“Not you again! Either you have a very short memory or you just can’t resist me!” By the smile on her face you could assume that the girl behind the sweet counter at the Odeon had her evening considerably brightened by Jamie walking in through the doors for the third time that week.

This was the last night, the Time Out listings went eerily quiet after this, and he just couldn’t help himself. Oh the weekly celebrity “Put Them in a Forest and Hope the Bears Eat Them” show had taken his attention for a few minutes, but then he had gone back to pacing the thin carpet and making yet another cup of tea that he didn’t want before giving in. “Ah, fuck it! One last time then.” Luckily Katie was flush, so he’d bummed 20 quid off her and jumped in a cab.

Jamie just rolled his eyes, “Aye, well I can’t keep away,” as he fished in his pockets for the £5.60 it was going to cost him to see the film again. She wasn’t bad looking to tell the truth. Sure, that Odeon uniform didn’t do her any favours, but he found himself thinking about the rather too-easy poppers down the front of the sky blue nylon when she interrupted his thought.

“Large salty one as usual?”

For a second he had no idea what she was on about, well he did have an idea, but that didn’t seem likely, he hardly knew the lass after all. “Popcorn…and me name’s Emmy.”

Jamie laughed out loud and stuck his hand out, “Aye well since you are well acquainted with me eating habits, pleased to meet yer, Emmy.” His wink had quite the effect, and she held his hand a second or two longer than was strictly necessary. “Me name’s Jamie. Many in tonight?”

Spluttering a bit she shook her head, “Seems like you are the only one in the whole of London interested in those, what you said before, Bush rangers? Well, apart from that lass you came with the other night, she was here only this afternoon for the matinee. Is she your girlfriend then? Ah sorry, none of my business, I just serve the popcorn.”

He couldn’t help himself smiling. Megan, so she had been here too. They’d had precious little time to talk since that Saturday night, and there was no way he was phoning her flat to speak with her. All he knew was that it had been hard to open the door and let her go, like there was a whole conversation to be had but he didn’t know the first sentence.

Anyhow here he was with an armful of junk food and a woman in front of him expectantly waiting for a compliment. Life could be so complicated when you thought of about it, but usually he found that smiling at them and telling something like the truth worked a treat. “It seems to me you serve it particularly well, and since you ask—no she isn’t, Megan is me mate.” He was sure she just swayed a bit but with a last grin took himself off into Screen One, no need to collect his ticket evidently. Emmy stood a while, surveying the lobby and the counter in front of her with a rising sense of anticipation and panic and warmth that had no direct focus exactly. Alright he was friggin' gorgeous, that was true, but jesus if she followed every good looking fella into the cinema she might wear herself out. A frown flickered over her eyes as her rational mind caught up with her bodies intentions and Emmy muttered to herself even as she locked the till and disappeared into the Ladies. He was pulling her in and that was from behind 3 fire doors and a rather tatty looking velvet curtain.

A familiar tune started the film at last and Jamie wriggled his hips down into the seat, his heart rate increasing with the thought of what was to come. That Joe was a good looking bugger, had a way of walking that was like the earth moved him along, and Jamie smiled through the scenes that held the darkness back a while. “Good thing I am not Chinese.” He had some act, that fella.

He didn’t even hear her come in behind him, must be a skill they teach usherettes, part of the training, well he’d be no good as a fuckin’ outlaw that’s for sure, just need some coppers in their slippers and he’d be done for. “Jesus!” he had leapt out of his skin in the bit of a second before he recognised what the touch was. “You trying to make me spill me coke, lass?” Ah, she wasn’t taking her hands away, and as he bent forward to put the drink on the floor, he felt them tingle over his shoulders. His head back on the worn out had-been-red upholstery, he took a look at her, as well as he could in the dark of the cinema, just the light of Australian sun on her face, “What’s on your mind?” Fuck, he didn’t need to ask nor see, he could almost feel her in the air if he tried.

Emmy felt her breath catch, his neck outstretched in front of her and those curls falling over the chair were making her a little dizzy, and she closed her eyes to speak. “Well, I was sitting out there at the ticket office, and number Two Screen finished already, and I started to think about you all on yer onesies in here, them outlaws charging about on horses backwards and forwards like there’s no tomorrow, and seeing as you already know the plot, I wondered if you might want some company.”

