Seven Nights in Ireland

You said you wanted to see me?

I read over the text a handful of times before I replied to her. Scratch that. Before I could think of anything to say back to her. I was at a loss for words when her name showed up on the screen of my mobile. Finley O’Hara. It had such a nice ring to it—or at least to me it did.

Yes.

I replied a whole thirty minutes after she texted me, hoping that I wouldn’t seem too desperate—like I was waiting by the phone, wondering if she would ever text me. The night before, when I’d kissed her, she seemed shocked—happy, even? But I wouldn’t let her get my hopes up; because I knew that once Finn got my hopes up, she would smash them down with a spiked bat, and then keep beating them to pieces until they could no longer be pieced together. Dramatic as it sounds, to me, it was true. She’d done it before. The whole five days I’d been here, I hadn’t gotten shit from her, aside from the kiss the night before. I only had two more nights left in Ireland, and I was not going to let her be that one girl I regretted not going after.

Everyone has that one person that they want; and everyone has one moment that they regret. They regret not going for it when they had the chance, and now they may never have the chance again. At least if it turns out to be a disaster, I won’t have to regret not going for it; because hey—at least I tried.

Five minutes later, I unlocked my mobile to find a message from her.

So? What do you want?

I bit my lip and typed back, hoping for the best.

Meet me somewhere.

She agreed graciously; I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. I took a deep breath and agreed to meet her at the pub, half an hour before her shift started. It wasn’t much time, but it was more than no time at all.

I got there thirty minutes early, grazing the room every couple of minutes to make sure she hadn’t come in yet. But, exactly thirty minutes before her shift, she waltzed in, apron-in-hand. She spotted me immediately and made a beeline toward the table I was sitting at, and scooted into the seat across from me.

“Hey.” She smiled, glancing around the room nervously. “What’s up?”

She didn’t seem like herself today; not spiteful, mean, detached… She seemed quite normal for once. It wasn’t a bad thing, or a good thing for that matter, but it was sort-of nice. Like another side of her I hadn’t seen yet. I shook my head, leaning forward on my elbows. “I just wanted to spend some time with you.”

She glanced around, a small smile on her lips. “Sorry, if I’d known I would’ve met you somewhere more formal. You weren’t really clear on why you needed to meet me.”

I smiled at that, pleased that she was putting forth some effort. “This is fine, love. As long as I get to see you.”

She laughed a little, nervously, and tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. “So, about that kiss—“

“Don’t worry about it.” I cleared my throat, glancing down at my hands on the table. “I won’t do it again, it wasn’t intentional.”

“Well,” She sighed. “It wasn’t terrible.”

I smiled. “Yeah?”

She nodded. “Listen, I’m off work tomorrow night. If you’d like, we could go eat supper somewhere?”

My eyes went a little wide, surprised she’d asked me that. “Of course.” I smiled. I let out a small laugh. “You sure? If you don’t want to, I don’t mean to pressure you or anything—only if you want to—“

“I asked you, Oli.” She frowned a little, looking disgruntled. Back to the old Finley… “If I didn’t want to I wouldn’t have asked, okay?”

“Sorry.” I apologized. “Yes, I would love to.” I watched as her long eyelashes batted against her cheeks every time she blinked; she was so beautiful. Everything about her attracted me to her—like a bug to one of those bug zapper lamps in the middle of the night. No matter how much pain it could potentially bring, I couldn’t stay away. Though I knew that after I left we may never speak again, I still wanted to experience being with her; even if it was just for a couple of days. And to be honest—I kind of wanted to fuck her. Not that she’d go for that, anyway.

She smiled and let out a small sigh, rapping her fingers against the wooden tabletop. The bright red polish that covered her nails was starting to chip at the edges, adding to her whole “I don’t give a shit” attitude. “Is there somewhere in particular you’d like to go?”

I shook my head. “I don’t even know what the name of this town is right now.” I smiled a goofy smile, all of my teeth showing. “I have no clue what’s what here.”

