Page 39 of Plot Twist

I felt myself blush and the moment hung between us for a few seconds before Riley glanced around the room and took a swig of his pint.

‘I think we should get going,’ he suggested. ‘Call it a night.’

I nodded.

‘Wow,’ I said, wobbling as I stood. ‘Not sure if it’s the Guinness or the fact that I may have broken my arse, but I’m not. . . as steady as I thought. I’m going to nip to the loo before we go.’

Had I imagined that flicker of something between us? It had quickly been extinguished when Riley looked around the familiar faces in his local pub, where everybody knew his name. Perhaps it was just the booze working its unreliable magic.

As I made my way back from the ladies’ room, the door flew open and a seemingly endless succession of glamorous females sauntered into the bar, all chattering excitedly amongst themselves. The combined scent of their perfumes almost knocked me off my feet. And amongst them, I spotted a familiar face.

But this time, Eimear had her make-up carefully and expertly applied and her pert boobs were on display for all to see in a low-cut gold top. The girls were out to play for the night, too, it seemed.

I stopped, twirling my mud-streaked hair around my fingers, as Riley moved to envelop the golden ball of loveliness, who I’m sure smelled like delicious sweet sunshine, in a hug. It played out in front of me as if in slow motion. The group of women all gave Riley long, lingering smiles of recognition, before chattering in low voices amongst themselves. Eimear was fixated firmly on Riley.

‘Riley O’Connell!’ she exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, practically jumping into his arms for a hug. ‘Fancy meeting you here.’

‘Good to see you, Eimear,’ he replied.

She held onto the hug far longer than strictly necessary, squeezing her eyes shut before they sprang open again.

‘Ach, sure that’s right, it’s Thursday so Ivy’s away! Icompletelyforgot you usually come here.’ She smiled, batting her eyelashes. ‘You should’ve said. I could join you?’

‘Becca’s here.’ He lifted his hand to point towards the bathroom, where I stood completely still.

Ah, bollocks. He’d outed me to the gorgeous Eimear and now I was going to have to say hello, mud and all.

Without skipping a beat, she bounced over to me, flicking her hair behind her shoulder.

‘Becca!’ she said. ‘Lovely to see you again, although, gosh, what’s happened?’

I grimaced, looking down at myself. ‘I know, I had a bit of a tumble in the mud on the way up the road. Guess I wanted to get a taste of real country living, you know? I’ll be out milking cows in the field next.’

‘Riley, you didn’t take the walkway? Silly!’ she punched him lightly on the arm but looked utterly delighted that he hadn’t taken me up the walkway. In fact, she was beaming. ‘He always takes me on the walkway whenwe’rewalking home, don’t you, Riley?’

Ah, the walkway wastheirwalkway. I’d fallen in fucking mud to avoid using their sacred walkway.

Riley’s eyes shifted uncomfortably and he frowned slightly. ‘Well, I—’

Oh, the awkwardness. Eimear was clearly annoyed that her boyfriend had taken me on a night out without telling her. I could have told her it was a pity invite but decided to keep my nose out of it. She was hardly going to be jealous over someone with mud in their grey bra, after all.

‘I was just leaving,’ I announced. ‘Need to get this mud out of my hair. Riley, you can stay here and I’ll see you. . . back there.’

Eimear’s eyes popped hopefully as she glanced at Riley, but he shook his head.

‘No, no, I’ll take you back, Becca. Night, Eimear. See you soon.’

‘Always such a gentleman.’ Eimear smiled through her gritted teeth.

And with that, we left her standing there, all dressed up with a scowl on her face, while I went home with her man. I could see her point; I’d be pretty raging too.

The cold air hit me as soon as I left John the Craic-tist, and I pulled my rain jacket around my shoulders. My feet were sore from my sparkly heels, so I took them off.

‘Here,’ he said, squatting down in front of me.

‘What the fuck are you doing?’ I frowned as he stuck his bum out even further.

‘A coal carry,’ he said. ‘Jump on.’