At Seventeen
Chapter 20
"And lastly, there's a huge traffic build up outside
Kinnegad, motorists are advised to avoid the area and if possible, go by some of
the by-roads. Another update in 20 minutes. Aoife McNamara, AA Roadwatch."
"Thanks for that, Aoife. Now we return to the news that a Co. Kildare
councillor received £1,000 to get planning permission for a new 16-screen
omniplex cinema in Newbridge. Our reporter Seán Fox visited the town to get the
locals' reaction..."
That's a great help, thought Nicky, fuming at the wheel and the slowly-moving
line of traffic in front of him. If only the traffic update had come up on the
radio five minutes earlier. But he hadn't, and he was stuck in this pile up
instead. He gazed ahead, trying to make out how near he was to the turn-off to
the Galway road. He'd bet anything most of the cars in front of him would not be
going through the town. Once they turned off and he went straight ahead into the
town of Kinnegad itself, he would be all right.
He discovered his suspicions were correct, albeit ten minutes later, when the
Opel Astra in front of him turned off onto the relief road and he headed for the
sign which read "Town Centre". It was at this moment that his phone
rang. "Hold on, hold on," he cried, pulling in at last in front of
Harry's Hotel and Restaurant in the town, and relieving his head from the
constant ringing, by answering the phone. "Hello?"
"Nicky!" The voice on the other line was using a mobile telephone as
well. "What's this about Mark being sick? Do I always get told these things
last of all?" "Who is it?" yelled Nicky. "Louis! Your
manager! Or have you forgotten that, Nicky? What happened to the world tour now?
Is Mark going to be fit to do it? Does anyone tell me anything?"
"Look, I don't know the full details myself, Louis, I'm on my way there
now." "What?" Louis bellowed. "To Sligo?" "Yes, to
Sligo," Nicky replied calmly. "Look, Louis, I've got it all..."
The phone went dead. "Under control," he muttered to himself. Louis
obviously had been in a bad area for mobile phone signals or something.
Realising he was starving, and he had brought no food with him, Nicky decided to
stop for a break in Kinnegad, and have something to eat. Surely he deserved it.
He locked the car doors, put the alarm on, and headed into Harry's Hotel.
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Bryan and Eimear arranged to meet up at the Filans' takeaway in Castle Street at
two o'clock. Jane said she had other business to do. Eimear couldn't think what
business would drive Jane away from her boyfriend's company, but she put that
doubt out of her mind. Jane was puzzling her so much today, it was probably all
Eimear's imagination.
"Kian and Shane are coming too," Bryan informed Eimear in the foyer of
the Silver Swan. "I guess it's really to confer on Mark's condition. He's
not going to die, but it's still really worrying. And the media don't know yet
either, which will be difficult to deal with. It's only a matter of time before
it's splashed all over the papers."
"I wish Jane could come though," he added wistfully, now at the steps
of the hotel, staring directly ahead of them. "But if she can't
come..." He shrugged. Eimear tried to reassure him that of course Jane
would come if she was able, but Bryan's eyes betrayed impassiveness, and Eimear
knew he had not heard her.
"Let's get going then, it's half one already," she reminded him, as he
stood statue-like, still not taking in anything she said. A nudge on the
shoulder did the trick. Bryan suddenly sprung to life, and for the rest of their
walk to Castle Street, entertained her with witty accounts of the mischief he
and the band had got up to while abroad. Eimear was amused to hear that all the
lads shared rooms when away, apart from Shane who had one to himself. "He's
far too sensible for the rest of us," grinned Bryan, as they approached the
takeaway.
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It was only twenty minutes to two, but he was there already. Hovering around the
car park. Watchful eyes, which evaded the looks of the people entering the
hospital. He felt sure they would question a young man pacing up and down at the
entrance, famous singer or no famous singer.
She arrived at five minutes to the hour. Immediately his muscles relaxed at the
sight of her. His heart beat fast. He desperately needed to control these
feelings. She met him with a cold expression, eyes which looked at everything
but him. He was crestfallen at this. "Jane - look at me for heaven's
sake." She refused to. "Kian, I haven't time to play games. I'm here
for a reason." "What?" he whispered, his heart in his mouth.
"I was drunk last night. I didn't know what I was doing." No, a voice
inside Kian screamed, no, you can't say this, but his face showed no emotion.
Jane took this as a good sign, and continued. "I don't want what happened
last night to happen again." She paused, to see how he was taking it. He
was still silent. "Kian - are you listening to me?" "You're
saying you couldn't care less about me. It was just one thing. Do you do this
with most lads you meet? Or is it just famous ones?" "Kian,
stop..." There was hurt in her eyes now. "Yeah, well it'd be a great
headline. Let's see, how about 'STUDENT SNOGGED TWO OF WESTLIFE IN ONE
NIGHT'?"
