“Of course, Ray. I’ll make sure she’s grand, don’t you worry.”
The intercom chimed, announcing that our flight was boarding.
“That’s us,” I whisper, my heart sinking.
Niall pulls me back in for one last kiss. It felt like he was trying to imprint the feel of me onto his skin for safekeeping while I was oceans away.
“I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you more.”
After a lot more kissing—enough to make the security quene audibly impatient—I grab Lorraine’s and walked with her towards the security gates. They were like the barrier between my old life and my new one. I don’t want to look back. I know that if I do, the gravity of him will pull me right out of this line and back into his arms.
But at the very edge of the queue, right before we had to show our passports, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I turn around.
Niall’s still standing there, an island of stillness in the rushing terminal. Beside him, Finn was waving at us like a maniac but Niall’s eyes were only on me.
I raised my hand in a wave. Niall smiles—that lopsided, effortless smile that has changed the trajectory of my world. I watch him cup his hands around his mouth, his shout echoing over the noise of the crowd, the rolling bags, and the space between us.
“Good Luck, Molly!”
Three Weeks Later...
Losing Him
Molly
January, 2008
EVERYWHEREIWENTwhile I was back in Philly, I was reminded of Niall, and Ireland, andhome.
From every blonde guy I saw in passing on South Street, to the songs I heard on the radio, he was everywhere. Not to mention the actual places he was, like in the IPod playlist he’d made me, or when he called me (way too many times, racking up a phone bill that will surely get me a stern talking to), or when his email would pop up on my laptop with a new barrage of photos or something he’d done that day or just saying he missed me.
You’d have thought I had been sent off to war instead of just going home for the holidays.
But now we’re back.Reallyback. We’d been in school again on the 7th, but the first week we didn’t have practice. Mostly I took the chance to spend as much time as I could with Niall and the girls.
I step out of the locker room in my training kit. It’s a proper gloomy day, the sun hiding somewhere behind the dreary, purple sky. I see Niall lingering by the edge of the field, and eventhough I just saw him 10 minutes ago when I got out of class, I jog over and throw my arms around him.
“Hi,” he says, laughing as he catches me easily.
“Hi,” I say back, pressing a quick kiss to his jaw. He hesitates for only a second before leaning down and kissing me properly, his lips cold from the air but still making me feel warm. I feel him smile against my mouth.
“We agreed,” he murmurs, breath still fanning my lips.
I sigh dramatically, letting him set me down and step back. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”
No PDA on the field, strict professionalism. We’d made the rule for ourselves in an attempt to be mature teenagers. But no one’s looking at us.
It’s not that we’re being secretive. We just figured it’d be more mature to keep things on the pitch unchanging. Teammates first, a couple second.
Still, it was harder than I thought.
“It’s hard, though,” he admits, echoing my very thoughts, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Have you seen O’Shea, yet?”
I shake my head.
“Fitz said he’s in a proper mood. He heard that he’s been locked in the office with Lynch since first bell.”
