It all started with a kiss

Chapter 11

- Connie/Fiona -

Connie was so excited she couldn't sit still as the van turned onto her street home in Dublin. Fiona had been looking after her apartment for her and had promised that she would meet Connie there. She was only minutes away from seeing her best friend for the first time in seven months! As she climbed out of the van, she looked at her apartment building with new eyes. It didn't look like much, but it was home. At least for now. She had received an email a few weeks ago that the building was being sold. Connie wasn't sure she could afford the new owner's rent. Fiona was also helping her with apartment hunting since Connie couldn't it herself from the road.

Connie glanced back at the boys who were emptying the car of the bags. On the way there they had stopped at the grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner as they had decided to eat at home instead of going out. She didn't think that Fiona would mind that she had invited five more people to their reunion. At least not these five.

When they stepped out of the elevator on her floor, she turned around and faced her friends. "Could you just give us a minute?"

"Sure thing sweetheart" Sky smiled at her and nodded toward the hallway. "Go ahead."

Connie beamed at him. She liked the nickname he had given her the last two weeks. At first, she had believed he only did it to make up for making her angry, even though he said he didn't remember what he had done wrong. She was happy that the endearment had stuck, even if he didn't mean anything by it. Pushing the thought away, she headed to her door and knocked.

The door flew open and in seconds the blond whirlwind by the name of Fiona was on her, shrieking, "You're home!"

Connie barely got her arms around her friend before Fiona's momentum made her stagger a few steps back and they both fell to the floor. Laughing, Connie loosened the hug and tried to sit up. "I've missed you too Fi!"

"Oh my goodness!" Fiona scrambled backward but remained seated next to Connie with her arms around her. "I've missed you so much! You need to tell me everything!"

"We talk every day, Fiona."

"You know that doesn't matter!"

Connie squeezed her tighter and laughed again. "I hope you are hungry, we bought lots of food."

"We?" Fiona released her enough to peer into her face and Connie gave a small nod towards the elevator. Fiona's mouth dropped when she turned to see the members of the Volt standing, with grocery bags in their hands, waving at her.

Connie was convinced that Fiona would give herself whiplash when she looked back at Connie, then the guys, and then back at Connie again. She caught Fiona's face between her hands when she was about to turn again. "Hungry?"

"You could have warned me!"

"Now where's the fun in that?"

"I'm a mess!"

Mateo stepped forward and offered his hand to Fiona "You look great."

Fiona placed her hand in his and rose to her feet with wide eyes. The others came forward and introduced themselves as well, even if it wasn't really necessary. Connie started to feel forgotten, still sitting on the floor, when Nash saw her and teased. "Get up Connie, I'm hungry!"

She rolled her eyes at him. So much for being gentlemen. As she started to crawl her way back up, Sky leaned down and picked her up and she squealed as he tossed her over his shoulder and kept her hanging there, as he walked inside her apartment. "You heard the man, we need food."

She slammed her fist in his back, not hard enough to actually hurt, and laughed. "You are such a caveman! I bet you expect us to cook everything too?" She squealed again as he suddenly placed her back on her feet.

"What I expect,"— He said as he pulled a bottle of wine from one of the bags that Nash had placed on the counter, — "Is that you take this, two glasses, and have a seat with Fiona."

Connie stared up at him and gave him a soft smile. She couldn't even find words to describe the emotions inside her, so she just turned around, grabbed Fiona around the waist, and headed for the living room.

Three hours later they all sat around the living room table. Connie was glad to see that once Fiona's original shock wore off, she was able to relax and be herself. The guys didn't treat her any differently than they did her. Nash was laying on the floor with his arms outstretched and groaned. "I think I'm going to explode..."

"Don't be such a wimp," Johnny said as he grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

Sky laughed. "Not everyone can eat your amounts" Johnny!

Johnny seemed to be very proud of that fact and grinned.
Connie sighed and looked over to the dining room table. "I should take care of the mess. But I'm not sure I can stand"

"Come on, I'll help you." Sky squeezed her leg gently before he stood and then helped her to her feet.

