“Alright, Danni?”
“Oh… Er… Sorry,” Danielle eyeballed Georgia in shock before stepping back and closing the door.
She shakes her head now, looking out of her window at the top of her stairs where she can see the Glenshane Road and the rush of traffic perfectly. What the hell was Georgia thinking? Snogging Jimmy… That was a recipe for disaster. But it was what happened after that had been the problem. She had trodden back through the house to the kitchen to a jeer from the lads, and the back of Chris’s head hugging Dave as Katie gave them the fingers before plucking a ball out of another cup and lifting it to her lips.
Annoyed, Danielle trotted over to the corner and filled up her own cup. Standing with her back to the sink, she pretended to be engrossed in a discussion Shauna and Emer were having about their looming history exam. She doesn’t even study history. It took several moments before Chris rocked up, hooking a hand around her waist.
“Could ye give us out my fags, D? They’re in your purse, aren’t they?”
She ignored him, laughing along with Shauna and Emer slagging off Mrs Wilson.
“D? Danielle?”
That’s when she turned towards him as if in slow motion, her lips pursed.
“My fags?”
“Aw, so you pay attention to me now you want your fags?”
“What’re ye chattin’ about?”
“Where did you go there now?” she smirked at him, turning her back on the twins to exclude them from the conversation. She didn’t want anyone else knowing if she expected the worst.
“I told ye. I was goin’ for a pish.”
“Well, when I looked up the stairs you weren’t there.”
“What? Ye have x-ray eyes now that can see through doors or wha?” he laughed.
“Stop being ridiculous, Chris.”
“Then what’re ye on about?”
“There was a big queue, and you weren’t a part of it.”
“Well, I was clearly in the toilet then, wasn’t I? Jesus, ye saw the queue.”
“And who were you in there with?”
Chris looked beside himself. Blinking rapidly and stuttering over his words.
“Can’t answer that, can you?”
“What the fuck is wrong with ye? What d’ye mean ‘who was I in there with?’ Are ye havin’ a laugh?”
“Well it took you long enough to piss, Chris.”
“Aye, ‘cause the queue was fuckin’ massive. And then I came down here and ye weren’t here, so I joined in on beer pong again. Is that a fuckin’ crime or what?”
“Stop making a scene,” she hissed at him as several people around them stopped talking and turned their head in their direction.
“Naw, I’m not makin’ a scene,” he glared at the people staring, who returned their heads to their drinks, “it’s you who is makin’ a scene, c’mere.”
He grabbed her wrist and wrenched her forward with him, towards the utility room at the back of the house. Danielle looks down at her wrist now, in the cold light of day. There’s no mark, but she can still feel the burn of her skin under his fingers.
“Get off me,” she had screamed, pulling away from him with such force she had fallen to the side, knocking Laura’s drink over them both as she banged against her.
But Chris wouldn’t stop. Apologising to Laura, he had pushed her through and closed the utility room door.
“What the fuck is wrong with ye?”
“You attacked me.”
“I attacked ye?”
They had both looked down at her wrist, falling limply within her other hand.
“Grow the fuck up, Danielle. I was away for a piss, and then I came back and ye were gone. Nothin’ fuckin’ happened. With anyone. You saw the queue for the toilet. Why do ye always have to make somethin’ outta nothin’? And stop actin’ like a fuckin’ victim now, goin’ on like that. Wise up, will ye? Sayin’ things like that… You’re an attention seeker.”
And with that, he opened the utility room door, the sound of the party in full swing greeting him, before slamming it behind him, leaving her in silence with her own tears for company.
The rest of the night was a blur. She went back in after being consoled by Katie and Steph, who threw Chris aggressive stares as they brought her back in and refilled her drink. She was completely plastered, boking down Katie’s toilet and having bits plucked out of her hair by Steph as they danced on the tables to Drake’s One Dance. She just about remembers being hauled into a taxi. In fact, that’s one of the last things she does remember. But why did Chris end up back here if they’d had such a bad falling out? Deciding to leave him to his hungover state, waking him would only lead to another argument, she trots down the stairs to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in one hand and the other pressed over her face in worry.
“Ma… You okay?”
She slides her hand down her face and gazes over at Danielle with tears in her eyes.
“It’s your da… He never came home last night.”
Chapter Four:
2019
_____
“Hurry up now, will ye? I’m dyin’ to get home.”
Sighing aggressively, it takes all of Seamus’s willpower not to tell Trev where he can stick his home. He’s been on this plot of land since 5am this morning and it’s pushing dinnertime now. His stomach, and mood, still not settled from the shock of seeing the KFC down the road converted into some sort
