Gathering Storm (16 page)

Gathering Storm

9 CHAPTER
Nine

A
light
tapping at Sarah’s door,
startling a squeal from both girls, giggling
Siobhan rose off the bed to get it. She opened the door to see Jason standing there, hair hanging damp against his head.
Dark
circle
s showing under bloodshot eyes, he smiled sheepishly before s
tepping into the room
.

“Good morning beau
tiful” Whispering huskily into her ear as he pulled her closer to him “I had one hell of a dream about you last night”

Blushing, Siobhan leaned over kissing him lightly “I don’t remember my dream”

“
Wait…did you just say Siobhan was
Beautiful
?”

“Yep, she’s my girl so naturally I’m going to tell her she’s beautiful…wow! Sarah where the hell have you been hiding those clothes these years? Damn Derrick would be going nuts if he was here right now!” Jason exclaimed “Hell both of you are beautiful, damn you two look great right now”

“You are such a suck up…
No,
we’re
alive barely”
Laughing
Sarah rose off the bed
walking
over to Jason and Siobhan. Turning her cheek to Jason she smiled when he leaned down and kissed her softly.

“Thank you love” Sarah laughed “I need food and coffee like now”

Turning she grabbed her purse
squeezing past them walking
out into the hall. Jason and Siobhan followed holding hands
heading
to the bank of elevators.
Entering
the noisy lobby
,
all three winced as the
sounds
bounced
through their hea
ds. Walking briskly outside, they cut off a few guests trying to enter the lobby, stepping out into the street as a cab blasted its horn at the lolly idly in front of them.

“Hell its worse out here” Jason mumbled as they walked down the street,
turning
into the first café they saw. Ordering large steaming cups of coffee
,
some muffins they headed to a table at the back of the café. Wolfing down the muffins, they were silent almost content with watching the people around them.

Siobhan brought the huge steaming mug of coffee to her lips
taking
a tentative sip, sighing as she felt the hot coffee slide down warming her inside.

“God this is the best coffee I think I have ever had” Sarah murmured as she took another sip
,
closed her eyes smiling.

Jason downed his coffee in two gulps
promptly
going
back to wait in line to order another cup and muffin. Shaking her head Sarah looked over at Siobhan
choosing
her words carefully.

“Siobhan, about last night” Sarah started
watching
the happiness slip
off
Siobhan’s face. “It was screwed up on so many levels. I shouldn’t have gone off with Marcus and Simon. I know it was wrong, but I just wanted to have some fun”

“It’s alright Sarah; you didn’t exactly see me telling you to stop did you?” Siobhan responded as she lifted the mug for another drink

“No, but I saw the reservation you held
,
I should have listened to that
I don’t like this face
and said no”

“I admit I have my “mom”, Siobhan made air quotes, “moments, but even I wanted our first night here to be something memorable Sarah” Putting the mug down she took Sarah’s hand “I was just as willing to go with them as you”

“Me too” Jason response was muffled around a bite of muffin as he sat back down putting his cup of coffee and
already half eaten
muffin down.
Grabbing
Sarah’s other hand and squeez
ing it tightly
.

“I think its official that last night was something we’ll share with our children after they are married and have kids of their own” Jason laughed as he leaned
over
kiss
ing
Siobhan smartly on her lips.

“I still don’t understand everything that happened last night?” Siobhan murmured between bites of her muffin.

“It was pretty damn intense, not to mention Marcus and Simon, both were pretty damn hot and moody, the ultimate bad boys” Sarah said wistfully

“Oh hell no, Sarah, don’t you go there”
Jason choked out between bites

“What Jason?! Like you have room to talk..um…hello Moira” Sarah sarcastically replied back

“Moira, what about her, nothing happened” Jason impishly retorted

“Oh please you had massive lusty eyes at her! Hell, you are squirming even now, so what exactly happened before Marcus pulled you two out of there last night?”

Sarah stared at Jason with a look of smug satisfaction as he began to squirm in his chair.

“Nothing”

“Really?”

