Authors: Jess Parry
Her parents had met in college, during her mother’s senior year
; they had
f
a
ll
en
madly in love. Her father
had been
finishing his residency at the local hospital there
.
He
had proposed the day of her mother’s graduation
,
then whisked her back here to his home after their honeymoon a few weeks later. Her mother had embraced being the doctor’s wife with vigor
seeming
to forget she was a farmer’s daughter. Her parent’s loved each other in their own way, but it wasn’t the warm love she saw in her grandparent’s.
That was the love she hoped to know one day. A love that was home to her…
Siobhan’s mother never spoke much about growing up on the farm, other than making noise about the smells
from all the animals or
that there was
never anything
to do. The one thing that always struck Siobhan was that her mother named her after a distant relative, Siobhan McAllister. Siobhan was a name that was never really used in the family since it was often told that girls in the family named Siobhan were always wild and died young. Her mother always said that name popped into her head after thirteen hours of labor
, then
remembering how Siobhan was the name of the stubborn women in the family, she felt that name was meant to be hers…
The shrill sound of the last bell was met by whoops and hollers as the kids grabbed their bags rushing for the door. Sighing, Siobhan reached down
,
grabbed her bag
rose out of the cramped chair walking slowly toward the door.
Stopping at Mr. Lockler’s desk, she noted the ruffled papers scattered across his desk, as he hastily tried to shuffle them into some semblance of order.
“Have a good summer, Mr. Lockler; I have really enjoyed world studies this year”
Looking up at her with his glasses slightly askew on his beak like nose, Mr. Lockler smiled at her.
“You have been a wonderful student, Siobhan and I hope you have a pleasant summer as well.” Mr. Lockler
hastily replied
Turning, Siobhan headed for her locker, where she found her best friend Sarah leaning against the door as
her head tilted up slightly
smirking at Jason who was whispering something only they could hear. A slight feeling of agitation began to rise in Siobhan as she watched the closeness they seemed to always have with each other, but quickly shook it off.
How could they not, the three of them have been together since kindergarten, they knew each other’s secrets, so why should she feel like the odd one out? Clearing her throat
as
she walked up to them Sarah jumped in a full circle thr
o
w
ing
her arms around Siobhan.
“We.are.free!” she screamed into Siobhan’s ear
before
plant
ing
a smacking kiss onto Siobhan’s cheek
. Sarah quickly
spun around
to
do
the same to Jason. Laughing Siobhan pushed her friend out of the way as she opened her locker door.
“What-oh-what are we going to do this summer?” Sarah sang “It’s our senior year Siobhan; we are totally going to rock this school year!”
Twisting her hips around, Sarah giggled
as she grabbed Jason’s arm to twirl her.
“I don’t know about the two of you, but I am leaving in the morning for my grandparents” Siobhan said as she dug into her locker miss
ing
the smile on Jason’s face as he shook his head no to Sarah.
“Oh, really, I thought you were spending the summer with me?” whined Sarah “You ALWAYS go down there for the summer; I thought this year would be different as it’s our senior year and all!”
Rolling her eyes Siobhan looked up to Jason for some type of help, but he only shook his head.
“Siobhan, I have to agree with Sarah on this, it’s our senior year and we should be together this summer.” Jason said as he continued to twirl Sarah around
“Oh really
…
you aren’t going off to baseball camp for the first month
of break
like always?” Siobhan asked
“No, I’m actually ditching it this year, which is ok with my parents, since I made the Dean’s list and brought our school back the championship win this year” he replied back
coolly
.
Barking out a laugh, Sarah chimed in “I only made the dean’s list, but hey my parents are cool with me doing whatever so why can’t you just this once play nice with us?”
Clearing his throat, Jason looked at the two girls in front of him “Hey I think we need to continue this outside as most of the school is empty except for us. Granted I like school, I’m ready to be out of this building” Turning he started walking to the exit as Sarah yanked Siobhan up, slammed her locker door
,
pull
ing
her outside.
Laughing Siobhan stumbled out of the doors into the blazing afternoon sun.
