Authors: Jess Parry
“What is it?” Siobhan asked wide eyed
“You have been touched” the old woman said “Aye’ your heart is pure, but your soul is lost”
“My soul is lost” whispered Siobhan
“Yes, child you have lived many times, loved by the same soul split in two.” The old woman said as she grabbed Siobhan’s hand in a tight grip.
“Oh come on lady” Sarah said loudly “We’re going to buy the damn shawl, just stop with the heebie jeebie stuff”
Turning to look at Sarah the older woman shuffled down to the register without another word falling from her lips.
Jason and Sarah went outside to wait for Siobhan, rather than stay in the store with the old woman. She rang Siobhan up. Siobhan handed the money to the older woman, as she was getting ready to leave; the older woman grabbed her hand slipping a ring onto it.
“What is this?” Siobhan asked as she jerked her hand out of the older woman’s grasp
“Tis to protect ya” the old woman replied
Stammering a thank you, Siobhan ran out to catch up to her friends. As they turned to the corner of the street Siobhan turned around to look at the shop again, but it was gone. An empty building stood in its place, the glass bay window was broken, the front door boarded up.
“Holy craptastic that was just strange” Sarah said as they turned the corner.
Siobhan thought it better to keep her mouth shut on telling them to look back at the store. Something deep inside her was whispering for her to be quiet on it.
Once back onto the main street they walked in silence back to the hotel.
Wandering
into the hotel
they went
their separate ways after agreeing to meet in an hour at Sarah’s room. From there they would decide where they would be heading out to dinner.
Insider her room, Siobhan leaned against the door exhal
ing
a
shaky
breath, dropping the bags she had been holding. She didn’t even realize she was toying with the ring on her finger. Looking down at it, she
g
asped
at its beauty.
The
ring
was made
of silver
with a intricate design flowing around it.
Looking closer at, she realized the design was writing
. Bringing it closer to her, she was still not able to make out the
words
.
The words were
in a language Siobhan had never seen before, but the curves of the
letters
were beautiful.
Looking over at the alarm clock on the night stand, she gasped. She only had 45 minutes before they were supposed to meet at Sarah’s room. Shaking her head at wasting so much time staring at a stupid ring, she grabbed her suitcase off the floor.
Tossing her clothes off quickly, letting them fall to the floor. She pictured her mother shaking her head at her laziness and chuckled softly. She took off what jewelry she was wearing, except the ring, she couldn’t seem to bear to take that off. Jumping into the shower she quickly washed up
, drying quickly she raced to the suitcase resting on the bed
unpack
ing
something to wear for the night.
She pulled the boutique bag off the floor, ripping the tags off the
delicate
garments
.
Wiggling into
the little black lace bra and panties
.
Grabbing
her black low rider jeans,
she pulled out
a black cashmere cowl neck sweater. Dressing quickly, only stumbl
ing
a couple of times as she shimmied into the jeans. Dusting a light bronzer over her face, adding a little more mascara,
she
ran her brush through her wild hair. Taking in the image in the mirror, she caught the slight fl
ush in her cheeks; her eyes
slightly shadowed from the lack of sleep.
Sighing she grabbed her room card, her satchel and headed to Sarah’s room.
As she got to the door, she heard
the muffled voices of
Jason and Sarah behind the door.
Straining to hear what they were talking about, she jumped when
Sarah
’s
laugh
ter filled her ears
, it was a laugh Siobhan didn’t know. It was almost flirty and playful! Knocking loudly to let them know she was there, she scowled at Sarah when she opened the door after taking longer than Siobhan thought she should have.
“Wow, girl what crawled up your petunia?” Sarah asked eyes wide
,
the smile fading from her face
“Nothing” mumbled Siobhan as walked past Sarah into the room
Jason jumped up off the bed, walked over to Siobhan grabbing her face with both his hands,
kissing
her deeply. Pulling back he stared into her eyes with a longing that Siobhan didn’t think she had ever seen. Feeling the blush once again pull into her cheeks, she sighed into his embrace, turned to Sarah with an apology on the tip of her tongue.
Before she could say anything Sarah grabbed her purse,
pulling
Jason’s arm since he was still holding Siobhan close to him.
“Damn I need to find a guy, because I’m going to go crazy if I have to watch the two of you for the next month mooning over each other” Sarah said louder than Siobhan thought necessary.
Walking down the street, they didn’t notice the figure shadowing them. Ash stood silently hidden in the shadows, watching Siobhan and her friends making their way down the street. The wind playfully ruffl
ing
his hair, waiving his hand deftly he shooed the breeze away. He felt the punch of jealously as he watched Siobhan look up to Jason. Her face was flushed by something he had said to her, her eyes twinkl
ing
as she quickly looked away.
Something was brewing between them; he felt it to the core of his being. He felt the quick rush of panic, taking a deep breath, he expelled the chaos that wanted to chase inside him. Murmuring softly, he faded back into the shadows, green eyes glowing.
Stopping
at a couple of cafes looking over the menus, but nothing seemed to jump at them.
The last café had boasted an wide array of items, Sarah stood in front of the menu running her hand down the list, clicking her tongue softly.
“Nothing is saying eat me!” Sarah whined
“Well, then I say we grab a cab and see if the driver can take us somewhere that is good” Jason replied as he turned around, waiv
ing
down a cab coming towards them. The cab slowed as Jason opened the door for Siobhan and Sarah. Jason smartly shut the door, turning to the driver who was looking them up and down.
