SKYFALL, Johnny Kavanagh

Unexpected visits

I woke up around 10 am on Saturday, and strangely, alone.
Shannon was not in the bathroom or anywhere else in the house and Tadhg, Ollie and Sean were nowhere to be found. Aunt Marie and Uncle Teddy weren't at home either, but that wasn't unusual for them on Saturday mornings, seeing as one of them was working herself to the bone and the other was probably busy drinking himself into liver failure at a nearby bar.

Opting to go downstairs to try and find something to eat for breakfast, I headed to kitchen.
As it turned out I wasn't completely alone, Joey was sitting with his back turned to the door on a chair next to the counter, eating was looked to be a packed of dry and possibly out of date biscuits.

"Hey there Joey, how's it going?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Jesus, Maeve. You sure do know how to make yourself known." He bit back. "You almost gave me a bleedin' heart attack."

"I know." I grinned. "So, where's the rest of our siblings?"

"Shan went her friend Claire's house and Tadhg and Ollie were dropped by Mam to hurling practice on her way to work." He stated.

"How did Shannon manage to convince Aunt Marie to let her go?" I asked, knowing how crazy my aunt, or uncle, got when Shannon tried to have any sort of social life.

"She didn't." He laughed. "She waited for them to leave and got on the bus, I just told her I'd be picking her up at around five, because that's when he usually comes home."

"Go Shannon." I exclaimed. "I think we're finally rubbing off on her."

"I'm not sure that's such a good thing." He chimed.

"What about little Sean?"

"He's napping on the couch, I'm planning to take him with me to work."

"You don't have to do that. I can watch him." I stated. "I don't have anywhere to go today."

"No way, don't think I've forgotten you're supposed to go to that game today."

"I don't have anyone who's willing to go with me." I retorted.

"Yes you do, you just don't want to invite them." He said referring to Aoife and Casey.

A knock at the door interrupts me before I have the chance to respond. "Did you invite Aoife over again." I rolled my eyes.

"No, I tried but she refused to come after your little display of affection yesterday." He said referring to the less-than-kind way I had treated her. "She thinks it might be best to give you some space."

"So she does have a brain after all." I mumbled.

"Maeve." He almost whispered, suddenly looking serious.

"Fine, I'll stop. I won't however guarantee to not insult her to her face."

"Thank you" he said looking pleased. "Wait, what."

Another knock, this time more persistent, interrupted what was sure to be an enchanting conversation, so I gladly took the escape and hurried to the door. Imagine my surprise when on the other side of it I found no one other than Gerard Gibson wearing his rugby uniform.

"What are you doing here?" I asked perplexed. "Aren't you supposed to get ready for the game. It's only in a couple of hours."

"I'm here to pick you up and take you to said game, Mavey" he chimed.

"Mavey? Is that seriously the best you could come up with." I spoke.

"You said you didn't like nicknames, so I opted for simple." He replied.

"And you just strengthen my resolve. No nicknames." I declared.

"I must take that as a challenge to find a better nickname." He announced.

"Please don't." I whined. "How do you even know my address?"

"Brother-slash-cousin dearest called me and told me that if I didn't come and bring his little sister to the game, he would cause me some serious harm."

"How does my brother have your number?"

"I met him at a party at the beginning of the year." He stated, looking at me like it was something I was supposed to know.

Not knowing what else to do, since I very well couldn't leave the lad outside in the pouring rain, I gestured for him to get in and told to follow me to the kitchen and to speak in low tone of voice since Sean was sleeping.

"Would you kindly explain to me what is going on, my oh-so-wise big brother?" I asked Joey once I got near the counter.

Eyeing Gibsie my brother responded. "Well, my dear-mean little sister. Since I'm not able to physically drag you to the game I brought someone who could."

"I agree with that statement. I will absolutely drag you out of here if I must." Gibsie stated, while looking at my empty and slightly mouldy kitchen.

"Are you both high?" I asked suspicious.

"I don't like drugs, Mae, you know that." He grinned.

"Mae? Do I look like Spiderman's aunt to you?" I stressed.

"You might as well give up, me and Gussie here are going to make sure you go to that game." Joey said, putting an end to whatever weird direction my conversation with Gibsie was going. "Go get ready, you can't go dressed like this."

"And do it quickly, we have to get out of here in the next half hour if we want to make it there in time." Gibsie laughed. "I have to play, and if I'm even five minutes late Kav will have my head."

Suddenly aware that I was wearing my unicorn printed pyjamas in front of a guy whom I had barely known for a week, I ran out of the kitchen and into my room. The boys' laughter followed me while I was heading there.

Fuck it, if I was going, I would make sure Johnny Kavanagh would regret giving me those tickets in the first place.