Chapter 5 #2
“That happens to be when I think you’re the most beautiful.”
And then he leaned in and kissed me. His lips were like two soft pillows that I just wanted to bury my whole face in. He started the kiss softly with gentle pressure on my lips before he moved his other hand to my neck, and I felt a slight gasp leave me at how sensual his hands felt on me.
He reacted by deepening the kiss, sweeping his tongue into my mouth.
He tasted like beer and the Skittles we’d been snacking on during the drive home.
I pressed myself against his chest as much as the tight manoeuvrability of the car would allow, and things shifted from soft and sensual to hurried and hot in a second.
He moved his hand to grab my arse and tried to pull me even closer while my hands swept over his broad chest. Fuck the consequences, I was asking him in and putting an end to this intense burn before I combusted.
Just as the thought formed, a blinding set of headlights swept over us as the neighbours pulled into their driveway and we quickly pulled apart.
We stared at each other, and I was relieved to see his chest heaving a little just like mine.
At least I knew he was just as affected by me as I was by him.
“Well, that was pretty shit timing,” he said, tipping his head towards next door.
I rolled my eyes in response, not sure what to say now the moment was broken. Suddenly his hand tipped my chin up again, and he planted the softest kiss on my lips, pulling back before I could sink into it, then kissed me gently on the tip of my nose before pulling back.
“Night Róisín, I had a great time,” he smiled at me.
I blinked in confusion at the abrupt end to the night.
“Yeah, me too. I’ll talk to you later,” I said chirpily as I quickly gathered my composure and stepped out of the car.
As I opened the front door, he reversed out of the driveway and sped off, and I scratched my head at the sudden end to the evening. Did he not want to come in? Was the kiss not good for him and he’d gone off me now?
I sighed as I catalogued the list of questions that were going to keep me tossing and turning for hours.
********
I’d given the girls the rundown the next morning on how last night’s date had gone and we were all a little confused by the shift in Ronan right when things were steaming up.
Even though he’d texted today to say he’d had a great time, I couldn’t help the niggling feeling that maybe he’d gone off me and the kiss had been terrible for him.
I was notoriously fickle when it came to men and got the ick from the slightest thing; maybe this was karma and I’d given Ronan the ick.
My ick tended to lean on the irrational and downright mean side when it appeared, but I just couldn’t help it.
Everyone knew the ick made no sense - one day it’d just take you by surprise and that’s that.
Whatever romantic connection you had went up in smoke because there was no such thing as coming back from the ick.
I did have to question the frequency of how often it happened for me though.
Whenever it reached a point that I was starting to think I liked a fella enough to maybe sleep with him, something would happen, and it wasn’t always logical.
Gerard two years ago was the most charming fella from one town over from Clon.
We’d started seeing each other at the weekends when I was home from Limerick and texting all week long.
Then I watched him take his jersey off to swap with the other team after a match he’d sat on the sub bench for against our senior hurling team, and that was the end of me and Gerard.
If I was being honest with myself, the second I’d seen him on the subs bench the ick set in, which was pathetic of me, but him sitting on that subs bench made me pity him.
And pity equalled the ick. Then he’d gotten up at the end of the match and took off the jersey that didn’t carry an ounce of sweat from his nice rest on the subs bench.
At that point I could already feel my attraction for him dry up like turf left out in the summer.
Then there was Alex. He’d had the best banter over text and gave me the feels every time my phone went off.
Then, on the second date, he wore novelty Bart Simpson socks that I got a glimpse of under his jeans walking out of the cinema when he tripped over his own feet and landed on one knee in a puddle in the car park…
and that was the end of Alex. Before the summer holidays, there had been Felix, the very attractive and very exotic French guy who worked at one of the tech companies in the city.
To be honest, I don’t really know how the ick developed with Felix, except that he was just TOO into me.
So that one was short-lived too before poor aul Felix got the flick.
I was lying on the couch, trying to distract myself from obsessing that I’d given Ronan the ick by scrolling through Instagram, when I heard the front door open quietly.
Glancing at the time, I was surprised to see it was 11:30 pm just as Sara poked her head around the door.
“Hey girl,” she said with a strange look on her face. “I thought you’d all be in bed.”
“Ya, Sinéad and Ella turned in a while ago. Where’ve you been?” I asked.
She had told us training had been moved again and she’d be late this evening, but it would have ended hours ago.
“Oh... am, I just went to get something to eat after.”
She looked so shifty I instantly sat up; Sara was the worst liar, and I was intrigued to find out what she was lying about.
“Where’d you go? With who?” I threw at her and her cheeks started to brighten.
“McDonalds with the girls,” she squeaked, and I raised my brows at her.
“Sara, you hate McDonalds. And there’s no way you drove across the city for it.” I could see her mind whirring as she tried to come up with something else, but I beat her to it.
“Just tell me whatever it is you’re hiding. I won’t say anything,” I reassured her.
She gulped loudly. “I was with Gary.”
“Gary? As in your football manager, Gary?” My voice rose, surprise dripping from it as she nodded. “I thought he was married?” I asked, and the shame washed over her face.
“Oh, Sara...” I whispered softly. I was in shock.
She’d never go there with a married man; it was so unlike her.
Plus, I knew what Gary looked like. Ugly enough to clear a tide.
And Sara was a stunner with warm honey brown curls, dark brown eyes, and the lean figure of the athlete she was. Tears leaked from her eyes.
“Róis, please don’t say anything.”
“I won’t,” I cut her off, holding my arms out and she hesitated before darting into my hug.
I knew she’d been driven half-demented with worry for Freya and trying to be a support for her whole family, but I was relieved to get to the bottom of that unsettling feeling I’d had that there was something more going on with her.
All the stress had obviously caused her to make some extremely out-of-character decisions because Sara was not the type of girl to ever hurt anyone.
She’d normally scorn men like Gary; someone who would betray their wife like that would have sickened her on a normal day.
I doubted there were feelings there but now didn’t seem the time to pry into the matter as she sobbed in my arms.
“Do you think I’m a home-wrecking whore?” she sniffled into my shoulder. I could tell from the tense set of her shoulders she was genuinely worried about my answer.
“Sara, there is nothing you could ever do that would make me think less of you, do you understand that?” I pulled away and looked at her sternly.
She just watched me with red-rimmed eyes.
“I don’t know how you ended up here, but I know who you are at your core.
I will be here for you no matter what and no matter when.
If you need me to go and key Gary’s car right this second, I’ll do it no problem.
” She snorted at that, lightening the mood a little.
“I love you more than anything, and we’ll figure it out together.
” She snuggled into my side, and we stayed like that until she pulled back and quietly said she was heading to bed.