“It’s okay to cry, you know?”
He sits on the toilet and pulls a long wad of paper from the roll attached to the wall.
“You don’t have to be ‘Mr Cool’ all the time. Your dad is dead, Ritchie. No one expects you to be okay about it. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to feel sad. It’s okay to be absolutely fucking devastated.”
She finds her throat straining and tears in her own eyes. Reaching for the bottom of the pile of paper he has collected on the floor, he grabs her hand, rubbing it gently. Their faces are level with one another, and they continue to gaze into each other’s eyes. What’s going on? Are they having a moment? Does he want her to… Yes, she thinks he does. She can’t do this. Not now. Not in the downstairs toilet, of all places. And not with her best friend’s brother. No matter how upset he is. He isn’t in the right mind frame. He isn’t…
But as he leans forward and their lips meet, all her worries float away. How had they known each other for so long and not kissed? It feels like this was always supposed to happen, despite the idea not cropping into either of their heads until this moment. It just feels… Right. And before she knows it, his tongue isn’t the main problem. Sliding her down on top of him, she can feel him pressed against her, and is surprised to feel herself responding. This can’t be happening. But it is. Within seconds, he’s pushed himself inside her and she’s moaning as she begs for the porcelain to be quiet. Shudders going up and down her body. Absolute bliss as she feels his lips pressed against her neck.
Chapter Sixty-Four:
2016
_____
Throwing the monster multipack of crisps onto the coffee table in frustration, Danielle flops herself back onto the sofa. Seething with anger, the girls pick up on it.
“What’s wrong, D?” Abbie goes to rub her back.
“Is it Chris?” Katie asks.
“No!” she spits, glaring at the latter, “why is it whenever something goes wrong it’s always straight to fucking Chris?”
“Jeez, okay, sorry,” Katie blushes as she reaches for a cheese and onion flavoured packet.
Danielle bites her bottom lip to steady herself. It isn’t her friends’ fault. And, in their defence, it isn’t like herself and Chris have been getting along any better. She doubts they’re going to be together much longer. He wants to break up with her, she knows he does. But breaking up with a girl when her dad has just gone missing is the lowest of the low. He’d never hear the end of it. So, until her da eventually turns up, or they get some answers, it looks like they’re still stuck with one another.
“Sorry, Kate,” Danielle blows out, taking a sip of her tea, “it’s just that Quigley guy.”
“When’s the last time he’s actually showed up?” Steph shakes her head.
“Last month,” Danielle purses her lips, “after the fall through of the Letterkenny sighting. When he basically more or less said that there’s a reason why he’s gone missing and it’s better we don’t know why.”
“What a prick,” Abbie shakes her head, throwing a Haribo into her mouth, “maybe it’s best he doesn’t come around now.”
“Doesn’t help us, though, does it?” Danielle sighs, trying not to be short with her friend, “I mean, Dermott’s lovely and that Ferguson guy seems nice enough, but we need some answers. They’ve hit a brick wall and they’re just too afraid to tell us the truth, I think.”
They all shake their heads or nod along, before reverting their attention back to the TV. Some mindless reality show that Danielle would tear her hair out watching. Bringing out her phone instead, she Googles more online forums for missing people, wondering if anyone has put up anything in the hour since she last checked. When the show takes a well-deserved ad break, everyone watching it tensed to see what will become of the couple’s relationship when it returns, Georgia coughs to get everyone’s attention.
“There’s something I’d like to talk to you all about.”
Sensing her nerves, they all sit forward, even muting the TV.
“What’s up, Georgie?” Abbie flicks a stray bit of hair out of her face.
Georgia breathes out apprehensively, her fingers shaking before she bites her lip.
“I’m pregnant.”
The room stays silent. Everyone just stares at her. Thinking she’s going to start laughing. Ready to throw a pillow at her in disgust. The ‘that’s not something to joke about’ lecture about to burst out of their mouths. But the way she’s fidgeting with the sofa cushion, tears rolling down her eyes, they know she isn’t lying. Steph, Abbie and Katie fall onto the floor, crawling forward to be level with her. Holding her hand, squeezing her knees, pulling her in for a hug. Danielle just stares at her from the corner of the room. In complete shock.
“George… Are you sure?” Steph blinks.
“I took a test. I haven’t gone to the doctors yet… But I missed my period, and you know me… I’m always regular. I just thought it would eventually come, but it hasn’t. So, thinking that maybe it was stress related, I went to buy a test to prove to myself that I wasn’t… To prove to myself, and my body. To calm me down. But, no… Positive,” she coughs through tears.
“Whose is it?” Katie shakes her head, in complete disbelief herself.
“Is it Patrick’s?” Abbie gasps, causing them all to inhale sharply.
“No, no, it isn’t. We’ve been broken up for months,” Georgia rubs her snotty nose off the back of her hand, “it’s… It’s…”
“Jimmy’s,” Danielle whispers.
Everyone whips their heads towards her, confused expressions on their
