The Night Goes By

The moon shone over the rooftops of the little town. I lay awake in one of the spare bedrooms as the minutes ticked into hours, night slowly becoming the day when my friend and I were supposed to go home.

Finally I couldn't bear it any longer. I rose from my bed and crossed the landing, casting one yearning look at the golden-haired girl's closed bedroom door.

I knew it would be another long time before I intruded on that sanctuary, if I ever did at all. But the thought of her asleep - and by now I was sure it really was she - still meant to me everything it had meant then.

Into the other spare room, where my friend was, I tiptoed. I felt very silly to be seen by her in just my T-shirt and pants. She stirred and woke when I came in, so I whispered anxiously to her, "Hon."

"Wow, things are bad," she said very seriously, and at once threw back her bedsheets and indicated I should get in with her. She was only wearing her black knickers and a borrowed Take That tee-shirt.

I scrambled in and pulled the sheets around us. The warmth and the smell of her was such a comfort right now. I wanted to cuddle her, except she'd have felt how comforted I was. "You look hot," I said.

"Don't even," she warned me. "I wouldn't mind, but this was literally the best she'd got. You should have seen the nightie she tried to lend me first. Guess I'm just lucky it wasn't PJs with feet!"

"You're about forty years off," I pointed out, "but at least this has been a history lesson for you. Tomorrow night you'll be sleeping again in your vest and those ridiculously skimpy shorts."

"I will?" my friend repeated. I felt myself start to blush. She didn't miss much, and I saw right away she knew what it was I'd wanted to talk to her about. "Don't you mean, we will?"

When I didn't reply, she went on gently: "You don't know for sure that she's who you think she is. None of this made any sense. I went through it with you and I still don't understand."

"But...this is my chance," I protested, starting to cry. "My chance to do it differently this time, and to..." but there were no more words, just tears. My friend took her in her arms under the covers.

"Don't give up your future for a dream," she whispered to me. "If it didn't work out then, it wasn't meant to. While you're trying so hard not to forget her, you might end up forgetting the ones who care for you now.

And considering it was my friend talking, the last part was spoken in a tiny voice indeed. I'd kind-of always known. I just didn't think she'd ever say it. "Set your alarm for early," I told her, also in a very small voice.

She grinned, and reached for her phone. "That probably won't work here," I reminder her, and pointed her instead to the bedside digital clock-radio with its red LED glow.

Before the golden-haired girl was out of bed that morning, we were on our way. My friend had written her a note and left it on the kitchen table, but I didn't say goodbye.

"Already have," I explained to her, as we trod the early morning country lanes on the way to our afternoon rendezvous and journey home. "Guess I just needed someone to remind me."

And bravely I gave her a smile, which she returned. "Chips and chocolate at those prices I could have got used to," she admitted. "Just don't even talk about the gym knickers though, too soon!"

We both laughed. "I don't know what you'd do without me," my friend went on, importantly. "Getting your pants in a twist over some little schoolgirl, honestly! Thought better of you than that."

"Well, I don't know," I replied in an innocent voice. "Good at sports, smelled a lot, teased me all the time, terrible musical tastes...oh, and she had a big sister she couldn't stand. I'm just saying, that's all."

This sort of thing was the one and only way I had of teasing my slow-on-the-uptake friend right back! As I knew she would, she started to demand over and over again I tell her just what I meant by that.

But instead of explaining it was the golden-haired girl who'd taught me what my type truly was, I just put my arm around her and together we walked into the rising sun.

THE END