The Movies Make It Look Easy

Chapter 61

Shannon’s P.O.V:

“Wait, wait, wait a minute. What did you just say? How did I not know about this?”
Nikki just rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch, arranging herself in the lotus position. I’d never been able to do that. I focused my wistful thoughts again as Nikki spoke around her annoyingly amused smile; “Shan, you walk around in a daydream half the time. That’s why you didn’t know. There have been flyers up for at least a month.”
I just stared at her. “A month?”
She nodded, laughing at my obviously baffled expression.

We were interrupted by Alyssa bouncing out of her room, wearing a cute wool dress, her usual happy smiling brightening the room. “You told her?” she asked enthusiastically.
Nikki nodded, snorting with laughter when I narrowed my eyes at the both. “You knew?” I couldn’t help the accusation from leaking into my tone.
Nothing about her good mood slipped as she focused on me with a good humoured smile; “It’s not so much a case of me knowing about it, it’s more that you didn’t.”
I glowered at them and said nothing. It seemed I had a party to go to…and in only two weeks, though apparently advertisement for it had begun at least a month ago. “So it’s an annual thing?” I asked as Alyssa went out (she was meeting up with her boyfriend of ten months – to the day apparently).
Nikki nodded, “it’s usually held around Christmas but it’s late this year. It’s a really big event – proceeds go to charity…everyone will be there.”

Damn, I could tell by her tone that there would be no arguments about whether or not I would be attending – I’d be there, even if Nikki had to drag me. “And the dress code is?” I tried to sound enthusiastic (tried being the operative word) but a sense of dread came over me as the inevitability of what she was going to say sank in.
“Formal” she answered.
I slid down lower in my seat. “So that means…”
“Dress shopping” Nikki chimed in.
While I just sounded forlorn, Nikki positively radiated glee. It wasn’t just that I didn’t want to be dragged into too many expensive shops on the high street; I truly didn’t want to go to the event. I wasn’t in much of a social mood – right now anyway – and the thought of going to a formal did not make me happy.

I briefly wondered why Nick had never mentioned it – you know, before the whole Conor/Natalie fiasco. He would no doubt be there…had he not been planning on asking me?
At least now I could go single and not have to worry about a date. Nikki had suggested setting me up with somebody when she first told me in an excited rush that she’d bought tickets (yes, she got me one too…isn’t it wrong to presume or something?).
I put my foot down at the mention of a blind date – it wasn’t happening; no way, no how. Of course, that just brought to mind the possibility that Nick would bring a date. I mentally groaned – in that particular situation I’d probably have a very loud, very public meltdown. I couldn’t think of anything worse happening.
I shook my head in an attempt to clear my increasingly frazzled thoughts. It turned out that I didn’t have to worry as reality was literally knocked back into me as I ended up with a face full of fluffy pink cushion. What the fuck.
I glared at Nikki who just rolled her eyes. “And you wonder why you don’t notice things.”
I just sniffed in her direction, not deigning to reply.

“I’m thinking of going home” I announced, abruptly changing the subject. Nikki just looked confused; “didn’t you just come from home? And don’t you have work?”
I sighed and spoke slowly, enunciating each syllable clearly; “I mean home, like, in Ireland.”
Her eyes grew round. “What, why? I know you haven’t had a great couple of weeks, but that’s no reason to go home. Do we need to stage an intervention? I can have everyone here in fifteen minutes” she rushed out breathlessly, already lunging for her phone.
I watched her in amusement. She paused for a moment, her face screwing up like she was thinking hard about something. “No, make that half an hour if Mark is involved” she amended before starting to quickly press buttons on her phone.

I decided I should probably do something to stop her. “Relax dude, I don’t mean I’m going to leave. I’m talking about going home on a temporary basis. A holiday.”
“Oh…that makes sense…” she smiled sheepishly at me, a faint blush stealing over her cheeks.
I laughed…if I was a nicer person or a better friend, maybe I would have held it in to save her from further embarrassment. She glared at me, but otherwise ignored my laughter.
“It was just an idea” I eventually said, “but I can’t help thinking that going home and seeing my family is just what I need right now.”
She nodded slowly, “I agree. It would be helpful to just get away from…everything.”
I sighed, “The only thing that’s stopping me is the questions.”
“Questions?”
I nodded, “my family really likes Nick…and my mum loves him – probably more than is strictly necessary, or healthy – so they’re bound to ask about him.
“Even if I don’t tell them about what happened they’ll still ask how he is and probably why I didn’t bring him too. The whole point of going home would be to get away from him…”
She shrugged, “I’d say a few questions would be worth the trip, but if you tell them everything that happened, it will just spark more questions. So maybe it would be best to just deflect them as best as you can?”
I nodded with a deep sigh; “I agree…I’ll still have to think about it a bit more though, I can’t afford to miss too much class after all.”