"Anyone want anything from the fridge?" Connie asked as she followed Sky.

Mateo wiggled his empty beer bottle and she grabbed it on the way. "I'll get you a new one."

***

Fiona watched as her best friend walked away with Sky as she had done several times tonight. It looked so homey, when they helped each other, picking up dishes and throwing away stuff. She glanced around the remaining band members and decided that she needed to ask, "So... What's going on there?"

Mateo looked at her with obviously faked surprise, "What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "Oh come on. Connie might be blind as a bat but I'm not! I know they're not sleeping together but something is going on."

The guys looked wearily at each other and then Mateo took a seat next to her on the now almost empty sofa. "Do you think Connie is interested in Sky?"

Well obviously. Fiona thought to herself as she blinked innocently at him. "I don't know. She only spoke of you guys as friends." That wasn't even close to the truth but hey, Fiona had a friend to protect and she wasn't shy about lying if she had to.

When Mateo seemed disappointed, she frowned and tried to place a confused look on her face. "Why? Is Sky interested in Connie?" She hadn't needed to ask though. Watching how he treated her and tried to be close to her all night had already told her that he was. The question was more about if he only wanted some company during the tour or if he was more serious.

Mateo glanced over his shoulder at the two still cleaning out the kitchen and then back at her. "I'm only telling you this because we care for Sky and if Connie feels that she can trust you with secrets then I bet I won't read any of this in a tabloid tomorrow."

"Of course not!" Fiona couldn't blame him for being careful, after all, he had only known her for a few hours. But still, she felt a little offended.

"Okay, so Sky thinks that he might be interested in Connie."

"He might?!" She raised an eyebrow in question but kept her voice low so it wouldn't carry.

"Fine! He is. But he's not sure it could work out as Connie has clearly said that she would hate the attention we get."

Fiona could definitely see Connie saying that, and she nodded.

"We think that they would be great together. He's happier when she's around."

"And if she could get that damned goddess out his head, that would be great too! I'm tired of hearing about a dream girl." Johnny said as he leaned further back in the armchair.

Fiona went rigid. "What goddess?"

"It's nothing..." Mateo scowled at Johnny who looked apologetic, but Fiona was persistent, 
"If you want me to see if I can at least nudge Connie in his direction, I need to know if she's got competition and if it's worth it." She held her breath, hoping that her suspicion was correct.

Nash leaned over the table and half-whispered. "There's really nothing to it. We were at this club on Halloween, Sky kissed a girl that was dressed as a goddess and we haven't seen her since."

"But he still talks about her?"

Nash looked uncomfortable by Fiona's question. It was Johnny who answered her this time. "Not as much lately, probably because of Connie. But the first few months... It started to get on all our nerves."

"Especially Sky's," Mateo added. "I don't think he did it on purpose. He just couldn't stop dreaming about her."

Holy shit! She was right! They were talking about Connie and didn't even know it! Fiona tried to appear relaxed but inside she was screaming with excitement! She needed to find out more! She cleared her throat. "Dreaming? What kind of dreams?"

They stayed silent for a long time and she started to believe that she wouldn't get more out of them when Johnny sighed. "All I know is that white feathers were swirling around."

"Don't forget the golden sheets." Kyle rolled his eyes.

Mateo tried to smooth it all over as he shrugged. "Anyway, it's really no competition. Please don't tell Connie about it if it can hurt Sky's chance with her."

"As you said. There's no competition, and therefore no reason to tell her." Fiona smiled.

"Tell me what?" They all stiffened at the sound of Connie's voice heading their way. She gave Mateo a new bottle of beer and sat down on the other side of him whilst Sky took a seat on the floor.

Fiona couldn't remember seeing her friend this happy and relaxed in years. "We were just talking about the show on Saturday, and I explained that they won't have to tell you to take the night off because you already promised me you would."

Connie gave her a bright smile and she could feel everyone relaxing again. Fiona had no plans of telling her what they really had talked about. Knowing Connie, she would make a mess out of it. Fiona just had to figure out how she would set this up