The Star Children ch11-2

A Chuisle Mo Chroí - part 2


And an adventure it was.

Getting into Hartford from Bristol wasn’t too bad; Raquel was right, it was really only about twenty minutes. We talked a little bit about my day at school, without mentioning Daniel. She found it funny how most of the presents I got from students were all food. One student got me a really pretty Celtic cross necklace, which was really sweet of her, but the rest of my gifts were all tins of cookies and brownies, and chocolate pretzels.

She reached over and rubbed my arm, “Your kids know you well.”

“They know me too well.”

“Hey, ya know sharing is caring.”

I looked over at her and smirked, “You think you’re getting my food that easily.”

“Oh sweetie,” I felt her lightly scratch my side, “I can get anything I want out of you.”

We laughed but then I sighed. She really could, I couldn’t say ‘no’ to her.


She directed me onto a side street and I parked the truck under a light. I noticed Raquel checking her mobile and scrolling through text messages.

“Todd and Maddie should be here soon. I don’t see them yet.”

“Who?”

Raquel grinned, but this was more of a nervous grin, “Okay, so Todd is actually a guy I tried to date in high school, but we went out a few times and nothing really clicked with us, so we just stayed friends. Well, Maddie, who was on my field hockey team liked Todd, so I hooked them up together and they’ve been like, off and on with each other. I’ll be honest, Maddie turned into an uber bitch after college. She’s one of those friends you have that you don’t like and don’t know why you’re friends with them, but you are...”

I just looked at her like I was lost. Because I was. “Why are you friends with someone you don’t like?”

“It’s more like to keep the peace between me and Todd... ‘Cause I like hanging out with him and all and don’t want to make things difficult if Maddie’s around.”

I just shook my head and mumbled, “Girls are weird.” Raquel smacked me on the shoulder,

“Hey, you’re dating me.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re weird.”

Her mouth fell open and she was trying to hold back a smile; she knew I was joking with her.

“You’re weird!”

“You’re wearing a thigh high dress in 20 degree weather! That’s like me wearing a kilt in this.”

Raquel started to laugh but as soon as I mentioned the kilt she leaned over the centre console and started rubbing my arm again, “You should probably wear that kilt some time... and just that kilt... just sayin’...”

I smiled very sweetly down at her, she smiled back and I kissed the top of her head before very flatly saying “No.”

She pulled away and gasped, “Damn it Rowan, you can’t tease me like that!”

“I’m not teasing you.”

“Yes you are! You in a kilt... oh my God...”  She leaned back in her seat and started to fan herself with her coat sleeve, “Woo...  I just got hot for a second.”

I leaned against the door and chuckled to myself, “You’re too much Raquel.”

“Okay Rowan, I know you don’t think much of it, but I find you incredibly sexy, okay. You’re just gonna have to deal with that fact.”

“Whatever you say, Raquel...”

“I want you to have my babies.”

I looked over at her and we both started laughing, “Wait, what?!”

“Yeah! You can do it. You already look like you’re carrying twins.” Raquel suddenly stopped and clapped her hand over her mouth, “Oh my God! That was so mean, I’m so sorry!”

“Wow... Thanks Raquel...”

“I love you...”

“You love fat redheads?”

“Yes!”

“Mhmm... Well at least I can’t say I love you just for your boobs ‘cause ya don’t have any. Ooh!”

Raquel’s jaw dropped and she pressed her hands onto her chest, “Rowan!”

“I had to!” I laughed, “I couldn’t help it, I had to!”

She crossed her arms in front of her and shot me a glare.

“If you can pick on me, I can pick on you.”

Her expression still didn’t change. I leaned over across the centre console and wrapped my arm around her shoulders,

“Hey, if you can fall in love with my biggest flaw, what makes you think I can’t fall in love with yours?” I leaned in a little further and kissed her on the cheek. Now her face changed. Her mouth hung slightly open and her eyes softened. We stared at each other for a moment before we started to move in closer to each other, this time for a more serious kiss. Raquel’s hands were on my face and just as she tilted her head to the side her mobile lit up and started to buzz.

“Ugh, oh my God, right now?” She pulled away and fished in her coat pocket to check it. “Oh... Todd and Maddie are here, somewhere.” She pulled her coat closed a little tighter and started to open her door, “They’re probably just around the corner, we should probably wait outside for them.”