With that, I stood up and gathered my things. If I didn’t leave now, I’d be late for work.
“I’ll call you later and we can make plans to go shopping.” Nikki’s voice followed me as I headed for the door.
“I look forward to it.” My sarcasm was about as obvious as a punch in the face, but then I wasn’t trying very hard to hide it. Smart girl didn’t even bother to answer me – she really did know me too well.
I was already in my work clothes and had only stopped by Nikki’s en route to catch up, since I hadn’t seen her since moving back into my apartment.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t used to making my way to the café from anywhere but college and ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere; the tall townhouses in the strangely quiet area towering over me as I hurried down the street.
A small park on my left contained a small concrete basketball court and a group of teenagers, all running around in loose sweats – arms and legs exposed despite the cold wind and decidedly frosty ground.

When I finally made it into work, I was close to half an hour late. I sent Rick a sheepish smile as I walked in but it didn’t do anything to placate the frown that puckered his brow.
He’d given us all a lecture about being on time and setting a good example because he was taking on another employee.
Becky and I couldn’t decide why we needed another staff member, except perhaps the possibility that Rick was going to cull the ranks and finally get rid of Jenny? Maybe that was just wishful thinking on our part though…

Our new colleague was twenty and was so cute I just wanted to pinch his cheeks as if he was a child…all the time. It was quite worrying actually. I’d been relieved though, to find out that I wasn’t the only one; Becky had also admitted to having the same urge.
Maybe Rick was, in fact, a savvy, business genius. He’d just hired a guy who had the potential to lure every unsuspecting woman off the street with one cute, uncertain, and completely dorky look from those baby blues.
Excuse me while I fan myself.
He was tall and lanky and had the softest blond hair, (Well, it looked soft anyway. I hadn’t gone as far as to touch it yet…it was really only a matter of time though) that contrasted perfectly with blue eyes. Also, the all-over, beetroot red blush that covered his skin him when he came into contact with anything remotely female, was adorable.
His name was Peter. I hadn’t asked where he was from; all I knew was that he definitely wasn’t from London.
Well, speak of the cute devil I thought as I stepped behind the counter to grab an apron, and Peter wandered through the door from the backroom. He looked lost, but I said nothing and just smiled politely at him – earning me a blush in return…wow.
I waved at Becky, who was clearing tables, but I didn’t go over. Already the first of the lunch crowd were walking through the door. The family was foreign and were obviously tourists, cameras hanging around their necks and shopping bags weighing them down.

I was tired and extremely bored as the last of the customers left. Rick closed and locked the door, flipping the sign from Open to Closed.
He was closing early today because he was going to his sister’s wedding down in Cornwall. It would stay closed until Tuesday, which meant a long weekend for me because I didn’t have any shifts on Tuesday, and I only had to work Wednesday afternoon. Hallelujah.
As we cleaned up, I asked Becky the dreaded question. Damn, I needed to check one of those flyers; I didn’t even know what this event, thing, was called. In my head, it was going to be like the annual UCD or Trinity Ball from back home, but I didn’t really know what to expect.
Becky’s reaction to my jumbled question was to laugh. “You’re only finding out about this now? Shannon, you continue to amaze me. Of course I’m going.” She seemed to find me extremely amusing as she continued to chuckle to herself despite my best glare being trained on her.
My glare faltered “but you don’t go to…”
She nodded, blushing slightly. It was honestly the first time I’d ever seen her blush (I hadn’t thought it possible) so I stared in amazement at her pink cheeks before I remembered she was saying something.
“You don’t have to be a student at the college; anyone can go as long as they pay for a ticket. I wouldn’t have, except…” She glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes, the blush in her cheeks deepening before she continued. “A guy asked me” she said in a rush.
My eyebrows flew up and I felt my lips twitch with laughter. This was the first time I’d heard of her being involved with someone, even slightly, since I’d known her. I was glad to see that even she seemed to get nervous and shy when it came to guys. “Who is it?”

I’d stopped cleaning and stood waiting for Becky’s answer, when Rick’s loud ‘cough’ of annoyance reminded me that I was supposed to be working. “Come on” I pressed, “You can’t not tell me!”
She sighed a world-weary sigh that made me snort. “His name is Eddie” she ventured hesitantly, “he’s in his third year and he’s majoring in Graphic Design. He’s also got the nicest eyes I’ve ever seen.”
She got that dreamy look in her eyes that I knew would piss her off if I mentioned it. I kept my mouth shut. “I want to meet him” I said instead.
“You will” she smiled, “in two weeks.”
“I can’t wait” I told her honestly. I was interested to meet anybody who could so easily soften Becky’s tough exterior.

