6 APART?

The house was still full of people. The whole community came together for Tony's mother's funeral, which happened three days after she died. After the service everyone, or so it seemed to Jess, headed for the Bhamra's house. She had been helping her mother out for hours, serving food and hot drinks to all their guests. Last time they had so many people there had been for Pinkie's engagement party and the atmosphere couldn't have been more different. Everyone seemed deeply touched by the old lady departure. Having had only one son, and with her husband gone prematurely, she had been a sister or an aunty for most of the people in the house. Most of them were barely holding the tears back.

Her sister grabbed her arm. "Oi Jess, see that good-looking fella in the corner? He is Tony's cousin from his dad's side, Hema. Why don't you go see if he needs anything?". Jess glared at her before moving towards the corner where Hema was standing. For days her sister had been pushing her towards any single 20 something year old guy in their extended family. You didn't have to be a genius to know what her sister was thinking. She clearly didn't approve of Joe, and was doing all that she could to break them up. She was going to have to talk to her in private, if not to change her mind at least to make sure she wasn't going to spill the beans with their parents. Jess still wanted to come clean but she knew that that wasn't the time, her family had never needed her more, she couldn't do that to her parents and Tony. Joe had come around the house earlier, to pay his respect to the Bhamra and Tony but he hadn't stayed long. He was the only white person and was feeling out of place, especially because everyone kept staring at him as most of the people there hadn't met him before. Jess and Joe had quickly hugged goodbye and he had whispered "I'll see you tonight love" but that had been their whole interaction.

"Hi Hema, would you like anything hot to drink?" She asked Tony's cousin. "Hi, no thank you I am okay". Jess smiled and started moving away when he spoke again: "How do you know my name?" "Oh, well, you are Tony's cousin right? I am Jess, his best friend?" "Oh yes sure, I've heard about you. I thought you too were engaged?" Here we go again, Jess explained once more that no, they weren't engage and then she excused herself. She wanted a break from all of this grieving, from her sister pushing her to every boy in the house and from the older generation asking her how her future fiancé was. She retreated to her room and her mind started wondering about her past few days, or better, nights.

— Flashback —

It was the night Tony's mum died. Everyone was asleep by 10 PM, wiped out by the day's events, but Jess couldn't sleep. She started texting Joe, she missed him and she wanted to let him know how she was doing. He had been concerned and their text conversation had been going on for over an hour when he texted Can I come see u? I want to hold u in my arms and make u feel better.
That is all that Jess wanted in that moment. How though? She asked him.
Can u sneak out? U said every1 s asleep
I guess I could she thought to herself. After all Pinkie had been doing it for years to go see Teetu… Okay, when will you be here?
20 min?

Okay

:)

I'll see u soon
Can't wait and she really couldn't. It had been a crazy day and all she wanted was to share it with him. Being home felt almost as if they were further apart. At least while she was in the States she could text, call and email him all the time. They had kept a continuous channel of communication and they had gotten used to that. Now she couldn't disappear for hours to talk to Joe and her parents didn't want her texting away all the time.

I'm here, I've parked around the corner Joe texted less than 20 minutes later.

Coming Jess replied. She had gotten changed and had been waiting sitting on her bed. She quietly opened her bedroom door, careful as not to make a sound. Being in the attic had it's advantages! She carefully sneaked downstairs and slipped through the front door without making a noise. She quickly turned around the corner and got in Joe's parked car. As soon as she was in he hugged her tight. He held her against him for minutes, savouring the feeling. It had only been hours since they had seen each others but it felt like an eternity. So much had happened and he had only wanted to be there for Jess. Eventually he deposited a soft kiss on her forehead and looked down on her brown eyes. "I love you" he whispered to her. "I love you too" She smiled back.
They stayed in that car for hours, Jess had so much to tell him and he was so good at comforting her. The conversation was centred on the days events at first but then it moved to Jess' life in the States and Joe's Harriers' coaching and pub work. It was the first time they could be with each other, Jess had only landed less than 12 hours ago, and they had so much they had wanted to tell each other and catch up on the months they spent apart. Eventually Joe couldn't help but yawn. It was a massive one and Jess couldn't stop a snigger. "Yeah you laugh, you are still on USA timezone and it's late afternoon for you, but it's 4AM here my love, I am wiped!" "Oh my god is it really that late? I need to get back, my dad wakes up at 4:45AM for work!" Jess said with a hint of panic in her voice. "Oh shit, you better go, your dad would kill me if he didn't find you at home!".

They kissed goodbye for a few minutes and then she left. "I'll text you tomorrow" she said thought the open window. "Today you mean" he joked back. She stuck out her tongue and leaned in for another kiss. "Love you" "Love you too".

Needless to say, Jess looked like an absolute zombie all day since her family woke her up at 7AM to help with the funeral arrangements. At least she could blame it to the jet lag and the shock of loosing Tony's mum..

—End of flashback —

Since that first night back that had been their nighttime routine. Everyone would go to bed at 10:00 PM and at 10:45 PM Jess would sneak out to get into Joe's car. They really treasured that time together. Jess was always so busy during the day, having so much to organise and Tony to take care of, and so was Joe. Even though he was now the coach of a pro team and his salary was pretty good, he kept working at the bar, at least until they'd find someone else to run it. The festive season was quite busy at the bar and he was trying to log more hours before going away 6 days to Ireland. He always looked like shit though and since he fell asleep on the counter two days earlier all the patrons started teasing him and questioning on his nighttime activities. Joe was always evading those questions but a blush would always come out and everyone was on his case about this mysterious girl that wasn't letting him get a single night sleep.

That night Jess' family had gone to bed later, since it took a long time for all the relative and friends to leave after the wake. Joe could only pick Jess up closer to midnight and he was going to leave for Ireland the following day.

"Jess would you like to come to my house? We have been seeing each other in my car for three nights already and although I am glad for it it would be nice to be a bit more comfortable tonight since I am going to be in this car for hours tomorrow, driving to Ireland." He asked when she got in.
"Okay Joe" she answered hesitantly.
She was a little worried the situation was going to get out of hand at his house. The previous nights they always ended up making out quite heavily, but the location always put an end to the situation. Even though she was still a virgin she knew Joe was, with all probability, not. He had never pushed her but she wondered whether going to his house, in the middle of the night, was very wise.
As if reading her mind Joe said: "Jess, love, I really only just want to cuddle you comfortably on the couch, you know I love you and will always respect your wishes" He smiled at her lovingly and she was immediately calm. "You better put an alarm on though, it's already midnight and I wouldn't want to be cutting it to close to 4:45AM and be busted by your dad!" "Haha, okay, I'll put an alarm on. Anyhow I am sure you'll be asleep before that" She laughed at him. "Oh no, my dear, you have a way of keeping me awake I can guarantee you" he said with a wink, at which she blushed lightly. Even if sex was out of options the rest wasn't and she thought that it was going to get pretty interesting that night.

During the car drive Joe told her about his plans for Ireland. He was really exited to go see his family after so many years. They talked about them and Joe run her through his immediate family. His parents were traditional catholics and Joe had 4 sibling, all born about one year apart. His brother Connor was one year younger than him and so 20 years old, Siobhan was 19, Keela 18 and Brendan had just turned 17. "Hopefully next time I go you'll be able to come with me" he really hoped that. "I would love to, I have never been to Ireland and everyone always says it's an absolute stunner!" With that Joe launched on a detail description of the beauties and wonders of Ireland that continued the whole car ride to his house.