AN: So, this takes place while Connor and Murphy were teenagers, they're 16 in this while they're in Ireland. I hope you like it :)
Connor walked through the kitchen on Sunday morning with Murphy in tow. They were about to leave for church when he smelled something amazing.
"Ma, 's dat yer apple pie?"
"Tis. But ya two better keep yer hands off!"
"By ma, yer apple pie's de best," Connor complained. She always made it for other people, but he wanted pie too, dammit! He didn't understand why he couldn't ever have the damn pie.
"Ya heard me. Keep yer damn hands off. 'S fer de neighbors."
"Mr. an' Mrs. MacMally?" Murphy asked. "Why?"
"Their son an' daughter 'n law died in a car crash an' now dey've gotta raise their granddaughter. I pray fer dere sake, she ain't nothin' like you two fuckin' trouble makers!" Ma exclaimed.
"Ya don' mean that do ya, ma? Y'know ya love us," Connor grinned, he loved his mom, of course. But, he still loved to mess with her, it was in his Irish nature-both parts. Loving his ma and the constant banter.
"We're gonna be late if we don' go now. The MacMallys 're gonna walk with us. An' I don' wanna hear no moanin' outta either of ya. I want ye boys on yer best behaviour, ya hear?"
"Yes, ma," they said in unison.
Connor and Murphy shared a look. Mr. and Mrs. MacMally were old sheep farmers that had always gotten really mad if either twin stepped foot on their property. So naturally, they weren't too excited about walking with them. They imagined their granddaughter could not be too much fun to be around, if the two were so angry about everything.
The twins followed their mum outside and towards the neighbors' house. They too happened to be heading out just at that time. Connor punched Murphy's shoulder twice, a symbol that they had begun using to call dibs when they say a pretty girl. Their mum hated to hear any of that stuff, so they found it easier to just keep her out of it.
Murphy hadn't even noticed their new neighbor yet when Connor punched him. But, he looked up and saw her and kicked himself for not paying attention. She was so different from the girls that they had around there. Sure, there were pretty ones, but they tended to be pale-thanks to the lack of sun-and they all liked to style their hair the same way. Lately, all of them had been getting it cut short, both twins preferred the look of long hair. The girl's hair freely hung to about the middle of her back and it had loose waves too it. As she got closer, her full lips were easily visible and her long dark lashes pressed against her cheek as she blinked. She smiled politely as her grandparents introduced her to Annabelle, the boys' mother.
"'M sorry 'bout yer parents," their mother offered her condolences.
"Thank you," by now, it was the robotic response that she gave. She was sick of hearing it. She was sick of people worrying that she was going to lose it and give up on life. She just wanted to try and block it all out.
"These two sorry asses 're me boys. That's Connor an' that's Murphy," Annabelle pointed to each of the boys.
"Annessa," she greeted. She held out her hand, like Annabelle had done towards her and Connor shook it first.
"Nice ta meet ya, lass. 'M Connor," he gave the best grin that he could muster and winked at her.
Her cheeks warmed as she shook hands with Murphy too. He didn't grin or wink, but even though he and Connor had the same eye color, his gaze gave away what his actions didn't. He wanted to be flirty like Connor was, but something was holding him back. He was a bit more shy than his brother, Connor found it much easier to be loud and open. Murphy did not.
"Excuse him," Annabelle sent a glare Connor's way.
"He's okay," she gave the woman and almost smile as they walked down the path to the church.
At service, Annessa had ended up sitting between the boys, she assumed that was because that was where they had wanted her. They talked quietly because they were in the back. It wasn't that Connor and Murphy didn't respect their religion, they did, it was just that they found it really important to get to know Annessa a little better because they knew once school started up two months from then, she would end up like the rest of the clones in their class, it always happened, even with new girls.
Annessa had never been to a church before, she still couldn't say that she had paid attention though. She was surprised by how comfortable she already felt with both of the boys. She had learned that they were twins, but they didn't know who was older. Connor loved to play sports while Murphy didn't care much for them, other than watching, Murphy was the one that got his work done at school and Connor copied, and that they both wanted to move to America some day. The two were very smart, but she found that Murphy must have been the more studious of the two.
She had avoided everything to do with her parents. But, she told them that she loved to read, that she wrote short stories, and that she wanted to be a teacher. Other than that, the boys spent their time cracking jokes and being silly.