I would have rather had stayed in the truck and snog but I kept my mouth shut, grabbed my coat in the back seat and got out of the truck to wait with her. Raquel insisted that they were nearby but I didn’t see them or even hear anyone coming. We both stood on the sidewalk, I leaned my back against the truck and Raquel stood in between my legs so she could lean into me. I snickered at her when I felt her shiver,

“I don’t want to hear one complaint that you’re cold.”

“I’m not cold.”

I felt her shiver again. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in closer to me. Because I was leaning back against the truck, I wasn’t standing at my full height and Raquel was able to rest her chin on the middle of my chest. I looked down and saw her smiling up at me,

“What?”

She shrugged, “Nothin’.”

“You look like you want something.”

Her smile grew wider, “I do.”

I smiled back at her, lowered my head and kissed her forehead, “Happy?”

Her cheeks started to flush a bright red and she gave a soft, high pitched, “Mm hm” and a slight nod.

I was about to lean in and kiss her again but someone calling out to Raquel from down the street broke the moment.

Raquel backed away from me and waved her arm, “There you guys are! We were waiting for you!”

The young man and woman coming towards us looked to be around Raquel’s age. The man wore ripped, faded jeans and a blue polo shirt while the woman wore a knee length dress with a dark purple skirt, her jacket covered her top.

Raquel ran towards her and the two girls hugged while I made awkward eye contact with the man and we just nodded at each other. Even in the dim street light I could see his eyes bouncing from my face to my legs and his expression started to become more shocked as he was starting to notice how tall I was.

Raquel ran up and gave him a hug as well before she introduced me.

“Okay so, Maddie, Todd, this is my new boyfriend Rowan!” She hunched her shoulders up as she grinned, so sounded so proud of us. Her friends on the other hand, not so much, especially Maddie who seemed to be making a look of disgust at me. “Rowan, this is Todd and Maddie, my friends from school.”

I pushed away from the truck and as I stood up to my full height I noticed their eyes widen. I shook Todd’s hand but when I held out my hand to Maddie she just waved and smiled at me. There were plenty of things I could have said to her but I just bit my tongue and let it slide.

Todd shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels,

“So... you’re really up there.” It was his awkward attempt to break the silence.

I just shrugged, “I really haven’t noticed.”

After hearing some sort of comment about my height every day since I was 16, I’ve gotten a little snarky with some of my responses.

“Anyway...” Raquel was sensing the tension. She wrapped her arm around my waist and leaned her head into my side, “So, where you park?”

“We actually found a spot like, right in front of the Brick House, so we snagged that,” Maddie said.

“Nice. Yeah, Rowan doesn’t come to Hartford a lot so I didn’t want to get him lost.”

As Raquel was talking I noticed Maddie occasionally glancing up at me. She had a very snobby vibe about her and I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed with Raquel for being with me or annoyed at me for solely existing but either way she didn’t like me. That was fine, the feeling was mutual.

Maddie and Todd led the way to the bar and Raquel and I stayed a few paces behind them. Raquel interlaced her fingers in mine and she’d sometimes playfully nudge my arm with her shoulder or head.

“I feel way too over dressed,” I told her. I kept my voice down to keep the conversation just between us.

“Aw, you look find, Ro.”

I looked down at her and raised an eyebrow,

“Okay, so you’re a little over dressed... but honestly, a lot of these people are just coming off from work when they go out and are probably dressed the same way, you’re fine.” She nudged me again and rubbed her cheek against my arm while she batted her eyes up at me. I’ll admit, I was a little annoyed at the fact that she didn’t tell me what exactly we were doing that night but I couldn’t be angry with her and I certainly wasn’t going to let that ruin my mood. After all, it was either this or sit at home grading papers. I used to go out a lot when I was in Uni, it was a nice change of pace for me.

I let go of her hand and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her in closer to me. Of the few people that we passed on the sidewalk, I didn’t even notice their stares. Raquel was my priority that night; as long as she was having fun that was what mattered.


The place was just as crowded as I imagined it to be. There was a bar up front with a dance floor more towards the back. I think Todd was able to read the look on my face as we walked in because he looked up at me said,

“Yeah, I feel your pain.”

“I gotta get a fireball, like now,” Raquel looked up at me and lightly smacked at my side with the back of her hand, “Fireball?”

“Sure?” I shrugged. I had a feeling I was going to need a lot of alcohol to make it through the night.

