𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 ✹ 𝐠. 𝐠𝐢𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐱𝐢𝐯 - 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 101

Haven

By the time we got to our driveway I was mentally strained. Every single word Ma told me left an indent on my brain which made me go back and re-analyze every interaction I'd had with Gerard for as long as I can recall with a fresh perspective and a hopeful heart being clutched in my hands. Ma's car came to a halt in our driveway and our reaction to the scene before us was the same. Our brows furrowed and we leaned forward the slightest bit. "Ma what's all this about?" I asked her, glancing at how she was as astounded as I was to see several cars pulled up in our driveway, one of which I could recognize in my sleep.

"I have no idea angel, maybe your brother invited the rugby team over." She commented, stopping right in front of our house. Ma had gotten a work call a couple minutes earlier which meant she had to go to some lady's house to brainstorm dress ideas for her wedding or something.

"Are you sure you'll be comfortable with everyone in the house?" She asked me after a good 5 minutes of parking in our street. I nodded and unclasped my seatbelt. "Yeah ma, I'll be grand." I reassure again whilst giving her a soft smile. She nods curtly.

"Okay, call me if you need anything." She leans forward and presses a kiss to my forehead, wiping the slight lipstick stain she just left off "Love you, angel."
"Love you too Ma." I reply, getting out of the car and shutting the door gently behind me. Ma waited in the driveway until I was safely tucked away inside the house and then drove off. My keys found their place in the bowl for keys at the foyer and I paused for a second, listening to the loud banter and voices heading from what I could tell was the living room whilst trying to figure out who and how many people were over.

Their voices were loud and boisterous; several curse words getting thrown into the air along chirps to the tv about the referee in whatever game they were waiting was 'absolute shite'

I made a beeline over to the kitchen as everyone in the living room cheered about something. The sheer amount of noise emanating from that room was so loud I could only imagine the amount of people here.
Jesus had stupid Johnny invited the whole bleeding team?

I was certain nobody had noticed me coming in and was glad about it. Johnny's rugby friends weren't necessarily my cup of tea. There were a couple good ones like Gerard (obviously) and Patrick Feely but the majority rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know if it was about the way they treated people or how highly they held themselves to standards or the horrid stories I'd heard about some of them; but if I could avoid minimum interaction with them, trust me, I would.

I opened the fridge in efforts to rummage through it but it was filled to the brim with beer. I let out a huff and tried moving some around to get to the food inside but it was literally impossible to move the bottles without dropping them. Giving up any hopes to find food there I move my search to the pantry. Snacks sit pretty on the shelves so I grab a couple and walk back out, nearly jumping out of my skin as I see two boys which I didn't recognize chatting while one leaned against the counter. I wasn't planning on acknowledging them any time soon so I placed the bags on the counter and felt their eyes creep on my back. Apparently their plans were different because as soon as I reopened the fridge to give it another shot, an unusually Cork  accent spoke behind me. "Well well well, look who we have here George." The first one spoke and the hairs behind my neck prickled up. Tension was pulled taut in the muscle between my shoulder blades and right about now I thanked the fact I had slipped my headphones on before entering the pantry. "Come on princess, don't ignore us." The George boy said "Look at her Paul, she's playing hard to get, it's cute when they think they're difficult." Their voices were muffled by the music.

They whistled at me as if I was a dog and it made my gut feeling prickle and just from those five seconds of interaction I could tell the type of people they were. I turned around and took off my headphones. "Are you speaking to me?" I played dumb. They laughed and it made the bad type of goosebumps raise on my skin.