At Seventeen
Chapter 4
Jane was bored. Incredibly. Standing outside Dunnes, waiting for
Eimear, who had had a sudden urge to rush into the store. This was strange.
Eimear never shopped there. Why was she so anxious to be there now? Honestly,
thought Jane, John has really gone to her head.
Her heart skipped a beat as she looked across the road and saw him, Bryan. He
was looking at her. He seemed nervous. "Oh my God," Jane murmured
quietly to herself. "He's staring at me. Oh.." And then he had come up
to her, was standing right beside her, and a huge wave of disappointment came
over him.
Of course, it wasn't that girl, but her friend. The bad street lighting had
fooled him. Not that there had been anything wrong with her or anything, but...
He forced himself to look at her, he was so nervous he couldn't look straight at
her - now that wasn't right. He could at least be polite.
"Hi." Bryan couldn't think of anything to say. "Hey." Her
voice was soft, but also somewhat taken aback. Jane just didn't know what to say
to this guy, after all she barely knew him. "I never asked your name."
He seemed embarassed. "Jane." She smiled. "And you're obviously
Bryan." "Oh shoot, I was looking forward to introducing myself."
He laughed, but the laughter had a hollow quality to it.
She was pretty, now, come to think of it. Something there that she had, which
her friend didn't possess. Darker eyes, paler skin, her hair dark and longer and
flowing over her shoulders - she could be on the catwalk if she wanted to. Her
smile showing brilliantly white teeth, undamaged, straight - she'd probably
never worn braces in her life. Bryan smiled to himself as he remembered the time
when he had worn them. Pure agony.
The pair drifted into silence. Passers by would have been surprised to see the
scene. And there were a few around - it was late night shopping after all. The
tall, blond young lad with his arms folded awkwardly, eyes downcast, but every
now and then, looking up at the smiling brunette beside him. Eimear was no less
surprised than anyone else, peering through the window of Dunnes. She had gone
in because she had spotted Bryan before he had seen her.
Somehow she felt uneasy about him. She didn't know why, he seemed so nice....
but the way he had looked at her outside the hotel... maybe it was her
self-importance that told her that he fancied her, but it was better to be safe.
She didn't fancy him, never had - and though he might have been the nicest
person in Ireland, the attraction was just not there. And he wasn't bad-looking
either...as she watched him talk to Jane, the light coming back into his eyes.
Could there be something there? She honestly hoped so, she didn't want to hurt
him, he was a decent, very good person. And then she saw Jane, as Jane saw her,
and she heard her voice: "Eimear, come over here.