All rights remain. Inspired by Sam Hunts 'Take Your Time'. A story in pieces. Seamus will forever be Kaelyn's and I am privileged to be able to borrow him for a while.
To Steffes. I think it's Seamus' turn for a happy ever after.
SUMMARY: Seamus was a bars best friend. Kaelyn was an honor student who had zero interest in relationships. That was until they met each other. Inspired by Sam Hunt's 'Take Your Time'.
Seamus Finnegan was a bars best friend. He was in one most every night, but he preferred O'Sheas'. It was quiet and calm most nights and on Fridays the college crowds came by to celebrate the weekends. On Friday nights he watched the ladies in that crowd. More specifically, just one.
Kaelyn Grey.
Kaelyn was the 19 year old daughter of a factory tycoon from London. She was young and free. Thousands of miles from home. Headstrong. Her laugh was like bells and her smile was a beacon in the dark. But she had made it painfully clear to the last dozen and some losers that tried to pick her up that she was definitely NOT interested in ANYTHING. No relationships. No one night stands. She was a double major and had eyes only for an early graduation and a fulfilling career. There would be time for relationships later.
Zephyr had warned Kaelyn about Seamus. Had told her to stay away. He was a 22 year old drop out who had chosen drugs over a full ride to med school. Now no one would hire him. No one wanted to date him. Who was willing to waste their time on a back alley junkie who traded sex for his next hit? But Kaelyn had watched him ever since she started coming here. He was the only one who had never tried with her. He intrigued her.
The Friday term ended Kaelyn found herself staring at Seamus and when their eyes met, she smiled.
"You're the first lad she's given that smile to," Fergus said.
"Might wanna do something 'bout it."
Fergus was the barkeeper. Had been for years. He was also Seamus' cousin.
"School's out for the summer, mate," he pressed.
"You might not get another chance," he said as he offered Seamus a shot of Jameson.
"I don't have a chance to begin with," Seamus said bitterly.
"Zephyr's over there."
Seamus and Zephyr had been friends once. They had even dated for a bit. She had given Seamus his first taste of cocaine.
"Get Kaelyn to agree to one drink and I'll give you a busser job," Fergus said.
That caused Seamus to pause...he needed a job bad.
"Swear," he said skeptically.
"Start tonight," Fergus said.
"One drink."
Seamus looked at the Jameson before downing it and looking back at Kaelyn.
"I'm going to the ladies room," Kaelyn said to her friends.
"Need a friend?" Gale asked with a laugh.
"I'll be alright," Kaelyn said with a smile.
"I've scared everyone here off."
All the girls laughed as Kaelyn got up and there was Seamus' chance.
Kaelyn knew that Seamus was approaching and so she purposely stopped and waited. She even turned to face him.
"Blimey," Seamus thought as he looked at her.
She was very...intimidating. Especially with one eyebrow raised. She was waiting for this.
Seamus swallowed hard and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans trying to get his cool back. It was a feeling he wasn't used to.
"Hey," he said with a smile.
"I don't know if you were looking at me or not..." he started.
"You probably smile like that...all the time..."
Kaelyn just crossed her arms over her chest, a small smile on her face. She was enjoying watching him sweat.
"Look. I don't mean to bother you, but I couldn't just walk by and not say 'Hi'."
"Hi," Kaelyn said softly. Shyly.
Seamus smiled a little wider.
"I would ask your name but..."
"Yeah..." Kaelyn agreed with a blush.
"Everyone here knows your name so..."
"I know your name too," Kaelyn said.
Seamus just nodded. His chance was already blown.
"Right." He said, sticking his hands in his pockets.
"So...?" Kaelyn asked.
"I know you aren't looking for anyone right now but..."
"But?" Kaelyn pressed.
"Don't take this wrong," Seamus said, a blush stealing his cheeks.
'When did this get so hard?' he wondered to himself.
Kaelyn just continue to stare, her gaze cutting right through Seamus.
"Damn!" he breathed.
"Excuse me?" Kaelyn asked.
"Your eyes," Seamus said.
Like her name her eyes were grey. Like a storm. Captivating.
"Oh!" Kaelyn said.
"They're beautiful," Seamus said.
"You are beautiful."
His heart was racing a million miles an hour.
"I promise I'm not wasted," he said.
"And I'm usually better at this whole talking thing but..."
"But?" Kaelyn asked again.
Seamus took a deep breath.
"I know that we don't know each other," he said.
"But I'd like the chance to get to know you..."
Kaelyn smiled.
"Buy me a drink?" she asked.
"Sure," Seamus said, and with that both of their lives were forever changed.
