Chapter 2: That would be me
Mary was waiting for her daughter and the wee English fella. Ready to pounce on most what were most certainly the two biggest doses in Derry that morning. Erin had forgotten that one of the family friends was a security guard, who upon realising that he couldn't keep up with the runaway wains, immediately telephoned the Quinn house. Gerry's brother was gone too, so any hope of a smoke screen of laughter and distraction for the two kids was lost.
Erin led James through to the kitchen after they'd taken their coats off, recognising from one look at her mother that they were rumbled. Unfortunately, James wasn't quite as observant, opening with a salvo of pleasantries.
"I like your jumper Mrs Quinn".
Granted, he was spot on in Mary's eyes. She was wearing her best Christmas Jumper that morning for the visit of Daniel. Noting another compliment coming her way from the wee English fella, she couldn't help but smile at him. He might have been an English, but he was a charming one at least.
"Thank ye son. You's are back earlier than I expected".
"It wasn't so busy mammy". Erin lied through her teeth.
"Aye right…" Mary's tone was already heading to a suspicious one. "… and without any gifts?"
There would be no delaying or skirting around the events of the day for as long as possible. James was finally realising that they were out of luck too, his smile dropping to a lip that quivered nervously instead.
"Mammy…".
"Save it Erin! Both of ye, living room, now!"
They trapsed into the living room with tails between their legs. Mary hadn't made the trip alone behind them, equipping herself with her own wooden spoon in much the same way Erin had to strike Joanne. The wooden spoon treatment was not one which he wished to face, nor see Erin face either. But by the look on Mary's face, it appeared that one of them was getting it.
They sat next to each other on the sofa, pressed right in together despite there being plenty of room to sit apart. But nothing was said about it. Mary had other matters to discuss.
"Do ye recognise this Erin?"
"Wooden spoon Mammy…". She mumbled.
"Aye… my wooden spoon". Mary snarled, bending forward to meet her daughter's eyes. "And what's it used for?"
"I… well…". Erin started to flounder at her mother's stern approach.
"Erin… I'm not asking again!"
"Baking, Mrs Quinn".
James's dorky, wide-grinned answer caused both Mary and Erin to turn ferocious looks on him for his stupidity. Trying to add amusement into a Mary Quinn scalding was one of the most brainless decisions that had ever been made under that roof, a roof that often contained the mindless actions of Orla McCool. It only took him a half-second to realise it afterwards.
"Breaking a woman's nose!" The matriarch's fury returned to her daughter. "I have never been so disappointed with you in my life Erin! Do ye know the shame ye've brought on this family!"
"I was protectin' James!" She vigorously argued her actions.
"Wise up! He's a fella, he can look after himself".
"She was one of those women mammy… who preys on the unsuspectin' young men who aren't from around here! He's not a… ragdoll… to be… well ye know… passed around to please the likes of her!".
"I don't care if she was the devil herself, ye can't go round assaultin' a woman because she wants to pay James here a compliment".
Erin huffed at her mother, folding her arms and looking out of the window. She was incredibly grateful that the reason for why she'd defended him wasn't asked further; she would never have been able to keep up the façade of her feelings in front of her mother.
With her daughter looking away, the Englishman once again became the object of Mary's disdain. Whilst Erin might have been the one to break Joanne's nose, the security guard recanted to her that it was James who took it upon himself to engineer their escape from the shopping centre.
"And you… I didn't have ye down as a coward!".
"I…". He went to answer, but ultimately thought better of it.
"I'll be ringin' yer Aunt Deirdre to be tellin' her about this, ye hear". She sneered at him, waving the spoon in his direction. "Christ I wouldn't be surprised if it were one of the others, but I feel a wee bit let down by ye for decidin' to bolt like that".
"I'm sorry Mrs Quinn, please this is all my fault…".
Erin turned back to him with a gasp. Typically, James was attempting to shift all responsibility to himself, a selflessness that only endeared him more to her. A selflessness that was threatening to make her lose control of her senses to kiss him right then and there, to tell him exactly what she wanted. But her mother was standing in front of the pair of them with the wooden spoon primed, ready to make contact with the skin on the back of their hands at the drop of a hat.
"Don't ye try and get Erin off the hook, yer in this together!" Mary shouted at them. "The two of you's are goin' back to Primark and apologising to that woman… and the staff. If ye do that, then she might not press charges…".
"Press charges?" A surprised James questioned.
"Aye son". She replied as tears began to form in Erin's eyes to his side. "Now you's best get yer coats back on. GERRY!"
An internal war broke out within Erin as she struggled to do anything in the seconds after her mother's comment. Her brain and her limbs didn't seem to function in tandem anymore, with her heart seemingly having jumped from her chest and took flight down the street. But her world was put back to normal with the touch of a hand on hers. His hand.