“Dammit, Sarah, let it go, nothing happened and it wasn’t going to” Jason’s lips firmed into a straight line as he kicked Sarah under the table

“Ouch!” Sarah squealed

“Stop it, just stop it” Siobhan barked looking between her two friends “Dammit I don’t want to fight, all of us did some pretty stupid s
hit
last night so drop it”

“All?” Jason looked at Siobhan with raised eyebrows, his brown eyes searching Siobhan’s face. He knew what he had done last night with Moira, was pretty sure what Sarah may have done with Simon, but what had Siobhan done?

Aside from the band incident at the pub he’d been with her all night.

“Never mind, ok we just need to put it behind us and get started on the stupid project for school ok?”

Siobhan turned away from Jason
shoving
her empty plate across the table.
Bending
down to her purse,
she
pulled out the letter
opening
it. Laying it flat on the table, she smoothed the crinkles out of the paper
running
her fingers down the page as she read. Mouth silently forming the words as went, stopping suddenly; she cleared her throat look
ing
back up
at
her friends.

“Here, we are supposed to go to the library at Trinity College here in Dublin and see the Book of Kells. It’s one of the most famous illuminated manuscripts. We are to write an essay on its origins, it says there is an exhibition “Turning Darkness into Light”
, w
e are
supposed
to visit that and then report on
it
as well in essay format.”

Taking a breath, she traced her fingers further down the letter. “We must also visit the Long Room at the library”

Looking down at the page again, a ghost of smile crossed Siobhan’s lips
as
she glanced up at Jason

“Oh I think you’ll like that room, supposedly the room was used as the Jedi library Jason. They deny it, but it says that the gift shop there also stocks toys from the movie” taking a deep breath she looked at Jason who was grinning. His dimple was showing
, as he laughed grabbing
Siobhan
hand as
her cheeks
turned a bright pink
.

“Oh yeah, so we have you covered with the old books to hunt through, Jason and his toys, what about me?” Sarah asked as she tipped the mug bag
finishing
her coffee.

“Um” Siobhan continued skimming through the page “Well, if classes are still in session there will be plenty of guys there”

“Swweeet” Sarah drawled the word out
smiling
wickedly “Then let’s move our ass
es
people, how
exactly
do
we get
to
Trinity
College
?”

“I guess we can see if there is a bus, maybe someone here knows which one we should take?” Jason asked as he started looking around the café.

“Oh the heck with that, we’ll take a taxi” Sarah stood up, grabbed everyone’s dishes and started to the trash.

“Taxi it is then” Jason mumbled
taking
Siobhan’s hand “Really, Siobhan, there is nothing between Moira and me”

“I know, ok, just drop it, we have too much to do today” Siobhan sighed as she took her hand away and started folding the letter back up. She pulled her purse to the table
placing
the letter inside before pulling out her wallet. Noting the funds were getting low “Hey we need to find an ATM or bank, we need to get some euro’s”

“Oh I think I saw a bank a couple of streets over as we were walking here” Jason pulled out his wallet
shaking his head after opening it
. “Wow, how much money did we spend last night anyway?”

“Apparently more than we thought we did” Sarah stated as she pushed her chair in and grabbed her purse from the back “Let’s go people, there are boys out there who need a good American heart break!”

Laughing they made their way through the maze of tables to the exit
turning
the direction Jason pointed as having seen the bank.

They reached the bank a few minutes later
quickly walking
through the double doors leading them into the ropes separating the bank tellers. They each went into a different line and waited until they were next.

E
ach pulled out a card at the teller
to
exchange money, stuffing the money the teller’s gave them into purses and wallets
while
they made their way out into the street.

Jason hailed a taxi
telling
the older man behind the wheel their destination
, riding
in silence towards the college. Siobhan sat back in the warm cloth seat staring out the window taking in the sights of the city unfolding before her. The buildings were old
and cramped together. Some
had bricks falling apart, giving off waves of shambling sadness
to them instead of a simple old building
. Siobhan watched the people walking by, some stopping to talk, others walking briskly with bags
from shopping
or groceries
.
C
hildren playing happily
nestled in the comfy safety of their strollers while their mother’s happily pushed
. It reminded her of Chicago in some ways
,
feeling
a little pang of homesickness.