“Holdup a minute guys!” Sarah called as Siobhan caught up to Jason circl
ing
her hand into his.
Glancing over her shoulder,
Siobhan watched as Sarah took her school uniform skirt
,
rolled it up two
additional
inches past her hips
then
unbuttoned her two top buttons tying her shirt at the base revealing her belly button ring.
“Sarah, really we are going straight to my house, why are you doing that?” Siobhan
scolded
“Oh come on! Really, like you have to ask, girl I got it, I have to flaunt it! Not all of us have the captain of the baseball team for a boyfriend
! So stick that lower lip right back into its place Becky
” Sarah
answered
rolling her eyes
while
pulling her long blonde hair up into a twisted knot on her head.
“You know I said I could hook you up with Derrick, he has been crushing on you for years Sarah” Jason
chuckled
as he squeezed Siobhan’s hand.
“Ah…that’s so sweet, but Jason I want a M.A.N. not some boy, I mean Derrick is hot in his own right, but come on what would we have in common?” Sarah winked at Siobhan as she shifted her shirt to reveal a little more cleavage. “So back to what I was saying about spending our summer together Siobhan, really I must put my foot down, I need my girl”
“Sarah, I love you… I really do, but I love my grandparent’s more. I have already promised them I would leave first thing in the morning” Siobhan said through her
teeth
as she turned to look up at Jason. “Jason, come on you have to understand where I am coming from, you
’ve
met my grandparents when they came up to visit…”
“I do, they are really a sweet couple, but Siobhan they have lived their lives, you need to spend time with us
.
The boyfriend who loves you like crazy, not to
mention
I’ll need
you
r
help
to keep Sarah here from jumping on every M.A.N she meets
.
”
Screeching loudly,
Sarah rounded on Jason as she skipped past dropping a swift slap onto
Jason’s
shoulder that really was more out of love than anger as his comment.
Siobhan felt the laughter bubbling out of her as she watched Jason scoop Sarah up tossing her over his should as the rounded the corner onto the quieter street that lead to her house.
“I don’t know what you laughing about; you are supposed to be beating up your boy for picking me up!” Sarah squealed as Jason tickled her.
“Better you than me, you’re my bestie and all, but I know how bad Jason can tickle! ” Siobhan choked out between her laughter
“Damn straight you do!” Jason chortled as he dropped Sarah down to the ground
.
5
Gathering Storm
2
CHAPTER
Two
They reached the brownstone that was Siobhan’s house
stopping to stand
in a circle just outside of the
gates. The
fence
that was
shielding her parent’s pristine yard from the sidewalk
always drove Siobhan crazy
.
She always felt as if it was her mother’s way of keeping everything of the world just out of Siobhan’s reach as a child. Siobhan took in the sweeping yard with its green bushes constantly neatly trimmed. Chuckling to herself, Siobhan thought of her mother pitching a fit if god forbids one of those perfect hedges had a twig of green sticking out of it.
The heat of the day reflected in shimmering waves off the deep red of the bricks. The shocking white shutters standing out against the earthy toned brick. A few ferns overflowing in their pots hung precisely along the front porch. The bleached porch swing was swaying slightly with the breeze; Siobhan watched it swaying softly wishing she could be curling up into its inviting cushions to get lost in a book.
Groaning, she gazed up at Jason standing next to her. His smile was warm as he took her hand squeezing gently.
Together, they
waited for Sarah to untie her shirt and lower her skirt.
Once Sarah was situated back into the pristine school girl attire from her wild child look,
Jason lean
ed
down lightly kiss
ing
Siobhan lips
. Closing her eyes she felt the slight tingle that came whenever he would kiss her. It wasn’t the goose bumps all over your body electric, but a comfortable tingle that was contentment to Siobhan.
“I’ll see you in a couple of hours” he whispered into her ear as
pulled
her
into a quick
hug.
“Ye
s
, we must look our best for my parent’s yearly start of summer bash” replied Siobhan disconcerted
. Lifting her head Siobhan gazed into Jason’s laughing warm brown eyes.
