Covet

When I woke up the house was silent, but the smell of coffee was strong. I walked into the kitchen, immediately grabbing the bottle of aspirin from the cabinet and dropping two pills into my palm. I set the bottle back where it belonged and took the pills dry, being too lazy and tired to fetch a glass of water to wash them down. I heard a chuckle behind me and I turned around to see Tommy sitting at the dining room table with a mug of coffee.

“What’s so funny?” I asked as I walked toward him, slightly annoyed.

“I don’t recall you drinking much last night,” he said.

“I didn’t know you were keeping tabs on me,” I countered as I sat down across from him, raising an eyebrow. He was silent. “So what’s your point?”

He shrugged. “Lightweight,” he called me before taking a sip of his drink. My jaw slacked.

“Lightweight?” I repeated, making him nod and keep his eyes glued to the table. “I am in no way a lightweight.”

“Prove it.”

I laughed. “Are you challenging me?” I asked, not being able to help but get excited over the fact that his coldness toward me was fading.

Tommy nodded. “I’ll tell you what. Brendon and I were going to go out tomorrow night, you know-”

“So soon after last night?”

He laughed again, his voice deep. “You’re not helping your case, you know.” He looked at me and smirked.

I opened my mouth to retort, but shut it. His smirk grew wider.

“Now, as I was saying,” he paused to shuffle in his seat. “You could come along and we’ll see how much you can handle. If you can handle three shots, they’re on me and I’ll leave never say another word about it. Deal?”

My mind flashed back to my first college party, where I drank for the first time and got sick over what was the smallest amount of alcohol in comparison to everyone else. My tolerance had obviously grown since then, but didn’t know how much. I never drank quickly or pushed myself too hard, which saved me from a numerous amount of hangovers. I was tempted to ask what would happen if I couldn’t handle it, but I decided not to add to his ego.

“Deal.”

*

Paddy called me shortly after I got home and asked if I wanted to go over to his house for dinner. After a nap and shower in the privacy of my own apartment, I walked over to his house. I rang the doorbell and fought off a violent shutter that threatened to rip through me as a cold burst of wind began to blow. Paddy answered a moment later and greeted me with a warm smile.

“Hailey,” he said happily as he opened the screen door for me. “Come on in.”

I did as he said and hugged him.

“How you been, Paddy?” I asked as I took off my scarf and coat, throwing them both on the couch and sitting down.

“Good, good,” he said before walking off into the kitchen. “I hope you don’t mind TV dinners,” he called out to me. He came out after a minute of shuffling around into the kitchen with a black plastic tray in each hand. He placed one in front of me and then sat down in the chair to my left. “I’ve never been much of a cook,” he said with a light chuckle.

I offered a small smile to him. I looked around and noticed that almost everything had a fine layer of dust on it. The carpet needed to be vacuumed and cleaned, and a lot of things in the room needed to be updated. All of this made me wonder how lonely Paddy really was, especially with Ruby being gone. I bit my lip and any appetite I had disappeared.

“Paddy?”

“Yeah?”

“I think you should let me come over tomorrow so we can tidy up your place a bit,” I suggested.

He grunted. “I don’t know; it looks fine to me.”

I laughed. “You’re so… male,” I told him. “I promise you I won’t get rid of anything. Just some spring cleaning.”

“It’s November,” he reminded me. I waved my hand in the air, as if to wave off his comment.

“You trust me, right?” I asked. He nodded. “Then we’re cleanin’ up your place tomorrow.”

*

Paddy’s place was a lot dirtier than I thought. We’d spent the entire day cleaning, and before I knew it, it was seven o’clock. I knew there was no time to go home to shower and get ready and still be on time at Brendon’s place.

“Hey Paddy, I gotta get going, but can we finish up tomorrow?”

He smiled and nodded, and walked me to the door. “Enjoy your evening, Hailey,” he told me as I walked down the steps. I shouted a “Likewise!” before running home. Even with all my rushing, I was still a full half hour late when I showed up on the Conlons’ doorstep. Brendon answered the door and smiled down at me.

“Hey,” he greeted as I walked inside, resting his arm on my shoulder. “Finally decided to show up, huh?” I looked across the room and saw Tommy, who offered me only the smallest smile as he walked over to us.

“Shit, I’m sorry Brendon,” I said sincerely. “I was helping your dad clean his place and we lost track of time, you know? His place is filthy,” I explained, wrinkling my nose.

“So is he,” Tommy spat.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Brendon told me, choosing to change the subject and ignore Tommy’s comment. He walked down the hallway to say bye to Tess, who was staying home with her daughters.

I looked up at Tommy and his whole demeanor changed to a sour one at the mere mention of his father. Once Brendon came back he lead us outside to his car.

“I don’t know why you waste your time with that bastard,” Tommy told me. I shrugged. He walked over to the passenger door, leaving me to sit in the backseat behind him.

“He’s not that bad, I don’t think. From what I’ve noticed, he’s a pretty decent guy, he’s just-”

Tommy turned to me, glaring down at me as his jaw locked.

“Let me tell you something: that man is anything but decent,” he told me, then opened his door and slipped inside.