“Ooh, know what,” Raquel changed her mind, “we should do Irish car bombs!” Maddie agreed.

I heard the word ‘car bomb’ and felt my heart stop for a moment, “Wait, what?”

“What, you’ve never done that before?”

“No! What are you talking about?”

We both looked at each other like the other was nuts, “You’ve never heard of an Irish Car Bomb before?”

“I know damn well what a car bomb is, Raquel, I don’t think you know.”

Maddie crossed her arms, “Wow, and I thought you were Irish...”

I don’t recall actually doing it, but I must have unconsciously shot her a look because Todd cracked a smile and I felt Raquel put her hand on my belly and lightly push me back.

“Okay, let’s just go to the bar and settle it there...”


After Raquel put the order in for our drinks she had to explain to me what it was, because in all honesty, no I had no idea what an Irish Car Bomb was. Alcoholically speaking of course.

“It’s a half pint of Guinness with a shot of Bailey’s that’s topped with Jameson, you drop the shot glass in the Guinness and chug it.”

Now I know I was looking at Raquel like she was nuts.

“Sounds like a waste of a good Guinness if ya ask me...”

Once I found an empty barstool I sat down and everyone else just migrated over to me. I had to sit down just so I could be at eye level with everyone. When our drinks came around we were each given a pint glass and a shot. Raquel nudged my arm as she held her glasses up,

“Ready?”

I sighed, I could feel my heart breaking, “You’re lucky you’re cute,” I told her.

“Aww, Rowan...” She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek and whispered in my ear, “I’ll get you whatever you want after this.”

I just smiled and kissed her on the cheek. Whenever I don’t know what to say I always just kiss her; that way she thinks I’m being romantic and I get to bide some extra time to think of something witty to say, then I’ll say something witty and she thinks adorable. Works every time.

You’re doin’ a shot of Tellamore Dew with me then.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, darlin’ I have so much to show ya...”


Raquel insisted that we do the drinks together, and yet again I felt the stabbing pain in my heart as I dropped a perfectly good shot of Baileys into a perfectly good half pint of Guinness. The point is to drink it fast before it curds, which was good because I just wanted to get it over with. I didn’t hate it, it wasn’t bad, but I made up my mind that I’d never do something like that ever again solely out of principle. Afterwards I had to get rid of the flavour with a proper pint of Guinness and a glass of Tellamore Dew that I split with Raquel. I was proud of her, one because she could drink whiskey straight and two, because she liked it.

She rubbed my shoulder and nuzzled her nose into my hair, “Hey, so Maddie and I are gonna head out and dance for a little bit.”

“Alright, I’ll be here. Drinking.”

She grinned, “You’re not a dancer?”

“Do I look like a dancer?”

“Some people just need a little encouragement...” And by ‘encouragement I’m sure she meant alcohol.

I just smiled back, “I’ll be right here, my darlin’.”

“Okay...” She leaned in like she was about to kiss me but Maddie pulled her by her other arm the two disappeared into the crowd. I sighed and took a long drink of my beer, it was going to be a long night for me.

Todd took a seat next to me at the bar, it looked like he was now drinking a light beer.

“So what’s your secret?”

“Pardon?”

He raised his eyebrows at me, “Your secret? You have a girl that everyone in town has been pawing after for years completely in love with you. How?”

I shrugged, “I dunno. I’m still asking myself that.”

Todd shook his head and took a sip of his beer, “Man, I remember every guy in school going after Raquel, everyone. She gave people a chance, but she was never with anyone for very long. Not that things ended badly or she was a whore or anything, she just seemed too wild to be stuck to one person.”

This kind of surprised me. I was hoping that Raquel and I would be together for the long term.

“I heard you two dated for a while.” I was a little nervous about what information he’d tell me.

“Kinda... We went on dates but we weren’t together long enough to say that we actually were dating. She said I just didn’t do anything for her.”

“Not her type?”

He nodded, “Yeah. Pretty much. She liked me but sex was dry and uninteresting and we just figured rather than driving each other insane we’d just stay friends.”

Right away I began to flash back to some of our own intimate moments. I won’t say anything that could potentially embarrass Raquel, but let’s just say I didn’t have the same problem that Todd seemed to be describing.

“So then who’s Matt?” All I knew was that he was an ex and he would still text Raquel from time to time, though not as frequently as he did before we started dating.