“Right,” that finger which had worked his way through the gap between buttons had quite taken his attention. See Ma, I was right all along about the vest. Ok, so she might still not see it his way. He was used to women losing it a bit—that one in the hot dog stall at the match got his order wrong every freakin’ Saturday and that lass on the bus to work blushed like a ripe peach every morning. Then there were others that came straight out with it, always liked those best anyways, barmaids and nightclub girls, ones his mother would not let over the doorstep mostly, but he’d not had a woman slip her hand inside his shirt in the cinema before, leastways not one he hadn’t paid the ticket for.

“We are just good friends.”

“I suppose you have a lot of good friends...”

“Ah, sure there’s nothing wrong with being friendly.”

Christ, her hair was brushing his cheek and that felt so good, Jamie shifted his hips in the seat and reached behind him with one hand to catch the back of her neck. “Aye, well I suppose I know what comes next anyways, that fella kisses the lass.” Her mouth was just an inch from his now, her minty breath caught in his nose, so she hadn’t been overtaken with sudden lust then, well not sudden enough to stop her sucking a mint.

“Is that right? You want to show me then? Sort of audience participation kind of thing.”

Jamie shook his head a little, “No. Well, aye I do…” the last bit though was lost in the groan he made as she brushed her hand over his belly. For fuck’s sake, she was almost touching his cock and he was prevaricating over a kiss, well no more. Jamie pulled her mouth hard against his and felt her give as his tongue found hers, his hands searching for curves that were for now encased in nylon and she was gasping for breath, practically falling over the seat. In the seconds after he released her so that she could run down the row of seats to be where he was, his hands pulled at that soft brown cloth of his trousers. Jesus, he was hard and his mind scooted briefly to the Gents where he might have to find some relief later, and he sort of smiled. Fuck this was like one of those bad ‘70s porn movies. But here she was, in front of him and in an instant hitching up her uniform to sit on his lap, a red flush in her cheeks that only made her prettier.

“I don’t usually do this…honestly I don’t.”

“Me neither,” Jamie grinned and pulled her hips to his just as he sunk his tongue back into her mouth. Now that he could reach, sharp snaps followed his fingers down the row of her poppers to give him soft pink lace and softer skin and she was whimpering into him, rolling her hips as he stroked and squeezed with hands that seemed too big around her small body.

This country belongs to us and we will go wherever we like.

Waves of it were moving him now, his cock was, but for the small matter of some cotton, to all intents and purposes slipping in what he knew was wet and hot, and his head went back against the chair, “Christ…I don’t have anything on me”

He thought she might cry or laugh, but her hand searched all the same for a displaced pocket.

“It’s all they had in the machine” and she held out a small foil wrapper. He giggled a bit, not even the hard edge of passion could take it away, here he was in a public cinema, a woman on his lap, coke and popcorn all over the floor, and a strawberry-flavoured (who the fuck was going to taste them?) condom in his hand. She caught his eyes, grinning back,

“Used to be in the Girl Guides, I can tie knots too.” Now that really was preparation, though what God and the Queen would make of it he couldn’t be sure.

“Aye well, let’s leave that demonstration ‘til after, eh?” His moan as she pulled on the buttons of his trousers was lost in the pounding of hooves over sunbaked earth. She was still kissing him, but he knew she was stealing looks, glancing down to watch him slip rubber over his cock—he always wished they didn’t look so fucking awful, like a bald man shrink wrapped. She didn’t seem to mind, breathing hard as she watched his fingers brush over himself, the red light of the Exit sign glinting in the topaz ring he wore. She stood to let him pull the cotton down her legs and then she was his, her thighs quivering, and Jamie pulled her down hard, a gasp as the fire caught hold in the Australian outback.

* * *

“Megan! You bloody sly dog!! Well, ok, a lucky sly dog, I grant you. You know I fancy that Jamie! Jesus though, playing with fire, you didn’t tell Danny, did ya?”

Megan rolled her eyes, “Do I look stupid?” and took a big sip of her cocktail, the quirkily named Bloody Joseph, like a Bloody Mary only with whiskey, it had appealed to her slightly warped sense of humour if not her taste buds, well not until you’d had a couple anyhow. The all too bright chrome bar was gradually emptying now, her and Millie having seen most of the patrons come and go after she had finished her shift at the Cup O’ Chino. She hated that name, that think-you-are-so-clever-but-you-came-up-with-a-cliché crap. Anyhow, she had finished her shift and spent an extremely pleasant evening in the company of a person she never had explain “why” to, talking about work and Danny and outlaws, and now a little hazy with whiskey she sort of grinned, “Anyway, it wasn’t really like that, he didn’t touch me.”

