Murphy's Party, Part I: Olivia Jade Blackburn and Double Trouble present: Rude Mood
"So you're sure it's not a problem, all of us coming?" Keely asked.
"Not at all," Caitlin replied, with a wave of her hand. "I know the feller who's throwin' this hooley, after all!"
"And he's okay with it? I just don't want to intrude is all..."
"It's fine!"
Keely looked over at Phil and shrugged. "It'll be fun, Keel," he reassured her as the group walked up the front walk.
"I guess..."
"Keely's a Gaelic name, you know," Caitlin pointed out as she walked up the porch. "Might get the attention of some of the gents," she added with a laugh.
"Oh, see, I knew we shouldn't have gone," Keely muttered.
"It's gonna be fine. Nobody's gonna try any funny business while I'm around," Phil reassured her.
"You forget about Mr. Smooth Talker here," Tia said from the back of the group as she threw Owen a glance.
"I don't know why you have to be like this!" Owen protested. "I haven't done anything!"
"See, that's the thing. You have done something. You just don't want to admit it."
"Here we go again," Via murmured, largely to herself, as she rolled her eyes.
Caitlin threw a look over her shoulder at the two bickering teens. Keely and Phil looked back as well, and eventually, Tia and Owen noticed they were being watched by the whole group, and stopped.
"Well then! Let's go, ay?" Caitlin cheerily suggested. She opened the door, and the seven of them consecutively jumped back the slightest bit from the percussive wall of sound blasting from inside the house.
"Ay, Caitlin!"
A boy about Phil's age and height came hurrying up to Caitlin and gave her a hug. "Brandon! How's the craic?"
"It's great. Howya?"
"Been arright," she said with a shrug.
"These are those Americans you told me about?"
"Ah, yah," Caitlin said, and introduced all of them one by one.
"Nice to meet the lot of ya," Brandon said with a grin and a nod. An idea popped into Tia's head and she grinned broadly back at him. "Come on in."
"Thank you, Brandon," Tia piped up. He smiled back politely as Owen eyed Tia suspiciously. Keely gave Phil a concerned look, and he just shrugged in return.
- - -
"Can't believe her," Owen said.
The short auburn-haired girl standing beside him turned to look at him. "What's that?"
"Her. Unbelievable. Just flirting with him like that. All night long, too!"
She looked over at where Owen was pointing. "The one with the black hair, ya mean? Who's she?"
"Well. She's supposed to be my girlfriend. But she freaked out on me yesterday, just for talking to a girl. Just talking for God's sake. She's so possessive!"
"You seem a mite bothered by 'er..."
He shook his head. "She's just all over the place. She's hot, then she's cold."
"Yes, then she's no?"
"Exactly. It's ridiculous."
"So whyya watchin' 'er?"
He raised his eyebrows.
"Unless yer still into 'er, o' course."
"No. No, I'm over it, if this is how she's gonna be about it." He shook his head, then turned to face her. "I'm Owen, by the way."
"Siobhan. Nice to meetcha, Owen."
"It's a pleasure."
- - -
"Whatcha doin' up here!" Keely asked, reaching the top of the stairs and walking up next to Via, who was leaning on the banister.
"Oh, it's quite interesting," she replied. "See Owen down there, with that young bird?"
"Uh... oh, yeah." Keely glanced down at Owen and a girl with a head of wavy, reddish-brown hair.
"See, he's chatting her up because Tia started getting friendly with that Brandon bloke. They keep throwing each other nasty looks while the other isn't looking. It's quite funny, really."
"He's an idiot," Keely muttered, shaking her head.
"That's the beauty of it. They're both idiots." Via grinned broadly at Keely, who just looked at her with a deadpan look on her face. "Of course you would take Tia's side, you've known the girl for so long..."
"I guess. I mean... oh, whoa," she gasped, looking back downstairs. Via quickly switched her focus to Owen, who was locked in a kiss with Siobhan. Via grinned as Tia marched over towards him and grabbed him by the arm just as he pulled apart, and marched him outside.
"Huh," Keely finished with a shrug. "Well, I guess I should go back to Phil. See ya around!"
"Right. See you..." Via bit her lip, then rushed downstairs and out by the back door to watch the exchange between Owen and Tia.
"...can't believe you would do something like that right in front of me! Do you even CARE about making this work? Making us work?"
"Well it's pretty obvious you don't! You haven't even tried talking to me since last night!"
"Kinda hard to talk to you when you're acting like this!"
"Like what?" he shouted indignantly.
"Like... like an idiot! One minute you're swearing you were just talking to that floozy in the bar and then you go ahead and kiss her right in front of me?"
"Oh, sure, let's just completely ignore that you were all over that Brandon guy since we got here!"
"If it was bothering you, you should've said something. Clearly you couldn't be bothered though, since you were all wrapped up in her!"
"I can't believe what I'm hearing!"
"What the hell were you thinking? What thought process takes place in your screwed-up head that makes you think kissing her could possibly be a good idea?!"
"Didn't seem like it would bother you since you were pretty occupied already!"
"You are such an immature idiot! A monkey would be a welcome change from you! Know what? Next time your instinct tells you to do something, DON'T DO IT! And if that little voice in your head tells you not to do something? IT'S PROBABLY THE RIGHT THING TO DO!"
He slowly opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't think of anything to say.
"Know what? Don't bother. If you're willing to apologize, then fine. Otherwise, don't talk to me." Tia turned on her heel and stormed back into the house, pushing Via roughly aside. Owen stood on the back patio, shaking his head and looking at the ground.
"Saw that, huh?" he asked Via, as he rubbed his chin.
"It was... thoughtful of her to blow up at you outside," Via said with a smirk.
"What is her problem?"
"Her problem? Her problem is that she's unwilling to admit when she's made a mistake. She's too proud. And she's a fair bit dense."
"Exactly. Thank you."
"Your problem," Via went on, "is that you finally found a girl who manages to put up with your presence, and you went and drove her away."
Owen's smile faded off his face. "You could've stopped after the first part..."
"You... you don't appreciate what you have, Owen. Mind you I can't really blame you for that, as Tia's a bit of a prat, but still. She puts up with you, and that's something. And you go and snog that girl right in front of her! I don't understand you, Owen."
"...she was the one flirting with that other guy..."
Via let out a short laugh. Then another, slightly longer one. Then another, this one longer than the last. Owen started chuckling nervously with her, unsure of what they were laughing at. "You really don't get it, do you?" she asked after taking a short breath, then let out another chuckle.
"Eh heh heh... no," he answered honestly, shaking his head.
"Ah ha... it's not about her, Owen."
"Then what is it about?..."
She chuckled again. "You don't get it. You're thicker than I figured. Tia's right, you know. You don't understand women. At all."
He started to call after her as she turned around and headed quickly back inside, but she ignored him completely.
I can honestly say I have no idea how much longer this is even going to go on. No fewer than three more chapters. Likely more than that, but I guess we'll see how much longer I can put up with this.