SKYFALL, Johnny Kavanagh

M.I.A.

Johnny's Point of View

"Shite." I exclaimed while I watched her sprint away in the rain. "Niamh is going to kill me."
I wanted to run after her and demand she explain what exactly was going on, but my body was on fire and even walking normally was proving to be a challenge for me.
The fall I had during the game put another strain on my already damaged body, so the only way for me to find out if Maeve was alright would be through her friends, since I didn't have her phone number.

I had an allergic reaction she said, did she think I was stupid? I knew a panic attack when I saw one. But what had triggered it?
Knowing I probably wouldn't figure it unless she told me herself, which was unlikely, I decided to head inside Biddies and find Gibsie. If Maeve was out in the rain all by herself, especially in the state she was in, she could get hurt and I didn't want that on my conscience, even if that meant getting my eyes scratched out by Niamh.
"Alright, let's go in." I murmured to myself, to prepare for the incoming shit show that was sure to happen once her friends found everything out.

Once I opened the doors and managed to find the table where most of my team was sitting, I was immediately cornered by Niamh, who, previously to running out of her chair, was seated next to Feely.

"Is Maeve out having a smoke? I didn't see her come in with you." She spoke in a low tone of voice, already suspicious. I swear to God, this girl had the ability to see inside people's minds, she always knew if something was going on. I pity Pierce, with a sister like that there is no hiding anything.

"She smokes?" I gave her a quizzical look. She just shrugged in response.

"Is Gibsie here?" I asked taking her away from the rest of the crowd. "He's going to want to hear what happened."

"What do you mean by that?" she crossed her arms. "What did you do? I left her with you for barely ten minutes, all you had to do was not piss her off too badly."

"Well, I failed spectacularly." I stated. "Did Gibsie go home or something? I don't see him."

"Don't get your panties in twist, Superman. He just went to the bathroom." She rolled her eyes. "So is Maeve in the parking lot refusing to come in or something?"

"Or something." I deflected. Thankfully Gibsie decided to come out of the bathroom before Niamh got anymore information out of me. If I had to deal with her alone the whole ordeal would probably end with me in the hospital and my balls, which were already damaged, severed from my body.

"Now stop evading the topic." Sighed Niamh in a no-nonsense tone. "Why is Maeve not coming in?"

"Because she's not outside." I responded in a guilty tone.

"Where is she then?" Niamh asked confused. She just needed to look at my expression to know the answer.

"I'm not following, what happened and where is Maeve?" Gibsie suddenly jumped in.

"He doesn't know." Niamh responded on my behalf.

"What do you mean he doesn't know." Exclaimed Gibsie, suddenly panicking. "If I don't have her home by 5 p.m. her brother's going to kill me."

"You know her brother?" I asked, not even aware she had a brother.

"Not the time, Johnny." Gibsie shot back. "I'm dying. I'm actually going to die once that fucker finds out I lost his sister."

"I doubt she's lost, she probably just went home?" Niamh proclaimed like the voice of reason Gibsie was clearly missing.

"Home, which is almost an hour bus ride from here, from a bus stop half a mile away?" he screamed incredulous. "Not to mention the chances of that bus passing through in this weather are slim."

"How do you know where she lives?" I once again asked my best friend, half afraid of the answer.

"Johnny, I'm panicking here." Gibsie said while looking like he was on the verge of passing out. "I'll tell you later when there isn't an imminent threat to my life."

"You know, one of you could text her?" I proposed since neither or them seemed to be making any progress.

"Yes. Yes. Texting" Gibsie shouted, turning a few heads from our table. He immediately took out his phone and started texting frantically a number I assumed was Maeve's.

"Nothing to see here lads, go back to your lunches." I insisted and, unsurprisingly, my teammates did, they turned back to their own conversations like nothing had happened.

"I will never get used to seeing you do that." Niamh commented.

"She's not answering her phone." Cried Gibsie.

"Will you calm down, it's only 14:10. I'm sure that she just went somewhere to cool off." I retorted. "Once she's calm enough, she will text you back."

"What did you say to her to manage to make her literally run away?" Niamh asked.

"I didn't do anything. We got into a fight and she ran off." Not a lie, but not the full truth either.
It didn't seem like it was my place to tell them about what happened, about Maeve's reaction to – well something.

"Gibs, do you have her brother's number?" I asked.

"Yes, why?" he replied.

"Why do you think?" I said sarcastically. "To call him."

"So I can sign my own death certificate? No, thank you." He looked at me as if I had grown three heads.

"Well, his sister is outside, alone and barely clothed with no way of getting home by herself, as you've stated before, so, yeah, I'm going to call him." I bit back and took his phone from his hands.

"What's his name?" I asked while looking through his contacts. Call if arrested, Claire-Bear, Do not call if arrested, Ginger Pubes, Main hoe, Judas Iscari-cunt, Viper...
"I'm not even going to comment this." I stated while giving him a glare.

"He's saved as Joey the Hurler." Gibsie told me.

"Like Joseph Lynch the hurler? The guy who plays at national level?" I asked incredulous.
That's who Maeve's brother was?
"They have different surnames." I pointed out.

"They're technically cousins." Niamh interjected. "He's Shannon's brother."

Almost wincing at the fact that I was probably the person this man wanted to hear the from the least, considering I had caused one of his sisters to go to the hospital and the other to run away in the middle of a rainstorm, I pressed the call button and put the phone next to my ear.

"Gussie, I'm at work this better be fucking important." Said a deep voice on the other side of the phone.

"It's Johnny, I'm a friend of your sister's." I introduced myself, hoping my reputation didn't precede me.

"No, you're not." And I was mistaken. "You're the guy that knocked out Shan. What can I do for you?" he told me in a very sarcastic tone. He was Maeve's brother alright.
I excused myself from Niamh and Gibsie and went to the restroom so I could talk freely.
This guy was her brother and I had no intention getting on his bad side, well not more than I already was.
So I told him everything.