SKYFALL, Johnny Kavanagh

Clowns, Hamlet and geese

Maeve's Point of View

The walk to the bus stop wasn't far, but it felt longer with Johnny beside me.

Not because of the silence – even though that wasn't helping – but because I couldn't stop thinking.
About the way he'd said it.
I want to make sure you get home safe.

Like it was simple.
Like it wasn't the kind of sentence that could knock the air out of your lungs if you let it sink in too deep.

I just walked, hands shoved into my jacket pockets, the spring chill prickling at my skin.

Johnny cleared his throat after a few minutes. "Do you always get this quiet before a party, or am I just lucky tonight?"

I glanced over at him. "If Aoife and Casey heard you say that, they'd actually choke from laughter."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are those your friends from BCS?"

I nodded. "Yeah. They used to call me Queen of Chaos."

Johnny looked amused. "That's hard to picture."

"That's because you met me post-apocalypse." I muttered, eyes on the pavement. "Before that, I was a nightmare with eyeliner and a lighter."

He chuckled. "So what you're saying is, this is the mellow version?"

"Terrifying, right?"

"Honestly?" He looked over at me. "Kind of wish I'd met that version too."

I scoffed. "No, you don't."

There was a beat of silence, then he added casually, "Joey's girlfriend is Aoife, isn't she?"

I blinked. "How do you know that?"

He just smirked. "A man's got to have some secrets."

"Joey told you."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to." I rolled my eyes. "Of course he did."

He laughed under his breath. "He said the other one is terrifying in a knife-between-the-ribs kind of way."

"Yep, that's Casey for you."

We turned the corner, the bus stop just ahead, empty except for a woman with a stroller and a boy holding a football.

Johnny leaned against the shelter's frame, arms crossed, eyes scanning the road. "You don't have to stay long, you know."

"I wasn't planning to."

His gaze slid over to me. "But you are going."

"I said I would."

The bus arrived with a low rumble, brakes squealing as it slowed to a stop.
I climbed in first, slid into a window seat near the back, and Johnny followed without hesitation, dropping into the seat beside me.

He was the first to speak again. "You look nice, by the way."

I turned my head slowly. "You only say that because I'm not in uniform."

His mouth twitched. "Doesn't make it any less true."

I rolled my eyes, but I didn't argue.

The rest of the ride passed mostly in silence, save for the occasional announcement from the driver and a burst of laughter from a group of teenagers in the front seats.

When we finally got off, it was already starting to go dark.

The sun hung low on the horizon, bleeding orange and gold across the sky.
The walk from the stop to Hughie's wasn't long, but I could already hear the music from halfway down the street.