42
Ryan
Chris parks in front ofKealy’s, one of the pubs on Swords Road, near the airport. I would’ve preferred to stay at mine, but I had next to nothing in the fridge and I don’t know my way around a kitchen like Ian does. It might’ve been a bit too intense to be alone at mine, anyway, with too much temptation to just jump on each other. Let’s be honest: Christine’s hot, and I can’t think of anything but her face, the expressions and the sounds she could make the moment she…
“I’ve been here a few times before,” she says, interrupting my fantasy as we step into the pub.
“Me too. Maybe once or twice.”
“Not that there’s a lot of choice in Santry.”
“No.”
We sit down at a table: her on the bench, and me opposite her. The waitress brings us our menus and asks us what we’d like to drink. I have a beer, and she goes for a glass of wine.
“Have you lived in Santry for long?” she asks me as soon as the waitress walks away.
She likes to make conversation.
“I grew up here.”
She nods, sipping at the glass of wine she’s just been served.
“I moved away for a while, you know…for work.”
“Did you play for a different team?”
“I played in England.”
“How come you came back?” she asks innocently.
“My…dad,” I manage.
“Oh…I’m sorry.”
I sigh heavily.
“That can’t be easy for any of you.”
“It isn’t.”
“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“Thanks.”
She smiles kindly at me, as the waitress comes back to take our orders.
I’m not used to face-to-face conversation, unless it’s with one of my brothers. And I definitely didn’t expect to find myself in this situation again, alone with a woman, trying to…do what? What am I trying to do? Why did I ask her to stay? Why did I bring her out? Why can’t I stop staring at her lips, resting against that wine glass? And where the fuck is my paper bag?
“So now you play for Leinster with your brother, right?”
“Uh-huh,” I say, sipping at my beer to try and calm my nerves.
“What’s that like, playing with your brother? Is it weird?”
“A bit.”
“You don’t like conversation, do you?”
