“What the hell, guys?” Shannon exclaimed when we barreled into the kitchen of the manor, laden down with presents, plastered into PVC leather, and about three hours late. “You missed the entire party. We cut the cake hours ago.”
Yeah, we had missed the party, and I felt terrible about it, but the memory of Gerard’s epic neck-kisses took the sting out of it. I had no clue where we stood with each other. Clearly, I’d never racked up a three-hour makeout session with a boy before, but he was acting friendly enough, and hadn’t slammed the brakes on his offerings of affection, so I could only hope that we were on the right path.
The boyfriend and girlfriend kind of path?
Maybe?
Hopefully?
Aw crackers.
“I am so sorry, chickie!” Dumping an armful of presents on the table, I made a beeline for the miniature version of Joey. “Hi, Sean.” Crouching down in front of the boy dressed in an expensive-looking rabbit costume, I readjusted the adorable floppy ears and smiled. “Happy fourth birthday, handsome.”
He smiled up at me and I swear I had never seen a cuter bunny in my life. “You know what, pretty boy?” I cooed, poking the tip of his cute button nose. “I think you might be even cuter than my kittens.”
“You missed the clown.”
“No, she didn’t,” Tadhg chimed in from his perch on the island. “She brought him with her.”
“She brought him with her,” Gerard mimicked with a glare. “Less of the lip.”
“Oh my God, Shan!” Springing to my feet, I took in the sight of my bestie’s costume and whistled out an impressed breath. Dressed in a long, floating white dress with angel wings attached, she looked every inch of Claire Danes’ Juliet. “You look so beautiful.”
“And you look so stupid,” Gerard laughed, eyeing Johnny who had strolled into the kitchen, looking less than impressed in the silver armor costume that Leo’s movie version of Romeo had donned.
“Says the fella sweating his bollocks off in cheap ass leather.”
“Whatever, lad.” Unaffected, Gerard continued to grin at his bestie. “At the end of my movie, I drive off in a flying car. You drink poison and die.” Shrugging, he added, “There’s a clear winner here.”
“Yeah,” Tadhg interrupted. “And that’s me.” He gestured to his t-shirt and sweatpants before returning his disgusted gaze on Johnny and Gerard. “You both look like tools.”
Johnny smirked. “I’ll be sure to remind you of that in a couple of years.”
“Yeah,” Gerard huffed. “When your girl comes to you with matching Halloween costumes and puppy eyes.”
Tadhg didn’t respond to their retorts because he was too busy gaping at the boy who had just appeared in the kitchen doorway. “What did they do to you?”
“Don’t fucking start, kid,” the Joker – I mean Joey – warned when he marched into the kitchen, looking like the sexiest baddie I’d ever seen. “Just get your bags and let’s get this over with.” He pushed his temporarily dyed neon-green hair out of his eyes before lifting Sean into his arms. “I dropped Aoife and AJ over to her parents’ place, and I told her I’d be back in an hour to take her to this stupid fucking party, so let’s get this trick or treating bullshit done nice and snappy.”
“You think I’m going trick or treating with you looking like that?” Tadhg gaped at him in horror. “Fuck no, I would rather shit in my hands and clap.”
“Tadhg!” Shannon scolded. “Language.”
“Besides, I’m not going this year,” Mr. Attitude explained, ignoring his sister. “I’m too old for that shit.”
“You heard Shan. Mind your language, kid,” Joey barked in a far more authoritarian tone than their sister had used, and like a good little pup, Tadhg bowed down to the alpha of their family pack.
Oh wow.
Maybe Shannon wasn’t the lucky one.
Maybe Aoife was.
“Ah, would you look at all of them,” Edel gushed, appearing from another doorway with Shannon’s oldest brother in tow. “Aren’t they only gorgeous, Darren?”
“You all look brilliant,” Darren offered with a smile. Turning to his brother, he added, “Looking slick, Joe.”
His compliment was met with stony silence from Joey, who completely ignored him.
Awkward.
Sighing heavily, Darren turned to his sister. “You look beautiful, Shan.”
“Thanks, Dar,” she replied, offering him a small smile. “Are you doing anything for the night?”
“Nah, I’ll hang here with the boys,” he replied.
Don’t do it, Gerard mouthed from behind them, clearly knowing what I was about to say before I said it.
“You can come to the party,” I blurted out and then laughed nervously when I was greeted with horrified looks from Johnny and Joey. Meanwhile, Gerard faceplanted his hand. Oops. “I mean, it’s totally cool if you want to swing by for a boogie.” A boogie? What was I, forty? Jesus.
Thankfully, Ollie decided to save me by trotting into the kitchen with his sexy saint of a foster father in tow.
“Wow, Ols,” I grinned. “Fancy.”
“I’m a barrister,” he explained, dressed in a designer suit, with sunglasses perched on his nose. He even had his hair slicked back like one of those corporate lawyers in the movies. “Like my dad.”
The entire room went silent, and I held my breath, not having one single iota of a clue what to say in response to his innocent comment.
Was it good?
Was it bad?
I had no clue.
All I could do in this moment was eyeball Gerard who was eyeballing me right back.
“Okay,” Edel said, breaking the silence, “everybody, stand in together for a photo.” Her voice was thick with emotion, but she masked it well with an enthusiastic tone of voice and an even bigger smile. “And give me your best smiles. You too, Darren, love. I want this one for the wall.”