Millie’s face was a picture of horror, commiseration, relief, and surprise. “You are fuckin’ kidding me, right?” A moment when she paled a little, “He’s not gay, tell me he’s not...no, no, he can’t be, I have heard it from the most disreputable sources, well Janine, and Lisa, and oh...that Sarah, and Katie, well she is nearly there...Hang on…Now I come to think of it, he gets around in his own quiet way. You think he doesn’t fancy me?” Millie was grinning, a mock anger that she took it out on the Marlboro she was grinding into the too full ashtray. A cackle from them both echoed round the now empty bar, and Megan stood to pull on her coat before they were forcibly ejected.

“Seriously Millie, I don’t know what it is about but it’s not sex, gorgeous as he is. I just can’t stop myself thinking about him and it’s all tied up with seeing that film. You should have seen him—he was a mess the same as me, crying his eyes out over a bunch of Australian outlaws neither of us had ever heard of before. And when I went back home with him, it was just right, well obviously not right to any outside observer, but I wanted to move into that bed and stay there, it felt …shit...I can’t find the words. But like home, I had his skin next to mine all night, and it was just like home.”

“Jesus, you need a talking to bad” Millie’s arm slipped through Megan’s as they stepped out into the cold, “come on back to mine and tell me more about the delicious Jamie and his somewhat disappointing restraint.”

* * *

In the Odeon, Emmy might have disagreed, his fingers finding her as he pushed down on her legs and she could hardly breathe, the National Manager could walk in now and she would tell him to fuck off she was busy. Strong hands rocked her against him, the creak of the fold up chairs mixing with the voice on the screen.

“I saw that rascal Aaron Sherritt the other night.”

“Oh yeah? And what did you give him?”

“Nothing, you little scoundrel!”

She hadn’t even thought of it when she’d left for work that afternoon. Ok, so that wasn’t true, she had thought about him a lot, not often you saw a man crying when he came out of the cinema, alright so that was just what made him interesting, quite apart from being fucking beautiful, but all the same she hadn’t meant to be so forward, not THIS forward anyhow…oh he was going to make her come, his hand on her face now he was kissing her with everything and she could feel him taking short breaths. Oh god, just don’t let that condom break, he was  pushing her legs wider so he could have more, no space between the strokes that hit her and then he grabbed her ass hard, pressing her down until there was no more… holding her still while she had it all. She could feel her body pulling him in, holding him while they shuddered, his chest and his arms all around her, red-hot pulses of blood and white and heartbeat that took minutes to pass.

“Jesus, are you alright, lass?” He was still panting but easing her back so he could see her face, “I didn’t hurt yer?” his eyes wide and just flickering to the screen behind her shoulder as Joe Byrne, his face hardened, felt steel in his hands, a ring taken from that of Scanlon at Stringybark Creek flashing in the dark of the Kelly shack.

“No, you didn’t hurt me,” her body softening and now, in truth, aching from the jolts, she let him gently lift her off so he could slip out, an involuntary whimper as he brushed over her. She had no idea what to say, they had hardly had proper introductions afterall, when she watched a frown run across his face, “Is everything ok, Jamie?”

Jamie looked around the place, like waking up from a daydream and finding yourself somewhere unexpected, and his fingers moved to her poppers, covering her up, too sensitive to the touch of  her skin to work fast, full of tingling nerves. “Christ! Yeah, yes it is. Emmy! Thank you.” Jamie was tucking his shirt back in, smoothing her hair, reaching down for her knickers and jumping out of his skin all at the same time. “Will you do something for me? Only if it won’t get yer in trouble, mind…”

Emmy swallowed, there wasn’t much she could think of offhand that she wouldn’t do, despite only knowing his first name, there was something familiar about how how this man made her feel and she could do nothing but nod her agreement.

“Will yer stay and watch the rest of the fillum with me?”

* * *

The next morning, despite Millie’s cynicism that she would ever get someone to pay her to go find out about outlaws that lived 125 years ago and much less write an article about them, Megan called the agency.

“Tom, listen, do some digging for me...I want to know if there’s any of the Qualities might consider a piece on Ned Kelly…Oh come on Tom...Australian Jesse James? Irish deportees?...Yeah that’s right, armour made out of plough shares…No, no, I don’t think Tony Blair would have him on his hero list…Yeah, Heath Ledger played Ned…Did he? Now that’s interesting. I can see the headline now…Took time out of filming to go demonstrate in Melbourne over the outrage in Iraq, huh? I love him already...So you’ll put some feelers out then, yeah?...Thanks, Tom, you are the best!” Megan grinned and lay back against the pillows, her mind already racing.

“Who was that you were talking to?” Danny rolled over beside her and slid an arm over her belly. “Anyone I should know?”

