The Girl In The Suit

Tasha

2 weeks later

The best night of our secondary school careers has arrived. The night of the ball. Gemma got out of hospital the day after the talk with Gabrielle on the steps, but the thing is that she's being sent away to a mental hospital in Galway. Her parents didn't want to but at the same time, they didn't want their daughter dead, so they made the painful decision to send yet another kid away. She's going tomorrow, but the group of us made a pact to not be sad tonight, and instead enjoy ourselves and have a great night.

Just as I'm finished putting on my jumpsuit and brushing my hair, the bell rings. Gabrielle is here. I smile to myself and head down the stairs. My parents are chatting up a storm with her in the kitchen, asking her about her plans for after school. I hear her say that she wants to be a counsellor. I smile to myself again. Maybe one day, we'll open up a private counselling thing at home. No waiting lists, €20 a session, a playroom for children, a comfy waiting room for the adults and judgement free counselling. We'll be married. Maybe we'll have kids. I smile again at the thought of spending my life with her.

I appear by the doorway and I clear my throat. Everyone looks at me. Gabrielle's wearing the dress I got her for her birthday. She has only a bit of makeup on, and it looks perfect. She stares at me though, from head to toe.

"Wow.", she says. "You look amazing."

"Likewise with you."

My parents look at each other before my dad says, "Ok, I'm going to leave you kids alone. Have fun tonight, don't drink!"

"We won't, dad!"

They walk away before Gabrielle steps up and walks over to me. She slips her hands around my waist and looks into my eyes. "You're beautiful.", she says before leaning in to kiss me. When we break the kiss, I say, "I heard you talking to my parents. You want to be a counsellor. What happened to your dream of being a music teacher?"

"I changed my mind. I wanna help people. I also wanna be in the same work field as you."

"I was thinking that we could have a private counselling service. In our home." I smile at her.

"Our home?" There's a twinkle in her eye.

"Yes. Our home. I wanna marry you, future Gabrielle Hanrahan."

She smiles so big that it makes my heart explode. "I can't cry, it'll mess up my makeup." I smile at her. "I wanna marry you too, Tasha Hanrahan."

Neither of us say anything as we close the gap between us. The happiness, love and pure joy I feel around this girl is something I'll never experience with anyone else.

🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

When we reach the hotel at the top of town, we meet up with the girls. Anne is wearing a black tuxedo for tonight. Caoimhe and Amelia are wearing matching yellow dresses. They're stepsisters and they act like twins. Hayley is wearing a nice stylish shirt and pants. Gemma is nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Anne.", I ask. "Has Gemma shown up yet?"

"Uh, she said she'll be another while. She had an appointment."

"Ah, ok. Will we wait for her?"

"I will. You guys go on in."

"You sure, Anne? We'll stay as well if you want."

"Positive. Thank you, Tash."

"No problem. Tux is amazing, by the way."

"Thank you, Tash. Now go and have some fun!"

I smile at her as I take Gabrielle's hand in my own and we walk in after being checked for alcohol. The room is set up amazingly. Theres posters with all of the classes faces on them. One from the Pres, one from CBS and one from Tech. 3 schools coming together for one night, to celebrate the middle section of secondary school. The song playing as we walk in is The Sound by The 1975, a perfect school dance song. Tonight is going to be amazing.

No one takes any notice of us as we wall in the door. We may be the gays of the town, and I may be the Dumbledore of the town, but we're still the geeks. I've been with Amelia, Caoimhe, Hayley and Kate (when she was in our group) since the start of primary school and Gabrielle joined in when she came into first year. I had to repeat because my grades on the summer exams were embarrassing, so the girls actually snuck into the school and changed their grades so their parents would make them repeat with me. They were lucky they weren't caught and expelled. It was also common knowledge in the group that I had a crush on Gabrielle, so they wanted to stay with us to see if anything happened.

I remember the day I came home from Dublin and told them. None of them could believe how long it took to happen. They knew I liked her since my first run of first year, and it wasn't until third year we got together. In the world of hormonal Irish teenagers, that's a pretty long time. I can't believe we've been together 6 months now.

The room is crowded with over 200 15-16 year olds, at least half of whom are drunk. I would never get drunk on a night like tonight, it ruins the experience and memories. We all go into our own part of the room and start to dance.

At one point, Amelia slips away from us and she comes back with a familiar looking girl, but I can't catch her name.

"Hey, guys! This is Rosie. Shes my girlfriend. Rosie, this is Tasha, Gabrielle and you know Caoimhe. Anne is outside waiting for our other friend, Gemma."

Gabrielle and I look at each other stunned. Even though Gabrielle is technically the baby of the group, Amelia is like my baby sister. It's strange to see her with a girlfriend. I then remember that shes been crazy over this girl since her second run of first year.

"Hey, Rosie, nice to meet you.", I say.

"Nice to meet you too, Tasha."

🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

After another half hour of dancing, laughing and drinking non alcoholic beverages, I begin to worry about Gemma. I step away from the group and I give Gabrielle a nod before heading away. I dial her number. She picks up.

"Gemma, where are you?"

"Home. I came for around 5 or 10 minutes and I left. Anne's with me, don't worry. She wouldn't leave me on my own even though my parents and Freddie are here. Annoying how y'all are so worried."

"Gemma, it's for your good. We care about you, that's why all this is happening. Put me on to Anne."

"Why?"

"I need proof that shes with you."

"Ok then, Miss Overprotective."

A moment later, Anne's voice comes on the phone. "Hello?"

"Please tell me that girl is alright."

"A bit drunk. Says it's her last night of freedom and she has a right to."

"Jesus Christ. Is she bad?"

"Doing better." 

"Where did she even get the drink?"

"She has a fake ID. Don't even ask me how she got that made because I honestly don't have a clue. I took it while she was getting into her pyjamas."

"Wow. Shes unpredictable. Do you need me over?"

"No, Tasha, we're alright. Her parents and Freddie are here."

"Ok. We'll be over tomorrow to say goodbye, tell her that."

"No problem. Thanks, Tasha."

"Thanks, Anne."

She ends the call and I sigh. I head back in to the girls and decide to not break our pact. We have a great night and go for chips afterwards. The call with Anne is stored in the back of my mind.

🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

The next day, we all gather at the square at 11 o clock to see Gemma off. Shes going on the bus on her own, believe it or not. I offered to go but the Welches said there was no need. Freddie did as well. Gemma wants to do this on her own.

We all give her a hug and gives Anne one last kiss, before she comes over to me and makes me promise to keep her safe. That's the last thing she says before she heads onto the bus. She gives us all one last wave until she drives away for the last time.