“Would you be after going somewhere?” Asked the driver in a thick Irish brogue
“Um..yeah, we wanted to get dinner, but didn’t know where a good spot
i
s” Jason returned to the cabby
“Aye, there’s a place not far, the food is good, the music will have your feet tapping” he replied as he turned back to the front,
stepping heavily on to the gas as the cab lurched
off at an alarming pace
Zipping around roundabouts, he stopped abruptly in front of a pub, rattling off the fare.
Jason gave him some money as they climbed out onto the street. The cab
taking
off as Siobhan, Jason and Sarah walked inside the boisterous atmosphere. The pub was filled almost to capacity
, noting
some of the talking stopped when the door closed. Sarah looked around
sticking
out her lips in a pout that would melt men to puddles.
Jason put his hands into his pockets and shook his hair out of his face. Siobhan could feel her face turning a lovely shade of pink and knew it wasn’t because of the heat inside the building.
The barkeep yelled over with a lilting voice – “Come in Come in!” then turned to take another order from the waitress hollering at the other end of the bar. Siobhan watched as a few of the tables with the patrons that had stopped talking when they first walked in starting talking again. Looking at each other, Sarah shrugged her shoulders, and started squeezing in between the tables to get to the only open table near the door to the kitchen.
As they neared the last table separating them from the
ir
goal, a thunderous smack sounded throughout the bar, followed by bellowing laughter. Siobhan lifted her head to see Sarah stopped dead in her tracks;
slowly
turn
ing
around to face the table she had barely passed. Siobhan saw that Sarah’s lips were pursed into a thin line as anger sparkled in her eyes.
“And just what the hell made you think you could put your hands on my ass?” Sarah yelled at the boy who had apparently landed the blow. He didn’t look much older than them, but he was laughing so hard, it took him a minute to respond.
“Ah a lovely arse it is, it called to me, it said slap me” He replied, his voice sounding like music, he smirked at Sarah his blue eyes twinkl
ing
.
Sarah stood there for a moment just staring at the boy. Siobhan watched as Jason moved closer to Sarah in case he needed to step in and stop anything. Then Siobhan saw the slight shift in Sarah’s stance
, glancing over at Jason
smiling because she knew what was coming next. Jason caught the look Siobhan gave him; looking at Sarah he started smirking devilishly bringing out his dimples.
Sarah leaned down until her lips were a hairs breath away from the boys, she watched as his eyes got wider. The smile slowly fading from his face as he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly, unsure of what Sarah was about to do. Looking at him, Sarah brought her hand caressingly down his cheek to his chin raising it just ever so slightly. Sticking her tongue just outside the corner of her lip, teasingly she then leaned over
brushing
her lips to his. Watching
as
the guy start to reach out to pull Sarah closer Siobhan barked out a laugh, as Sarah pulled back before he could truly hold her.
“Ah damn, for some reason I thought the spark would be there, but I’m sorry, I felt absolutely nothing.”
Sarcasm dripping sweetly from her lips
Turning Sarah walked over to the empty table
plopping
down hard in her chair. The group sitting with the boy star
ted
howling with laughter as the boy’s face fell. Siobhan closed the distance between her and the table;
sitting
down next to Sarah as Jason pulled up
another
chair to sit.
“Holy cow Becky, that was the best kiss I think I have ever had in my life”
Sarah
hissed in Siobhan’s ear
Turning with eyes wide she looked at Sarah seeing her friend’s eyes were a little brighter than normal. Sarah’s cheeks were flushed; her breathing a little erratic. Sarah grabbed a beer as the waitress passed holding a full tray. Siobhan watched as Sarah downed the pint in two big gulps. Jason
sat
next to Siobhan shaking with laughter. Siobhan turned to look over to the boy sitting at the table behind them. He was staring at Sarah with the worst puppy dog eyes Siobhan had ever seen.
“Hey, crash and burn!” She called loudly getting the boys attention; he slowly tore his eyes away from Sarah, look
ing
at Siobhan. “Get your ass over here”
Jumping
up
, he
slapp
ed
one of his friends on the back, racing over to sit next to Sarah. He looked quickly at Sarah, who was staring at him with her mouth open. The smile widened on his lovely face as a slight blush lit his cheeks.
Ordering more drinks and food, they enjoyed a pleasant meal, learning all there was to know about Shawn O’Riley. He was actually two years older than them, worked at a local printing shop while going to college. As the evening progressed Shawn and Sarah were inching closer to each other. Their chairs were so close together that Siobhan couldn’t see where one started and the other ended. Sarah had a stupid grin on her face as she continued to sneak glances at Shawn. Siobhan didn’t miss that Jason had a slight scowl on his face, while sneaking glances over at Sarah and Shawn when he thought no one was looking.
“Well, Shawn it’s been fun, but it’s getting late and we have a busy day tomorrow” Jason said a little harsher than needed.
Siobhan sat up a little straighter
looking sharply
at Jason. She was fine; she wasn’t even tired and didn’t see why he was in such a rush. Sarah turned from Shawn, glaring daggers at Jason. Shawn didn’t seem to notice the tension growing between them; he just turned to Sarah, offering to walk her back to the hotel.
Jumping up smiling ear to ear, Sarah took Shawn’s out stretched hand walk
ing
outside
with him
.