"I won't let anything happen… I promise".
All of sudden, she was having battles of a different kind. Of the, try not to eat the face off of your best friend, variety…
It was an experience that they wouldn't be forgetting for a while. Returning to the scene of the crime, the two women had watched on and snarled at Erin. Luckily for her, Mary's stare silenced anything that the women might have to say before her daughter's apology, which was reluctantly accepted by Joanne. The two older women still had their eyes on James, but were too outgunned to try it on with him again.
Erin made her apologies through somewhat gritted teeth, although the thought of charges being pressed against her shocked her into giving it to them without hesitation. James still attempted to shift all of the blame onto himself even as he apologised to the guard, with everyone, including the two cougars, calling him a dose. He didn't mind the abuse, it was mild compared to what he put up with from Michelle on a regular basis, especially as he'd achieved his main aim of not letting anything happen to Erin. Throughout the trip she showed signs of apprehension, but at every moment that he picked up on it, he was quick to root it out. Whether it be through starting a conversation with Mary or a gentle hand on Erin's back when her mother wasn't looking, he calmed her down. If only he knew what he was doing to her by putting his hand there…
"Night you two".
Gerry appeared in the doorway of Erin's room as the wee clock struck half past eleven. The two of them looked up at him from their respective positions, with peaceful smiles on their faces.
"Night da". Erin replied from where she was lying on her bed reading.
"Good night Mr Quinn". James, sat at the chair by her desk doing likewise, also returned a comment to Gerry's.
"Don't be too late now the two of ye".
"We won't daddy". Erin huffed.
The two men shared a look of amusement at her frustrated response, her face hidden from them by the book in front of it. The door was soon shut, leaving the two of them alone in her room. James was thankful that it was Gerry who'd come to check on them before bed, as whenever it was Mary or Joe in the past, they'd get read the riot act, despite the rest of the gang being there… or perhaps because the rest of the gang were there… but with Gerry it was different. James admired him, being just about the only person who truly did other than Mary, because he saw in Gerry some traits that he carried too. They were outsiders…they could both soak up the often-unnecessary abuse… they were both in love with blondes of a certain…
Love.
The truth about his feelings for Erin weren't outed at that second at least. However, it was whilst they were sat eating dinner at the Quinn house earlier that evening, that he truly realised he was madly in love with her. Crazily, stupidly in love with Erin Quinn. Dinner, especially with the added presence of Joe, Sarah and Orla, was hardly the place for him to stare, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She hadn't caught him, not to his knowledge anyway as she was yet to mention it, and he couldn't find it within himself to care. He wanted her to know how he felt, he really did.
Being alone in her room gave him the perfect chance.
Yet it wasn't perfect. Because like many times in his life, the courage suddenly disappeared, and he returned to being little Jamesie who liked hugs from his mum. Timid, shying away from any challenges that were presented to him… unable to share his feelings properly.
Erin's yawning drew him away from those thoughts. She'd put the book down to one side, sitting up to meet his eye from across the other side of the room.
"I'm goin' to go to sleep now James. I hope ye don't mind…".
"No not at all". He smiled at her, his guard going up to hide his disappointment at the night ending so soon. "I… I suppose I was about ready anyway".
He'd hoped to have schooled the second half of his reply in such a way that she didn't notice his dismay, but the raised eyebrow in his direction proved that it wasn't the case. Erin decided not to ask though, leaving James to turn her light off before he took up position in the sleeping bag on the floor. Orla would have joined them that evening too, but in the end, she was so tired from her excursions of the morning at John Hume's office and the afternoon out with Joe and Sarah as a reward, that she fell asleep after dinner. Joe ended up carrying her next door, unwilling to wake his granddaughter who was in such a deep sleep.
Erin watched the wee English fella as he walked across to the door, her eyes unwilling to leave him. He couldn't see her staring at him, which was good, because that meant he also couldn't see the way she was biting down on her lip either. And he couldn't read the sadness etched across her face from the fact that he was having to stay in the sleeping bag on the floor… not up with her on the bed. Where she wanted him.
Badly.
It was abject torture having him alone with her in her bedroom and being too scared to attempt to convey her true emotions to him. She'd shrivelled up into the shyer Erin, the Erin who liked to have cuddles from her daddy because it made the world feel safer.
Settling down into his sleeping bag, James could feel Erin's eyes on him. She'd looked away as he made his way back over from the light switch, but as soon as they weren't in direct view of each other again, he just knew she was looking at him. Turning around again though, she'd moved to face way… stop wishing and wanting James, you've got no chance…
The two eejits were dancing around the fire that was their feelings for each other, with neither wishing to stick their hand in to be burned by the other. James was staring at the ceiling, filling his mind with thoughts of his own shortcomings, convincing himself that he would never be good enough for Erin. In turn, she was lying with her back to him, telling herself that she was too cowardly to ever admit that she thought James truly was the biggest ride in Derry. Whilst they foxtrotted around the flames, it was the other end of the heat spectrum that became the catalyst.
