The Time Bubble Box Set 2, стр. 27

“Why not?” asked Charlie.

“Because I don’t want her to see me in this state,” saidJosh, which wasn’t particularly convincing but he couldn’t think of anythingbetter.

“I doubt whether she’ll notice, mate,” replied Charlie. “Youknow what she’s like. She’ll probably be in a worse state than you are!”

“Do I seem drunk to you?” asked Josh.

“Very,” said Charlie. “You know, I think we’ve finally foundsomething I’m better than you at!”

“What’s that?” asked Josh, who was feeling more unsteady onhis feet by the minute.

“Drinking,” replied Charlie. “I’m sailing through this. Infact, I reckon I could go around again, but you look in a bad way, mate. Areyou even going to make it to Mario’s?”

“Yes, but you’ve got to help me – especially in The RedLion. I’m feeling a bit wobbly so don’t let me fall over or anything. Dan’sjust longing for me to screw this up and there’s no way I’m giving him thesatisfaction.”

“I’ll prop you up if I think you’re about to topple over,”said Charlie, helpfully. “Come on, you can make it, it’s not like we’ve gotthat much further to go. Once we leave here, we’ll be turning the corner wherethe Go to Jail square is. That means we’ll be on the home stretch.”

Josh tried to look over Charlie’s shoulder to see what theothers were doing but it was a struggle, as he was hemmed in by people oneither side.

“It’s absolutely rammed in here. Don’t they have some sortof safety limit? Can you see the others? Are they looking over?”

Charlie managed to swivel round to see what the others weredoing.

“No, they’re all still engrossed in the machine. Ben’s justgot the Deal or No Deal feature.”

“Good,” replied Josh, and he raised his glass and pouredabout a quarter of a pint into Charlie’s.

“Hey, that’s cheating,” protested Charlie. “And it meansI’ve got to drink more now.”

“That’s alright. You’re better than me at it, remember? Yousaid you could go round again just now.”

“You owe me for this,” replied Charlie.

“I’ll get the kebabs later – how about that?” said Josh,knowing he’d be gone by then, so it was an empty promise.

“You’ve got a deal,” replied Charlie. “That’s if I get thechance to have one. Kaylee’s been going on about becoming a vegan recently, andshe doesn’t approve of the kebab van.”

“In that case you’ve got just as good a reason for notseeing her tonight as I’ve got for avoiding Lauren. Then you can have a nice,juicy donor from Kebabylon and no one will be any the wiser.”

“I’m not going to bin off my girlfriend just for the sake ofa kebab,” said Charlie. “I want to see her, and anyway, I’ve already told themwe’re going to Mario’s.”

“Ah, yeah, I forgot how loved up you two are,” replied Josh.He would just have to find another way to resist Lauren’s advances.

“Anyway, sup up,” he added. “You’ve still got loads left.”

“Half of which is yours!” replied Charlie.

There was a loud cheer from behind them and they turnedaround to see the fruit machine noisily paying out the jackpot.

“Next round’s on you, Ben,” said Dan. “It’s time we weremoving on.”

Charlie downed the remainder of his pint, including theextra that Josh had added to it and they rejoined the others to begin thebattle through the crowd to the front door.

Heading down the street, in various states of intoxication,they found themselves steering a rather erratic, zigzag course. They weren’tthe only ones by any means. This wasn’t unusual for a Saturday night in thetown and it was amazing how some of the women tottering around in high heelswere staying upright at all.

“Show us your tits, darling,” leered Dan at one scantilyclad young lady. It was something he hardly needed to ask because she waspractically falling out of her undersized top already.

Unfortunately, he had picked on the wrong woman.

“Get lost you sad, fat twat,” she retorted. “Bet you’venever seen a decent pair in your life – except when you’re knocking one out toPornhub!”

The woman’s friends laughed, as did the lads, much to Dan’sannoyance. He didn’t take kindly to being humiliated, especially by a woman.Dan was misogynistic to the extent that he considered women inferior to him,which was probably why he was still a virgin with no prospect of that changinganytime soon.

But he didn’t retaliate. The woman was covered in tattooswhich Dan interpreted as meaning she was hard as nails. Although he would neveradmit it, he was scared.

Josh had been absolutely delighted to see Dan getting hisjust deserts. The evening may not have lived up to his expectations, but it hadbeen worth coming back for that moment alone.

The group was now on the verge of reaching The Red Lion, thepub where it had all gone horribly wrong last time. Despite his various tacticsto reduce his alcohol consumption, Josh was still feeling extremely drunk. ButCharlie was right. They were on the home straight and he could still finishthis.