Willow POV

I was not jealous, I was not jealous. I had been repeating this to myself like a mantra as my stomach turned and my eyes grew heavier. I had no claim over Will, unless you counted the date that had ended in A & E. Or the whole soulfinder thing but lets not go there.

For the remainder of the trip, I had stayed quiet though Will occasionally volunteered information in a nervous way I found quite cute. Not that I would tell him that. Apparently she messaged him from time to time, inviting him to Ireland, asking how things were and how his love life was. Only last week she messaged him mentioning how she had just broken up with her boyfriend and doted about how good of a boyfriend he had been.

'It was year ago,' Will murmured, mostly to himself at this stage. 'Xav always thought she was insane… But like, um, fun insane? She tells me whenever she has a new relationship and when it ends… But friends do that right? Or is she even…'

I tuned out. I was exhausted and tried to nestle against the window to catch a little sleep. The train shook against my cheek and I wished the seats would recline but it would…

'Willow?' someone whispered softly. Annoyed, I snuggled into the soft, warm cotton along my cheek.

'Mmmfff,' I mumbled.

'Willow, the train is in Dublin. We have to go.' Will said. Huh, Dublin… I blinked, scanning the dull train carriage, people stuffing phones into bags and grabbing empty wrappers and Styrofoam tea cups.

I pushed myself up, knocking my head off of… Will's arm? He hurried to lift it from around my shoulders as I straightened up in my seat. He repositioned himself, stretching out his arms and giving his neck a twist.

'Did I…' I asked, my cheeks warming.

'You just looked so uncomfortable pressed up against the wall. There was no need when I had a perfectly good shoulder. Though you did end up settling under my arm.' He smiled though his eyes flitted away from mine quickly. 'We better get going.'

I nodded. Thank you. Sorry for being moody earlier. We stepped down onto the station platform.

He laughed out loud and shook his head, his light brown hair catching the sun. 'Maybe do not apologise just yet. You have yet to meet Heather.'

Knowing Dublin somewhat, I decided we might as well hit the city center to find something fresh to wear. While a shower would have been nice, I would settle for clean clothes. Will hailed the first taxi we spotted coming out of the station and I asked for one of the city's main areas, O'Connell Street.

Having lived in Dublin a few years before moving to the U.K, I knew there was a good street for shopping nearby, though the name eluded me. Will, however, was a true American tourist and stood still gawping up at the Spire, a fairly stupid looking huge metal pin dumped in the center of O'Connell Street that was a landmark of sorts. I had some of the money so hurried to pay the taxi driver as Will looked up at the hunk of metal as though it meant something. If ever there was a bigger waste of…

'How on earth did they make that?' Will said, tilting his head back to try and take in the sheer scale of the Spire.

'A lot of money and metal. Whatever architect designed that must have been about to clock out when he thought that thing up.'

'Am I sensing you dislike this magnificent…'

'Will. It is basically a giant ass metal chopstick that cost like four million euro.'

'Million?!'

'Did you think they got that metal free of something. And I bet that architect's paycheck was nice even though he DESIGNED A WHAT, 100M POLE OF METAL THAT IS A PLANE HAZARD!'

'What stupid pilots have you met that would fly that low?' Will laughed. 'And it is perfect in its,' he spread his hands out in front of him, 'Simplicity.'

'I think the only simple thing here is you.'

'And who called it a plane hazard?' he asked, arching one eyebrow. I stuck my tongue out.

'Ugh, ok, tourist moment over.' I declared clapping my hands. Will grinned, the smug idiot. I scanned around, scratching at my arms, 'Henry Street there should have a good shopping centre or two for clothes. Or Grafton Street further away. Oh, ask your gf to meet us at the Spire if you love it that much. I just want a clean shirt.'

'Might be good to find an internet connection and call Xav first then. He said we can hide out in her place until whoever these British guys are show up.'

'And no more info on who these guys are?'

'None.' Will said, leading us in the direction of a pop up tourist information booth. The poor man manning it had one hand propping up his chin as he vacantly watched the crowds.

'I bet a hapless American would be a treat for him.'

'Willow, I am neither hapless nor deaf. But do keep the outer monologue running.' He turned, the corners of his lips twisting upwards. 'But, ah hi….'

Standing off to the side, I shuffled until I leaned against the cool walls of a building nearby. The mid morning sun did good to wake me up but I was drained. As Will lead us away towards some place with wifi, my mind wandered. This just felt too open, too careless, like the opposite of claustrophobia. It was very unsettling, walking along the street, crowded with normal people doing normal things and having your core crying to crawl into a small, dark place so it could breathe.

'This way,' Will muttered, absently casting a hand behind him. I took it and clung on tightly. If he was surprised, it never showed as he pulled me up a set of narrow stairs into a cramped internet café. Will paid for half an hour on one of the computers, logged in and called Xav on facebook. There was just one set of clunky headphones so as Will murmured low into the mic to Xav, then Vick and messaged Heather on when to meet, I just held on. And Will never said a word, though he occasionally squeezed my hand. That told me all I needed; I was and never had been alone.

'I kind of wish we had some bread for the ducks.' I said, kicking one of my shopping bags. 'I mean we could have at least bought some in the supermarket back in that place.'

'Stephen's Green shopping centre?'

'Yeah, why did she want to meet at a park though?'

'She goes to college in Trinity college, the one we passed walking here. And she comes to this park sometimes she said to eat lunch.'