The icy night.
"Bloody hell it's cold". James mumbled the complaint.
That was it.
Something was always going to have to give for one of them, and it was for Erin. Her next actions were going to be either genius or complete suicide for their friendship, an unmoveable awkwardness that would threaten to ruin everything for not just the two of them, but possibly for the whole group. It would be James's fault though of course. After all, he'd once told her to be confident around boys because they liked that in a girl. And he was a real-life boy. In her bedroom.
"Do ye want to… get in?"
She'd already pulled back the covers to show him his place next to her, and as James sat up, his eyes were full of wonder, yet were still tinged with disbelief. It was getting beyond the point of friendship if he was to share a bed with her, but it would be undoubtedly warmer under her covers than it would be in the sleeping bag on the floor. Then again, her parents were in the house and Joe could be on the prowl at any time…
"I… erm… I… if you…".
Come on James for fuck's sake…
Have some confidence…
The girl you fancy is inviting you into her bed and you're standing there gawking like a moron… pull yourself together you stupid mug…
Her parents are asleep… you're doing nothing wrong…
"Yes".
The answer was more blunt than confident. Not that it mattered to Erin, as despite the dark of the room, he could see her lips curve into a smile. James pulled himself up onto the bed, ready to take up position at the very edge in order to maintain the most respectable distance he could. But as soon as his arms were within her grasp, Erin suddenly yanked him over towards her, so that he came to a stop as their noses were almost touching. The boundaries of friendship were well and truly breached.
Hot breaths cascaded down the cheeks of their faces as their eyes bore into each other, irises locked in what was almost a challenge. One was daring the other to make the first move. Neither's control over their own emotions were holding steady in such proximity to each other, the buried feelings and forbidden desires rising to the fore.
"Can I… ask you something". James whispered, puncturing the tension for a moment.
"Mmhmm". Erin was so lost she couldn't form proper words.
"What you said earlier… when the woman asked about who owned me…".
He didn't need to carry on and finish the sentence to ask the question, knowing that she would automatically jump to his meaning. They understood each other perfectly like that. It was how she responded that caught him off guard.
Her hand moved forward to rest on his chest, directly over his heart, where she could feel the rapid beat underneath. His eyes sparked open with further wonder as her eyes did too.
"Mine… under lock…. and key".
From those words on, any shields that they'd put around themselves to prevent them being together were torn asunder. His lips were on hers, uncontrollably running his hands over her, easing his tongue through the defences to jostle with hers. They were frantic and wild, James soon nipping away at a spot behind her ear that coaxed moans from her, moans that she barely kept to a murmur to avoid detection. She might have once chastised herself for not having moves, but he made up for her in that department. James had moves… serious moves.
"James…".
She just about uttered his name, but it was only to encourage him, something which, to her, he incredibly seemed to understand. He'd shifted so that his body almost covered hers, planting kisses into her neck and along the path of her collarbone that only heightened her arousal. His straying left hand cheekily undid a couple of buttons on her pyjama top, increasing the ease in which he could nip away at her. Erin just let him run rampant, unable to stop him as her body responded to his touch with feelings that she never knew she could possess.
James might have been hers under lock and key, but it was her who was being unlocked that night as he pressed against her.
They never did struggle for warmth the whole night…
And when Gerry came in to check on the two the following morning, he left them as he found them. They'd even woken before him, snogging away underneath the covers, rolling around and giggling as they did, young and carefree.
James was a good lad. He could allow it… he liked the Englishman.
He was also a brave wee bastard. Far braver than Gerry at that age. He would barely hold Mary's hand at her parents' house…
At that very moment he heard the front door open, and he was reminded of why he was so cautious as a teenager. Knowing that it would be Joe arriving, Gerry did the most sensible thing he could. He went into the bathroom, locked the door, ran himself a shower and shut himself off from the world… because he knew Joe would be heading for Erin's room before long. Joe was aware James would be staying over, and even if he thought he was a wee gay fella, he would still check to be sure. With the two teens being so lost in each other, they never heard him coming.
Gerry heard the aftermath though.
"MARY! GET THE WOODEN SPOON!"
"GERRY! YOU USELESS SHITE… WHERE ARE YE!"
Chuckling to himself in the bathroom, Gerry prepared to face the music. But this time, he wouldn't be alone in the storm of Joe's wrath. He had an ally.
Because for the foreseeable future, James's happiness would be owned by Joe.
Kept under lock and key.
