Half the team cheered, and half the team groaned. I looked at Owen instead, and he huffed his way to the sideline. Jaime stood and high-fived a group of guys.
Damn, we lost. I jogged to the sideline and grabbed my water out of my purse. I didn’t want to see Jaime. I hated losing, and I didn’t know what he’d have in store for me next weekend or if he’d hold me to it.
“Good game,” I said to the guys. Most of them ignored me.
I gathered my belongings and sat beside Jaime.
“Good game,” I said.
“Good match,” he replied.
“Good match, Rory. Nice try,” Aoife added.
I ignored her and faced Jaime. “Sorry about your leg.” My eyes scanned down his body to his grass-stained knees.
“No worries, it’s fine.” He turned to me, with a glint in his eyes. “So, next weekend, we’re dressing up for Halloween, huh?”
I pulled my legs into my chest and rocked backward. “I guess we are.” I smirked at Aoife and readjusted my sweaty ponytail. She smiled back with kind eyes this time, but I wasn’t quite ready to trust her.
As I spun my head to face him, my smirk turned into a smile. We are definitely hanging out again. My stomach flip-flopped, and my chest got hot. The excitement rose to my cheeks and I prayed he wouldn’t notice.
“We gotta go see my ma and da and get some costumes,” he said.
A nervous laugh escaped my mouth. “I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”
Not only were we going out next weekend, but we were heading back to Clifden. I spent the rest of the week imagining what costume I’d be destined to wear. Back in the states, Halloween was an excuse for women to disguise their costume with sex appeal, like a cat wearing fishnets or a bunny in heels. I would never wear something like that back home, but I would challenge myself for Jaime.
A few days later, I followed Jaime up the bus stairs and down the aisle, feeling the engine rumble through the floor and against my feet. He slid against the window a third of the way back, and I plopped beside him, dropping my bag on my lap, and watching the rest of the bus fill.
“You know,” I said to him, “I’ve never skipped class before, so this is a first.” Just the thought of throwing away money or jeopardizing my final grade point average was enough to make my heart race and nervous firecrackers explode in my stomach. Jaime had purchased bus tickets to Clifden with a return ticket the next day, which meant I wouldn’t attend four classes. My seat would remain empty in the large auditorium, and the professor would continue, unaware that I wasn’t there.
“Living on the wild side, eh?” He threw back his head and laughed, and the firecrackers in my belly turned to butterflies.
“When in Ireland, do as the Irish do, and you get to be my tour guide today.” I shimmied out of my raincoat and stretched my arms before settling into him.
The bus pulled out of the station and crawled along the narrow, hilly roads. The urban homes and apartments in Galway gave way to remote towns, leading into the vibrant green mountains of Connemara. This was my third time traveling these roads, and they were beginning to feel like home.
“Who’s picking us up at the station?” I asked, handing Jaime my opened bag of candy.
His hand disappeared in the bag. “My ma. She’s been talking about this all week. Said she pulled out the Halloween trunk. She’s been collecting things since I was a young lad.”
“What was Halloween like for you, growing up? Did you get a lot of candy?” I brushed my hair back with my fingers.
“My mom cooked colcannon. Ever hear of it?” He shifted toward me, and I couldn’t help but fully attend to his golden-brown eyes.
“No, what’s that?”
“Mashed potatoes.”
I laughed. “Why not call them mashed potatoes?”
“Because they’re Irish.”
My lips turned up, and I leaned across him to observe a flock of sheep grazing on the hillside.
“My ma would hide little toys for me to find in my colcannon. Usually, it was a gift from the fairies. After dinner, I’d walk around trick or treating, throwing dust at people’s feet to release any souls held captive by the fairies.” He smiled at me, and I couldn’t tell if he was joking.
I bit my lip and bobbed my head. “Interesting. Sounds fun.”
