A Night to Remember

“And I want no funny business from you, Gary!”

With that, the burly police officer shut the door to the cramped visiting room. Gary cast a bored eye over his shoulder at the door behind him from his seat at the table.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir…” he muttered unconcernedly.

Gary glanced around at the gloomy, dark room in which he sat. This was the first time any visitors had come to see him during his two months in prison. Nobody had told him who was coming- “Just a mate of yours,” one of the officers had snapped at him at some point.

“Ah, well,” Gary mumbled to himself in his seat. “I’ve always loved a surprise.”

Gary’s thoughts were interrupted by a familiar sound, the metallic clang of a prison door being unlocked. He looked ahead at the visitor door, curious to see who would walk through it.

The door creaked open. Another officer stepped through. “In you come,” he commanded gruffly to the as yet unidentified figure beside him, outside the room.

Gary felt his eyebrows jump up to meet his hairline when a young man entered the room. As the prison officer left the room, the young man grinned broadly when his bright blue eyes met Gary’s dark brown ones.

“Norman,” Gary addressed the man, unable to keep the astonishment out of his voice.

“Hello, Gary,” Norman replied, the freckles on his face alight with mischief as he sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table. “Long time no see, eh?”

“What the blazes do you think you’re doing here?” Gary asked incredulously. “If the old bill finds out who you are-”

“Well, keep your voice down then, genius,” Norman interjected. “I had to see you again, especially given how we left things.”

“You took your time,” grumbled Gary. “Do you realise how long I’ve been in here?”

“Circumstances got the better of me,” Norman informed him, the shrug of his shoulders failing to mask the flash of guilt in his eyes. “I knew the screws were onto us, so I had to lie low for a while. I needed to get as far away from that building site as possible. I had to hide away. I’ve been tucked away behind a corner shop for about a month now.”

“Lucky bugger,” Gary noted, the tiniest of smirks dancing across his face. “I always knew you were to smooth for the police force to get you. How did you find out I was in here?”

“Jessica told me,” said Norman.

A pronounced quietness settled in the room as the pair looked at each other, digesting this last piece of information. “We need to talk about her,” Gary broke the silence after a moment.

“Why do you have to marry her, Gary?” Norman asked wearily.

“Because I love her,” came the reply. “Pretty simple, really.”

“She’s no good for you,” Norman told him, leaning across the table towards Gary, as if to enforce his point. “You deserve better than her, loads better.”

“I know perfectly well what I deserve,” Gary replied with the calm tone of a man trying to soothe a dog straining at the leash. “I deserve to marry the person I want to. That person happens to be Jessica.”

“I swear she must have drugged you,” Norman shook a disbelieving head. “That’s the only way I’d ever take her.”

Gary sighed at Norman’s words. “I’d know if I’d been drugged- believe me, I’ve been there before. To be fair, I was always powerless against Jessica’s natural charms. Let’s just say she found a way into my heart, just like we found a way into that building site.”

Norman’s impassioned expression subsided into a smile as both men gazed off into an imagined place of reminiscence.

“That was a night to remember, wasn’t it?” Norman commented fondly, running a hand through his blonde hair. “One last crazy night of freedom before your wedding day.”

Grinning at the memory, Gary replied, “When people told me I’d be under lock and key, I wasn’t expecting it to work out as literally as this.”

Norman nodded, chuckling to himself. “I don’t think I’ve ever drunk so much Foster’s in my life, and that’s saying something. I always thought that was quite a safe beer, and look at what it led us to do.”

“Those builders probably weren’t ready for what hit them,” Gary laughed. “Their site was in a right state by the time we’d ravaged our way through it. That block of flats will probably take another year to finish now.”

“And they found us in the port-a-loo!” Norman covered his increasingly red face with his hands. “I can’t even remember how we ended up in there.”

“That’s probably because we were unconscious when they found us,” Gary reminded him. “It’s a good thing we scarpered as soon as we did, those builders would have lynched us, given the position they found us in.”

“The police must have loved that story when they were told,” Norman raised a playful eyebrow at Gary. “I’ll bet you’re the talk of the prison in here. Thank heavens I managed to avoid that fate.”

“Shut up, or they’ll hear you,” Gary instructed as they both tried to suppress their laughter.

“Let’s be honest,” mused Norman with a thoughtful stroke of his chin, “we always had this coming, didn’t we? After all the mishaps we’ve had.”