“Matt’s a guy from school that we knew. They kinda reconnected after college and dated for a bit. I actually think Matt may have been her longest boyfriend... But anyway, he started being a dick to her, wanted more out of her than she was willing to give at the time and she was the one that broke up with him. That’s all I know of it. But like, of all the guys she’s been with, you’re the only one she’s been with that’s like... you.”

I glanced down at myself then back at Todd, “What are you trying to say?”

“Well, I mean, you’re a lot different than the other guys she’s dated.” He was definitely beating around the bush, but I had a feeling I knew what he was talking about my size. Rather than force it out of him I just nodded and took another drink of my beer.

“Yes, I’ve heard...”

“Yeah so, I don’t know what your secret is, but damn bro, you’re a lucky guy.”

I looked back over my shoulder to see if I could spot Raquel. There was a bit of a gap in the crowd and I could see her and Maddie dancing with each other. She had the brightest smile of anyone in the room and her dancing definitely caught my attention. For a moment it seemed like she saw me watching her and she turned her back to me, moving her hips in a more provocative manner before glancing at me from over her shoulder and smiling at me again. And I knew that after we were done here for the night and we went back to my house, she was going to do some weird, kinky stuff to me that I would never imagine in a million years to be sexy but hey, if we’re both smiling at the end of it, that’s all that matters. Yes, I was incredibly lucky.

“Yeah, I’d say she’s a keeper.” I kept my tone very nonchalant and took another drink from my beer.


I didn’t notice Raquel push her way through the crowd to come back over to us.

“D’aww, look at you two bonding over here,” Instead of coming directly over to me she went over and stood by Todd, “What ya have there?”

“A Miller.”

Raquel reached over and took the beer off the bar counter and took a sip. I bit my lip and looked away for a moment; I felt this little stab of jealousy at seeing that. I remember thinking,

‘What’s wrong with my beer?’

Completely stupid but that was what was going through my head. I was getting jealous. After she took her drink she looked over at me and grinned,

“How ya holdin’ up Rowan?”

I shrugged, “meh, I’m here.”

Raquel set Todd’s glass back on the bar and came over to me. She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and nuzzled her face close to mine again,

“And I’m so happy you’re here, Rowan, I am.” She pressed her hand against my chest and we kissed. I thought it was going to be something quick and simple but apparently it wasn’t. She pressed hard against my lips and as she did, her hand slid down and she grabbed my belly. After we broke the kiss she gave me a sly smile, patted my side and disappeared again into the crowd.


I caught Todd’s shocked expression and shrugged before taking another drink from my beer,

“Yeah, I have no idea what she sees in me.”

Todd’s shoulders dropped and he looked down into his glass, “Holy shit, dude.”


I don’t recall how long we were at this club, enough for me to have another few drinks; and by few I mean a lot. Basically we were there until Raquel and Maddie decided to call it quits and go look for food since food at the club was supposedly too expensive and they didn’t have much anyway aside from greasy snack foods. I felt fine, I could see Todd didn’t look like he was doing too good and held onto Maddie’s shoulder as we were leaving. Raquel and I kept our distance behind Maddie and Todd, we just let them lead the way.

“What’s up with him?” Raquel asked.

“I think he was trying to keep up with me...” I shrugged, “That’s a mistake for anyone to try to do.”

“Oh God... How much did you drink?”

I reached into my pocket for the receipt and handed it down to Raquel after I checked it, “Hm, looks like a pretty average night for me.”

“You spent $60 on a bottle of whiskey?!”

“What, you thought one glass was gonna cut it for me?”

Raquel stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and covered her face with her hand, “Jesus Christ Rowan!”

“What?”

“Did you and Todd split this or did you drink it all?”

“I shared a little bit, why?”

She lowered her hand away and shook her head, “Maddie’s gonna be so pissed at you... She’s gotta deal with him.”

“Sorry Raquel, but I don’t care. I don’t think she likes me anyway.”

I was expecting Raquel to defend or friend but she actually took my side.

“I noticed,” she said. “She’s still pissed about Matt and I breaking up because she was the one that hooked us up in the first place. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to get you involved with all my shitty drama...”

I sighed and wrapped my arm around her and pulled her into my side. We both stopped and she wrapped her arms around me under my coat. She squeezed my waist and nuzzled her face into my belly.

“God, you’re so fucking warm...”

“Donegal Wool.”

She smiled and softly sighed. She turned her head so she could look down the sidewalk, “Where’d Maddie and Todd go?”

