Just Friends

Chapter 28

Maria spent most of the day in a happy bubble, hanging out with Colm, going for her birthday lunch and then a long walk around Blarney Castle. On the way back from Blarney they decided to stop off at a small pub for a drink. The waitress was extremely friendly to Colm..not so friendly to Maria and they laughed about it on the way home. Pulling into the parking space near her apartment Colm turned to her.

"How are we going to handle this?" He motioned between the two of them.

"Umm what do you mean?" Maria looked confused.

"Well I mean...Vicky and Gary are going to be here tonight right? So do we just act like normal or can I kiss you and hold your hand?" He wiggled his brows at her and she laughed

"I never thought of that actually....crap...maybe act normal for now until I tell my parents" 

His face went slightly paler again. 

"They're going to kill me....they both warned me. I thought it would be easy because you know...how annoying you are" He laughed as she slapped his arm

"No seriously though, I never realised you felt the same way so I thought it would be fine...but now that I know you feel the same way....I can't stay away"

She leaned across to kiss him, as she moved back she saw someone standing at the front of the car looking in at them...it was Keith. He stood staring at them with a look of horror and anger...when he looked at Maria she could see the moment his anger turned to sadness. Before she could do or say anything Colm had jumped out of the car.  He stormed towards Keith and punched him in the face. 

Maria screamed and jumped out of the car. She ran to Keith and Colm. Keith was on the ground with a bloodied nose and lip. Colm was on top of him hitting him. She screamed and tried to drag Colm off but he was too strong. She bent down in front of him and covered Keiths face with her own body. One punch landed on her shoulder and she fell forward before Colm jumped up in horror. 

"Maria...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." 

Maria looked up at Colm, she was terrified. He could see it in her face. He ran back to the car, jumped in and drove off. 

Maria helped Keith up and brought him to her apartment to clean him up. His nose was bloody and slightly swollen but didn't seem to be broken. His lip had split right down the middle and the swelling was causing it to bleed more so it looked worse than it was. 

"I'm so sorry Keith...I don't...I've never seen him like that before" 

Keith tried to smile but stopped as it caused his lip to stretch and bleed more. He was holding a cloth with ice in it to his nose and moved it to his lip after a few moments. 

"It's not your fault Maria. He's obviously got some anger issues....are you two..you know...together?" 

Maria looked sad "I don't know...I mean I thought so but look at what he done...then he just left" 

"How's your shoulder? I felt that punch land on you....I can't believe he just left after hitting you" 

Maria looked annoyed "He didn't hit me on purpose Keith, he's not like that" 

"Isn't he? I mean I know if I accidentally hit someone I'd stick around to make sure they're ok"

"No, he's not like that...I don't know why he just left but he's a good guy Keith. He was pissed at you because you can't seem to just stay away but...he went too far."

Keith moved the ice back to his nose. "Yeah definitely feels like he went too far" 

It had been two hours since Colm attacked Keith, Maria had patched him up as much as she could then gave him some painkillers and something to eat. He found it hard to eat at first so she ended up heating up some chicken soup for him and giving him a straw. 

The intercom on her door buzzed and made her jump. She got up to see who it was, secretly hoping it was a much calmer Colm but she was slightly disappointed when she heard Vicky's voice. Crap, she forgot she had invited Vicky and Gary over. She buzzed them up and met them in the hallway. 

"Ok guys...bit of drama today....." 

She went on to explain what had happened and Vicky ran straight into the apartment to see it with her own eyes. 

"Jeeeeeezus Keith, your face." 

His eyes had started to blacken underneath now and the bruising on his lip was more evident. He gave a weak smile but didn't say anything. Vicky marched over to him

"Listen, sorry about your face but I won't lie when I say I think you kinda deserved it...maybe not as much as that" she waved her hand towards his face "but you definitely deserved a slap or two." 

He looked a bit shocked at first then laughed "Jesus Vicky, thanks for the sympathy....but yeah..you're right. I'm an idiot" 

"Damn right you are, what on earth made you think it was a good idea to just turn up here?" 

"I just wanted to say Happy birthday....I didn't know that they were to...." he saw the look of panic on Maria's face. She obviously didn't want Vicky to know about her and Colm. 

"that they were going to be going out for the day" Maria shot him a thankful look as Vicky stared at him. 

"I thought you were the biggest idiot before when you cheated on Ria but you've just proven me wrong...now you're the biggest idiot because you don't seem to know when to stop. "

He held his hands up "Ok ok ok, I get it....speaking of not knowing when to stop..." 

It took Vicky a second to work out what he meant but when she did she stepped forward and flicked him on the nose. 

"OWWWWWW What the hell Vicky?" 

Maria burst out laughing, she couldn't hold it in any longer. They were arguing like an old married couple and poor Gary was just stood there staring at them not sure what to do.