Kian and I was on our way to his house in Sligo. We have been seeing each other now for about two months. It was going to be the first time for me to meet the others in the band.

It was pretty late when we came to his house. We were tired from the trip so we went strait to bed. I was just about to fall asleep when Kian said:

‘I think I love you.’

I panicked, I didn’t know what to say. I liked him but I didn’t love him.

‘I like you very much too.’

I could tell that that wasn’t what he wanted to hear but what was I supposed to do? Should I lie and say that I loved him too? No, I don’t think so.

‘Good night Kian’, I said and gave him a kiss.

‘Night Jenny.’

We where going to Shane’s place for brunch the next day. I was a little nervous because I had never met him before but at the same time was it less nerve wrecking than if I had had to meet all of them at the same time.

‘By the way’, Kian said when we were on our way over there. ‘Shane’s girlfriend Anna is going to be there. But you don’t have to worry, she’s real nice.’

We rang the doorbell. Shane answered it almost immediately.

‘Hi Kian! And this must be Jenny I suppose.’ He shook her hand. ‘It’s nice to finally meet you. We’ve heard so much about you. Come in, Anna’s already at the table.’

When I entered the dining room Anna was sitting with her back against us.

‘Anna, Kian is here with Jenny.’

She turned around.

‘Anna, hej. Det var inte igår precis!’ (Anna, hi. Long time no see!)

‘Jenny! Jag har inte sett dig sedan vi slutade skolan. Vad kul att få se dig igen.’ (Jenny! I haven’t seen you since we finished school. It’s real nice to see you again.)

She stood up and gave me a big hug. Kian and Shane looked confused at each other.

‘Oh, I’m sorry Shaney. It’s not very nice of us to speak Swedish is it? You see Jenny and I go way back. We went to school together but we lost contact when we graduated so we haven’t seen each other since then.’

‘I see’, Shane said. ‘I almost guessed that you had seen each other before.’

‘Morning all!’ It was Bryan who finally had got out of bed to join us.

I turned around and saw the most gorgeous boy I’ve ever seen.

‘Who’s this then?’ Bryan asked meaning me.

‘That’s Ki’s new girlfriend,’ Anna told him. ‘Her name’s Jenny. It turns out that she and I know each other from school, how’s that for a coincidence.’

‘Hi, Kian’s girlfriend who also went to school with Anna. It’s nice to meet you.’

It didn’t seem like his knees went week as he saw me as mind did. Get a grip on yourself Jenny, I thought. You’re here with Kian to meet his friends, not to meet some other guy the first thing you do.

Later after the brunch Shane said that he’d been thinking about throwing a party.

‘When?’ Bryan asked always ready to have some fun.

‘Tomorrow, perhaps. What do the rest of you think? Is it a good idea or are we too tired from touring?’

‘I’m up for it if you are,’ Kian said.

‘Then it’s decided. Party here tomorrow.’

That night at the Filan home

Shane, Anna and Bryan was watching a movie.

‘Does anyone want more popcorn?’ Shane asked.

‘I do,’ Bryan said.

Shane got up to get some. While he was in the kitchen Bryan asked me:

‘How is she really, Ki’s new girlfriend? I mean you know her from school, right?’

‘Yeah. We went to school together for nine years. She’s very nice, I was sad to loose contact with her after school but we both moved away in different directions so it wasn’t that easy to keep in touch. I’m so happy we got this second chance.’

‘Was she popular in school? I mean with boys and stuff.’

‘Why do you ask?’

‘No reason, I just want to know a little about my friend’s girlfriend. Is that so strange?’

‘Here we are, fresh from the microwave.’ Shane sat down between us.

‘So what were you two talking about then?’

‘Nothing special, Bryan said. Let’s see the rest of that film now.’

At the same time at the Egan home

‘What did you think about my friends then?’ Kian asked as we were getting ready for bed. ‘You must have been really surprised to find out that one of my friends is dating one of yours.’

‘Yeah. I certainly didn’t expect to meet someone from home here. But it was fun to see her again. Hope we can keep in touch better this time.’

‘What did you think of Shane and Bry then? Did they fit my description?’

‘They were really nice, both of them. I’m looking forward to get to know them better.’ Especially Bryan, I thought, but that wasn’t a thing I was going to say out loud.