HISTORY, tommen

002. like the river?

-'๑'-

౨ৎ - ❛ daphne sullivan ❜

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i was going to kill him.

i seriously felt like punching my boyfriend in the throat because he was being unbearably, annoyingly, needy, with a sudden requirement of public displays of affection, and i had a gut feeling as to why.

you see, conor richards wasn't an overly affectionate guy, and i was fine with that. we kept our relationship private, but not a secret. but this morning, as he tucked my hair behind my ears, or wrapped an arm around his waist, or kissed me — even if i was in the middle of talking — i knew what his problem was.

or, more specifically, who.

my ex, johnny bleeding kavanagh, was staring at us from across the pitch.

and how did i know that if i refused to even glance at him?

well i could quite literally feel the jealousy rising in my boyfriend as he gave into his needs to declare what was his.

in other words, me.

just to test him, i shifted the smallest step away from him, and his arm tightened around my waist.

christ. i was going to scream.

claire biggs, ever the sunshine angel and my friend of many, long years, glanced between us and swooned. "you two are so adorable! i should have known something was going on between you two last year. after all, hughie kept telling me but i refused to believe it."

"we were sort of keeping it a secret," i admitted, shrugging. "after all the people talking about ... well johnny and i — "

"we didn't want bella wilkinson and her little clan to start anything," conor finished.

like salt to a fresh wound, around the time johnny and i broke up, bella made it her goal to make sure the whole of tommen knew. people were whispering about it for weeks; i don't think i'd ever been looked at with so much pity before. of course, bella was just making sure her precious reputation wasn't scalded when she made a move on johnny a day later.

"of course," claire agreed, looking like she was thrumming in excitement. "i swear, if i don't experience teenage love — "

"you will," someone chimed in, and i peered over to find gibsie leaning over the pitch fence to talk to his other half. "don't worry your pretty little head about that."

"hello, gerard," claire said wishfully.

he winked. "claire-bear."

it was my turn to swoon as i took in the sight of them.

it was almost as if claire and gibsie had an invisible string tying them together and even if they did, it would have made sense. they were made for each other; two halves of sunshine that fit so perfectly it made me want to cry in jealousy. ever since we were kids, they had always been so clearly head over heels for one another, but clueless when it came to crossing the line of friendship.