Part One – So Here We Are
One hour. That's all. One hour. One long, lonely, desolate hour since Craig took the lonely step onto the flight to Dublin. Even though the flight wasn't the longest in the world, it felt like forever.
Sitting in his seat, safely strapped in, Craig had never felt more trapped. He felt stuck, and he didn't know how to shake this feeling. As the final people boarded the flight, a couple no less, Craig finally realised that he was all alone heading to city he'd only ever seen in films or in brochures.
His eyes stung, but he stilled them from shedding any tears. It was only when the late arrivals shared a love-filled kiss that Craig released the sob that had been growing inside ever since his soul mate walked out of his life.
He felt empty, like a part of him had been ripped out.
Finding his luggage had been easy to do, getting the taxi from the airport to his Dublin home had proved more difficult than he thought, but he liked the distraction.
He had spent the last of the taxi ride staring out but seeing nothing. And when the taxi stopped, he knew he had to shake himself from his lost feeling.
Arriving at his hovel, he was surprised to see another young man exiting a similar taxi. His brown hair was shimmering in the last of the day light, and Craig could feel himself getting entranced. His hair was spiked at odd directions; his clothes were of the casual style, although Craig saw that he was carrying a cardigan of his own liking.
But it was his eyes that caught Craig's attention. Two pools of blue that seemed to reflect his soul… an entirely different shade than those of the boy that had left him alone in the busy check-in. But the comparison wasn't lost on him.
When the driver dropped his only bag at his feet, he abruptly awoke and shyly smiled to him before handing over the money.
The door to the house opened that was split in two levels opened. A woman who looked to be well into her fifties, her curly gray hair elbow long and her coke bottle glasses almost falling from the bridge of her nose rushed towards the two boys and roughly shook their hands as the taxis drove away.
"I'm Siobhan, your landlady." She said, smiling at both boys.
Smirking at Craig, the other lad lifted his rucksack and placed it on his back.
"I'm C…" he started, before Siobhan made a shushing noise.
"Let me guess! I've always been good at guessing my tenant names!"
Siobhan, placing her hands on her hips, looked at both studiously. Turning to Craig, she offered her hand to him again, which he fearfully took, "Are you Mr. Connor? Connor O'Brien?"
Stifling a laugh, Craig shook his head and croaked out his own name.
"Cr-Craig Dean."
Looking crestfallen, the woman shook his hand and then faced the real Connor.
"In all my years of renting to students, this is the first time I guessed their names wrong," She murmured, her right hand diving into her overly-large coat. The sound of keys rattling was heard, followed by the rattling as she pulled a single set of keys from her pocket.
The elderly woman then strode back to the house, waving her arm after her for the boys to follow.
Chuckling, Connor lifted the satchel, or laptop bag, Craig wasn't sure, and followed her.
"I guess that means 'follow the leader!'"
Laughing nervously, Craig followed the two before him, and tried hard to shake off this glow-y feeling that was growing in his chest.
Entering the kitchen, Craig found Siobhan leaning against one of the counters, Connor was sitting on the back of one of the two midnight blue couches... the colour brought Connor's eyes out even more.
Craig felt himself getting lost again.
For the second time (or was it the third?) he shook himself from his daze. He placed his bag on the dining table that was in the middle of the room and waited for his landlady to hand over the keys to his new home.
Siobhan was pulling off two keys from the set and held out one for both boy's to take.
"These are the keys to the front door. Two bedrooms are upstairs, where the main bathroom is, and a small toilet is here, under the stairs. Obviously we have a kitchen - living room – dining room here, and the bare essentials I got for ya – tea, milk, bread, sugar, butter and some cheese and ham. Cutlery is in the draw beside the sink, and plates and bowls and so on are above that."
Trying to take everything in that the aging woman had just said, Craig soon realised a problem.
"Eh, Siobhan?"
"Yes, dear?"
"I thought this house was split in two? When we spoke on the phone, you said that one tenant would have the upstairs and one would have the downstairs."
The woman nervously grinned as she took a handful of curls and began making a braid.
"Yeah, well… that house was already taken when we spoke, so I didn't have time to clear it with you before you arrived… it's not going to be a problem, is it? I mean, Connor looks like he cleans up after himself."
Shaking his head, Craig glanced at Connor and tried not to blush, "No, it's no problem at all. Just wondered what happened there."
"Ok so, if there are any other problems, my numbers on the fridge. Enjoy Dublin boys."
Waving to the duo, Siobhan glided out of the kitchen and the lads heard the front door open and slam shut.
Gulping, Craig pulled out one of the chairs from the table and sat down, the chair creaking as he did so.
"Well that was…" Connor started.
"Weird." Craig finished.
Both boys looked at each other for a moment before they both burst out laughing.
It took them bout at least 10 minutes to recover enough to actually speak.
"Craig," He said, offering his hand to his new housemate.
"Connor."
The boys looked around the living area before grabbing their luggage and heading to the stairs.
"Looks grand so far," Connor said, following Craig up the stairs, his Irish lilt sending shivers up Craig's spine.
Once at the top, the boys found the bathroom and then the bedrooms. Seeing as there was only two bedrooms, they were of equal size, and both already had a double bed, wardrobe, study desk and chair in place.
The boys choose which room they wanted and decided to unpack first before getting any further.
Craig entered his room, dropped his bag to the floor and, closing his bedroom, leant his head against the pine wood.
Here I am, he thought. I'm finally in Dublin.
He closed his eyes and orbs of blue appeared before him.
He needed another distraction. He took his bag and tossed it on the bed. Opening it up, he grabbed all of his clothes and haphazardly shoved them in the wardrobe. He got to his iPod and iStation and placed it on the study desk. And then he found the photo frame.
His hand, of its own free will, moved to stroke the image of younger boy in the picture.
Kissing the picture, Craig wiped away his sudden tears and placed the wooden frame on his bedside table.
He still had four days until registration and induction, so he had plenty of time to make his room feel comfortable. The only actual work he did was to dress the bed, put up pictures of his family and hang his posters.
He returned downstairs to find Connor watching TV, the only all-Irish channel.
Dropping himself on the other sofa, Craig tried his hardest to understand what was being said.
"So, do you actually understand what she's saying?" He asked after a few minutes of viewing.
"Pretty much," Connor said, "I come from one of the last few places in the country to speak Irish full time, one of the islands of Mayo, Achill?"
Craig shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, "Nope, never heard of it."
"Not to worry, I've probably never heard of where you're from."
"Chester," Craig offered, once he realised what Connor was asking.
"Same for me! Not one iota."
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His first day and night in Dublin was a lot more enjoyable than he thought it would be. He found himself fast making a friend, something that always seemed impossible for him.
After watching the Irish channel for a few hours, they had gone into to town for a pizza and then went in search of an off licence.
Returning to their flat with their arms filled to the brim with beer, the boys chatted about what course they would be doing (Connor was doing English literature and Drama) and about their families.
And Craig found the glowing feeling inside was getting bigger, and that Connor smelt really nice and that his skin had this perfect shine to it.
And when Craig looked into those blue eyes again, he felt his body leaning closer to the warmth of the Irish one beside him and their lips ever so slightly, ever so excitingly, brush together.