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“What’s in May?”
“My best friend’s eighteenth,” he told me. Smiling knowingly, he added, “You know him, right? Johnny Kavanagh?”
“Oh.” My face turned a bright shade of red at the mention of Johnny’s name. “Yeah, we’ve met.”
“He’ll have gotten the call up by then,” Gibsie added proudly. “It’ll be a double celebration and a session and a half that night.”
The call up?
What call up?
I wanted to ask him about it, but I held my tongue, knowing that it wouldn’t do me any good. I didn’t need to add any more Johnny-obsessed thoughts into my already Johnny-filled mind.
“He’s coming out with us tonight,” Gibsie continued to ramble on, oblivious to my blushing. “Which is a fucking miracle in itself considering he never comes out with us anymore.” He opened the front door of the Biggs’ house and gestured for me to walk in first. “Hughie’s actually picking Kav and Feely up after dropping Katie home.” Glancing at the clock hanging in the kitchen, he added, “They’ll be here in a few. You should wait around down here and say hi to him.” Winking, he added, “I bet he’d love to see you.”
Was he teasing me?
I didn’t think so. But he was definitely stirring. I just wasn’t sure if it was for my benefit or not.
Either way, I was not staying downstairs to say hi to anyone.
“No, that’s okay,” I mumbled, feeling every ounce of blood rush to my face. “The girls are waiting for me.”
“Suit yourself, little Shannon,” Gibsie said, chuckling.
“Happy birthday.” Offering him a weak wave, I turned to bolt up the staircase. “Have a nice night.”
“Will do,” he called after me.
I didn’t have to turn around to see he was grinning; I could hear it in his voice.
9Birthday Bashes and Broken Glasses
JOHNNY
Pubs and bars were a temptation that I tried to stay away from as much as possible. With my training schedule, I couldn’t afford to mess around like my friends did. Alcohol wasn’t in my diet and I was always sluggish for days after a session.
However, tonight was Gibsie’s seventeenth birthday, so after relentless phone calls and texts, I’d given in and agreed to go out to celebrate with him and some of the team at Biddies.
Biddies was our local haunt in town, and contrary to the name, it was pretty modern with minimal culchies propping up the bar. During the day, Biddies served the best food in town, and at night, it transformed into the hub for the town’s younger generation.
I ate there a lot when my folks weren’t home. The co-owner and head chef, Liam, was a really decent guy who had no problem with catering to my dietary needs. It was the only place in town I knew I could go to where I was guaranteed to get clean food.
As far as nights out went, I didn’t drink there very often—that was more of Gibsie’s thing—but when I did, we were guaranteed to get both served and shit-faced.
It was a bad idea considering we both had a club match tomorrow morning, but Gibsie had justified our recklessness by repeating the sentiment that a fella only turns seventeen once.
That was true.
Problem was, it wasn’t as easy for me.
The lads could let loose on a night out and go mental if they wanted to. No one except their mothers would judge them in the morning.
If I messed up, on the other hand, my name would be publicly dragged through the mud, the rugby heads would be on my case, and my position at the Academy would be in jeopardy.
Which made tonight worse for several reasons.
The first being I was seventeen and had given in to Gibsie’s relentless pressure by drinking myself into a semi-paralytic state right along with him. And second, Bella was here.
