Made of Honour

Chapter Seventeen

The next morning I wake with a pounding head and mouth like sandpaper. I groan and reach for the bottle of water by my bed, downing it as though it's a lifeline.

I wasn't even drunk! If I feel like this, I can't imagine how Niamh and Dan feel. And Ollie! Poor Ollie with his black eye.

I roll over to look at him but his side of the bed is empty. Strange. From what I've seen of him so far, he's not a morning person and loves sleep. The man is pretty much fuelled by ten-hours of sleep a night and charm.

I softly rise from bed and gently pad downstairs. Ollie is sat in the dark of the living room on his phone.

"Look at this," He says to me without looking up.

I take a seat next to him, he's swiping through pictures of last night on Dan's Instagram, until he settles on one Niamh made us all take together. Most notably (to me, anyway) is Ollie and I, stood to the side, grinning up at each other like a young lovers dream.

In the next picture he settles on, Dan and Niamh are dancing together but directly behind them are Ollie and I, the back of my head resting on his chest with his arms wrapped around me. There's a look of complete contentment on both our faces.

Looking at the pictures causes something to shift inside of me, some kind of accepting peace.

Ollie is the man for me.

"We look happy." I tell him.

"We are."

I rest my head on his shoulder, "How do you feel?"

He laughs, a bit bitterly, "Like I was punched in the face."

"Yeah, I bet." I sigh. "And today of all days is the Hen and Stag."

"I know. I feel like everyone is already going to be pretty hungover." 

I shrug, "At least I'm just forcing the girls to sit around a pool and gossip. You, however, are doing an entire bar crawl." 

Ollie shrugs back, my head lifting with his shoulder. "Maybe we'll only end up in one bar and call it a day. I wouldn't mind that really, means I can get back to you sooner."

I look up at him and he smiles down at me. Something soft flows between us, then he turns back to his phone and keeps scrolling. I stare at him whilst he sits there like this is nothing, like he isn't the most wonderful man I have ever met, like I'm not falling deep into my feelings for him. I feel like I have to physically restrain myself from letting my emotions explode all over him. 

"Stop staring at me."

I look away quickly and down to his phone, feeling my cheeks blaze. "I'm not. Besides, I thought you didn't have social media?"

"You were staring, and I don't really have one." He shows me the phone. "Burner account, sometimes I like to have a little stalk and see what people are up to, what is being posted of me, you know, just a casual nose."

I laugh, "I love a casual nose. I also have a burner account, means I can watch people's stories without them knowing it's me."

"Great minds and all that." Ollie chuckles. He yawns and stretches then looks at me, "Want to go and get a coffee and pick up this fancy dress costume with me?"

I look at the time, six a.m. Niamh probably won't wake until nine, and I'm not rallying the rest of the girls until eleven. I've got more then enough time to spend the morning with Ollie. All I want to do is spend time with Ollie. I think I'd even be happy if we completely sacked off the hen and stag and got to spend the day together. 

But I'm not in Ireland for me, and Ollie was never part of the plan. I can't just ran away with him and hide from my duties. I can, however, spend the morning with him and not because we're in the wedding party but because I want to be as close to him as possible. 

I'd crawl inside his skin if it wasn't super creepy and serial-killer-ish.

I get ready and we bundle into his car, setting off soon after. The town is empty, the streets quiet, I've never seen it so dead. It strikes me how beautiful and peaceful Ireland is, the greenery, the comfort of home. I've been running from it so long, running from Paddy, from all the hurt, I'd forgotten all the good that is wrapped up here too. 

It's like being next to Ollie has given me a renewed sense of joy, I can see things without a negative tint again. The pain of what happened isn't all consuming anymore. Even if life is continuing as it always had, somehow it's more vibrant, peaceful, and for the first time in my life there is someone I'd rather be spending my time with over everyone else. 

This is what it's like to truly have feelings for someone - and maybe a realisation that what I had with Paddy was never true at all. How freeing that simple thought is.

"Oh, God." Ollie says, "You're not a classical music girl, are you?"

I whizz around to him, startled. "What?"

"You've been fiddling with the car radio this whole time and you've settled on classical music." 

"Firstly, it's six in the morning, what would you have me put on? Heavy metal? Secondly, I didn't even realise. I was lost in my own little world."

"It's still on classical music, so you must like it."

I turn it a little louder. "There's nothing wrong with classical music."

"I suppose it's better than heavy rock." A pause. "What were you thinking about?"

I feel my cheeks heat. "You. Paddy. Being home."

He shoots me a glance, "Good things, I hope? Well, maybe not good things about your punchy ex."

I laugh, "Only good things about you." 

He lowers the music, "I'm sorry. It's just a bit too intense."

"It's Mozart. I'm pretty sure he's scientifically proven to raise IQ."

Laughter rolls straight out of Ollie in a loud rumble.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing." He half sobers. "I do love how you make me laugh though, I don't think you know how special you are."

"I hope you don't mean special as in, likes to lick my own feet, special?"

 He laughs again. "No, definitely not. Special like my days are only good when you're in it."

I grin at him. "How would you know? I've only been in it for nine days."

"Well," He shifts in his seat, "I had decades without you and I know what that was like. This is far better than I could have hoped for." 

He pulls up to a coffee house and parks before I can respond, but my heart feels like it's singing or bubbling over, or doing something completely unnatural as it tries to contain my unfiltered joy.

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