That night Kaelyn played off sick to her friends and she and Seamus went somewhere new; a little cafe a few blocks away. Kaelyn didn't drink. She and Seamus hit it off great. They talked long into the morning about everything and nothing at all. But Kaelyn was leaving on Monday for holiday with her parents. They were going to Rome. Taking a cruise. Sightseeing in Paris. Now just wasn't the time to meet someone new.
"I'm sorry we didn't meet sooner," Kaelyn said with sincerity.
"You seem like a real nice guy."
That comment made Seamus snort. Hadn't she listened to anything he had said? 'Nice' wasn't in his vocabulary.
"We are all human," Kaelyn said softly as she put her hand over his.
"All we can do is make something of ourselves."
Kaelyn noticed the time and with profuse apologies told Seamus she had to go, but she left her number on a napkin.
It took Seamus a week to build up the nerve to send Kaelyn a message. He almost fell over at her immediate reply. She was all exclamation marks and emojis and inexpressible emotion. She was cruising the French Riviera and living life but she was ready to return to school.
"How have you been?" she sent late one night.
Seamus didn't have the gall to tell her he wasn't doing well at all. He'd been desperate for a hit and had contracted an STD. Thankfully it was treatable at the clinic down the road.
"Paris is amazing," she sent with a selfie a few days later.
Seamus just smiled. Paris was amazing when she was there.
"I'll be back in town in a week," she sent ten days later.
"I miss the coffee if you want to join?"
Seamus couldn't bring himself to answer. Not after everything he had seen. She was something special...full of life. He was a no one going nowhere fast.
It was halfway through the semester before Kaelyn asked to see Seamus again. Sure they talked through messages and Snapchat but... Seamus had already taken too much of her time.
"Will you be at O'Sheas' tonight?" she asked.
Seamus laughed when he read the message.
"I don't want to wreck your Friday," he sent back.
Truth was he decided to get clean and was locked down in rehab. He wanted to be someone. Maybe then he could meet Kaelyn face-to-face.
"I was actually looking forward to seeing my creepy stalker. *wink* *wink*," she sent back.
"Raincheck?" Seamus texted.
"I'm going to hold you to it."
The next few weeks were a nightmare. Detox was the worst, but Seamus had made up his mind to do something with himself; to be someone great. Or someone greater than he was.
Once detox was over Seamus had to learn to get away from the life he once had. His counselor helped him change his number, keeping the contacts he felt were appropriate and set him tasks to do each day to keep him busy. He was released with a GPS ankle monitor and the one time he almost messed up and ended up on the wrong side of town his counselor literally made him dig his own grave.
"What would Kaelyn say when you didn't answer her texts anymore?" he had asked.
Seamus felt ashamed.
A few weeks later Mr. Counselor enrolled Seamus in community college to get his life straight again. It was a program that gave everyone a clean slate but it meant they had to start from nothing. Seamus' college credits had all been wiped.
"This is your chance to be whatever you want to be," his career advisor had said.
"I know you have it in you. I've seen what you did before."
Six months of text's turned into a year of late-night conversations, Kaelyn crying into the phone and Seamus wishing there was something more that he could do.
"Seamus," Kaelyn whispered one night.
"What are we?"
The question shouldn't have hit Seamus like it had, but it did. It knocked the breath from his lungs.
"What do you mean?" he asked in return.
"I mean..."
Kaelyn sighed.
"I don't know," she said finally.
"I guess..."
"Are you okay?" Seamus asked in concern.
"No," Kaelyn said.
Seamus could hear the tears in her voice.
"Kaelyn?"
"I have to go," she said.
"Come to O'Sheas' tomorrow?" she asked, pleading in her tone.
"Okay."
Seamus hadn't seen the inside of a bar in 280 days. He had quit it all cold turkey. Now he wondered what had changed.
The bar was relatively empty. Then again it was a Monday. Some of the regulars were scattered around and some newbies Seamus didn't recognize. Fergus was off. And there at the counter was Kaelyn.
Some so-and-so was sitting next to her trying to chat it up and it was obvious she was trying to be polite but the guy just wasn't getting the hint.
"Can I buy you a drink?" Seamus asked as he slid onto the stool beside her.
Kaelyn visibly jumped at his voice.
"Seamus?" she asked in disbelief.
A year had done him good. He had put on weight and converted it to muscle. Working outside had given his skin a healthy glow. A steady job gave him trendy clothes and a stable home to give him a good night's rest.
"I don't drink," she said with a smile as she took him in.
"I know this great little café down the street?" he suggested.
"Okay," Kaelyn said as she said she took Seamus' offered hand.
The guy beside them was floored.
The two ended up walking down the street hand-in-hand, going slow and enjoying their time together.
