Just Friends

Chapter 19

It was Thursday night, Maria was packing up the last of her things that she needed to take with her to Cork. Her Dad had to go to Spain for a week, he was supposed to be leaving today but had put them off until tomorrow morning so he could be there to say goodbye. Her dad had decided to bring her mam with him so she wouldn't be moping about missing her. Colm was going to pick her up Friday morning at 6am so they could get an early start and they would have time to look around before he left to go back to Dublin. Her parents flight was 10am so the 6am pick up suited all of them. 

She looked around her room and sighed. It looked quite bare even though she wasn't taking a lot of stuff with her. She had cleared out a lot of stuff, took the movie posters off the wall and tidied up in general. It was her turn to cook tonight but her dad had decided they would order take away instead as it was a special occasion. She heard the knock on the door and moments later her dad's voice carried up the stairs

"Maria...food is here. Come get it before Colm eats everything" 

Maria ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Colm was sitting at the counter with the bag of food in front of him sniffing it. She rolled her eyes and laughed. 

"What are you doing here?" 

"Uh eating....isn't it obvious?" 

She smiled and slapped his arm as she took the stool beside him. 

"Ah your Da said I could stay over, I think he's afraid I'll sleep in and they'll never get rid of you" 

"Oi!" Maria slapped him again and her dad laughed as they bickered. 

Ellen walked into the kitchen 

"Can't you two just get along for once...I don't know how you're going to endure a 4 hour car journey together in the morning. There'll be killings" 

"They'll be fine, they know how much you need this break away so they won't kill each other....isn't that right you two?"

Maria and Colm looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I SAID...isn't that right you two?"

This just made them laugh even more but they nodded their heads in agreement. 

"I promise" Maria said "Me too" 

Colm looked over at the tray that Maria was scooping food from 

"ooh is that beef and black bean? 

She rolled her eyes and handed him the tray

"Da why didn't you double up on everything when you ordered? You know he eats like a horse" 

They finished up dishing out the food. Maria had taken a little bit of the main dishes they had ordered. Beef with black bean, Chicken curry and a spring roll, with egg friend rice and a small portion of noodles. Colm of course took the same but his portions were slightly larger. They also had prawn crackers on the side. 

They spent the next hour eating and chatting. Maria's Ma went to the fridge when the food had been cleared away and came back holding a bottle of champagne.

"Oooh champage, what are we celebrating?"

Before her Mam could answer Colm shouted out "getting rid if you" 

Maria slapped him on the arm as he burst out laughing, even her dad was laughing. She tried to look offended. 

"Oi, you're supposed to defend me" 

He laughed "Sorry love, it was funny though...but no. We're celebrating our beautiful girl becoming an adult and going off to college" 

She looked skeptical "I'm not an adult yet, I'm not 18 for another few months so technically you're handing over your only daughter to..." she glanced towards Colm "well to this weirdo and you're plying her full of alcohol just before you do...smart move..." 

Colm nearly choked on some of the leftover prawn crackers he had just shoved into his mouth, his face was so red that Maria thought he was actually going to die. She banged him on the back so hard he went forwards into the counter and started coughing. 

"Eww cover your mouth you animal." 

"The hell? I nearly died and you're telling me to cover my mouth..."

Maria rolled her eyes "You're such a drama queen. I slapped you on the back didn't I? I saved your life" 

Ellen and James sat across from them laughing. 

"I bet €20 she kills him before they make it to Cork" 

Ellen looked at her husband and laughed "I'd be a fool to take that bet, she's definitely going to kill him" 

Maria rolled her eyes at her parents. Ellen put 4 glasses on the table and James opened the bottle. Maria flinched when the cork popped and Colm laughed at her. They toasted to Maria's new life in college. Maria sipped at the champange as they all laughed and chatted. A while later Maria decided she was going to bed. 

"Ok well as fun as this has been, I'm wrecked so I'm heading to bed. I'll leave you three oldies to your yapping. Goodnight" 

She walked around and gave her parents a hug and a kiss on the cheek. As she walked out the door she looked back to see Colm watching her with a strange look on his face. When he noticed she was looking he looked away. 

Maria got changed for bed and pulled back her duvet. She could hear her parents laughing and talking downstairs and she felt sad for a moment. She was going to miss that sound. They weren't here every night but when they were they were always laughing. She didn't remember them ever having an argument or fighting. 

She scrolled through her spotify playlists to put something on as she fell asleep. She clicked on the "Mellow Sounds" playlist. James Morrisons soft gravelly voice started playing over her speaker. She lay back, closed her eyes and relaxed. She loved his voice, he could probably sing the alphabet to her and she would feel relaxed. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.