“Well,” She stood up slowly, straightening her t-shirt on her torso. “I’ll meet you at your hotel at about six o’clock then.”

I nodded and watched her awkwardly dip her head in my direction in goodbye, and then slowly turn and shuffle toward the bar. She pulled at the sleeves on her jacket until it slid off of her shoulders, and she shoved it underneath the counter so she could pull her apron against her waist and tie it blindly behind her back. She fumbled with the strings for a moment, her lips moving every few seconds as she no-doubt sputtered a curse word in frustration. I let a small laugh pass through my throat and shook my head, scooting my chair back so I could stand up. I almost knocked into someone, and I muttered a ‘sorry’ under my breath as I passed by them, squeezing between them and the chair they were trying to sit down in.

I left the pub quickly, trying to get back to the hotel before I got too cold in the frigid wind. I hadn’t thought about bringing a jacket or anything until I was already inside the bar—too late, I guess. Tom was snoring softly in his bed when I returned, so I tried my hardest to close the door without waking him up.

“Oli?”

I glanced over at him, even though I couldn’t see his face in the dark, and I shuffled toward my bed. “Yeah, it’s me.”

“At the bar?” He questioned, a tinge of teasing in his voice. “Creepin’ on Finn?”

I flipped my hair out of my face and pulled my shirt off, tossing it to the floor with the jeans I’d pulled off of my body. I crawled into my bed slowly and pulled the duvet up to my chin, snuggling down against the cold temperature in the room. “I weren’t creepin’ on her; we have a date tomorrow night.”

“Oh,” he mumbled, his face turning in towards his pillow so that his voice was muffled. “Well that’s good then. She finally decided to talk to you?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Hm.” Was all he said after that, a few muted snores coming from his direction a few moments after that.

I turned on my side and closed my eyes, my mind filling with thoughts of Finley after that; I will admit, some of them were thoughts of her naked, but other than that I was trying to picture us on a date together. It was hard for me to think of it, to be honest. I couldn’t picture Finn being a cliché kind of girl with me. Despite my doubts about the next day, my last day in Galway, I drifted off to sleep in a hurry.



Jona hopped up on my bed, his legs dangling over the edge. “You awake?”

I nodded against my pillow, blowing a piece of hair out of my face. “Yeah.”

“Good.” He patted my leg hard, smiling. “Today’s our last day, we have a shit ton of work to do.”

I glanced up at him. “Work?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Three interviews today before we leave later tonight. It’s gonna’ be a right packed schedule.”

“Yeah, about that.” I mumbled, sitting up, my hair in disarray atop my head.”I’m gonna’ have to bail on the last interview today.”

He looked at me like I was retarded. “Are you retarded?” Good guess, I suppose. “It’s not even an interview for the whole band. It’s just for you and Matty.”

“You could take my place?” I raised my eyebrows, hopeful. “C’mon, Jona. This is really important.”

“What’s so important that you need to miss an interview with Revolver?”

Shit. This was the interview I’d been waiting for months to have. I’d practically begged Sheep to get me this interview. He’d kill me. “Well I have dinner with this bird tonight—“

“No, Oli.” Jona shook his head as if to say: Not again… “That bird from the pub? C’mon, you’re leaving later tonight. It’s not that important!”

“Ecactly!” I squeaked. “I’m leaving tonight and I’ve finally got her to agree to go out with me once.

“Now I know how your parents feel.” He smiled a little, looking down at his legs before standing up to ruffle my hair as if I were his teenage son. “I can’t believe you’d miss that interview, Ols.”

I can’t believe I’m missing it either…

“But I guess I could tell Sheep you came down with something? Maybe he’d take an illness as a good excuse.” He laughed. I smiled in reply as he continued. “If I cover your arse, you better make it up to me, alright?”

I nodded. “Anything.”

He smiled sneakily. I shouldn’t have said I’d do anything. “Good to know, mate.”

“Damn it.” I thought out loud.

He laughed. “Pack your shit. We won’t have time to pack anymore before we leave.”

