Chapter 1
Birmingham 1995.
There wasn't much chance of watching the game. Nick had already pissed off Diane enough today, he still wasn't entirely sure why.
As he made his way into the kitchen where Diane was angrily washing the dishes, he grabbed her waist.
'Are you okay, love?' he asked with a mild caution to his tone.
Diane carried on slamming the cups and cutlery onto the drainer.
'I'm sorry if I upset you. Do you forgive me?' He asked again, but this time trying to twist a little babyish twang to his voice.
He knew she was pissed off about something bigger than the fact he may have left the toilet seat up again.
Diane dried her hands and stomped her way up to the bedroom.
Nick heard the door slam and the sounds of the springs tensing on the mattress as she dropped herself onto the bed old creaking bed.
They had been together for three years. At first, it was a whirlwind romance with Nick treating her to holidays and gifts regularly, but as time went by, this ebbed away into a distant memory. All romance had eroded from what was a relationship between two people who cared for each other, into something of a simple co-existence.
It was clear that Diane was regretting her choice of letting him move in with her, but Nick had nowhere else to go. He had just come out of a messy divorce and his ex wife had taken everything from him. For now, all he could do was to try and hold down a job and keep food on the table. No more holidays. No more gifts.
As they were both in their forties, neither thought it would be of any sense trying to start again with new people and new lives, so for now, they were stuck in this cycle of uneasy habitation, sex once in a blue moon and very little in the way of meaningful interactions. Just the monotonous and generic grind of another day.
Nick thought about going upstairs to attempt to appease her, but from previous experience, this normally only added fuel to the fire that burned the rage that she would all to often let bubble over.
Nick had come to the conclusion that he would miss the chance to watch the game in the pub with his mates. Depending on how she was later in the day, he may not even be able to watch it at home.
As Diane laid on the bed she thought about all the things she wanted to do with her life.
As a kid, all she could think about was being a fashion designer, she even enrolled for design college but had to drop out when she decided to run away with her boyfriend who turned out to be a controlling and aggressive man. Once she gathered enough courage to up and leave, she returned home and would get a job in a factory and fall into the rat race, dreams left aside for passing thoughts only.
Tears began rolling down her cheeks as she counted the past and wasted years of her life, everything she has sacrificed to get to this unhappy moment, in a loveless relationship sculptured from pure economical circumstance.
She hated her life and the realisation that she needed to make a change was beginning to dawn on her.
As Nick sat downstairs he was wondering what he could do to make Diane feel better. He made a decision.
Her favourite chocolates would be the thing to soften her up, but as the game started in less than three hours, he would need to get a move on if he was to try and patch things up. He checked his wallet but knew he didn't have enough, so, just until he could pay her back, he took five pounds from her purse.
Fifteen minutes later and he was back carrying the chocolates that would be the ticket to making her smile.
As he quietly knocked on the door and gently whispered her name he was met with silence.
He carefully opened the door and snuck his head round to see her reading a magazine.
'Hey, are you okay?'
She shrugged her shoulders.
'I know I'm not easy to live with' said Nick 'but I never want to make you upset.'
He stepped into the bedroom with one hand behind his back and slipped onto the bed next to her.
'I got you something.' He whispered, hoping that this gift would be the olive branch that made her see sense.
He placed the chocolate on her stomach.
Diane put down the magazine and looked at her all-time favourite treats.
'Thanks.' she said without making eye contact.
Nick rubbed her arm. 'Are we okay?'
Diane couldn't bring herself to open up and let out everything that she had kept locked in her head for so long. She didn't have the strength of mind after all this time of being drained of her soul.
She would do it, she would break it off, just not right now.
'I'm okay.' She responded. 'I just get really tired sometimes and I take it out on you.'
Nick felt a wave of relief flow over him as she had indirectly apologised. As far as he was concerned, this gave him the moral high ground.
'Do you need to sleep?' He asked, trying to play the situation to his advantage.
Diane wasn't stupid. She knew this man better than he knew himself and the predictability of him was almost scripted in her head.
'Yeah. I think I'll get my head down for a couple of hours.'
Nick was finding this easy. He managed to manipulate her into doing what he wanted. Now all he had to do was to approach the subject of the football match carefully and all of this would be worth the hassle.
He was pleased that she wasn't happy earlier as this was the facilitator of her tiredness now.
She turned over to face him. 'Why don't you get off to the football?'
Nick tried to hold back his smile. 'I'm not sure I want to leave you like this, but if you're going to have a sleep anyway, then I might go.'
Diane couldn't believe the stupidity of the man laid next to her. She didn't care that he was going to the football. In fact, it gave her some peace and quiet and would stop her having to tiptoe around her own home.
'Yeah, get yourself off. Enjoy yourself.'
Twenty minutes later and Diane heard the door open and close behind Nick.
As a fleeting thought, she imagined Nick's heart problems finishing him off if his team scored. Diane surprised herself for having thoughts like this, but she couldn't help the way she felt.