“We’ve had our scrapes,” Gary agreed. “I should’ve known you were a wrong ‘un from the moment we met at school. You were three years behind me. Sweet little thing, you were. Blonde hair, blue eyes, butter wouldn’t melt. Little did I know the impact you’d have on my life. I did alright at school until you came along.”

Norman sniggered. “What an honour it was to be the one to corrupt you. Oh, the stories I heard about Good Guy Gary. You were tall, dark and handsome- a look you’re still going for these days. How the teachers loved you. Everyone fancied you, even some of the boys. Yet I was the one who became your partner in crime.”

“It was meant to be,” remembered Gary. “Ever since you saved me from being expelled. I always knew that stink bomb was your idea. Why Mrs Grimsby never chucked you out the school, I’ll never know.”

Norman shrugged his shoulders casually. “She had a thing for me. I always got on well with our headmistress.”

“It didn’t end there, did it?” Gary continued. “It’s been fifteen years since we left school. We’ve had pretty much one misadventure a week since then. You’ve always been dragging me into your daft little schemes. There’ve been traffic cones, pigeons, spray paint, even a Superman costume at one point. My mates at the law firm think I’m nuts for being friends with you. You always get me into trouble.”

“Correction,” Norman piped up. “I always get you out of trouble.”

“Bit of a shame you didn’t manage it this time, isn’t it?”

Another silence filled the room, hanging on the air like a bad aftershave. Norman broke Gary’s gaze and looked down at the floor, his hands fidgeting on the table.

“I just want a bit of normality in my life,” Gary went on. “That’s why Jess is the girl for me. A marriage to her can give me that stability.”

Norman did not look up. “I still think you’re making a mistake,” he claimed quietly.

Gary rolled his eyes. “You’ve said that about every girl I’ve ever been with,” he sighed.

“That’s because I care about you,” Norman told him, finally lifting his eyes to meet Gary’s. The time we’ve spent together has meant the world to me. We’ve made each other laugh like no one else has before. All these adventures I’ve had, I needed someone to share them with- I picked you, Gary, because you just…”

He paused, looking around him as though the words he was looking for might be found on the walls of the room. “You… felt right,” he went on. “I wouldn’t want to share my time with anyone else. I certainly don’t want anyone replacing me in your life, least of all any girl you marry.”

Gary smiled at Norman’s creased face. “I’ve never seen you so earnest before. Let me assure you that you will always be my friend. I made you my best man for a reason. Nothing can divide us, not after all we’ve been through. I must say that you’ve taken a risk coming to visit me, I’m grateful.”

“I told you,” Norman affirmed, “I had to come and see you. I’m the reason you’re in here, it’s the least I can do.”

Gary reached over the table, placing a hand on Norman’s shoulder. “That’s why you’re my best friend. Through the good times in life and the bad times, you’re there for me. That’s why nobody can replace you. That’s why nobody can take away what we’ve got. That’s also why I’m trusting you with this.”

Taking his hand off Norman’s shoulder, Gary reached into his pocket. Out came an envelope, on which was written one word: Jessica.

“You know what to do,” Gary told Norman as he passed him the envelope.

“If you weren’t my best friend…” Norman replied, placing the envelope in his pocket. The withering expression in his eyes was tempered by his affectionate smile.

Gary returned that very same smile. “She needs to know I still love her. I want to be sure she’ll have me back when I’m out of here.”

Norman frowned. “You’ve only got one more month in here. Why not just tell her yourself?”

“We’ve already been apart for two months,” Gary replied. “The last time she saw me, I was being bundled into a police car. We’ve only spoken once on the phone, and that was for all of two minutes. I’ve not heard from her since.”

“Oh, she’s a keeper,” Norman commented.

“She’s in shock,” Gary answered. “She has every right to be struggling with this. It was the night before our wedding. Nobody else has been to visit me, which means that you’re the only one I can trust to deliver this letter. Please tell me you can understand that. Tell me you’ll do this for me.”

Norman returned Gary’s intense gaze. As the visitor door rattled with the police officer moving to open it, Norman showed the broad grin that Gary knew and trusted only too well.

Norman’s officer entered the room. “Time’s up,” he told them.

Both men stood up, holding their gaze. After a moment’s pause, Norman extended his hand. Gary clasped it, shaking it with every ounce of sincerity he felt.

The officer led Norman out of the room. With the door closed behind them, Gary’s lanky figure stood alone in the room. The door on his side of the room creaked open, and the burly officer to fix Gary with a suspicious glare.

“Just what are you up to?” he enquired. “You’re looking a bit too smug for my liking.”

As Gary sauntered past the policeman, he let out a brief chuckle. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir…”