“I don’t know, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“We should probably go find them.” I felt her squeeze me again, “but in a few minutes, not right now. I’m enjoying this.”

I chuckled and ran my fingers through her hair. The gel had broken down so her hair was softer and easier to play with. She gave me one last tight squeeze before lifting her head and taking a step back,

“Okay, now we should probably go find them.”


***
We were the only people out on the street that night, even traffic was very minimal, I think we only saw two or three cars actually drive past us.

“If we don’t see them soon I’ll give ‘em a call,” Raquel said. We didn’t know where they could have gone, most of the stores we passed by were closed.

“Think they’re in that café up there?” I pointed over to a sign further up the street for a coffee shop called Eventide. “It looks like it’s the only place open.”

We both shrugged at each other and quickened our pace towards the coffee shop.  Once we got close Raquel sped up to a run, or at least as fast as she could go in her heels and peeked in through the windows,

“Yep, they’re in there. Well, Maddie is, I don’t know where Todd is.” She opened the door and held it open until I caught up to her and we both ducked inside.

It was a nice little place, honestly I would have rather spend the evening here than at that club we were just at. The place had a very pleasant Wiccan theme to it with pentacles and black cats everywhere with some faeries and gnome decorations spread about. Maddie was sitting by herself at a table by one of the side windows playing around on her mobile; there was no sign of Todd anyway.

“Raquel, you want a coffee?”

“You don’t have to get me anything,” she slid her coat off and folded it over her arm.

“Well whatever I get you’re gonna want to steal anyway.”

She giggled, “Whatever you wanna do, Row, I’m gonna go ever and talk to Maddie.”

‘Thank God!’ I thought. One of the reasons I wanted to buy something there was so I could give those two a few minutes to themselves. Also, I needed a coffee if I was going to drive home. I was far from drunk but I was feeling sleepy.

We were literally the only people there, aside from the barista, who was a younger girl, probably in her very early 20’s with hair dyed in varying shades of blue and green and two rings pierced through her lower lip. Because it was so quiet I could hear everything that Raquel and Maddie were saying to each other.


“Where were you two?” Maddie didn’t even look up from her mobile.

“We just fell back for a little bit, we didn’t lose you guys.”

“Would have been nice if you could’ve helped out with Todd. He’s so fucking trashed he can hardly walk.”

“Where is he now?”

“In the bathroom. Probably throwing up. He said your boyfriend was buying him drinks.”

That was a lie; I bought that bottle of Tellamore, it was an open invite and I drank most of it. I know for a fact Todd was drinking more beer than whiskey and he was buying his own beers.

“Rowan doesn’t seem like the ‘buy other people’ drinks type.”

Maddie hissed under her breath, “Yeah, I can tell...”

I noticed Raquel’s face suddenly tense and I turned away. The barista was in the middle in making my coffee when I quietly motioned her over and whispered,

“Take your time, I don’t want to go over there just yet.”

She smiled and nodded, “Got it, sir,”

Raquel snapped back, “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Means nothing, I just think you’re low ballin’ yourself.”

“Low balling?!”

I made eye contact with the barista from over the counter. She mouthed ‘I’m trying’ to me as she tried her hardest to very slowly top my coffee with whipped cream.

“Slower.” I mouthed back over to her, “and I’m not trying to be creepy.”

She whispered back, “It’s okay.”

“I’m just sayin’, Raquel. You could get any guy you want and you’ve been able to get with any guy you wanted. I just don’t get how you go from people like Matt and Brandon to suddenly dating fat guys.”

I don’t think Maddie realized the sensitive subject that she had just hit with Raquel by saying that. The barista looked back over at me and pointed to different bottles of flavourings,

“Caramel or chocolate?” she mouthed.

“Both.”

“I got cheesecake?”

I nodded at her, “Yes!”

Raquel smacked her hand against the table, “Excuse me, I don’t like fat guys, I like that one fat guy and if you don’t like it that’s tough shit. I’m the one dating him, not you. You’re not me and you don’t get to make decisions for me. All the guys that you’ve hooked me up with have been complete assholes, you have not picked one winner and with the way I’ve seen you go through guys, I’d never take dating advice from you! Don’t think I didn’t notice how freaking rude you were to Rowan earlier, look I don’t care if you don’t like him, I don’t expect you to, but you will respect him as a person and as my boyfriend. I love him, I’m proud to be with him and I’m proud to be seen with him. If you don’t like the fact that I’m genuinely happy with someone that you don’t approve of, you can suck my dick. I’m allowed to love whatever man I want and I do not need your approval.”