Jane was almost crying at this stage. Kian saw this, and stopped his angry
tirade. "Jane, Jane, look..." She pushed him away, "Leave me
alone, Kian!" and almost doubled over with tears. He put his arm on her
shoulder. "Jane." His voice was soothing. "Come here." He
meant only to hold her, but as usual his feelings took over and they were only
going to go one way. He stopped himself just in time. "You want to go for a
spin?" She looked at him at last, untrustingly. "Where?" "I
don't know, wherever you want?" She shrugged. "Anywhere, around the
country somewhere. Away from here."
Kian did as she asked. She sat in the front seat while he drove. He parked the
car at last on a deserted country road some miles from the town. "So. I'm
sorry for reacting like that earlier." She said nothing. Tears filled her
eyes, threatening to spill. She turned her head, trying to keep Kian from seeing
them. He did see them of course. There was nothing that Kian had ever looked at
as much as Jane Fitzpatrick, captivated was the only word to describe him. He
was captivated by her, could think of nothing else.
He touched her arm again. She was sensitive to his very touch now, but she
didn't resist it. She didn't stop him saying what he had been waiting to say
either. "Jane, I don't know how to say this - I think... I think I could be
in love with you." And she didn't stop him holding her in his arms. Before
either of them knew it, they were in a passionate clinch. This time, however,
neither of them thought of Bryan. They only thought of themselves and each
other.
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Shane was already outside the Carlton Take Away waiting for Bryan and Eimear.
"Hi," he said. "Know where Kian is?" Both Bryan and Eimear
examined their respective timepieces - Eimear, an inexpensive sports watch, and
Bryan, a very expensive Rolex. They had walked so leisurely to the take away
that it was now two o'clock exactly. "Are we that slow walkers?" Bryan
asked quizzically, with amusement in his voice.
Eimear smiled, trying to avoid Shane's eyes, which for some reason were
following hers wherever they went. Their eyes locked at last. "Eimear, I
need to talk to you by the way," Shane struggled to say it. "To
apologise for my behaviour last night." Eimear was stunned. She hadn't
expected this. Not an apology. "Ehmm... it's okay."
"Seriously," Shane said earnestly, fully looking at her, "I was
very unfair to you. You did a lot for us and for Mark last night. I also wanted
to thank you."
Bryan looked from Shane to Eimear and back again to Shane. "Is there
something here I'm missing?" "I was kind of irritable last night and
took it out on Kian and Eimear," Shane admitted. "Oh... right,"
said Bryan, his attention distracted by a young woman with a remarkable
resemblance to Jane in the passenger seat of a passing car. It also looked like
Kian in the driver's seat, but it couldn't be...
"Are you all right?" Eimear asked him, bringing him back to earth.
Dismissing what he had just seen as an overreactive imagination playing tricks
on him, Bryan replied positively. "Let's go in," said Shane, "I
have news of Mark from this morning, and anyway, my mother is only dying to meet
you, Eimear. Kian will come when he's ready."
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After a satisfactory and big feed at Harry's, Nicky felt ready to conquer the
world. Nothing was going to go wrong today, nothing. Even the prospect of
visiting an ill Mark in hospital seemed less intimidating. He would probably be
all right in a couple of days, hardly anyone died from meningitis, didn't they?
Louis was overreacting, Mark would be right as rain in no time at all.
He fumbled for his car keys in his jacket pocket, struggling to find them among
the receipts and various trinkets which had somehow landed there. A five pound
note which had somehow found its way out of his wallet, a receipt for a bouquet
of flowers he had sent to Georgina on their anniversary, a lone "Pokemon"
card of Adam's (he was sure to be searching the house for it at this stage,
thought Nicky with a grin). Finally he retrieved them, and hurriedly switched
the alarm off, unlocked the car, and slammed the door shut.
No traffic this time. None. Roads practically clear. He felt practically at
ease. A blonde girl on one side of the road held a cardboard sign up. It read
"Sligo". A hitch hiker. Nicky glanced at her face. He recognised her,
the shock hit him like a physical blow. He hadn't seen her in ages, or so it
felt like. He pulled up a few yards from where she was waving the sign. Hearing
the engine stop, she ran towards him, and stopped, gaping, when she saw who it
was. "Nicky?" she drawled. "Hello, Cassie," he heard himself
say. "What a surprise."