Just Friends

Chapter 27

Maria woke up to a rendition of Happy Birthday with an 18 balloon bundle a box of chocolates and some flowers. Colm had also provided breakfast in bed...courtesy of the little coffee shop that she loved. 

"Wow, thanks....where did you have these balloons?" 

Colm laughed and touched his nose "It's a secret" 

Maria thought for a moment "Carol in the cafe had them didn't she?" 

He burst out laughing "How did you know?" 

"Well the breakfast is from there and there's no shops open yet to get them so she obviously had them for you...wait is that what you were doing when you went out for a walk yesterday?" 

Colm nodded his head "Yep, how are you so good at figuring things out?" 

Before she could answer the intercom buzzed. 

"I'll get it, you just eat your breakfast." 

Colm got up and went to find out who was at the door. 

"Delivery for a Miss Maria Stevens" He raised his eyebrows at her

"Ok thanks, I'll be down now" Colm went downstairs to open the main door for the delivery guy. Minutes later he came back up with a huge bouquet of flowers and a package. 

"Well someone is popular today...another delivery guy pulled up with this as I was getting the flowers" 

Maria laughed as she took the flowers and box. There was a card with the flowers. She opened it and the smile disappeared from her lips. Colm saw her reaction and went to her straight away. 

"What's wrong?"

She held the card out to him 

Happy birthday Maria

I know you still haven't forgiven me but I couldn't let today go by withouta little gift.Love always Keith

Colm threw the card on the bed in disgust. His eyes darkened in anger and for a second Maria found herself getting excited by the change. She never noticed how his eyes changed colour so quickly depending on his emotions. 

"What is going on with that guy? I think he needs a good slap to get it through his thick skull that you're not interested" 

He was angry and Maria put her hand on his arm to get his attention. He looked down at her hand and back to her face. His eyes lingered on her lips for a fraction of a second longer than they should have. She noticed and felt her stomach flip. 

"Colm it's fine, don't get upset. He's just....I don't even know..I mean I thought he finally got the message when he was here that I'm not....."

Colm realised what she had just said and his head snapped up.

"What do you mean when he was here?" 

Maria wasn't so excited about the change in his eyes anymore. They were nearly navy now. 

"Um, he just...he tricked my Da in to giving him my address. He showed up at the door and asked to come in, of course I said no but we were going to go get a coffee so we could talk....but then....." She looked down at her hands

Colm looked concerned now "then what?...what happened?" 

She looked up at him through her lashes "well...he kissed me but I pulled away from him straight away and told him we were done"

She saw Colms fists bunch up, she put her hand over one of them. 

"Please, can we just forget about him? I don't want him ruining the day" 

Colm had been looking down but as soon as she held his hand he looked up at her. Their eyes met and for a second she felt something like a bolt of electricity go through her. He must have felt it too because he looked away quickly. 

"Colm please..."

"Sorry Maria, I don't want to ruin your day but I just can't get the image of him kissing you out of my mind. I want to kill him" 

She moved her breakfast to the side table and kneeled on the bed beside Colm. As she got closer he looked at her nervously. She had wanted to do this for a while now but never had the courage. That look between them just now gave her the push she needed. 

She put one hand on his chest and the other on his face as she turned it up. He stayed as still as possible, and she hesitated for a second. She wasn't sure if he was into this as much as she was. Before she could pull away he moved forward and their lips met. The kiss was soft at first but quickly became more passionate. They were both eager to explore each other. 

Maria fell back onto the bed and Colm leaned over her. His eyes were no longer navy, they were a light blue, the colour of a summer sky. He smiled as he leaned down and kissed her again. They kissed until they were both breathless. As they broke away he pulled her into his arms and she laid her head on his chest. 

"I have wanted to do that for so long...wow" 

Maria laughed "Really?...you never gave that impression"

He kissed the top of her head "Yes really, I felt weird though because...well I've known you since you were a kid. I'm 22.." 

She looked up at him "I'm 18" 

He laughed "Yeah just about....I mean I know there's nothing wrong with it but you have called me old quite a bit actually" She laughed  as he continued "...I just thought you hated me then when we started getting along better I didn't want to ruin anything." 

"I never hated you...found you annoying..sure but never hated you....my Da..."

She noticed his face change colour at the mention of her dad but he shook it off and pulled her towards him again. 

"Colm?" 

She moved away from him again.

"Did you feel like this when you split with Katie?

He chuckled "It's why I split with Katie. Her jealousy made me look at myself and how I was treating her. I wasn't being fair by being with her when I had feelings for someone else so yeah...I told her it was over."

"Shit...so she was right to be jealous" She looked at him guiltily 

"Hey..it's not your fault. Yeah, I guess she was right, she obviously saw it even when I didn't want to admit it. I never thought anything would actually happen between us though" 

"So why did you break up with her?

"Because I had feelings for you...in my mind even though we weren't physical..it would have been cheating if it went on"

She couldn't stop herself from smiling. She felt slightly guilty about Katie, she felt bad for her but she was happy that he had morals. She cuddled into his chest again and fell back asleep for a little while.