Just Friends

Chapter 23

Colm's POV

"Oh that's so stupid....anyway I didn't even buy the wine..you did and you poured it....wait a second...was that your plan all along? Are you trying to get me drunk so you can have your nasty way with little innocent ole me?" 

As soon as Maria said it he knew she regretted it. Her face blanched and she laughed nervously. The thought of her lips on his flashed through his mind but he quickly pushed it away. He felt the blush creeping up his face

"Ah she'll be fine Colm, I can understand why she'd be annoyed. I probably wouldn't like my boyfriend to be staying over with someone else. She has nothing to worry about though...believe me"

Ouch...obviously she didn't feel the same way about him. Why would she? She was beautiful, funny, generous and kind AND she was Jame's 17 year old daughter...He had to keep reminding himself of that. 

"Yeah I think she's just a bit insecure around you. I mean we've known each other a few years and you're really mature for your age.....most of the time anyway." 

He looked up at her through his lashes just in time for the cushion to hit him in the face. She burst out laughing and scooted away on the sofa. He moved closer to her and grabbed her ankle as she put her foot up to defend herself. 

"Noooo don't you dare tickle me. I didn't mean it I didn't mean it. I was aiming beside you" she screamed at him through her giggles. 

He dived on top of her, pinning her arms down with one hand. He tickled her with the other. As she laughed and shrieked uncontrollably the image of their lips meeting flashed through his mind again and he suddenly stopped. Quickly standing up he walked to the cupboard where he had stashed the goodies he bought earlier that evening. 

"Want anything?" He looked over at her to see a confused look on her face. 

"Umm yeah, did I see a wispa in there?" 

He pulled the 4 pack of wispas from the bag and opened it. He grabbed a mars bar for himself and walked back to the sofa. 

"Catch" He threw the chocolate to her and she caught it. 

"Well....at least your catching skills are better than your throwing skills" 

She laughed as she took a bite of chocolate and chewed. She quickly swallowed.

"Oi, my throwing skills are great thank you very much. I managed to get you twice in the head" 

He laughed "Oh so you were aiming for my head then?"

She realised her mistake and laughed "Ehhh lets watch the rest of this" She grabbed the remote and pressed play. 

Colms phone beeped quite a few times before he got fed up and put it on silent. Katie was pissed. She had been trying to get him to tell Maria that he couldn't bring her to college for a while but he wasn't having any of it. He had made a promise and that was that. She hated when he spent any time at Maria's house even if he told her that Maria wasn't there. They hadn't really seen each other that much lately and it was partly because he didn't want to cause any unnecessary drama. Maria would be leaving soon and Katie was good company when she wasn't nagging him. He was starting to think maybe that wasn't a good enough excuse to keep her around though. Especially not when he was starting to develop feelings for someone else. It just proved that he wasn't in love with Katie. 

Things felt a bit weird since he imagined kissing Maria. He kept stealing glances at her as they watched tv, she caught him once or twice and gave him weird looks. 

"Ok...what's going on?" Maria had paused the show and was staring at him. 

"I don't know...I think I have to break up with Katie." 

Maria's mouth dropped open and she sat up pulling her legs under her "WHAT? Why?" 

"She's just....I don't know. It's not fair on her, she's uneasy every time I say I'm going to your house whether you're there or not. I hate thinking I've made her feel that way and honestly it's making me resent her because I've actually been spending less time at the house because of it."

Wow he hadn't meant to tell her all of that but it just came spilling out. She looked at him for a few moments 

"Shit Colm, I'm sorry..I didn't realise she was seriously giving you crap about me." 

He felt himself get annoyed. It wasn't her fault, why was she apologising?

"What? you don't have anything to be sorry about. You haven't done anything wrong" 

A look that he couldn't quite read flashed across her face before she spoke

"Yeah...I know..but" 

Wait a minute...did she like him? the way he liked her...was that a look of guilt flash across her face?

"but?" 

She had her head down so when she looked up she was looking through her lashes. He wanted to do nothing more than grab her and kiss her full red pouty lips. 

"do you think I done something that made her feel uncomfortable around me? maybe she got some sort of vibe and now she...."

"No Maria..she's just a jealous person. I didn't realise it until now. It's nothing you done." 

He smiled reassuringly at her and she smiled back. 

"Right..I better go make this call..I'm going to just go outside...save you from hearing her scream at me" 

She laughed but he could see she was feeling guilty.