“Just Tom Lloyd, he has given me a few ins before, thought he might be able to help me with an article I want to write.”

“I bet he would give you another in if you asked.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Danny! I am here aren’t I? In our bed in our flat. Ok, so I am not the little woman who hands you your pipe and finds your slippers, but I am here. You never used to be like this, you used to make me laugh, but now you are like some fuckin’ tom cat pissing on his territory whenever I speak to another man. What the hell is up with you?”

Danny rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, his broad open face that usually told you a thousand things all at the same time and most of them conflicting for once saying just one. He had not been sure about moving in together, never stayed anywhere long enough to unpack what little he had accumulated in his 23 years, and now finding himself putting together Ikea furniture and not exactly sure about the ownership of the pink sink drainer had left him a mix of ecstatic and disturbed. But right now he was just pissed. She had seemed like...what?? Like so familiar, he didn’t need to try, they’d hardly know each other really before they had been down the housing association and signing the lease papers and for a time he’d been happy as a pig in shit. Danny frowned and pulled himself onto his side to look at her, not in control of his mouth, “What about Jamie?”

Silence. She wasn’t saying anything, both of them struggling for a form of words that was a lie and yet held some truth.

“How did you meet him, Danny?”

Ok, so that wasn’t the answer he was expecting, but he decided to go with it since pulling it back to where they had been felt like a step too far. “You want the full or the abridged version?”

“I want to know what the fuck is in your head!”

 “Bloody women, you are all the same”

“Shut it, Danny, save it for the pub.”

“Ok, you asked for it.” Danny reached over to light a cigarette and then put his head next to hers, his blonde loose curls mixing with the dark of hers. “He was always a smart ass, so when I arrived from another school, having been excluded for nicking stuff, I might never have bumped into him. I was shit at reading and all, just never been interested in learning that stuff, rather be out on the football field or riding me bike over the Common, we had quite a trail, you should have seen me do wheelies!”

Megan turned to smile at him, he was always physical, Danny, she liked that about him, you always knew when he was in the room. “Anyway, so he was always in the top stream but not like them swots—you know the sort who thought they were better than you. In the playground he was like the rest of us. Well no, that’s not true. I was good at keeping out of trouble, he seemed to find it, picking fights with the lads that stomped around in their 12-hole boots and crew cuts, messing about with other blokes’ girlfriends behind the bicycle sheds and all that, and all the while the teachers though the sun shone out of his ass. Must have been that smile, eh?”

“I watched his back, and he did mine— he did me homework and I punched the blokes that were bigger than him. We just sort of fell in with each other, both being Paddies, though from the other side of the fence as it were, and we spent less and less time at Kilburn Comp, instead taking off with the pack lunches that our Mams made and spending the day in the park or over at the Common.”

Danny sighed and caught the long tower of ash in his hand before lighting another. “Anyways, we stuck together through the last couple of years ‘til we left school, and he got work at his uncle’s building firm. I did a few days there meself, but I couldn’t settle to it, seemed like it did matter what side of the fence you came from with those fellas, and Jamie, well, he told them to fuck off and that I was his mate, but that didn’t stop them once he was out of sight. Fuck it! Anyhow, I prefer to work on my own. I can look after meself.”

“We’d spend the nights down the pub and the weekends at the footie and chatting up girls, we was quite the pair I can tell yer, but you should have seen him. He’d be at the bar telling some girl about Yeats or some such shit, and there’d be four more who couldn’t tell a poem from a possum hanging around waiting. He fucking knew it too, the cheeky bastard.” Danny was smiling and Megan couldn’t help herself too, an instant image of those brown eyes charming every girl in the pub while looking like butter wouldn’t melt, combined with the glow of pride from his old mate that made her heart skip.

“He never got a steady girlfriend then?” Ok, maybe she shouldn’t have raised that, she could feel Danny stiffen before she breathed in.

“You’ll have to ask him, but he seems to have fingers in a few pies, so to speak.”

Megan shrugged, “Just wondering is all. Anyhow, so you two fall out over something?”

“No, not yet anyhow.”

Chords of “Love Me Like a Man” tinkled from her cell phone.

“I better get that. It might be Tom.” Megan struggled out of the bed and scrambled in her bag to retrieve the buzzing phone. With a rise of panic and relief she stared at the screen. You have a new message. Received Friday 10 a.m. Sender: Jamie.

I need to talk, can I meet you tonight?

“Tom got an in or an out for you? Or is it both he is offering?” Danny was half smiling at his own joke as her thumb pressed the keys.

am working tonight. meet me at cup o’ chinos, primrose hill