Pete gave him a shrivelling glance. ‘You’ve no idea, have you?’ There was a touch of envy in his voice.
Mark had never seen Pete like this. ‘She’s really got to you, hasn’t she? What’s on your mind—what’s all this about? Is there something you’re not telling me?’
Pete looked him in the eye. ‘I reckon she’s been hurt like I was seven years ago,’ he confided. ‘It seems like yesterday, I remember it so clearly. It took me a long time to get over it.’
‘Get over what for pity’s sake?’
Pete told him. ‘I was working at Jason’s carparts warehouse. There was me and three other blokes in the warehouse, and two girls working the phones.’
He gave a slow, wry little smile. ‘Then Claire was taken on to man the office. She was bright, funny and genuine. To cut a long story short, I invited everyone to my eighteenth birthday party, including her. We got on really well and we started going out. She was the first girl I fell in love with.’
‘Wow.’ Mark was impressed. You don’t waste time. So, what happened?’
Pete continued, ‘Claire was my first real sweetheart, and to be honest, I worshipped the ground she walked on…bought her things, and did everything she wanted. Anyway, it was a month or so later, when I took her to Barney’s Club in town. She got a bit drunk and when it was time to take her home she laughed in my face and then I couldn’t find her…she just disappeared.’
Remembering how it had been was still painful after all this time. ‘I searched everywhere for her…asked everybody if they’d seen her but nobody had. Then one of the girls told me she’d seen Claire about an hour before, making her way to the cloakrooms.’ He shrugged his shoulders, ‘I heard a noise at the back of the cloakrooms and there she was, with Jack from the warehouse. I thought he was a mate, but it turned out that was the second biggest mistake I’d made. The two of them had been together even before she started at the warehouse, and between the two of them they had milked me for every penny I’d got. They were laughing at me behind my back.’ He looked out the window. ‘It was all a big joke to them.’
Mark was shocked. ‘So what did you do?’
Pete smiled. ‘The only thing I could do! I just walked away, from her, from my work.’ He shrugged his shoulders, but Mark could see the shame on his face. ‘A clean sheet, and a lesson learned.’
‘Right!’ Mark had never been let down like that, but he realised how it might damage somebody, especially at eighteen. ‘So, you think that girl on the platform had something like that happen to her?’
Pete shrugged again. ‘Dunno, but I recognise that look,’ he admitted. ‘Kind of faraway, not really caring.’ He grinned suddenly. ‘I might be totally wrong, and she’s just wondering what to have for tea. But, I do know this much…’
‘What?’
‘I’m going to see her again.’
Mark warned him. ‘Beware strange girls. If you’re not careful, they’ll eat you for breakfast!’
Pete laughed aloud. ‘Shut up, lunatic!’
‘Hey!’ Mark jolted him out of his moodiness. ‘So, you really think we’ll score tonight then?’ Rubbing his hands together, he gave Pete a cheeky smile.
‘I’ve already said, haven’t I?’ He had already forgotten about the girl who cheated on him with a mate—though the image of the girl on the platform lingered. ‘Hey! Tonight might be the night when you meet your future wife. Have you thought of that?’
Mark was horrified. ‘I’m not looking for a future wife. I haven’t got time to settle down, not when I can pick and choose.’
Pete wagged a finger. ‘One of these days, some girl will come along, and sweep you off your feet.’
‘No way!’ Mark had no wish to be tied to one woman. ‘I’m a free spirit…born to play the field.’
When Pete lapsed into silence again, Mark gave him a curious glance. ‘What’s up?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, you seem miles away…again!’
‘Just thinking.’
‘About what?’
‘Not about…what happened,’ Pete assured him. ‘That’s all in the past.’
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