Facing 11 | Tadgh Lynch <3 Leah daly

THE BABY WHISPERER

SECOND YEAR

TADGH

Dellie told me to make sure that ollie and sean didn't wander off, I said that I'd make sure to keep them in my eyesight. Everyone always did what Dellie asked them to do, she had that sort of effect on people. In the year I've known Dellie she'd managed to flip my whole life upside down, for the better. I liked her alot more than I'd like to admit but I was still salty that she made me go to Tommen, but I wasn't complaining. The girls at Tommen were nearly hotter than Aoife, I still don't know how Joey bagged her.

"Tadgh," a small hand tugged on my shirt. "I want ice cream!" Sean looked up at me while pointing at the icecream truck. He'd been getting better at forming full sentences after Dellie got him a speech therapist.
"Wait for Dellie to come back and then I'll ask her, alright?" I lifted him onto the bench to sit beside Ols. He nodded while rocking back and forth on the bench. Edel had left us for a few minutes to attempt to make AJ stop crying, she'd offered to take him with us to town so that Joey and Aoife could get some peace and quiet. Knowing full well they're probably in bed fucking. I'll never forget the time I walked in on Aoife and joey. Traumatic experience, do not recommend.

"Edel!" Someone had called Dellies name, I saw her turn around with AJ still in her arms, he was still crying. A smile washed over her face as she walked over to the person. There was a guy and a girl, the guy looked like he was in his late 40's. I'm guessing he was the girl's father or something like that because she looked around the same age as me but I'd never seen her before, I think.
Something about her was so familiar, I just couldn't tell what it was. She had brown hair that reached below her shoulder, her eyes were an almost identical colour to her hair. A deep brown. I'd met plenty of girls with brown eyes but I'd never seen eyes like hers.
Her eyes might not be the colour of the ocean, but I was drowning in them.

I couldn't quite make out their conversation from where I was standing. The girl hadn't spoken until Dellie turned to face her, her face developed a smile the moment Dellie started to speak to her but it didn't seem genuine. It was robotic, as if she was smiling for the sake of it. Dellie said something that made her dad laugh, she just continued smiling.

They talked for a couple more minutes until AJ started to cry again. I'm not sure what happened after that but Dellie had handed AJ over to the girl. It only took a few seconds for AJ to stop crying, she must be a baby whisperer or something because the only other person who was able to make AJ shut up that fast was Joey. In his defence he probably was a baby whisperer, he had the qualifications for it, raising 4 children had that effect on someone and he earned the title.

I turned my attention back towards Sean and Ols, both of which were sitting quietly on the bench. Sean couldn't quite reach the ground yet but he was getting there sort of. Ols on the other hand could nearly touch the ground, he just needed another inch on him and he'd make it. To be fair I couldn't touch the ground when I was 5 either.

The silence was broken when Sean spoke, "Dellie can we get Ice Cream petty please!" Dells had started to walk back over to us when Sean had hopped off the bench and stumbled over to Dellie. Dellie had placed AJ back into his buggy before replying, "You had Ice Cream yesterday." she paused for a moment before continuing, "but since you said please I'll get you a 99, okay?" Sean nodded eagerly. Dellie gave Ols a tenner and told him to go buy an ice cream for Sean and Himself. She sat down next to me on the bench while watching over AJ.

"Do you want anything Tadgh?" She asked me. I shook my head while watching Ols hand the tenner to the Ice cream man. "If you want anything later let me know sweetheart."

It was bothering me that I couldn't pinpoint why that girl felt so familiar but I didn't want to disturb Dellie. She'd just managed to get AJ to settle down, so we sat in silence until Sean and Ols came back with their 99's. Sean started talking to Dellie, I wasn't paying much attention to their conversation.

My eyes kept on wandering back to the mystery girl, she was sitting on a bench not too far away from ours while her dad was on the phone. I couldn't help but get lost in the depths of her eyes, it felt as though I was addicted to them.

Joey told me not to be him, to be better than him but it was too late. I found my new addiction.
Her.

"Tadgh, love we're going back home. You can stay here for a bit longer if you'd like to." Dellie pulled me out of my thoughts, I wasn't sure how long I'd been staring at the girl. I nodded in reply, my eyes still on her. Edel looked at me then at the girl, she winked at me before ushering Sean and Ols to start walking as they headed home.

I stayed in the park for a while, watching from afar. I might never see her again but every second I spent drowning in her was worth it. She was worth my every second, I didn't know who she was but she was my addiction, my drug.

A/N:
~06/05/24