Escaping to Ireland

Liam

"Hey," Ian, my brother, said, walking into my office. "How's it going?" he asked, looking at my desk, which was utterly cluttered; this was not normal. I despised messes.

"Fine. What's with the drop-in?" I asked him, getting to the point. Ian was usually off somewhere vacationing, blowing through his trust fund instead of working. Mom and dad were hoping it was just a phase, but I had a feeling that Ian would never settle down and get a job.

"Just swinging by for a quick weekend," Ian said, confirming everything I was thinking. "Plus, I was supposed to be here anyways this weekend."

"Why?"

"You were going to get married to Chloe... I had the tickets booked already to come home, so I thought I would come by see how the Brennan crew was holding up without me." He said this all as if I needed help understanding what he was saying.

"We are holding up without you just fine."    

"That hurts. Really it hurts. Mom's still pretty mad at you." I have a feeling this is why in fact, he came to see me. He was here for mom's bidding.

"I can deal with mom's wrath" The difference between Ian and I was that I didn't have to tiptoe around my mother, I had my own trust fun, but I had not touched it. I did not need to with the salary I was making at Flyleaf Publishing. Which meant I did not need to worry about getting my life paid for by her. If Ian had been me, he would have married Chloe just for the money.

"I don't know. She said you are dating some girl named Vinessa. She was rather upset about it this morning when I had breakfast with her. Something about you are wasting your good looks on someone like her." Ian rolled his eyes on the good looks part. Everything with my brother was a competition minus having a job and paying for his lifestyle on his own. 

"I am not dating, Vinessa. She is my assistant." I said saying more than I had wanted to on this subject. I did not owe anyone an explanation when it came to Ireland. But I still tacked on, "And trust me, my good looks would not be a waste if I dated someone like her." 

"If you wanted to date her, you would have her. Unless she is actually someone who can fight off your charming self... Does she not like you?" He asked, hitting his hand on his knees as if he had found the solution. He was rambling, trying to make something out of nothing.

Even though I had been doing this exact thinking since I had met Vinessa. She didn't care about my money, or if she did, she was an outstanding actress. I had seen where she was staying; it was not a bad house; it was tiny, and I guess to Vinessa, she would say it was "practical" to my seven-bedroom home.  

"She just went through... It doesn't matter," I said, growing angry.

I had texted her before she boarded the plane and I had still yet to hear from her. The aircraft had wifi, so I assumed she had received it, but she still had yet to text me back. I never texted anyone; first, it was usually someone texting me, and then I would decide to text back. I never had to play this waiting game. She had practically half of a day until she landed in the United States, and I was hoping she was just sleeping and not purposely ignoring my text messages.

I had just sent another text message asking if she had picked up anything from McDonald's before she boarded the plane, but she had yet to text back to that one, either.

"I would say you have it pretty bad," Ian said, rapping his knuckles on my desk; he knew this was a pet peeve of mine and did it every time he came to my office. "Anyways, mom knew I was stopping by and told me to invite you to dinner tonight since we would have been having a dinner rehearsal or something like that for you anyway."  

"I'll pass," I said, not looking up from my computer screen.

"Don't shoot the messenger. I was just passing along the information. Itwould be nice if you did come..."

My brother had sent me a text later that evening, extending dinner plans my way. I accepted this time, I needed something to keep my mind off of Vinessa, and I preferred not to drink at home alone.

If it was possible, my mood got worse from there.