On one morning in July, Annabelle had left early, Connor was too sick for church, and Murphy didn't want to walk by himself, so he gained the courage to walk over to the MacMally's and ask Annessa to walk with him. Usually he didn't go over there because her grandparents weren't big fans of his or Connor's. He slowly knocked on the door and he thanked the lord when it was Annessa that answered. "Oh hey," she greeted. She was wearing the same pink dress she did every Sunday, she had told the twins that it was the only one that she owned and she hated dresses so she didn't want to bother buying any more, after all, she was only going to wear them on Sundays anyway.
"Hiya, lass," he greeted.
"Where's Connor? I thought you two were attached at the hip," she laughed a little. Murphy's cheeks reddened. Of course, she was looking for Connor. He should of known that if Annessa was going to like one of the twins it would be Connor. He was always better at talking to girls and usually attracted much more female attention.
"He's sick, I was jus' comin' over to ask if ya wanted to walk with me ta church." he decided to ask anyway, he would still have to walk there alone if he didn't ask her.
"Yeah, let me just tell my grandparents. You can come in if you want."
He had never seen the inside of the MacMally house so he nodded and followed her through the entrance of the house. The living room was a bright, happy yellow with two dark brown couches and a small TV that didn't seem like it got much use. He stood and waited as she walked out of the living room and into what looked like it was probably the kitchen.
Murphy knew that Connor had called dibs on Annessa, but he couldn't help it if he liked her. He thought that she was pretty and funny. But, he thought he had first seen her at the door, her first thought was of Connor. Maybe he should just leave it all alone and let her date Connor.
"Okay, let's go," she walked back into the living room and headed for the door. Murphy walked out and she was right on his heels. They walked side by side down the road. "So what's school like here?"
"Borin' as hell," he replied. She grinned at him. He had noticed a change in her since she started living in Ireland, she was a lot happier and she smiled a lot easier, perhaps it had to do with the fact that she was processing the death of her parents and letting everything go. He liked her like this. Easygoing and free, it made her fun to be around.
"So's school back home, I guess it'll be pretty similar then," she shrugged before changing to an unrelated topic, "It always amazes me how green the grass is here..."
"What color was it back where yer from, then?" She didn't talk much like her home. It was one of those touchy subjects for her that he didn't ask about. He supposed it reminded her a lot of the fact that her parents were gone.
"I didn't have grass back home. It was all sand...I lived in the desert."
"Aye?"
"Hmm hmm. Las Vegas, Nevada. So, this has taken a lot to get used to. Big city to tiny town, sand to grass. Not to mention the people..."
"What people do ya like better?"
"You and your brother are my first friends. If I didn't have you guys though...it would probably be the same."
"First friends? Ya mean like ever?"
"It's stupid, but I used to not talk to anybody, ever. I didn't want to meet people or have friends. Maybe I watched too many of those movies where people talked about each other behind their back and did awful things...I didn't want it to happen to me."
"'M glad ta be yer first den," he gave her a smile and then when she started laughing her realized how it sounded. "Lass, I didn't mean-"
"I know, Murphy." As her hand swung, he felt her fingers brush his hand that was hanging at his side. His arm tingled all the way up and his cheeks reddened again. "That's something your brother would say," she knew that Connor was the more outspoken of the two and it was always obvious when he flirted with her, which was all the time. She kind of preferred Murphy's shy approach though. It was really cute, if she was being completely honest with herself. She may have found Murphy to be the slightly more attractive twin too.
"Aye, we're 'ere..." he pointed out as they made their way up the path to the church. They walked in and took their spot in the back row. He sat on the end of the pew and she sat beside him. She sat close, but just so that their legs almost touched.
Church was really busy on this particular morning and some younger guys-older than Annessa and Murphy-ended up in the back row with them, forcing her closer to him.
"How're ya, lass, I don' tink I've seen ya, 'fore," a man with dark green eyes smiled at her. It was surprising that they hadn't crossed paths, granted how small the town was.
"I've lived her for a few months now," she tried to be nice, but she didn't know him and it made her kind of nervous.
"Aye? What's yer name?"
"Annessa," she looked over at Murphy, getting a strange vibe from the guy. She took his hand and laced her fingers together. She tried to tell him with her eyes to do something, but she wasn't sure that he got the message.