“Be nice” Jason whispered as he kissed Siobhan’s cheek quickly. Laughing he ran down the street towards his parent’s house
.
“Oh come on girlie, you know these parties are wicked
.
A
fter the hellos are done,
our parent’s
pretty much leaving us alone
to do whatever. Hell, if we are lucky we can
hit up the open bar
, hey there might be a couple of cute bartenders
” Sarah winked at Siobhan as she pulled her hair
out of its messy bun to
cascade down her back.
“Ah, yes…I remember last year’s event fondly…tell me what was the bartender’s name again that you hooked up with?” Siobhan countered
“Damned if I remember…Peter…John…hell he did have a sweet ass, I remember that much!” Sarah replied smartly
Laughing, Sarah grabbed Siobhan’s arm
pulling
her up the steps into her house.
Sweeping the front door open in dramatic flair, Sarah tossed her arm wildly.
“Honey, I’m home” Sarah sang out
Dropping their bags at the base of the stairs, Siobhan looked up as her mother descended the stairwell
gracefully as a model walking the runway
. Her mother was beautiful, with her dark chestnut hair pulled into a twist, her bangs landing just so, accenting her high cheekbones
,
her chocolate brown eyes shining. Her white pants were meticulous
with
her crème silk top showing just a hint of cleavage while the gold necklace gleamed off her olive skinned neck.
“Siobhan, I’m glad you finally made it home, I was starting to wonder if you forgot the party was tonight” Her mother said in a tone that was between sweet and biting.
“No mom, I remembered, I just was wondering what time I need to be down tonight?” Siobhan asked her mother just as sweetly
“I would prefer you are down before our guests arrive, I will be getting ready shortly as your father will be home in a few minutes” she replied
as she
looked over at Sarah “Sarah a pleasure as always, I trust you had a good report to share with your parents?”
“Yes, Mrs. Gallagher, I did, Dean’s list just like Siobhan and Jason” Sarah replied softly
Siobhan glanced at her friend roll
ing
her eyes at how her mother could draw out the soft spoken Sarah. When a few minutes ago Sarah was flaunting every attribute she had for anyone on the street to gawk at.
“Well, mom I need to get upstairs if you want me to be ready on time, tell dad hi when he gets home”
Grabbing
Sarah’s hand
, Siobhan
started up the stairs
,
squeez
ing
past her mother
as quickly as possible
.
Once inside her room, Siobhan clos
ing
the door
quietly, she
watched as Sarah bounded for her bed
. Sarah
jumped gracefully on
to the puffy purple comforter. S
inking down into
plush
comforter Sarah sighed as she drug pillows around her to make a barrier.
“I will never understand your mom’s mojo, the woman simply has to look at me and I’m five all over again” Sarah mumbled
“Oh yah, I think that’s the Italian side of her, she does that to Jason too
.
W
e
’ll
be on the couch watching TV
,
my mom will come in
smile that sweet I’m the woman of this house
and he jumps two feet away from me asking her if she needs anything” replied Siobhan
tersely
Growling softly, Siobhan grabs the picture frame from her dresser that has the entire family photo.
The picture
had been
taken when she was fourteen
, right before
her freshman year. She stood next to her mother
with
her grandparents on her mother’s side
standing near her
as her father stood next to her mom
’s other side
with
his parents next to him. She still had braces on
in the picture that
was her gawky stage as her mother put it. She remembered that as being the best time because her grandparents had come up from Missouri to spend the week.
Smiling to herself that had also been the week Jason had kissed her. The week everything between them had changed from best friends to a couple.
Setting
the picture down, she turned to Sarah “I’m jumping in the shower; want to pull out the dress in the closet that I know my mom put there for me to wear tonight.”
“Sure thing Becky…will there be anything else you require this evening?” Sarah snarkily asked
“Why yes, I would also prefer you to say Miss Becky, not Becky!” Siobhan chuckled
“Yes, Miss Becky” Sarah retorted
“I love you” Siobhan called as she walked into the bathroom