Irish Year Of Love

Christina's P.O.V- Strange Behaviour

Red flaming hair walked in the room. Familiar red hair. It took Miss Miller 0.25 seconds to recognize me.

"Chrissy, is that you?" she said rising to hug me. I didn't believe it was at first, I hadn't seen or heard from her in years as much as I kept in touch with Lee.

I hugged her. Lee didn't look like her sister much apparently. If it wasn't for Miss Miller I wouldn't have known she was. She stood there awkwardly, glancing up at me between picking her nails while I spoke to her mum. When I walked in the room she stood there looking like she wanted nothing else than to be out of here. I introduced myself and shook her hand. We made eye contact. She was a pretty girl with some electric green eyes. I felt her pull her hand away. Miss Miller continued her interrogation.

"New York did it's time" I started getting  ready to get started.

"Do you have a bathroom?" she asked.

"Yeah I'll show you" I got up leading her to the restroom. I'd drowned the place in insect spray earlier. Moths were in every corner of the place. I hope it had died down a bit.

We had to walk through my room to get to the bathroom, I saw her looking around.

"I live here." I sat on the bed watching her. She actually didn't look like Lee at all. She had an ethereal look with the way her red hair contrasted against buttery skin. She surely didn't act like her either. Lee was hyper and bubbly- a friendly person while this girl seemed reserved.

She nodded making to pull the door. I amusedly watched her fingers slipping against the handle. The insect spray must have fell on the surface. I made to open it for her, placing my hand on hers and spinning the handle- just to see how she would react. She hastily pulled her hand out from under mine and went in the bathroom.

A couple minutes passed and she was still in there.

"Is everything okay in there?"

She opened the door and popped a small smile.

"Yeah let's go"

She was being just a tad bit on the eccentric side. Once I started her makeup, she told me to close my top.

When I finished on her face, she hopped out of the chair, muttering a bye. I let her breeze past me. Miss Miller didn't seem to think anything was different about her behaviou so I figured it was normal. She thanked me then left.

Women were complex anywhere you went. Ireland or New York to Mumbai. I lay in bed going through my gallery. I'd taken screenshots of some apartments in the country and in the town as I wanted to move out of my workplace as soon as possible. I came across a picture of Gracie, her hand covering half of her face. I remembered that day as if it was a couple seconds ago. We went on a road trip. Across country U.S.A. The place we stopped at was a little shack to freshen up in Louisiana. She hadn't wanted me to take her photo. I felt a smile cover my face and swiped left when I felt myself get a bit emotional with the memories. Gracie was my best friend. My lover. And a mother to me all at once. I wasn't fooling myself or anyone else by saying her leaving didn't affect me. We lived together, schooled together, worked together, for three years. And while that may seem short to some, it felt like an eternity to me. I had met Gracie at uni in New York. She was in her second year, I in my first. At first I wasn't interested at all, I thought she was just a pretty face. Those were a dime a dozen. But Gracie was determined. She wanted what she wanted and she set her eyes on me. She was humorous. I caved in and we finally went on a date.

My mum passed away after that. Ovarian cancer. She hadn't told me about it. That's probably why it hit me so hard. I couldn't bring myself to go to her funeral. I had nightmares of attending and jumping in the grave with her. In the end Gracie used to say it sounded like a kind of dark humour. I went spiralling through a pit of depression. I fell out of all my classes, I wasn't eating, I neglected my appearance. Guess who was there through it all? Gracie. She helped me get back on my feet. She encouraged me to move in with her as I wouldn't speak to my father. I didn't know what to say to him. He was just as defeated as I was. I feared seeing him would make my depression worsen. Mum's death opened my eyes to so many things. I didn't want to go back to school even after a full year of mourning. I realized I didn't want to spend my entire life typing digits in some bank. I wanted to draw, take photos. Gracie understood this completely. She herself was studying fashion. But I didn't have the money and I still hadn't communicated with my dad. So Gracie got me a job. As a makeup artiste intern. At first I thought she was insane. Makeup was everything I wasn't. But that seemed sensible enough after she laid out he facts and how much it paid. I told her I'd do a test run for a month. At the end of that month I'd made so much I decided to try for a year and save for college. Fast forward two years later and I had more than enough to go to college. We decided to take a trip to Ireland to see my dad. The trip proved to be very emotional and who was there to witness it all? Gracie. Dad fell in love with her too. She was like the mom of the house whenever we went to visit. But I didn't feel much like going to college when another person I loved left me. Gracie left on a Wednesday after we came back from a visit to Ireland. She said she got a call from Vogue Italy on the Monday and had to leave in two days. She "didn't know how to tell me" she said. I was devastated. I begged her to stay. Begged. But to no avail. She said Italy was a once in a lifetime offer. She said she had to go. She didn't even stay with me until she left. She took all her stuff on the Monday, and went to stay with her friend. She left money on the table, told me to pay the rent for five months till I figured out myself. It broke my heart. It reminded me of my mother's death and being in the house, we had lived in together, for such a time, laughed together, cried together, made love together, fought together - it was suffocating. I booked a plane ticket back to Ireland two days after she left. She didn't even phone me to say she had arrived in Italy. I had to ask a friend. I just didn't understand it. She loved me. I her, why would she just go away? I gathered myself and went to take a shower, dismissing thoughts of Gracie.

When I came out of the shower, I phoned Lee.

She picked up on the first ring.

"Chrissy?"

"Lee, what you don't have any other friends? Answering on the first ring like that? " Hearing her voice made me smile.

"Oh shut up. Actually I was gonna phone you tomorrow. Guess what?!"

"What?" I dropped my towel to the ground and sat on the bed, air drying.

"I'm coming next week!"

"Coming? Coming where? To New York? "

"No fool. Home, in Ireland"

"How could you possibly be coming home in Ireland and you're already home in Ireland?"

"Brains, heard of em??? I'm coming home! Meaning, the place I grew up home??"

"What! next week?? I didn't expect you so soon! Is this cause I told you I'm here?? I don't even have a place yet!"

"That's okay! I'm gonna stay at my sister's- well mom's, place anyway. I'll explain when I get there."

"Your sister's- okay I'll be-

I struggled to get a word in between Lee's excited ranting but couldn't. I ended up ending the call without understanding any of it. I got dressed and jumped back in bed. I didn't even get to tell her I saw her people today.

I recognized the smell of the water hitting the soil and closed my eyes to the Irish place I didn't realize I missed until now.