'You know, you make her sound remarkably normal.' I said, trying to gauge his reaction from my peripheral. We collapsed on this bench ten minutes ago, relaxing after a run around the nearby stores. We had shopped as quickly as we could, eager to limit our time out in public, so now all we had to do was wait for this 'Heather' who was running to meet us here after a lecture.

'She is for the most part.' Will replied, pulling a piece of lint off my new scarf. 'She just is… Possessive? A bit needy. Kind of a headache to be with for more than a few… Heather!'

A short girl with shoulder length light brown hair was hurrying up to us, smiling widely. 'Will! Oh my God, it has just been too long!' she cried, wrapping her arms around him as we stood up. This caused Will to fall back on the bench, pulling Heather down with him.

'Oops!' she squeaked, pushing off his shoulders and rocking back on her feet. 'Sorry, this is just so cool! And I bet you will get the internship! Sure you flew here!'

Xav and I decided we were interviewing for summer internships in Dublin.

Like totally amazeballs! Got it!

I know what you are doing Willow and… Just tease me when we get back to America safely.

Yay! America! Funzies!

'And Xav said you were coming with… Ah, Wilma.' Heather said turning to me, smiling with clenched teeth.

'Willow.' I sighed, picking up my bags, Will following suit.

'Yeah, my girlfriend.' Will rushed out. Without looking my way he hurried to add telepathically Please just go with it.

'Oh, hi,' she said, her expression souring. 'Yeah, okay. Um, Will lets get going. Xav said you guys wanted to rest for a few hours before you went for your interviews this evening.'

'Yeah, we had an early start.' I called out, trailing behind them a few paces. Will smiled over his shoulder at me.

'So, I was going to suggest you and I sleep in my room Will,' she continued, 'So tired after class. And since we just like know each other so well,' she added a little louder. I had to stop myself laughing, though I still ended up snorting. It was eleven in the morning. This girl was ridiculous. And bloody funny. Will threw me a glare over his shoulder this time, warning me to behave. 'But sure you and Willow can take my bed either. We have a pull out in the living room but it gets kind of noisy with everyone.' She continued, bringing us out of the park and towards the nearest bus stop. 'No sex though, I just changed my sheets.'

Will seemed to choke on his own spit and had a coughing fit, causing other people waiting for the bus to shuffle away from us. Heather, patted him on the back, small little taps as she tried in vain to help.

'No… Worries… There.' Will coughed out, his face and neck bright pink as he caught his breath. 'Right Wills?'

Wait… what had she… I think I would had died of embarrassment right there if not for Heather announcing 'Oooh, our bus is here! I can totes pay for you guys. Um, Willow, you are like bright pink.'

Just get on the fucking bus Heather.

After an hour or two, Heather became marginally more bearable. As in she left Will and I alone after grudgingly admitting she had labs at one.

Her room was narrow, with a small double bed squeezed in-between a desk and wardrobe in a nondescript semi detached house, crammed with another six students, two of whom were in the living room watching crap daytime TV.

'How will we know where and when to go?' I asked Will.

'Got Heather to loan me her phone until she gets back. Xav has her number and the kid was right- she handed it over pretty easily. It was when you went to the bathroom.'

I shuddered. Two bathrooms for seven people. And not one who thought cleaning was necessary.

'Right, you think she would mind if I had a shower?' I would risk contracting something in there to feel clean again.

'Yeah, knock yourself out,' he yawned, 'Going to call Vick and update him. He might have a time for us too.' I just nodded, grabbing a towel from the clothes jockey Heather had by the window.

The shower was blissful, a welcome relief for my tense muscles though my mind never gave me a break. Elisavet would definitely be up by now, my… father would probably be furious and if neither of them killed me, chances were all the conflicting feelings I had for Will would. I changed into some of my new clothes in the bathroom and crept back to the bedroom.

Will was sprawled across his half of the bed, utter exhaustion having caught up with him. The phone was on the windowsill so I knew he had called Vick and put the phone away just before clocking out.

While he looked exhausted, he was still remarkably beautiful in a way that made up Will Benedict. And doing my best to not disrupt this inexplicably incredible sight, I gently pealed a blanket from the end of the end of the bed and pulled it up around him. Curling in close, I pulled back the blanket to nestle into his warm back and immediately fell asleep. It felt like coming home.

Hey, author person (again),

em, can I still count this as the Christmas period as I am still on holidays? Good news though because I can now say I have planned out the final chapter of Winning Willow! Yeah... I was putting it off big time and who knows? Might change it etc. etc. or add an epilogue.

As well as that I am now 20 and I started this story aged 17 which is disturbing so I need to finish this ish ASAP! At least this story taught me all the things NOT to do when writing fic :D

Also a Guest asked about architecture (my course at college/ university). Just a little bit about it here as I cannot PM you (sorry!). Will try and keep it short. Basically, I really like this course but at the same time you need to know it is A LOT of work. The work is more practical than the vast majority of courses. So in your usual course, you attend lectures and seminars and submit essays and assignments, usually towards the end of a term. But with architecture, the work is more practical, ie. buildings models and drawing to scale drawings that are due every few weeks. Still had an essay and exam before Christmas. We looked at structure supports, building materials, doors, stairs, set designs and the city I study in too! If you did art or DCG (Design, Communications and Graphics- Is that just an Irish subject?), those really help too. Hope this helps if you read this :)

Thanks for the favourites, follows and reviews so far :) Hope to have another chapter up soon xxx