Chapter Nine:
She barely hears her ringtone over the screeching of the guitarist in the corner, and the giggles of her peers. Bringing it out of her bag, Danielle suppresses a sigh when she sees that it’s her mother calling. She means well, she knows she does, but she’s so clingy. She’s constantly ringing or texting to ask where she is and what she’s doing. Understandable, she knows, given current family dynamics, but she makes it relatively impossible for her daughter to enjoy herself, even with the Irish Sea separating them. She presses the hold button once to silence the ringing. Then, when the missed call bulletin shows up, she clicks ‘automatic message.’ Choosing ‘can’t talk now, will ring you back later,’ she feels bad and gives her half a dozen kisses.
Her mother’s lonely, even with Michelle in the house. All her sister does is sit on her phone in her room or watch Netflix in the living room. At least Danielle tries to engage with their mother when she’s home. Going out to Tescos with her. Getting her hooked on the latest craze TV shows. She even started walking the Peace Bridge with her. Only in the summer mind you… And if it was dry.
She resumes her attention to her friends, who are talking about how fit the guitarist is, when her phone bursts to life in her hand once more. Looking down, she exhales frustratedly, flicks on the permanent silencer, and lobs it at the bottom of her bag, before kicking it to beneath the table with her feet. Man, she’s annoying. She looks up to the raised brows of her classmates.
“Sorry, my ma. She’s a dose. If I don’t tell her where I am right away, she has a shite attack.”
A few look at her confused, before resuming their conversation. She still has to remember to speak slower when she’s over here, and not to use phrases like ‘dose’ and ‘shite attack.’ Catherine’s an exception. She showed up to first year halls and Catherine was the first person she met in the kitchen. She’s also studying geography, so they share the majority of their lectures together, apart from when they’ve chosen separate modules. They became friends instantly, and there’s very few times she has to slow down or reword a sentence for her to understand.
“Hi, did you see we have Thursday afternoons off?” Danielle says when the conversation draws to a close with a sip of their pints.
She’s sure she’s said this already, but wants to be included again. They decided to pop into the bar after their lecture, Danielle’s idea of course, and she was shocked that everyone had agreed. These people are more of Catherine’s cup of tea than hers, all they really speak about is uni. Catherine has invited them over to a few house parties and they never really bother to mingle.
“Yeah, I’m well happy,” Hilary nods, “the libraries are usually dead then anyway, everyone’s always at the student night at Bijoux the night before and too hungover to do any work, so that suits me.”
Danielle nods unenthusiastically. She was just about to say that that means they could, in fact, go out on Wednesday nights, but it looks like these guys have different plans. She’s just glad she gets on with the rest of her flat, if she had to be stuck with these bunch of boring bastards for the next two years, she’d be asking for all her money back. The group start to discuss the looming class trip whilst Danielle stares at Catherine engrossed on her phone, trying to telepathically tell her to look up. She wears a confused look on her face, before finally meeting her glare. Danielle widens her eyes and jolts her head discreetly towards the bar. Catherine frowns, before standing and smiling at Jemma as she shuffles over to let her out of the booth. When Catherine and Danielle are collected at the bar and have ordered their drinks from the impatient looking barman, that’s when Danielle erupts.
“Theseins do my head in, is it too late to move groups?”
Catherine chuckles.
“We’ve already agreed to do the class project together, and we’re also roommates on this trip. Anyway, why is your sister messaging me?”
“My what?”
“Yeah, Michelle isn’t it? She came up on my requested notifications on Facebook Messenger.”
Danielle snaps the phone out of her flatmate’s hand, ignoring her whiney ‘hey.’
‘Hi Catherine you probs don’t know me but can you tell Danielle to ring mum rite away its really important!!’
Jesus Christ, what now? Danielle thinks as she slinks over to the table to dig out her phone. She waves it in Catherine’s direction, who chortles something about having to pay, before stepping outside. Five missed calls? Something must be wrong.
“Ma, why the hell is Michelle messaging Catherine? What’s wr-“
“Danielle, I’m only after booking you on the next flight home, it’s leaving in just over an hour. Make sure you’re on that flight. I swear-“
“Jesus, Ma. I have uni this week. And I’ve only been here a few days… What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
Silence over the line, and she has to stick a finger in her ear to ignore the jeers from lads clinking their glasses together in a neighbouring outdoor table. She steps away and frowns. Is that crying she can hear?
“Ma… Are you okay?”
“No, Danni… I’m not. They’ve found your father’s body.”
Chapter Ten:
Doing the weird hop-jump you do when pulling on your jeans, Chris fumbles with the buttons. Why had she taken all four out? Must’ve been in her haste to get them off. He reaches for his t-shirt hanging limply on her dressing table chair and glances over at her, bending down to pick up her socks. Fuck, she’s sexy. Looking up at him, she smiles awkwardly, before sliding on a hoody brandishing University of Ulster’s logo. As he sits
