“Not all women are the same, you know.”
“What the fuck would you know?”
“Oh, Ryan… I think all those muscles are getting in the way of your brain. Do you have muscles up there, too?”
“Fuck off, Jamie.”
“There’s someone, that one person, for all of us. Sometimes we find them on the first go, sometimes we spend our whole lives trying to find them: and we never do. Sometimes they walk right in front of us and we don’t even glance at them. But, usually, they’re right under our nose: and we let them get away.”
“Wow, you’re so wise…”
“Sometimes we think we’ve found them, then when things go wrong, we stop looking for the right person. She wasn’t your person, Ryan. You weren’t destined for each other.”
“I don’t believe in any of that shit.”
“But life has dropped someone else in front of you. And even though you’ve tried to ignore it, and covered your ears with your hands…she came into your life anyway. Right here.” He points at my chest. “And once she’s inside, mate, there’s no way of getting her out.”
“What the hell do you know? You’ve barely even seen her!”
“I don’t have to see her, or know her. I just had to see you, the moment you started to believe again. I just have to look at you now, trying so hard to go back to not believing. And you’re failing, Ryan. Miserably.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve met your person. And now you can choose to pretend it never happened – pretend you don’t think about her every fucking day, that you’re not drowning in your own sense of pride. You can lie to everyone else, but not to yourself. You know that she’s the one. You just have to take matters into your own hands this time, without letting her get away.”
“You don’t get it, Jamie. She’s such a…woman.”
“And what are you?”
“I’m just a little boy.”
He places a hand firmly on my shoulder.
“You stopped being a little boy the day I saw the fear in your eyes when you realised you could lose her. That day, Ryan, you became a man. A man who, every so often, disguises himself as a spoilt, angry kid – but those shoes are getting a little too small for you now.”
“You sound like my brothers.”
Jamie smiles. “I’m not an O’Connor, but I know that you guys don’t like losing, and that you love a challenge.”
“Yeah.”
“So, mate – are you ready for this challenge?”