"'Tis a pretty name, lass. 'Ave ya ever been ta the lil' coffee shop jus' down the road? I'd love ta take ya there," he smiled again.
Murphy wasn't sure what to do, there some stranger was, hitting on their girl that he had a crush on since the beginning of Summer-while she was holding his hand, no less. He had to tell himself that she needed his help and his personal interest in the matter shouldn't affect him. He knew that Connor would say something, but Connor wasn't here. It was all up to Murphy.
"Can ya stop hittin' on me lass, now? We're 'ere fer church," he looked at the man and said.
"We're jus' makin' conversation. No girl likes fer 'er lad ta tell 'er what ta do. Ya know older guys 're better anyway," he winked at her, making her all the more nervous.
Annessa squeezed Murphy's hand. Church hadn't officially started yet so she was trying to come up with an excuse to leave. She wanted to avoid confrontation.
"I think I left my glasses at home...will you walk with me to go get them?" she asked. He knew that she didn't wear glasses, so he nodded and followed her out the door of the church. She didn't let go of his hand as they walked down the road quickly. "I'm sorry, that guy was creeping me out."
"'S not a problem," he replied with a shrug. He looked down at their connected hands and she didn't make a move to let go, so he didn't either.
"Can we do something fun since we're not going to church?" Sure, skipping church was wrong, but they could not just sit in there for the next couple hours, that would not work.
"I think I know somethin'. C'mon." He led her across several fields and into the trees. There was a small stream about a quarter mile into the woods with a rope that people used to swing into the water below. He hadn't even thought about the fact that she was a girl and that she didn't have a swim suit until he started to say something. "Shit..."
"Oh my God, can we go swimming? I haven't been swimming in so long!"
"I but...uh...ye don' have a suit..."
"Murphy, I know you're not a creep," she gave him a small smile as she started taking off her shoes. "Unzip my dress?"
He looked at her with surprised blue eyes. She just smiled a little and gave him a reassuring look. Whenever he and Connor would come down here, they would just swim in their boxers, it wasn't a big deal. But, Annessa was a girl and it was different.
"Come on, don't tell me that you're freaking out about this? It's the same as a swim suit." she would have swam in her dress, but she didn't want to get it all wet and gross. Plus, then she would have to explain to her grandma how that happened.
"Aye, sorry, lass," he pulled the zipper in the back down as she held up her long hair. He saw her freckled shoulder blades and the gentle curve of her spine. He could also see the top of her black underwear. She stepped out of her dress and hung it on a tree branch. She grabbed the rope and swung on it before dropping into the water below.
"Are you just going to stand there?" she called to Murphy. "Or are you going to get in?" The rope swung back his way, he caught it before letting it rest of the branch it bad before. He started unbuttoning his shirt and he hung it beside her dress in the tree.
From the water, he heard Annessa whistle. He looked at her and she just grinned. She waited patiently as Murphy undressed and swung into the water. The splash he made caused new water to rush over her. She started swimming closer to him though, a smile on her face.
"What 're ya doin'?"
"There's something that I need to do," she said. He stayed still-aside from kicking his feet to keep him afloat, as she stopped a few inches from him. She looked like she was debating for a moment. Slowly, she brought her hands up and rested them on his shoulders.
"Yer not tryin' ta drown me, 're ya?"
"Yeah, Murphy, that's what I'm trying to do," she rolled her eyes, her green eyes that he caught himself staring at so many times before.
Annessa was glad that it was her eyes that he stared at, not her chest at that moment, she knew that it was probably all too visible at that moment, but she couldn't help it.
"I sure hope not," she hadn't made a move to look away from him or remove her hands. He swallowed hard and decided to be brave, he rested his own hands on her bare sides. It wasn't that he hadn't been this close to a girl, it was just that those girls were different. He hadn't liked those girls like he liked her.
Slowly, she pressed her lips against his. She had never kissed anybody before, but she had seen it done and she was trying to duplicate it.
"I thought ya liked Conn..." his voice was no higher than a whisper when he said it.
"I do," she replied. His face fell, but all she did was shake her head. "Not in the way I like you though," she kissed him once more and they both smiled happily.
AN: I hope you enjoyed reading this. I've never written a one-shot before. Perhaps I'll make it into something more...I have a few ideas but I would like to see how many people like the idea first. Reviews would be lovely!
~Michelle~