was busy chatting up one of Gemma’s friends. “Sorry to bother you, mate. Can I have a word?”
“What’s up?” Andy got up from where he was seated and followed Jimmy into the hall.
“One of those guys wants to skin up, in the house.” Jimmy was looking rather concerned. “Is that safe?”
“Nice!” Andy’s face lit up. “Someone’s got some smoke. Come on, I’ll look after him.”
Jimmy introduced the two of them and Andy suggested they might be better off in the garage, where a little bit of mess or smell would not be noticed and where there was no danger of the neighbours noticing anything suspicious. Jimmy showed them to the garage, where they pulled up a couple of garden chairs and made use of an overturned box as a table. Jimmy stayed to watch, too, out of curiosity.
John set to work with his Rizzla cigarette papers, sticking three together to make one large one. He then took out a small, black rock and started to burn it at one end. After heating the rock for a few seconds, he pinched some of it off and crumbled it into the cigarette paper. He did this a few more times, before adding the tobacco from a cigarette, and a little piece of rolled up cardboard, torn from the cigarette packet, at one end. Finally, he picked it all up and rolled it into a very professional-looking joint, which was not dissimilar to the picture in Jimmy’s bedroom, albeit a little bit smaller than Bob Marley’s.
“Do you want to light it,” John was offering the joint to Jimmy.
“No, not for me. I don’t smoke.”
“This isn’t like smoking a cigarette.” John was still waving it in Jimmy’s direction. “Just try it. If you don’t like it, just hand it back.”
“Okay, why not?” Jimmy wanted to see what all the fuss was about drugs and why they were so bad for you. He lit the joint and drew in the smoke. It made him cough, at first, but he took another drag and it did not seem quite so bad the second time. He took a few more puffs and started to feel dizzy so he handed it to Andy.
Almost immediately, Jimmy went from dizzy to not-so-good.
And from not-so-good to quite ill.
He made his excuses, left the garage and headed back through the kitchen.
Jimmy was feeling terrible.
He half ran, half staggered up the stairs to the bathroom, where he just made it to the toilet before he was violently sick. After a few seconds, he got up and closed and locked the door, to prevent anyone else stumbling in on him. He then returned to the bowl, where he was sick again.
Jimmy had passed out in the bathroom for a while. When he came to, he cleaned the toilet, gave his teeth a quick brush and washed his face. He was feeling much better again but he failed to see the attraction with smoking cannabis. He vowed to stick with beer for the rest of the evening.
Back downstairs, the kitchen was looking empty. Jack was sitting at the kitchen table, chatting to one of the girls, but that was it. The living room told the same story, where Mike was talking to another of Gemma’s friends, but they were the only two.
Jimmy went to get another Stella from the fridge in the garage to discover that John and Andy had been joined by Robert, Gemma and the other two girls. Bits of carpet and a pile of old newspapers provided improvised seating, where garden chairs had run out, and everyone was looking very comfortable in the smoking den.
“Don’t mind me,” Jimmy said, as he made his way to the fridge, stepping over limbs where necessary. “I’m just getting a beer.”
“Keeping the good stuff for yourself, eh?” John remarked when Jimmy pulled out a cold Stella.
“Damned right, I am.” Jimmy said. “But the shop’s still open if the free stuff isn’t good enough for you.”
“Good point, well made.” John smiled back. He was not in the mood to go to the shop after smoking a few joints. He offered the one that was circulating to Jimmy again: “Do you want some of this?”
“I think I’ll pass, thanks.” Jimmy said. He noticed everybody in the garage was looking at him. “I’ll just stick with the beer.”
“Have you recovered now?” John asked him, accompanied by the sound of muffled laughs from the other guests. “You looked like you pulled a bit of a whitey earlier.”
They all burst out laughing. Jimmy’s initial reaction to smoking a joint was clearly very funny in their stoned little heads. But they were all finding it a great deal more amusing than Jimmy thought was necessary.
“Hey, John!” Jimmy shouted above the noise. "Remind me to cross you all off any future party invitations.” Jimmy took his beer back to the kitchen.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Someone shouted after him.
“No, I bloody won’t,” Jimmy mumbled to himself.
Jack was just getting another couple of his beers for himself and his lady friend when Jimmy walked back through the kitchen.
“Why don’t we open the wine for the girls,” Jimmy suggested. “Would you prefer a glass of wine?” He asked the girl at the table.
“Ooh, yes please.” She handed the can of beer back to Jack.
“Go and sit in the living room.” Jimmy instructed them. I’ll get some glasses and bring the wine through in a minute.”
Jimmy opened the wine and got glasses for the two girls. He was able to play the good host to the ladies whilst cock blocking Jack and Mike at the same time. Why should he be the one sat on his own because everyone else was in the garage getting stoned?
“I take it none of you guys smoke weed then?” Jimmy asked, looking around the room. The question was directed at all of them.
They all chose to shake their heads or just mumble, rather than engage in conversation. The two girls were the same age as Jack and Jimmy, so perhaps were not as wild as the older ones. Mike said he had tried it before but had not liked it and Jack said he had no interest in drugs.
Jimmy had been hoping someone would relocate to the garage, to change the balance of the group, so that he did not feel like a gooseberry. He had, at least, hoped that someone would continue the conversation.
“How’s the wine, girls?” Jimmy tried a different line of attack.
“Fine, thank you.”
“Lovely, thanks.”
“Right, well nice talking to you. I think I'll go and check that the fridge is full with beer.” Jimmy knew when his presence was not wanted.
§
There was a knock at the door just before twelve o’ clock. Jimmy had been relaxing in the kitchen, on his own. The door from the garage had opened a few times, when someone wanted another beer or needed to go to the toilet, but they had barely acknowledged him.
Perhaps the new arrivals would liven things up a bit.
“Hi, Jimmy!” Jodie was on her own. “Do you want to give me a hand bringing in the stuff from the car?”
Jimmy followed her to the boot, where there were three crates of bottles. Two of them were full of Beck’s beer and the third was a case of Budweiser. They were all cold because they had come from the cellar. Jodie had also brought more bottles of wine, a bottle of vodka, a bottle of Jack Daniels, plus coke and lemonade mixers.
“Whoa!” Jimmy was not expecting her to bring that much. “How much did this lot set you back, Jodie?”
“Actually, the vodka and the Jack Daniels are bottles left over from my birthday, I just need to replace the wine and beer from the bar at cost.”
Jimmy carried the drinks into the kitchen. He left the beer and wine in plain view, but he hid the spirits and mixers in the dining room.
“They’re all in the garage.” Jimmy explained, as Jodie was busy poking her head round the living room door, to see who was about. “They’re all getting stoned.”
“I thought maybe you had lured me here on my own,” Jodie teased. “All the talk of a party was just your way of getting me to your house.”
“No, they’re in the garage if you want to join them.”
“I don’t think so,” Jodie looked offended at the suggestion. “I’ve just finished work. I need a drink!”
“What can I get you?” Jimmy asked.
“Is someone getting me a drink for a change?” Jodie put her hand on Jimmy’s arm. “I could get used to this. Vodka and coke, please.”
“I’ve put the spirits in the dining room,” Jimmy indicated to the door. “I’ll just get some ice and I’ll be with you.”
He got some ice from the freezer in the garage. None of the smokers so much as moved or asked what he was doing.
Gemma had abandoned him to get wasted with her new buddies.
Jimmy decided that two could play at that game. He picked up a couple of clean glasses on the way back through the kitchen, went in to join Jodie in the dining room, and closed the door.
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