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“You want to scream at me.”
“Because I—“ Stopping short before I blew a head gasket, I released a furious growl and tried to regain some control before speaking again. “I’m not turning my back on you, Molloy.”
“Prove it.”
“How?”
“Give me a hug.”
“Molloy.”
“Hug me, Joe.”
Exhaling heavily, I hooked an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to my chest, knowing that there wasn’t any point in fighting this girl when she set her mind to something. What she wanted, she got.
“Don’t hate me for trying to move on,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around my waist, and burying her face in my chest. “I’m doing what I have to move pastthis.” A shaky breath escaped her. “Same as you.”
“Yeah, Molloy.” Feeling my anger dissolve, I sighed heavily and dropped my chin to rest on her blonde hair. “I know.”
CHOKE ON THIS
FEBRUARY 1ST 2002
AOIFE
“Oh, my Jesus, that’s disgusting.”Trying not to gag, I watched in horror as my home economics partner dislocated his wrist in such a way that the back of his fingers touched his wrist. “What the hell iswrongwith yourhand?”
Chuckling softly, Joey snapped his wrist back into place with a loud popping noise that caused me to gag.
“Blarghhh!” I grabbed his shoulder and tried not to hurl. “Blarghhh.”
“What’s that, Molloy?” he taunted, right before popping his wrist out of jointagainwith a loud bone crunching crack. “You want me to go it again?”
“Stop, asshole,” I wailed loudly. “Stop, I – Blarghhh!”
“Aoife! Joseph!” Mrs. Adams barked from where she was tasting a dire looking Chile Con Carne in the kitchen station opposite ours, while a frazzled looking Podge hovered over her shoulder, waiting for the ultimate verdict. “That’s not the sound of food tasting that I’m hearing.”
“Cop on, lads,” Dricko snapped, as he stood next to Podge, looking just as flustered as his partner, while they studied their bowl of slop. “She’s scoring our dish. This is the practice run for the junior cert.”
“Your dish is shit. I wouldn’t serve it to my dog, zero stars for presentation and an F for effort,” Alec chimed in, swinging the string dangling off the end of his pink, frilly apron. “And no, Miss, that’s the sound of choking that you’re hearing from sexy legs over there. So, Lynchy definitely fed something back her throat to make her gag like that—“
“Choke on this, asshole,” Joey chuckled, flinging a soup ladle overflowing with our own batch of Chile Con Carne across the classroom at his friend.
Chopped peppers and mince flew everywhere, as red chili stained the walls and floor.
“Joseph Lynch, get your backside over here right this minute and clean up your mess!” Mrs. Adams shouted, stalking across the room to confiscate the rogue ladle. “Right this instant, young man. Don’t you ever again throw your utensils at other students in my classroom. And, for the love of God, stop making that poor girl gag, will you? It’s not very gentlemanly.”
“Waaahhhh!” Alec screamed, inconsolable now, as he threw himself on top of a less than impressed looking Paul, and howled laughing.
My eyes locked on Paul, and I gave him a hard look, daring him to open his mouth and give me crap.
Instead, he swallowed down his disapproval and offered me a half-hearted smile.
I nodded my approval.
After our latest bust up, I had laid it all on the table for him, letting him know in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t going to be pushed around anymore. That I had a friendship with Joey and if he couldn’t accept that then he needed to let me go. I also made it perfectly clear that I had no intention of holding him back if he wanted to pursue other girls, nor would I hold it against him. All he had to do was let me off the proverbial ride first.
Surprisingly, Paul had agreed to my terms and had mostly followed my rules since. The rumors had quietened down, right along with his controlling tendencies, and he wasn’t losing his mind every time I spoke to a boy.
