Just Friends

Chapter 33

6 months later

Maria had spent an extra couple of weeks in Cork when she was finished with College. She traveled around a bit and explored the beautiful city and countryside. She stood at the door of her now much emptier apartment and looked around. She was going to miss this place. It held a lot of good memories for her but she missed Dublin, she missed her family and friends so she was glad to be going back. 

"You ready girly?"

Maria jumped at her mams sudden voice behind her, she hadn't heard her come back up the stairs. 

"Yeah, I'm coming. Just had to say goodbye to the place." 

She pulled the door behind her and followed her  mam down the stairs to the car outside. Her dad was sitting in the drivers seat, he had already started the engine, his arm was out the window and he was tapping on the side of the car door. He looked at them when he heard the front door closing. 

"All done?" 

Ellen went down the steps first "Yes, she was just saying goodbye to the place" 

James raised his eyebrows "Saying goodbye to the apartment? Ha I've heard it all now" 

Maria got into the back seat and put her seat belt on. Her dad pulled off as soon as her mam put her seat belt on. Maria looked out the back window and felt a tiny bit sad as the apartment and the street she had called home for the past year got smaller and smaller. 

Half way home they stopped off and got something to eat. Her mam was chatting away but her dad was his usual quiet self, he only spoke a few times. They were just finished with the meal when her dad's phone rang. He walked away to answer it but she was sure she had heard him say Colm's name.

After paying they waited in the car for her dad to finish his call, moments later he was back in the car and they were back on the road. Maria put her earpods in, put her head back against the seat and closed her eyes as the soft music filled her ears. As she listened to the lyrics of the song playing she started thinking about Colm. 

She hadn't seen him since he left her apartment just after Christmas, they had kept in touch daily for the first couple of weeks but when she went back to college the contact was only every few days. Eventually she only heard from him when she initiated the conversation. He was obviously over her and their friendship. It broke her heart at first but she realised she deserved better so she stopped contacting him altogether. It had been two months since she had heard from him. 

Colm's POV

He walked out of his counselors office when he saw a missed call on his phone. It was James, he called him back. He answered after a few rings.

"Colm"

"Hey James, sorry I missed your call I was busy and the phone was on silent. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, just picked up Maria from college. We'll be home around 4, are you going to be there?"

Colm's breath hitched at the mention of Maria's name. He hadn't heard from her in a while. She was obviously over whatever it was that they had that night. They had text and called for a while after he got back to Dublin but the contact got less and less over the months. It had been 9 weeks exactly since he last heard from her. He knew because he had all of her messages still on his phone. He missed her. 

"Uh I don't want to intrude..." 

"Nonsense, you won't be intruding. I'm sure she'd be delighted to see you. She thinks of you as a brother"

He really hoped thats not how she thought of him but he obviously wasn't going to say that. 

"Oh ok then, yeah I'll be there." 

They spoke about work for another few minutes before saying their goodbyes. Colm got into his car and rested his head against his arms on the steering wheel. He wondered how Maria would react...would she be happy to see him? pissed?...indifferent? He groaned. What had he gotten himself into. 

He had been going to a counselor since the week after he got back from Cork. It was one of his new year resolutions. It took him a while to get over what had happened with Keith, he still wasn't completely over it but he was getting there. Funnily enough he met Keith a few weeks ago and apologised for what happened. He seemed a bit nervous at first but he accepted his apology, he asked him to say hello to Maria for him. He had said he would but of course he didn't. He didn't want to remind her of that awful day.

He started his car and drove off. He was going to get something to eat before going to welcome Maria home. He let out a big breath and hoped that this day wouldn't go to hell.