Blackford got dressed. His black jumper was missing, left at the party most likely. Taking his green hoody instead, he grabbed his keys and left the flat.
Outside
Even at this time the park was filling up. Kids on skateboards jostled for space in the Skate park, while young, stylish parents smiled indulgently as their little swaddlings toddled along behind them. Over on the big hill, groups of students lay back on the grass with their blue bags and cigarettes, some no doubt coming straight through from the night before. Already, the strains of a sound system could be heard.
Screwing his eyes, Blackford recognised a group of people he knew and walked over.
“Hey Blackie how you feeling today” smirked one of the number, eliciting a few murmured laughs. Blackford shifted uncomfortably as a dozen eyes lighted on him from behind outsized sunglasses, then sat down self-consciously beside a guy he knew called Colin. He hadn’t remembered them being at the party but this didn’t surprise him too much. Colin offered him a beer and Blackford accepted, the can shop cold and heavy in his hand. He opened it and took a grateful glug.
“I don’t suppose you’ve seen Jen about today?” he eventually said to Colin.
“Naw man, not since last night,” Colin replied “what happened your eye?”
Blackford ignored the question and asked another one of his own:
“What about James?”
“Last time I saw him he was with you,” Colin said, then “D’you catch up with Jenny?”
Blackford answered flatly, “No”
He lay back and lit a smoke, trying to play it cool. More groups were now arriving at the hill. Some had brought footballs and Frisbees but most just flopped down on the grass. After a while Colin turned to him.
“Maybe you should try
Blackford sat up, “Was she buying?”
“Maybe, but it looked like she was just hanging out.”
This pricked Blackford. Hayden Watt dealt weed, coke and pills to half the West End of Glasgow out of a flat on the edge of Maryhill. Blackford bought stuff from him occasionally and found him personally repugnant. The first time he’d gone to North Woodside Hayden had bragged over a joint that he made a few girls clean his flat in exchange for drugs. Hayden was friends with some dodgy people and more than a few times Blackford had left a party as the atmosphere around them turned nasty.
Colin hesitated, then spoke again. “Look man, if you want my advice you should just leave it alone. You were pretty upset last night.”
Blackford drained his can and stood up, his knees creaking, “Thanks, I gotta push on”
As he walked away, Colin shouted out behind him: “Come to the tunnel party tonight. Kid Vicious is supposed to be playing.”
But Blackford’s mind was already on other things.
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