“I don’t want to hear it,” I quickly cut her off. “You’re back with him. Fair enough, Molloy. Good for you. I’m not going to say another word to try to dissuade you, but don’t expect me to pander. I don’t like him, and I won’t pretend to.”
“And I don’t like when you’re swapping girls like they’re sweets in a tub of Quality Street, but you don’t see me turning my back on you.”
“Who said I was turning my back on you?” I demanded. “Because I sure as hell didn’t.”
“You hate me.”
“No.”
“You’re mad at me.”
“Yes.”
“You want to scream at me.”
“Because I—“ Stopping short before I blew a head gasket, I released a furious growl and tried to regain some control before speaking again. “I’m not turning my back on you, Molloy.”
“Prove it.”
“How?”
“Give me a hug.”
“Molloy.”
“Hug me, Joe.”
Exhaling heavily, I hooked an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to my chest, knowing that there wasn’t any point in fighting this girl when she set her mind to something. What she wanted, she got.
“Don’t hate me for trying to move on,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around my waist, and burying her face in my chest. “I’m doing what I have to move past this.” A shaky breath escaped her. “Same as you.”
“Yeah, Molloy.” Feeling my anger dissolve, I sighed heavily and dropped my chin to rest on her blonde hair. “I know.”
CHOKE ON THIS
FEBRUARY 1ST 2002
AOIFE
“Oh, my Jesus, that’s disgusting.” Trying not to gag, I watched in horror as my home economics partner dislocated his wrist in such a way that the back of his fingers touched his wrist. “What the hell is wrong with your hand?”
Chuckling softly, Joey snapped his wrist back into place with a loud popping noise that caused me to gag.
“Blarghhh!” I grabbed his shoulder and tried not to hurl. “Blarghhh.”
“What’s that, Molloy?” he taunted, right before popping his wrist out of joint again with a loud bone crunching crack. “You want me to go it again?”
“Stop, asshole,” I wailed loudly. “Stop, I – Blarghhh!”
“Aoife! Joseph!” Mrs. Adams barked from where she was tasting a dire looking Chile Con Carne in the kitchen station opposite ours, while a frazzled looking Podge hovered over her shoulder, waiting for the ultimate verdict. “That’s not the sound of food tasting that I’m hearing.”
“Cop on, lads,” Dricko snapped, as he stood next to Podge, looking just as flustered as his partner, while they studied their bowl of slop. “She’s scoring our dish. This is the practice run for the junior cert.”
“Your dish is shit. I wouldn’t serve it to my dog, zero stars for presentation and an F for effort,” Alec chimed in, swinging the string dangling off the end of his pink, frilly apron. “And no, Miss, that’s the sound of choking that you’re hearing from sexy legs over there. So, Lynchy definitely fed something back her throat to make her gag like that—“
“Choke on this, asshole,” Joey chuckled, flinging a soup ladle overflowing with our own batch of Chile Con Carne across the classroom at his friend.
Chopped peppers and mince flew everywhere, as red chili stained the walls and floor.
“Joseph Lynch, get your backside over here right this minute and clean up your mess!” Mrs. Adams shouted, stalking across the room to confiscate the rogue ladle. “Right this instant, young man. Don’t you ever again throw your utensils at other students in my classroom. And, for the love of God, stop making that poor girl gag, will you? It’s not very gentlemanly.”
“Waaahhhh!” Alec screamed, inconsolable now, as he threw himself on top of a less than impressed looking Paul, and howled laughing.
My eyes locked on Paul, and I gave him a hard look, daring him to open his mouth and give me crap.
Instead, he swallowed down his disapproval and offered me a half-hearted smile.
I nodded my approval.
After our latest bust up, I had laid it all on the table for him, letting him know in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t going to be pushed around anymore. That I had a friendship with Joey and if he couldn’t accept that then he needed to let me go. I also made it perfectly clear that I had no intention of holding him back if he wanted to pursue other girls, nor would I hold it against him. All he had to do was let me off the proverbial ride first.
Surprisingly, Paul had agreed to my terms and had mostly followed my rules since. The rumors had quietened down, right along with his controlling tendencies, and he wasn’t losing his mind every time I spoke to a boy.
It was progress.
I turned my attention back to my classmate, who had narrowly avoided another trip to the lion’s den.
The only reason Joey wasn’t being sent to the office by our elderly teacher was because he was her best student by a country mile.
Looking ridiculously adorable in his stripy apron, with his cap slung backwards, Joey skulked over to where our teacher was standing and took the dishcloth from her outstretched hand.
“Good boy,” the old woman said in an approving tone when my partner got down on his hands and knees and mopped up the mess.
If anyone in our class had a hope of taking home an A in their Home Economics exam in the Junior Cert then it was the brooding boy beside me, who had returned to the sink in our little station to rinse out a chili-stained dishcloth.
Knowing it was a terrible idea, I looked to the top of the classroom, to where Danielle was partnered up with Mack. Yep; there she was, ogling the strip of golden skin on display, as Joey stretched his arm up to wipe chili off the classroom wall.
Beyond frustrated, I quickly snatched up a spoon and busied myself with stirring our pot of chili, all the while deciding that it was a good thing Mrs. Adams had confiscated our soup ladle. Otherwise I might be inclined to fling another batch at Danielle’s bleached blonde head.
Ugh.
The sound of laughter filled my ears then and I regrettably turned just in time to see my so-called partner wiping a smidge of chili off her bare leg.
“Nice aim, Joey,” Danielle laughed, holding onto his shoulders for balance, as he crouched in front of her and cleaned her fucking leg.
“Nice legs.”
Oh no he did not!
He did.
He fucking did!
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to throw up.
The jealousy that rose up inside of me was so intense that I could physically feel my body temperature rising.
As a matter of fact, if someone was to take my temperature right that second, it wouldn’t have surprised me to discover that I was spiking a fever.
Keep the head, I mentally instructed myself. Do not pick up this pot of Chili and throw it at them. Don’t do it, Aoife. You are too much of a princess for prison. Think of your nails. Just keep stirring.
“So,” the flirtatious bastard himself said when he rejoined me at our station. “What’s your party trick?”
Deciding it was safer to remain quiet than to explode in front of everyone, I refocused on the pot of chili con carne that I had been attempting to stir, and forced out a clipped, “Hm?”
“Your party trick,” Joey repeated, coming to stand beside me. “And don’t say puking on demand, because I will go out in sympathy with you.”
Tucking my hair behind my ear, I strived for calm and managed to strangle out a blasé, “I don’t have one.”
Reaching around me, he grabbed the salt and sprinkled a pinch into the pot. “I don’t believe that for a second.” His chest brushed against my back as he spoke and the smell of grass, and lynx, flooded my senses. He always smelled so good. It was so annoying. “A girl like you always has a trick up her sleeve.”
“A girl like me?” I deadpanned, trying to keep my freshly manicured nails away from the red staining goo, while also trying to keep my emotions in check.