Finally the barista came back to the counter with my coffee; it was an extra large caramel topped with both chocolate and regular whipped cream with caramel chocolate and cheesecake syrup crossing on top. I probably gained five pounds just looking at it. I leaned down closer to her,

“Can you get me another one of these in a medium?” I was scared if I went back to the table empty handed Raquel would bite my head off. I think the barista was thinking the same thing,

“You’re a smart man.”

“Thank you.”

She was much quicker making this second one after I had gotten both and paid for them I dropped a $10 bill in her tip jar.

I was slow to approach the table. Neither of them were talking and both were facing away from each other with their arms and legs crossed.

“I got you something.” I set Raquel’s coffee on the corner of the table and poked at the bottom a few times to inch it closer to her.

“Rowan, sit down,” she snapped.

“Oh, I’m fine standing...”

“Rowan. Sit. Down.”

I looked down at the empty chair next to her; all the chairs here were those thin metal wiry ones that I knew I would break or at least bend if I sat on it.

“Raquel, I don’t think that chair will hold me...”

“Sit down!”

“Yes dear.” I learned that one from my father; he was a very smart man.

I slowly lowered myself onto the chair so that I was just barely touching it but not putting my full weight on it. I tried to ease onto it but each time I did I heard it creak and stopped.

I slid Raquel’s coffee a little closer to her,

“I got this for you...” I was seriously scared she was going to freak out on me. I had never seen Raquel upset like that before. Thankfully though she didn’t get angry, her mood actually changed instantly and she snatched the cup off the table and took a sip.

“Oh my God, this is really good. What is it?”

“Everything.” It kind of was.

“Aw, thank you sweetie!” She smiled and rubbed my shoulder. I don’t know if Raquel noticed and chose not to say anything or didn’t see it but I caught Maddie rolling her eyes at us. To be an even bigger pain in the arse for her I wrapped my arm around Raquel and kissed her on the top of her head. I gave Maddie a nasty smirk and she gave me a disgusted grimace back.

Just as she was about ready to say something, something caught her attention behind me and she stood up.

“You! Outside. Now!”

Raquel and I both turned around and saw Todd, who looked incredibly pale, stumble out of the bathroom at the back of the shop. He sighed and shuffled over our table, making sure to hold onto the wrap around counter top for balance. He had just about made it when Maddie went up to him, grabbed his hand and pulled him the rest of the way across the shop floor and shoved him outside.

Raquel and I glanced at each other,

“Well... that sucks...” I had to break the silence.

“Yeah...”

“Hey,” I nudged Raquel with my arm, “Can we move over to the couches now, I’m really scared I’m gonna break this chair...”

“Oh shit!” Raquel covered her mouth to try to hide her laugh, “Yeah, let’s move.”

We both up and moved to the back corner where there was a couch and some cushioned chairs that looked a lot sturdier than those thin metal ones at the tables.

We both sat down on the couch; Raquel leaned into my side and rested her hot coffee cup on my belly.

“Do you mind?”

She innocently looked up at me, “What?”

“It’s not a table.”

“But... but it’s there and it’s useful.”

I shook my head and took a sip of my own coffee, “You’re so strange.”

“Yeah, but you love me.”

I kissed the top of her head again, “I do love you but you’re weird.”

“You’re weird too.”

“Yeah, well you’re weirder.”

“I definitely think that you’re weirder.” She gave me a smirk and took a sip of her coffee. As she did, I tapped the bottom of her cup to see if she’d spill any on herself. She didn’t, but she came close.

“No you didn’t!” She smacked my arm with the back of her hand, “You better drink your coffee with fear in your eyes you son of a bitch!”

We heard the barista start laughing and both looked over at the counter,

“I’m sorry, that was funny! You two are so cute!”

“Aw, thank you!” Raquel smiled.

“I’m the cute one.” Without even turning around, Raquel swung her fist back and landed a pretty solid hit right on my stomach.

“Ignore him.”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Raquel turned back to me and raised her hand like she was going to smack me again but I leaned away from her. I suppose it was rather amusing to see someone like me cowering away from a woman just barely half my size.

The barista smiled at us and flicked her hair back behind her shoulder and away from her face,

“You two seem really cool. Are you from around here?”