I nodded as he left, tossing all of my clothes from the floor onto the bed. Tom emerged from the bathroom, a towel tied around his waist.

“Who were you talking to?”

“Jona.” I continued collecting my clothes from the floor, ignoring him as he mumbled something to me.

“… Thought he was going to pass out or something.” He ended his sentence, his eyes on me as I moved around the room.

“That sucks.” I said blindly, not having a clue to what he’d just told me. “Hey—if Sheep asks, I came down with a stomach bug, okay?”

He snorted a laugh. “What for?”

“I’m havin’ dinner with Finn, Tom.” I said incredulously. I’d told him all this last night—of course, he was snoozing away a few seconds after I said it.

He nodded. “Oh yeah.”

I shoved my things into my suitcase, pulling out my clothes for the day, before I held the lid down to zip it. I pulled the shirt over my head with one smooth jerk, and stepped into my jeans one leg at a time.

“What the hell is your rush, mate?” Tom asked, laughing at my pace.

I stopped and looked at him, repeating Jona’s words. “Are you retarded?”

He narrowed his eyebrows. He always got his feelings hurt too easily.

“We have to be out of here in like, forty-five minutes. Interview, dude.”

“Yeah,” He laughed, “but it’s not like they’re going to kick our arses if we’re late. Chill out.”

I didn’t take his advice and gathered the rest of my things, while he took his sweet time getting dressed and putting his stuff away.

I left my fully packed suitcase on the bed and pulled a hoodie over my head before shuffling out the door and into the hallway. Matt and Lee were there, Vegan approaching swiftly behind them.

“What’s up?” Lee cocked an eyebrow in my direction.

I shook my head, shoving my hands deep into the pockets of my jeans. “Just ready to go is all.”

“Hm.” Lee mused, glancing over my shoulder at my now-open room door. Tom emerged, ruffling his own hair to straighten out the still-wet locks. “Should be leaving any time, mate.”

Tom mumbled something under his breath as he shuffled away—to find Jona, I assumed.

“He’s with Sheep.” I said, fully-knowing where Jona was; initiating my plan. Tom ignored me, still banging on Jona’s door.

Lee stared after him, a queer look in his eye. “You hear him, mate? He’s with Sheep.”

“I know.” He said, his voice aggravated. He turned on his heel and quickly found Sheep’s door, rapping his pale white knuckles against it in frustration.

Lee’s eyes averted to mine, his face asking the question that lingered in his mind. What’s his problem?

“He gets like this sometimes.” I murmured; like I had to tell them that. They’d known my baby brother almost as long as I had, so they knew his “moods”. “He’ll be fine in a bit. Once he has some food down him.”

“Hasn’t had a proper wank in months, maybe that’d help.” Vegan snorted a laugh.

From down the hall, we could hear Tom’s annoyed growls. “I can hear you, you bloody wanker.”

Vegan said nothing more, just laughed silently.

The first interview went smoothly; we’d done plenty of interviews for Rocksound, so it wasn’t anything new to us. As always, I begged Matt to hold the tiny microphone the reporter provided us. I was never one to talk, especially in front of a camera. Matt was always better at it. Through the second interview, though, I could hardly concentrate. I found myself scrambling to stay with it, hoping the petite blonde reporter wouldn’t ask anything that required my specific answer. She wore a purple t-shirt, a white tag hanging off the front that read “Connor O’Hagan”. Odd, Connor had always struck me as a boy name; never put it to the face of a bird before.

“Do you have any other thoughts?” She asked, her eyes locking with mine.

I pressed my lips together into a thin line. “Nah.” I said expertly, shaking my head twice. “I think it’s all been covered, yeah?” I glanced at Matt.

Matt nodded. “I think so.”

“Oli, you’re not very talkative today.” Connor mused, her pretty smile reaching her bright blue eyes. If I hadn’t been thinking about Finn so much, I probably would have thought about bringing her to the bus to have it off with her before we left. She was genuinely beautiful.

I nodded slightly, fumbling with my fingers in front of me. “Not feeling too well today.” I was a terrible liar.

She gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, love. Hope you feel better.” She patted my knee and stood, gathering her things. “Let me know when you get back to England, Sheep.” She shot at him, a gleam in her eye that not many birds had. “I’d love to do another interview soon. I’ll even fly out. We’ll set something up?”

Sheep nodded at her, his black-rimmed glasses sliding an inch down his nose. He reached up and pushed them to the bridge of his nose with his index finger, sliding his hand back into his hoodie pocket when he was finished. “Sure thing, Connor.”

She kissed his cheek and smiled at him, gesturing for her cameraman to follow her out the door. As soon as they were gone, I knew it was that time.

“How many more do we have left?” I whined, resting my hand on my belly. “I feel like I’m gonna have a sick.”

“Go to the bathroom then.” Sheep smiled, as if to say: get the fuck over it, you have a Rolling Stone interview in an hour and a half.

I hesitated, but figured it would be a good idea to “throw up”. I was taking the more dramatic approach, but I really needed out of this. Finn would be so pissed if I had to cancel.

I shut the washroom door behind me and glanced around. I thought about gagging a few times, but it would be obvious I was faking. Everyone knew I was a silent puker, other than the occasional splat of vomit that hit the ground—or toilet. I glanced at the toilet, noticing the vase of flowers sitting on top of the tank. I looked around again before picking it up and pulling the flowers out carefully. I swished the water around in front of my face for a moment; perfect. I raised the toilet lid and allowed the vase to empty into the bowl, a loud splashing noise erupting. A little louder than I’d wanted, but it would be fine. I flushed and brought the vase back to the sink, filling it with clean water so I could replace the flowers and put it back on the stool.

I patted a little bit of water on my face, smacking my cheeks so they would appear flushed. After glancing myself over in the mirror, and practicing my most miserable face imaginable, I emerged from the bathroom, wiping my hands off on my jeans.

“You look terrible.” Jona smiled knowingly from behind Sheep, flashing me a thumbs-up.

I nodded, widening my eyes. “I feel it, mate.”

Sheep squinted his eyes at me. “You alright?”

I nodded. “Oh yeah, I’ll be fine. I just need to—“ I stumbled, purposefully, over to the sofa and sat back down next to Matt. “Sit for a while… So I don’t fall down.”

Jona shook his head, mouthing: too much.

I pursed my lips, regretting that last comment. I was a horrible actor; it was completely obvious. Luckily, though, Sheep wasn’t the brightest. So it was almost too easy to fool him.

He shuffled over to me and pressed the back of his hand to my forehead. I cursed myself for not using warm water for my face so he would think I had a fever.

“Hm.” He mumbled, narrowing his eyes at me. I simply slipped my eyes closed and lay my head back against the back of the sofa. “You think you’ll be alright for the Rolling Stone interview?”

I shrugged and looked up at him, searching his face for any sign of anger or disappointment; it was like he was my dad, and I was faking sick so I could stay home from school. Ridiculous. “I don’t know, mate…”

“Here.” He handed me a key ring with a single key dangling from it. “Go to the car and have a kip, we’ll finish up here. And if you’re not feeling well enough for the next one, you can stay at the hotel while we’re gone.”

I hesitated before taking the key from his lanky fingers. “You sure?”

He nodded, a small smile on his mouth. “Yeah, man. Go ahead.”

I smiled. Fuck yes! I took the key and stood slowly, dramatically, and exited the room. I fumbled with the key in the lock, but quickly pulled the door open and scooted inside. I took in a hard breath and let it out, laying my head back on the headrest of the seat. I missed being on busses instead of having to ride in tiny cars; I would honestly rather sleep in my tiny bunk than in a hotel. It felt more like home to me.

I took Sheep’s advice; I’d take a short nap while they were finishing up, and wake up in time to get ready for dinner. I hoped like hell that Tom could keep his gob shut about this, but I wasn’t positive he could. When he got in a ‘mood’, there was no telling what he would do to get someone else in trouble. If he told, I’d kill him.