Ch. 4: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Via sat across from Seth at a small table in a local deli. She had her elbow planted on the table, and was resting her cheek on her open hand, staring ahead uninterestedly. He slowly glanced up and then back down at the table.
"You gonna, uh..." He slowly trailed off as he glanced up at her seemingly intent stare. She raised her eyebrows. He slowly reached for his sandwich.
"You again?" a voice asked. He glanced over and saw a familiar blonde girl approaching him. Via looked up at her, then sighed and looked the other way.
"Oh, hey," he said, a small smile spreading over his face.
"This the girl you were talkin' about?" she asked in an undertone. Via raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the two of them out of the corner of her eye.
"It's not what you think," he said, in an effort to reassure her.
"Oh, I feel much better now," she muttered, rolling her eyes.
"I'm Caitlin," the blonde said, introducing herself.
"Olivia." She smiled politely and nodded slightly.
"Nice to meet ye, Olivia."
"Delighted." She tapped her index finger against her cheek.
"Mind if I join ya?" the blonde asked Seth.
"Sure, why not? Oh-- unless you mind," he said, turning to Via.
"How flattering to be such an afterthought," she murmured quickly. Raising her voice, she added, "Oh, go ahead – Caitlin, is it?"
"Aye," she said, nodding. "Thanks."
Via smiled politely before leaning back and glancing around the room. Seth and Caitlin were already engrossed in a conversation.
"I am going to kill them for making me spend the day with him," she reassured herself. As the two across the table from her started chatting, she looked around the deli, desperately hoping for a distraction.
- - -
Owen and Tia sat on a bench in St. Stephen's Green, his arm resting on the back of the bench, around her shoulders. She watched a young couple, only a few years older than she and Owen, ambling slowly down the path, hand-in-hand. He was looking up, thinking back to the previous night.
"So what did you all talk about last night?" he asked, breaking their silence. "I mean, I remember you mentioning you were talking about me or something..."
"Oh, that." She bit her lip and, with a slight toss of her head, flicked her hair out of her eyes. "Yeah, it's just... the two of them said that you tend to be... a bit shallow. And I said that there's more to you than meets the eye. That's all."
"...both of them said that?"
"Yeah. I mean honestly, I don't see why that surprises you..."
He laughed. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"
She looked over at him critically. "You know what it means. You can be a little... well, you're a bit of..." She sighed, trying to think of a more polite way to finish her sentence.
"So you agree with them."
"Not totally. Sure, you have your faults, but doesn't everyone?"
"But you still agree with them. To a degree."
Tia shrugged and folded her arms. He raised his eyebrows.
"What's wrong?"
"Mmh. Nothing."
"That definitely doesn't mean nothing."
She cocked her head slightly to the side in agreement. "I mean, look at us."
"What about us?"
"We're on a park bench, Owen. In Ireland. Like, seriously?"
"Well where do you want to go?"
"That's the thing, it shouldn't be all about me, it should be about us. Where do we want to go?"
He nodded in agreement. "Well. Let's find something. Together." He stood up and looked down at her, offering his hand.
She turned her eyes up to look at him. "Just like that?"
"Just like that. Let's prove them wrong."
She leaned her head back and sighed. He dropped his hand awkwardly. "It's not about them, Owen... you know that, right?"
"Well-- right," he said. "Of course."
"Never mind. Forget I even brought up what they said. Let's just try and... appreciate what's here and now. Live in the moment."
"Sounds good to me."
She hesitated, bit her lip, and slowly stood up; the two slowly walked down the path, throwing the occasional coy glance at one another. She smiled to herself, then shoved him towards a tree, then bolted down the path. He stuck his hands out to steady himself, then smirked, shook his head, and chased after the giggling brunette.
- - -
"Dublin Castle," Phil said, looking up at the sole surviving stone tower from the old castle. Keely looked up in awe at the tower, then around at the more modern architecture surrounding it. "It looks a lot different without the walls and the rest of the towers..."
"How did you..." Keely looked over at him, then remembered just who she was talking to, and trailed off. "You cheated."
"How did I cheat?" he asked, a curious smile on his face.
"You've seen this before," she said, looking up at the windows on the tower.
"Sure, but that's different. Now, I'm here with you. That's what really matters."
"Oh really."
"Really! Trust me, Keel. You made economics class interesting."
She laughed and kicked at the ground. "You're too much, Phil."
"Oh, am I?"
She smiled and casually slid her hands into her pockets. "Actually, no... I like it like this."
"Like what?"
"Like... normal. No future stuff, you know? I like that we don't need the SkyAk or those stupid goggles to have a good time."
He laughed. "Of course we don't. We're here, together. The rest is just... it doesn't matter."
"I guess so." She grinned and took a step closer. "But I still think all that future stuff is super cool."
"Don't worry; I know."
"So, tell me," she pressed on, putting an arm around him. "What did this place look like back in its heyday?"
"Ah, I wish you could've seen it... it was incredible..."
He slinked his arm around her waist and vividly regaled her about his family's brief visit to Dublin Castle, hundreds of years in the past.
Owen stood behind Tia, his arms wrapped around her. She held lazily onto his hands as the two gazed silently at the towers of water shooting into the air, in the fountain at the center of St. Stephen's Green.
Seth watched Caitlin with rapt attention as she told a story from her childhood about herself and her cousin at the Dublin Zoo.
Via introduced herself to a young man with horn-rimmed glasses in order to relieve herself of boredom.
Tourists and Dubliners alike took a moment to pause and glance at Owen and Tia, the two of them still watching the light of the midday sun bend and refract through the skyward-headed water, standing next to each other in a sort of blissful silence.