Just Friends

Chapter 39

Maria was still tingling from the kiss, she wondered why Colm had jumped back but when she saw both of her parents standing in the kitchen doorway she figured it out. 

Oh shit

"James...Ellen..I'm so sorry, I can explain"

Her dad stepped forward and raised his eyebrow "Ok go on..." 

Colm obviously hadn't been expecting that because he was stumbling over words. 

"I...well....we...I mean I just ... I'm so sorry" 

Maria stepped in front of him, she wasn't sure if it was the alcohol that was still obviously in her system or if she was just fed up of hiding her feelings. 

"Da..leave him alone. I'm 18, I'm going to date and fall in love. It's life, it happens. You can't tell me who I'm allowed to love." 

Given courage by her little speech Colm put his hand on her shoulder, she turned her head to look at him. 

"Wait...did you just admit to loving me?"

Her face went red again and she covered it with her hands. Why did he have to pick up on that?She peeked through her fingers at her parents, they still hadn't said a word. Her mam had her mouth slightly open in shock, her dad looked....like he was about to laugh. What the hell?

"Give the man an answer love, don't leave him hanging" 

Maria looked at her parents then back to Colm. She turned to him

"Yes..I did" 

His mouth broke into a huge smile "I love you too" 

The clap from behind them tore their attention away from each other. Maria turned to face her parents. Her mother had tears in her eyes and she was smiling, her father was the one clapping. 

"Eh...you two are ok with this?"

Ellen stepped forward and hugged her "Oh girly, we've known you two felt like this for a while but obviously didn't want to interfere. I'm just glad you've finally admitted it to each other.

She moved away from Maria and pulled Colm into a hug. 

"You better look after my girl mister, and treat her right..or else you'll have me to deal with" 

He laughed and promised he would. He was still looking at James warily as he came closer, he hugged Maria and whispered something that made her blush and laugh then he moved to Colm and held out his hand. 

"I don't have to give you a warning, Ellen has already done that and she's far scarier than me. Good luck Colm...you're going to need it" 

He quickly jumped away from Maria before she had realised what he said and went out the door laughing. 

"Oi the cheek of you...goodnight Da" He shouted goodnight and went up the stairs. 

Ellen was smiling at the two of them. "You make such a cute couple, I know you'll both be happy. Goodnight Girly, Goodnight Colm" 

They said goodnight and she walked out the door, suddenly her head poked back in

"By the way, the walls are thin. I don't want to be kept awake" 

Colm went bright red and Maria laughed "MAAAA GET OUT!!" They heard Ellen laughing to herself as she went upstairs. 

Suddenly Colm started laughing, Maria looked at him like he was crazy. 

"Are you ok?" He stopped laughing and kissed her. "I was terrified, I'm just relieved that your parents didn't kill me...maybe they're waiting until I let my guard down then they'll attack" 

Now Maria laughed "Honestly, I'm surprised at how well they took it...looks like we were both worried about nothing" He touched her face and smiled.

"Umm Colm..what did you want to talk to me about earlier?"

"Don't you want to get something to eat first?" 

"Oh yeah, gimme a sec I'm going to stick a pizza in the oven. Then I'm all yours" 

He raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed. 

With the pizza in the oven and the timer set they went into the front room to talk. Maria saw on the sofa closest to the door and Colm sat beside her. 

"So...when I saw you with Keith this morning I followed you..." Her eyes widened "...wait...I followed you for about 20 minutes then realised what a stalker I was being so I turned back. When I got back here I sent you that good luck text..." He moved closer to her and put his hand on her knee. "I was thinking about you all day, I actually came here to ask your dad if he would kill me if I asked you out..." Maria laughed "but I chickened out." 

"Looks like you had nothing to worry about" 

He smiled "especially now that I know you love me" Maria blushed when he reminded her of how she admitted her feelings for him. 

"You know...I was kinda jealous this morning...seeing you with Keith made me realise how much you mean to me and how much I wanted you in my life. I'm so sorry about everything..I apologised to Keith you know.." 

Maria smiled and touched his face as she leaned in to kiss him "I know, he told me" 

"Oh ok...I've also been getting counselling for my temper..." He looked down at the ground.

"Oh Colm, that's great, you know it's nothing to be ashamed about." 

He smiled shyly at her "Yeah I know but I didn't want to tell anybody until I was sure it was working. I realised it is helping today when I saw you two together and I didn't follow him and beat the crap out of him." He laughed but she could tell he wasn't really joking. 

He held her hand and looked into her eyes "I wanted to be someone you weren't ashamed of" 

Her eyes welled up with tears "Oh Colm...I was never ashamed of you. I hid how I felt because I wasn't sure you felt the same way. I was so happy when I realised you liked me too but then...that incident with Keith happened and I didn't want you getting into trouble because of me." 

The timer beeped in the kitchen and she jumped up to get the pizza before it burnt and woke her parents. They sat at the kitchen table eating Pizza and chatting for a while before they cuddled up on the sofa to watch something. After a while they fell asleep in each others arms with a smile on their faces because they both knew they were waking up in the arms of the person they loved.