"Big God" by Florence + the Machine

The next morning, I woke up early as was typical for me. I rolled out my yoga mat and went through a morning flow. After I was done, I put the mat away and went into the bathroom to get a shower. Rocco was asleep on the couch, snoring without a care in the world.

I had just stepped back out of the shower, a towel draped around me, when the bathroom door opened. "Oh geez, I'm sorry Cecilia," Rocco exclaimed, immediately covering his face with his hands. "I wasn't thinking."

I laughed. "It's fine, Rocco, I'm covered." He tentatively looked between his fingers before deciding that it was, indeed, safe to look. "I'm done in here anyway."

I went around him before he could reply and went into my room, closing the door behind me. Dropping the towel, I put on underwear, a bra, and a t-shirt before beginning to apply product to my hair and dry it. After it was dry I put on a pair of jeans, opened my door, and then began my makeup for the day.

Rocco eventually left for the day, leaving me to work on the music that Caleb had given me and my thesis paper. I stood, pacing, tapping on my leg as I sang to myself:

"You keep me up at night

To my messages, you do not reply

You know I still like you the most

The best of the best and the worst of the worst

Well, you can never know

The places that I go

I still like you the most

You'll always be my favorite ghost"

Yeah, I had something. I went over to the phone, calling Caleb's number. No answer.

"Hey Caleb, it's Cec," I said. "I think I've got a rough draft for you guys. Just call me back when you get this." I hung up, making some quick notes and switching over to my thesis paper again. I ended up becoming so absorbed in my work that I didn't realize how late it had gotten until my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered, half paying attention.

"Cecilia?" Caleb answered. "Have you left your apartment today?"

"Uhhhh," I thought, "no. Not even a little bit. Why?"

"Let's go out tonight. You, Adam, Tyler, me, and Jess?"

"Yeah, I could use a break actually."

"McGinty's?"

I hesitated, my eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion. "Are you trying to fuck with me?"

"Nah, I just heard about this place and it sounded like a good place to drink."

I silently stared at the phone in disbelief until Caleb sighed in defeat.

"Okay, fine, it's intentionally the bar you met the twins at," he admitted. I heard Tyler indignantly swear at him in the background. "Turns out they actually work at the same meat packing plant as Tyler and they got to talking and he volunteered for us all to meet up there."

"And you didn't lead with that information because?"

"Because I thought you'd be difficult like this." I could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "They seem like they'd be good friends to have. They're fun."

"I'm not fun?"

"You're careful."

"Oh my god, you think I'm boring."

"No, I think you're too careful."

"I'm just hearing that you think I'm boring."

"Oh Jesus Christ, I give up. We'll come pick you up in thirty. Be ready or I'm just having Tyler carry you out of there." He hung up. I stared at the phone in my hand, made a face at it, and then hung it up.

Guess I'd better freshen up then. I had just finished touching up my makeup when there was a strong knock at the door. "It's open," I called from the bathroom.

"Cec, let's go, you're pretty as you are," Adam announced. I came around the corner. "Or more than usual." He motioned to my entire appearance. "What's all this?"

"Oh ha ha, I put in some effort," I shot him a look as I went over to my messenger bag and took the sheets of paper out. "Here, you guys look over it whenever." Adam gave me a salute, glancing at the lyrics.

"Oh I like this," he approved. He turned to Tyler, handing him the papers. I moved my essentials to a small black leather bag, slinging it over my shoulder. "Caleb and Jess are downstairs."

"This is good," Tyler said after a few moments, humming out the lines I had added. "Not quite what we had been thinking, but I like this."

"Two out of three, that's a good sign I kind of know what I'm doing."

"Eh."

I locked my door behind me and went downstairs, chatting with Adam and Tyler. Caleb and Jess were waiting outside.

"Hey Jess," I greeted, hugging her warmly. The blonde hugged me back.

"What? I don't get a hello?" Caleb pouted. Jess rolled her eyes, turning her husband in the direction of the pub. I laughed.

We all fell into a very easy conversation. I've been friends with Tyler the longest but they've all become like family at this point. I don't know Jess very well, she's rather shy and I haven't interacted with her very much, but I like her and she and Caleb are adorable together.

Tyler held the door open for us when we got to McGinty's. Caleb and Jess headed right for one of the bigger booths. I spotted the twins at the end of the bar. Connor was being chatted up by a tall, thin blonde woman while Murphy just looked displeased by the whole conversation taking place beside him. He was staring into his glass so hard that he didn't even notice us come in. I waved over the bartender, telling her to give Murphy a refill on me. She glanced at the end, grinned, and nodded. Then I joined the others in the booth, sitting on the end beside Adam. We ordered our drinks and received them fairly quickly.

"I'm so glad to see ye," Murphy announced as he sat down beside me. "Ye look nice."

"You looked like you could use another drink," I laughed.

"Ye have no idea. Dumber than a box o' rocks," he shook his head. I glanced over at Connor. He smirked, making eye contact, before beginning to make out with the blonde.

"Is he always like this?" I questioned. Murphy looked like he didn't quite know how to respond to that. "He's trying to make someone jealous?"

He raised his eyebrows slightly.

"She just knows things," Adam said, being the only one that was moderately paying attention to us. "You just kind of get used to it eventually." He then turned away to correct something Tyler had said, once again ignoring out conversation.

I stared at Murphy, making him slightly uncomfortable, I think. "He's trying to make me jealous," I pieced together.

"I didnae say that," he tried to protest. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Fine, aye, he is."

"He's wasting his time," I chuckled. "Connor is so far from my type that I wouldn't know where to start."

"Ye have a type, love?"

The term of endearment wasn't lost on me. "You're asking for general curiosity's sake?" I teased, leaning in slightly. Murphy was definitely my type and the guys definitely knew it. It was the only reason why we were all sitting in this pub and why they were pointedly ignoring me since Murphy joined us. I took a sip of my whiskey, staring up at him coyly.

Murphy was cautious, but he definitely picked up on the fact that I was flirting with him. He looked pleased by that, relaxing and turning to me a bit more. That's all it took for conversation to flow freely between us, eventually merging with the conversation going on at the table. The boys seemed to like Murphy. It was hard not to. And at this point, I was entirely sure I liked him.