SKYFALL, Johnny Kavanagh

Hug(s) and make up

Maeve's Point of View

"I've been looking for you for the better part of an hour." Said a worried looking Joey.
His t-shirt, already dirty form working in the garage, was now soaking wet from being outside and he was shivering from the cold.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked while looking behind him and seeing two – well, two and half – familiar figures. "How long have all of you been standing there?"
Aoife Molloy and Casey Lordan were both standing right in front of me now, both in drenched clothing.
I always thought they resembled the sun and the moon, Aoife with her blonde hair, blue eyes and warm personality and Casey with her dark hair and aloof demeanour.
I was always jealous of them, of their friendship, of how close they seemed to one another.
They were each other's number one.
And for a while, maybe, so was I.
Maybe I could be again.

"Only a couple of minutes, just enough to hear what they needed to hear." Joey responded while taking back little Sean from Aoife's arms.

I wasn't mad anymore I realised, not at them anyway.
I was just disappointed in myself.
I had always felt second to everyone in my life.
To my parents I was second to my sister.
To Joey I felt second to his siblings.
To my aunt and uncle I was second to their children.
And to them I thought I was second to Podge.
I was wrong.
"Why are you all wet?"

"Why do you think?" Joey laughed. "We searched everywhere for you."

"How did you even know I was missing?" I wondered out loud.

"Johnny Kavanagh himself called to inform me." He rolled his eyes. "He told me you took off alone and that you weren't responding to their texts."

"Should have known you'd come here." He concluded.

I took out my phone, having completely forgot that it was there, and went to check the million of messages and missed calls all from different contacts.
Gibsie, Niamh, Joey, Aoife, Casey had all tried to contact me at least ten times each in the span of that hour.
I smiled.
People were looking for me.
People cared if I went missing.
Take that, Teddy Lynch.

"I did text him when you showed up, to let him know you were here." Tony admitted.

"So, this was all part of your plan." I couldn't help but laugh at Tony. "Remind to never underestimate you."

"It was time you three all made up." He pointed at me, Aoife and Casey. "I couldn't stand to see those two mope around the house for one more second."

That moment I looked at them again.
The girls who used to dance with me at parties.
The girls who always chose places reachable by bus to go hang out, so I could join.
The girls who cried, laughed and screamed with me.
The girls who used to help cover up the bruises my uncle left me.

"Hey Lordan." I grinned. "Hey Molloy."

"Hey Connor." They both waved.

"Joey, you took a long enough break. Come on, let's go work." Tony announced while dragging Joey and Sean with him.

"Subtlety has never been his strong suit, has it?" I asked.

"No, it hasn't." Aoife replied.

After a few moments of tense silence, I decided to break the ice. "So, you went looking for me?"

"Duh. You went berserk and ditched your prep school friends so we had to go the rescue." Casey exclaimed.

"Casey." Aoife scolded.

"What? She did, we were with Joey when he got the call." Casey shrugged.

"So, you both ruined your clothes and your make-up to look around town in the rain?" I asked.