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Oohs and awwws came from a group of girls in the doorway.
I rolled my eyes at how easily the pretty-boy flanker could charm them.
Gibsie cleared his throat for added effect, and then said, “Without this special someone’s magical fucking hands, I wouldn’t be standing here today with this gorgeous piece of silverware.” He shook his head and pressed a hand to his heart. “Thank you, baby!”
From the looks I was receiving from the lads, and the snickering coming from Robbie and Luke, I realized Gibsie’s party piece was going to be at my expense.
“Don’t do anything stupid!” I warned Gibsie just as he reached over and pressed a button on the stereo.
Instantly, my shoulders locked tight with tension as the familiar sound of Dire Straits’s “Walk of Life” began to play from the speakers.
Immediately, I knew what was coming.
That fucker…
“Johnny, baby,” my asshole best friend called out with feigned passion in his voice, pointing his strapped-up fingers in my direction. “This one’s for you,” he snickered before bursting into song, crooning along to the lyrics that had become the bane of my life since I strolled onto a pitch with these culchie assholes in sixth class.
The lads around me all joined Gibsie in the loud teasing chorus. Chairs were thrown backwards as the lads all celebrated in our victory. Robbie and Luke dragged me off the couch where I was then thrust into the air and held up by my teammates. Feely, the turncoat, was inconsolable as he laughed his arse off at my expense.
Oh yeah, they could laugh all they wanted now, but I was going to bury those fuckers at training on Monday.
12Confession Time
SHANNON
I was finishing up the last of my homework late Sunday night when a knock on my bedroom door broke through my concentration. Folding my copybook, I slid it into my math textbook and called out, “Come in.”
My bedroom door cracked open and my brother’s head popped through the crack.
“What’s up, Joe?” I asked, shoving my books back into my schoolbag.
“I’m going to the shop,” my brother announced, taking a quick glance around my room before his eyes returned to my face. “Do you want anything?”
“Where’s Aoife?”
“In my room.”
“Is she staying over?”
“Yeah.”
Aoife went to BCS and was in sixth year with Joey, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to stay at each other’s houses on a school night and head to school together. They were at the age where sleepovers were allowed. Or at least, no one ever said a word to Joey when he brought a girl home.
There was a huge case of double standards in this house—a house that had been exceptionally quiet this weekend.
My father was in rare form. He was behaving like a human. He even bought us all takeaway Chinese last night and passed me the remote control rather than just flinging it at me like he usually did.
I wasn’t naive enough to believe that my father’s decision to not break up the house this weekend was because he had decided to turn over a new leaf. No, I had been a member of this family long enough to recognize this quiet period as the calm before the storm.
He would erupt soon. He always did.
I could only hope that I wasn’t standing in the eye of the storm when it happened.
“Do you want something from the shop or not?” Joey asked, sounding impatient. “It’s closing soon.”
I glanced at the screen of my phone to check the time. 10:45 p.m. “Why are you going to the shop so late?” I questioned. “What do you need that’s so important?”
Joey grinned. “Do you want me to answer that honestly?”
