Needing 13 - Johnny Kavanagh

KEEP SWIMMING

TARA

I already knew why the great outdoors wasn't for me—exactly because of this: the endless bickering, voices overlapping like a tangled mess of barbed wire, each one winding me up tighter.

Luckily, I'd taken two sleeping pills and slept like a baby through the entire drive to wherever the fuck we were off to celebrate Jonathan's birthday. Freddie had hitched a ride with us, and I'd even let him have the passenger seat so he could talk with my boyfriend. I liked Freddie well enough; we shared decent taste in tunes, and Katie was spending more time with him than her own boyfriend lately. I loved Jonathan, but we weren't exactly attached at the hip.

Biggs Boy and his sister hadn't stopped their back-and-forth since stepping through the door that morning. Katie was in a bit of a strop herself and hadn't bothered to explain why. Lizzie was in her default bitch mode, Erin and Darragh seemed utterly unbothered, and my sister and Conrad were still shooting me death glares for sending Ollie to annoy them bright and early. Out of everyone, the only one genuinely buzzing about Jonathan's birthday besides me was Gregory—his best mate and the group's unofficial hype man.

"Cork, Claire?" Biggs Boy deadpanned, leaning against his car as he glanced around with obvious disappointment. "Of all the places in the country to go camping, you picked Cork?"

Jesus, his voice was already grating on my nerves.

"It's a lovely spot," Claire replied with a sigh. "There's a river, it's surrounded by woodland. It's beautiful, and I promise we'll have some fun." She reached into my boyfriend's car, pulling out a bundle of green, white, and gold rugby-ball-shaped balloons. She gave them a quick tug to keep them from blowing away before fishing out two massive red balloons shaped like the numbers one and eight. "Just try to have a bit of faith, yeah?"

"Well, I think it's great, Claire," Jonathan interjected, giving her a nod of appreciation. "I really appreciate all the effort you put into this. Thanks a million."

God bless his soul.

"You're welcome, Johnny."

"It's grand," I added, shrugging and looking around at the endless trees. "Love the green. Love the trees."

Inside, though, I was weeping. Malachy had offered me his family mansion for the party. We could've camped in the sprawling garden if that's what everyone was dead set on. Instead, here we were, in the middle of fucking nowhere, with not a bleeding shower in sight. I scanned around, hoping for even a hint of proper facilities. Nope. Nada.

"This is great, Claire," Shannon chimed in. "Most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life."

"You've only been out of Cork the once," Lizzie drawled, arms crossed. "For the Dublin match."

"Twice," she mumbled, cheeks turning pink. "Went to Kerry once, when I was small."

"But still only three places, Shan—"

"Watch it," I snapped, sending Lizzie a warning look

"But we're still in Cork, Cap," Hughie grumbled, shaking his head.

I groaned, pulling Darragh into a dramatic hug. "Darragh, save me," I said, clinging to him.

"Is this always like this?" Erin asked, squeezing me from the other side, her arm winding around my shoulders.

"Erin, get your hand off my tit."

"Have you grown a cup?"

"Yes."

"Had to check."

I was about to snap back when Gregory's voice cut through the chatter.

"West Cork," he corrected, stepping up beside Claire, a note of warning in his tone as he hoisted a slab of Heineken under his arm. "And fuck off with your whingeing," he added. "At least your sister's got the imagination to put this whole trip together. Otherwise, we'd be sitting in Biddies, downing pints and fending off clingers." He turned to Claire, his tone softening. "Don't be listening to him, baby. You did a great job." With a rough gentleness, he reached out, tugging her ponytail to make her look up at him. "Keep that head up," he ordered, using his thumb to tip her chin up. "And don't go hiding that angel face, alright?"