We worked together in silence until it was time to leave. Becky immediately dropped what she was doing and grabbed her stuff. She hurried out back, saying something about having to babysit her niece and nephew, who I knew to be three and five. I’d love to see her tolerating two little children without losing it completely…she didn’t strike me as the most patient type, especially when it came to the endless questions that little kids always asked. I told myself I’d text her later to see how she was getting on.
I waved, but she was already gone.
I decided to be really nice and finish the last of the tidying – including what Becky had left half-finished – so that there wouldn’t be a mess when they opened again on Tuesday. I know, I’m so selfless – cue sarcastic laughter. I was surprised when I turned around to see Peter hadn’t left either.
He tentatively came over to help sit the chairs upside down on the tables. His smile was tremulous and the tension in his shoulders was obvious.
Rick was out back checking over the stock – I could hear him muttering to himself.
Toby had come by in the morning because the café would be closed on his usual day – I hadn’t seen him though because he’d dropped off the supplies while I was still at Nikki’s. Unfortunately, I never seemed to be working on Sundays anymore and hadn’t had a chance to catch up with him in a long time. We’d have to reconcile that soon; I liked Toby, he always made me smile.

With Peter and I working together, everything was finished in no time and I looked around the sparklingly clean café with satisfaction. Rick better appreciate this, I thought, knowing that even if he did he’d never say so. It would ruin his gruff, uncaring façade…and we wouldn’t want that.
“Thanks” I said as I went to take off my apron and wash my hands.
Peter just shrugged like it was nothing, his gaze firmly fixed on my feet. When I’d dried my hands, I grabbed my bag from under the counter. I reached back to take my hair down from its ponytail and had got as far as opening my mouth to say goodbye, when Peter beat me to it. “Shannon?”
I almost winced at the strangled tone to his voice but hurriedly schooled my features so as not to embarrass him. “Yes?”
“Umm…well…” he stuttered, shuffling his feet.
“Peter” I said gently, “just spit it out.”
He smiled slightly. He’d only been working at the café for a week now and this was by far the longest conversation we’d ever had. “Well, there’s this formal-"
I cut him off with a laugh; “yeah, I heard about it.”

Why was everyone suddenly talking about it now, when the flyers had supposedly been up for a month or more? Or was I now only noticing it because I knew about it too? Knowing me, it was probably the latter.
He looked at me strangely, like he didn’t quite get the joke. I decided not to enlighten him. “Well, actually” he confessed, “I overheard you and Becky talking about it, and I was actually thinking about going.” Again he stopped, embarrassed.
I waited patiently for him to continue, a slight feeling of dread starting in the pit of my stomach. Please, no.
“I’ve only just moved here” he continued, his voice barely audible. It was almost painful to hear him struggle to get the words out. “And I don’t really know anyone yet. I thought if I went then I’d get the chance to meet people, but…”
Crap!
“I don’t really want to go alone” he hedged.

He fell silent and I realised he wasn’t going to say anything else. I shrugged my bag higher onto my shoulder, my fingers immediately reaching down to fiddle with the zip. His awkwardness was making me nervous. “Peter, are you asking me to go with you?” I asked slowly, a bit taken aback.
The dread was growing into panic…I wasn’t usually in these situations, when I was sober anyway, and especially not with a complete stranger. I didn’t know him well enough yet to count him as anything other than a stranger…an acquaintance perhaps.
He blushed some more, eyes fixed on the floor, before nodding.
I was quiet for a moment, hesitant to answer as I stared at the top of his blond head. I took a deep breath as I made my decision. “I’m not looking for a date” I told him gently, wincing when I saw his shoulders droop.
I wasn’t going to lie to him though; I didn’t want a date and I definitely didn’t want to lead anybody on – it would only end in disaster. “But” I said; “we can go as friends if you want, and I can introduce you to some people.”
I lapsed into silence, not sure how he’d react. My guess was that he’d be perfectly happy to go as friends, and had probably only asked me because Becky and I were the only two girls he knew - not including Jenny.
If he’d indeed overheard our conversation then he would know that Becky was already going with Eddie, which left me as his only option. I should really be offended, I thought with amusement, but Peter was far too adorable for that, and I sensed that he wasn’t intentionally trying to be offensive…just make friends in a strange city.

His head shot up and his eyes searched mine hopefully. When he saw that I wasn’t lying or messing with him, he smiled. No, he grinned with happiness - and damn if he wasn’t beautiful when he did.
“Thanks Shannon” he said enthusiastically.
I waved it away with a smile. “No problem, we can make plans next week some time.”
“Okay, see you then” he called after me happily as I turned to go out the back entrance.
I passed Rick on the way who grunted his goodbye without looking up. It was always a pleasure conversing with him; again, cue sarcasm.

The only thought on my mind though as I stepped outside into the cool air and turned for home was; what the hell have I gotten myself into now?