Page 18 of Calling Frank O'Hare

‘Because we’d carry on seeing each other every day. Nothing has to change.’

Billy laughed. ‘You’re such a kid sometimes, FB. Anyways, in case you haven’t noticed, things have already changed.’ He was having another dig about Eve. It was one of his favourite topics. When it first started, Frank bit back and Billy would tell him to stop being so touchy, he was only joking. It wasn’t much of a joke in Frank’s eyes. As far as he was aware, your best friend was supposed to be on your side. Martin and Finn got on great with Eve. A bit too well sometimes, you couldn’t get rid of them. Billy was the only one who had a problem with her, although he wouldn’t admit it. Instead, he said snide things about her and complained that she hung around too much.

The reality was, Eve was his girlfriend but he only ever saw her on Saturdays in and around the record shop, unless they had enough to buy a drink at the Harp Bar, or they went to a concert. They were the only places they felt safe going to. That didn’t stop him thinking about her the rest of the time though. All week he’d store up things to say to her. Funny things preferably, because she thought he was funny. In a clever way, she’d once added. After that he aimed for funny and clever. When he wasn’t doing that, he was scouring Billy’s music mags for interesting facts about their favourite bands that he could share with her. Maybe Billy was right. Maybe things were already changed, and maybe Billy couldn’t handle it. In which case, he had some nerve saying Frank was a kid.

Eve was a lot more positive about him staying on at school. Frank had earned some extra cash helping his dad decorate a neighbour’s bedroom, so they went to the Harp. She grabbed his hand under the table. ‘So we’ll both be students then? Get us.’

‘That would be weird, us both going to the same university, wouldn’t it? In a nice way though.’

‘Weird and unlikely. I’m not staying here. As soon as I can, I’m away over the water.’

‘Over the water?’

She giggled, the way she did when he made a funny joke. ‘Close your mouth, Frankie Boy. It’s not that shocking.’

Maybe not for her, but it was for Frank. ‘Why do you want to go over there?’

She stopped laughing. ‘Because it’s not here. Have you been there?’

He shook his head.

‘Then you wouldn’t understand. I’ve been plenty of times. We have family over there. I’m not saying it’s anything special, but at least you can ride a bus with a reasonable assumption you’re not going to get blown up or shot. And you don’t have soldiers on every corner looking for any excuse to touch you up. And you can be friends with whoever you want. You can even sleep with the enemy, if you want to.’ She winked at him and her smile was back.

She had a point, but even though she’d said it as fact, Frank still couldn’t get his head around it. So he brought it back to reality. His reality anyway. ‘What about your parents, are they okay with it?’

‘Mum is. We haven’t told Dad yet. He’s old-fashioned. He still thinks I’m going to settle down with a nice fella and have kids before I’m twenty.’ She shook her head. ‘Not this girl. I’m going to be a journalist.’ She kissed him. ‘Come with me, Frankie. We could run away together.’

‘Are youse two gonna buy another drink or are you gonna sit there all day nursing your empty glasses?’

Frank didn’t realise the barman was talking to them until Eve asked him if he had any more money. He hadn’t.

‘Me neither. Let’s go back to the shop then. It costs nothing to hang around there.’

It was raining when they left the pub. They ran for the shop, splashing through puddles. As they passed a bombed-out building, Frank grabbed her arm and pulled her in to what was once an entryway. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth, pushing her tongue around his teeth. It was like an electric shock to him. He pulled her closer and kissed her again. ‘Did you mean it?’

‘Mean what?’

‘That we could run away together.’

Eve opened her mouth, but the sight of a soldier standing a few feet away clamped it shut. They put their hands up over their heads and walked back out onto the street.

Frank blinked the rain away from his eyes. ‘Sorry, we were just-'

‘So I saw.’ The soldier’s eyes darted around the street. ‘Go on then. Fuck off before I change my mind.’

The others were reading a fanzine in the shop when they got there. Billy showed it to Frank. ‘We could do one of these. They’ll let us sell them here.’

Frank looked it over. It was good and probably not that hard to do, but it was all handwritten. That took time. ‘What about the roadie job though, Billy?’

‘They took someone else on. Guess I’ll be going back to school after all.’

Frank couldn’t stop a smile from forming on his lips. They were staying together for a bit longer. Things were working out just grand. ‘Good. Hey, Eve could help with the writing. She wants to be a journalist.’

Billy’s eyes flitted over to Eve for a second then returned to Frank. ‘Okay. If she wants to.’

Eve snatched the fanzine from him and scanned the pages. ‘Yeah, all right. I’ll have to call myself by another name though. My dad would go crazy if he found out.’

‘You should make it real punky, like Poly Styrene,’ said Martin.

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