"Won't your friends be worried?" Seamus asked as his arm slipped around Kaelyns shoulders.
"No," Kaelyn said as she leaned into him.
It all felt so natural.
"What about Zephyr?" he asked.
Kaelyn stiffened.
"She's no friend to me," Kaelyn said.
"I'm sorry for what she did to you."
That caused Seamus to stiffen.
"She told me all about it. About...the two of you..."
"Oh."
"People change," Kaelyn said simply.
"You aren't the same Seamus I met in the bar last year."
Seamus had to agree with her there. He was proud of who he had become. He couldn't wait to be who he wanted to be.
"You know it's been exactly one year today?" she asked.
"One year what?" Seamus asked as he stopped to look at her.
"Since I asked you for a drink," Kaelyn said.
Seamus smiled.
"I'm glad you agreed," she said softly.
"It's been a really good year."
"Yeah," Seamus said softly as he got lost in her eyes once more.
It had been a really great year. Possibly the best year of his life.
"Why me?" he asked suddenly.
"Why not you?" Kaelyn replied.
"I mean it," he said.
"You could have told me to just piss off like all the others."
"You aren't like the others," Kaelyn said simply.
"You didn't ask me out. You didn't try and get me drunk. I don't think you wanted in my pants..."
"Why didn't you just walk away?" Seamus asked, sounding pained.
"Because I didn't want to," Kaelyn said.
"I wanted to get to know you too."
"And now that you do?" Seamus asked, dreading the answer.
"I'm still here aren't I?" Kaelyn said with a shrug.
"How 'bout you?"
Seamus smiled.
"So am I," he said, and before he could even process the thought, his lips touched hers and her hands tangled in his hair.
It was magic.
"Kaelyn," he breathed.
"Let's just see where this goes," she begged.
"I don't want to be alone anymore."
"There are..."
"I only want to be with you," Kaelyn said, cutting Seamus off.
"I don't wanna steal your freedom," Seamus tried.
"I've never felt this free," Kaelyn said as she clung to him.
"I'm no good at relationships," he tried again.
"Neither am I," she pointed out.
"You could have anyone..."
"I only want someone..."
Another year flew by before either one noticed. They had both been busy.
"My parents want to meet you," Kaelyn said one lazy afternoon.
"What?" Seamus asked as he turned his head to look at her.
"My parents," she said again.
"They want to meet you."
"Why?" Seamus asked.
"Because I talk about you all the time," Kaelyn said as if it were no big deal.
"Only good things, I promise."
"I don't know," Seamus said hesitantly.
"It's just dinner Seamus," Kaelyn said softly.
"It's not like I'm asking you to move in with me."
"I know," he said sheepishly.
He'd never known anyone long enough to meet their parents. And he had never had anyone care enough to ask him to.
"I promise they already think the world of you," Kaelyn said as she rolled over to put her head on his chest.
"Okay," Seamus said as he lifted his head to kiss the top of hers.
Seamus had been pleasantly surprised when he met Kaelyn's parents. They were completely down to earth and accepting of what he was and where he had come from. Just because they came from money didn't stop them from realizing life itself was a struggle. Seamus could see where Kaelyn had gotten it from.
That night Kaelyn invited Seamus over to her flat. It was another first for him. She didn't want sex, and she had no bribes. She just wanted a cup of Earl Grey and some excellent company while she studied for her med school exam.
"How are classes going?" she asked as she chewed the end of her ink pen.
"Ace," Seamus said as he watched her.
Her hair was piled on her head, and she had an ink smudge on her cheek, but she was the prettiest now that she had ever been.
"Decided what your major is yet?" she asked, making note of something and flipping the page.
"Vet," he said.
Kaelyn looked up and smiled.
"Ace," she said with a twinkle in her eye.
Six months later Seamus and Kaelyn did move in together. Between his accelerated classes and her starting med school chance meetings at home seemed to be the only time they saw each other, but they always made the most of it.
Kaelyn made Seamus breakfast in the morning before she left and by the time she came home he had made her dinner and left it in the oven so she wouldn't starve in her quest to save the world.
They made time on Fridays for takeout and a movie, or just lying on the roof of their apartment building watching the stars.
When Seamus hit two years of sobriety, Kaelyn baked him a cake and they celebrated in silence.
"I can't believe it's been three years since we met," Kaelyn said as she curled into his side.
Seamus only hummed as he wrapped her in his arms.
"Have any regrets?" she asked softly.
"None," Seamus said as he leaned his cheek against her head.
"It's been the best three years of my life."
"Mine too," Kaelyn said as she shifted her head to kiss his jaw.
As Kaelyn started her residency Seamus tried to figure out how to break it to her that he would have to move away for veterinary studies. It seemed to be the hardest thing he would ever have to do.