“No,” Raquel answered, “We live over in Bristol. I grew up there; Rowan here came over from Ireland a few years ago.”

She nodded, “I could tell by the accent. That’s pretty cool. So like, what’s up with those two outside? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Todd’s a friend of mine from high school, Maddie’s his girlfriend that I just tolerate to keep the peace. She doesn’t like the fact I’m dating someone she didn’t hook me up with and now she’s taking it out on everyone.”

“Ouch...”

“Yeah... Being a bitch is an understatement. We all got together to go to Brick House tonight and have fun but clearly fun isn’t her thing.”

“Damn, that blows. So what do you two do?”

“I’m a journalist, he’s a science teacher.”

The barista shifted her eyes over to me, “You look really familiar.”

“I float around here and there; it’s possible you’ve seen me somewhere.”

“By any chance, do you go to Connecticut Ren. Faire?”

I smiled, “I do. And New York, and Pennsylvania.”

She suddenly smiled and clapped her hands, “That’s where I know you from! I’ve totally seen you at the renaissance faire! I didn’t want to say anything at first because of all that stuff earlier, but yeah. Oh my God, that’s so awesome. I don’t know if you would remember or me or not, I had blue and purple hair at the time, I was a fairy that day. I left my phone in the car, but I took a picture of you to send to one of my friends. We were literally just talking about how some men have nicer hair than girls like, the day before, so when I saw you walk by I was like ‘oh shit this guy’s hair is gorgeous’.”

“I’m so jealous of his hair, it’s not even funny.” Raquel leaned back and grabbed some of my hair and smelt it, “And your hair smells like strawberries.”

“Yeah, I ran out of my normal stuff so I used the fish shampoo.”

“What fish shampoo?”

“The fish shampoo. It comes in the little fish bottle.”

Raquel stared at me for a moment before she started to giggle, “You mean the l’Oreal kids shampoo?”

“Yeah, that stuff. It smells good!”

She shook her head and looked over at the barista, “Hi, I’m dating this man.” The two of them laughed.

“What? That’s my back up shampoo. Usually I use Herbal Essence.” That didn’t help my case apparently and they both started laughing harder.

“Hey, I’m sorry if we’re keeping you here too late, you can kick us out whenever you want.”

“We actually stay open until 1 on Friday and Saturdays. It’s like, 12:34. You guys are fine. We’re a late night coffee shop so we cater to the weird club people that come in at night.”

Raquel looked back up at me, “When did you want to head out?”

“Whenever you wanna go. I think the caffeine’s kickin’ in.”

“Okay. I have no idea where Todd and Maddie are, I don’t see them out there anymore. We’ll just head back to the car. It’s cold outside anyway.”

Raquel stood up much quicker than I did. It took me a moment, that was a low couch for me and I didn’t have a lot of room as it was.

“I think we’re gonna head out. It was nice talking to you, hopefully we didn’t scare you too much,” Raquel laughed, “But now that we know this place exists, we’ll definitely try to come back. I didn’t get your name.”

“I’m Brooke. And yeah, definitely come back, you guys are cool.” She pointed over at me, “And you, I’ll probably see you at the ren. faire too.”

“Most likely.”

“Awesome, well have a good night guys. Hopefully your friend makes it out alive...”

Raquel laughed, “Yeah... same here.”


Our walk back to the car was relatively quiet. Raquel sent Todd a text to make sure he wasn’t stabbed and thrown in a ditch somewhere before she dropped her mobile in her pocket and leaned into my arm.

“I really hope you have fun tonight, Rowan. Despite everything...”

“I had a good time.”

“You sure?”

“Why would I not be sure?”

She shrugged and shyly mumbled, “I dunno...”

She took a sip of her coffee and I noticed the heat steamed up her glasses for a few seconds. I didn’t mention it but I thought it was kind of cute.


We didn’t say anything to each other during the car ride home; in fact Raquel actually fell asleep before I even made it out onto the highway. Every now and then I glanced over at her, she was leaning against the door with her coat wrapped around her like a blanket. I reached my hand over and gently squeezed her leg,

“You still alive?”

She gave a soft ‘mhmm,’ and sighed.

‘She’s gone,’ I thought.

“Am I dropping you off at your house or are you coming back with me?”

She made a noise but I couldn’t tell if it was a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

“Alright, you’re coming back with me then.”