Needing 13 - Johnny Kavanagh

MR. OCEAN BLUE EYES

APRIL 2ND 2004

TARA

"Where's my brother?" I asked. "Aoif?"

Alec wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Where do you think?"

"Thanks for the mental image, Alec."

"Anytime."

"Ugh, look at those Tommen posh pricks," Podge grumbled, taking a swig of his beer and pointing toward a far table. "All of them are rugby players, but they don't have a fucking hurling team. It's ridiculous."

"But you can't deny they're sexy as hell," Casey said, a smirk curling her lips as he took a sip of her drink. "All those glorious hard muscles and those abs that could cut diamonds. Every girl's wet dream, I'm telling you."

"Not mine," I muttered. "They're all overgrown toddlers."

"Miss 'I hate rugby,' you hooked up with Darragh."

"We kissed," I clarified, feeling the need to set the record straight. "We didn't hook up."

Alec snorted, barely containing his laughter. "If you call kissing having your tongue down his throat, sure."

"Okay," I grumbled, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks. "We snogged, happy now? I was drunk. He was drunk. End of the fucking story."

Casey grinned wolfishly. "Very."

"Who snogged who?" Aoife's breathless voice interrupted us. She appeared with my brother in tow, his hair disheveled and his face twisted in annoyance.

"Someone's angry," I clicked my tongue as they sat down, eyeing their disheveled appearance. "A bathroom quickie, really?" I continued, raising an eyebrow as Aoife blushed.

"Fuck off, Tara," Joey scowled and reached over, snatching my drink from my hands and downing it in one go. "This is for you being so fucking nosy."

"Everyone's business is my business. You'd be surprised how much I know about a lot of people."

"Right," my brother snorted, disbelief etched on his face. "You can't know everyone's business, that's bleeding ridiculous."

"You'd be surprised, dear brother. Everyone has a price." I took a sip of Alec's beer, ignoring his protests. "You just have to be willing to pay for it."

"Here," a fella approached our table, reminding me a lot of Darragh but with blonde hair. He was holding two pints, which he handed to my brother and Aoife with a sheepish smile. "I want to apologize for earlier... you know... about the bathroom."

Aoife blushed, her cheeks reddening under the dim bar lights, and spoke loudly over the pulsing music, "That's very nice of you." She turned to my brother, who was glaring at the blonde fella. "Isn't it, Joe?"

Joey shrugged, his expression unimpressed. "If you say so."

"I'm here with my Cap and some friends if you want to join us."

I drained the last of my drink and stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to dance," I announced. "Case, are you coming? You're the birthday girl."

"Lead the way," Casey laughed, grabbing my hand enthusiastically and pulling us toward the dance floor.

It was Casey's birthday, and we had decided to celebrate at Biddie's with Alec, Podge, Aoife, and my brother. Apparently, this place was the territory of the posh pricks of the Tommen rugby team, and when the boys and my brother had started talking about them, I had gone outside to smoke. I wasn't interested in that sport at all; I went to watch Darragh's games because he was my best friend and because I knew they were important to him. He was aiming for the English national team as his first choice for a professional career.