Kaelyn cried from frustration, but she completely understood.
"I could come with you?" she suggested.
"You can't," Seamus said, trying to keep his own emotions in check.
"You have everything figured out here. Besides, it's only a few hours away. We can figure something out, yeah?"
Kaelyn sniffled and tried to stem her tears as she nodded, clinging to the only man she had ever loved for dear life.
"I love you Seamus," she said into his neck as she held him close.
"Kaelyn," he breathed, and his emotions broke.
"I love you too," he admitted.
It was a huge weight off of his chest.
The first term away from each other was hard but like always, they made it work.
Kaelyn would drive up late Friday night and spend the weekend in Seamus' dorm leaving insanely early Monday morning to make it back in time for her residency.
The rest of the week was sporadic texts and occasional facetime convos, but every second was worth it.
Four years and millions of stolen moments later, Kaelyn and Seamus graduated from their respective programs and they each took a summer to simply reconnect.
Seamus had a job offer waiting and Kaelyn had accepted a fellowship in the same town as Seamus so they wouldn't have to miss each other anymore.
"Regrets?" Seamus asked as they lay on a blanket and looked up at the stars.
"None," Kaelyn said, turning her face to look at him.
"You?" she asked in return.
"Not one day," Seamus said as he gave her a smile.
"Still love me?" he asked.
"Every day," Kaelyn laughed.
"You?"
Seamus sat up and looked around in thought.
"No one else for the rest of my life," he said softly as he took Kaelyn in.
"What's wrong?" Kaelyn asked, sitting up as well.
"Nothing," Seamus said with a small smile.
"Just thinking how lucky I am."
Kaelyn tilted her head to one side as she considered the man before her.
"I'm still insanely happy that we met," she said.
"As am I," Seamus agreed.
As their carefree summer came to an end, Seamus made a decision that would bring him one step closer to the man he wanted so desperately to be.
"Kaelyn," he asked as they were packing up their things to return to the city.
"Yeah?" she called from the bathroom.
"Come here a sec," he said as he turned to look out the window.
"What's wrong?" Kaelyn asked as she came into the bedroom.
"Eight years is a long time, don't you think?" Seamus asked his hands in his pockets.
"It seems like it," Kaelyn said, her forehead drawn.
"What are you getting at?"
Seamus pulled his hands out of his pockets and pulled Kaelyn close.
"I didn't mean to wreck your Friday," he whispered in her ear.
"But I definitely meant to take your time."
As Seamus pulled back he dropped down to one knee, the ring held before him.
"What do you say?" he asked, hoping his nerves didn't show.
Kaelyn stared at Seamus in disbelief as tears gathered in her eyes.
"Yes," she breathed.
No, I ain't gotta call you baby
And I ain't gotta call you mine
I don't have to take your heart
I just wanna take your time
"Take Your Time"
Sam Hunt
I don't know if you were looking at me or not
You probably smile like that all the time
And I don't mean to bother you but
I couldn't just walk by
And not say, "Hi"
And I know your name
'Cause everybody in here knows your name
And you're not looking for anything right now
So I don't wanna come on strong
Don't get me wrong
Your eyes are so intimidating
My heart is pounding but
It's just a conversation
No, girl I'm not wasted
You don't know me
I don't know you but I want to
I don't wanna steal your freedom
I don't wanna change your mind
I don't have to make you love me
I just wanna take your time
I don't wanna wreck your Friday
I ain't gonna waste my lines
I don't have to take your heart
I just wanna take your time
And I know it starts with "Hello"
And the next thing you know you're trying to be nice
And some guy's getting too close
Trying to pick you up
Trying to get you drunk
And I'm sure one of your friends is about to come over here
'Cause she's supposed to save you from random guys
That talk too much and wanna stay too long
It's the same old song and dance but I think you know it well
You could've rolled your eyes
Told me to go to hell
Could've walked away
But you're still here
And I'm still here
Come on let's see where it goes
I don't wanna steal your freedom
I don't wanna change your mind
I don't have to make you love me
I just wanna take your time
I don't have to meet your mother
We don't have to cross that line
I don't wanna steal your covers
I just wanna take your time
I don't wanna go home with you
I just wanna be alone with you
I don't wanna steal your freedom
I don't wanna change your mind
I don't have to make you love me
I just wanna take your time
I don't wanna blow your phone up
I just wanna blow your mind
I don't have to take your heart
I just wanna take your time
No, I ain't gotta call you baby
And I ain't gotta call you mine
I don't have to take your heart
I just wanna take your time
A/N: I also highly recommend watching the music video to this song. The FEELZ!