Hi again, I hope you like this chapter, I'm really nervous about it because the first 2 chapters came to me easily, this one was more force and I'm not sure if I like it. I'm not that worry about it because I'm in chapter 3 and is only day 2 so I have a feeling this is going to be a long story, Im pretty sure there will be a lot of bad and good chapters, I hope more better than bad.
I'm not Irish, I have only been to Dublin and Belfast (I'm never going back to Belfast ever!) I have never been to Wicklow, so I'm sorry for any mistakes I make about the place, I have done my research about the place and I hope I don't mess up that much. Kim's grandparents appear in this chapter and I tried to do an Irish accent, sorry for that and to anyone that might feel offended.
About Tommy's name. Why I decided Tom instead of Tommy? At first it was weird but I only did it because I was lazy, I didn't wanted to type the m and y, I was going to add the letters when I revise the story but then I decided that Tom sounded more mature than Tommy and this version of Tommy seems more to me like a Tom than a Tommy because of his attitude and status, it may not make sense or sound ridiculous but I like it.
Disclaimer: nothing belongs to me except for: Riverside pub B&B, NK, Colleen, Patrick, Brielle and Aidan.
Riverside Pub
The pub was full of people, after all it was Sunday and there was nothing better to do. Kim was dancing Ceilidh, a traditional form of dance, with the locals. She loved Ireland; everyone was so polite and nice there. They really knew how to enjoy life. Like every other year, she had to go back to real life, people pushing people, people being impolite and mean, no smiling, no laughing, people almost running over you to get too work. Her grandparents told her she could stay there with them but at the end her family and friends were in NK, so she always went back, besides she had a job she loved there.
Every summer she brought her friends with her. They stayed at her grandparents place and help them with the pub. This year Rocky, Billy and Aisha came with her.
Kim decided to take a break from dancing and went to sit at the bar; Aisha saw her and sat next to her "So I heard 3 American hotties are staying here, I also heard they're rich."Aisha said.
"Who told you that?" Kim asked.
"Brielle told me, she saw them walking in. So is it truth? Are they here right now? I don't see an unfamiliar face in this familiar crowd." She said looking through the crowd.
"Yeah is truth, one of them is an ogre, so don't get to excited and no they're not here yet. They went hiking." Kim said.
"What do you mean an ogre? Is he that ugly?" Aisha asked.
"Well, he's not ugly on the outside, I don't really know if he's that ugly on the inside but one thing I know is he's rich and arrogant and he thinks he's too good for this place." Kim said disapprovingly "Aidan!" She called the guy behind the bar "2 pints of Guinness please!"
"There you go." Aidan said smiling at them.
"Thanks Aidan" Kim said smiling "Anyway, they must be on their way back."
"Are they from NK too?"Aisha asked.
"Yep, pretty sure high society, I really don't understand why they're staying here, is so weird!" The guy complains about every little thing, he mocks everything he doesn't approve of. If it wasn't for his friends I would have told him to hit the road, well I kind of did." Kim said.
"Please don't tell me you insulted the poor guy. You always do the same thing. You need to control yourself girl." Aisha said.
"Poor guy? The guy is everything but poor, and I'm not going to let him walk over me. I'm going to put him in his place if I have to. People like that made me mad; they think money gives them the right to treat others like crap." Kim said agitated.
"I get it, equality is what you sell. Are the other 2 like that also? Maybe I could date one of them." Aisha asked with deep interest.
"No, the other 2 are pretty nice, they don't complain nor insult like the other one does. You don't even know if they have girlfriends and you're already thinking about dating them? You haven't even seen them." Kim said.
"You know I don't waste time, and who cares if they have girlfriends. What do you think breakups are for honey?" She said
"Nothing stops you does it? I swear if I had a boyfriend and you made him breakup with me so he can get with you, I would kill you both." Kim and Aisha differences didn't stop them from being the best of friends on the contrary they thought that was the reason why they were best friends, arguing with each other was always fun.
"Hey girls! What are you up to?" Rocky came behind them and put a hand on Kim's shoulder and the other on Aisha's.
"Nothing much." Aisha replied.
"Oh look" Rocky said pointing at the door "the rich guys Brielle couldn't stop talking about."
"How do you know is them?" Aisha said. Already knowing by the way they were dressed; they were indeed the guys Kim and she were just talking about.
"Are you kidding me? How many people do you see walking in here dress like that? They are not the typical backpackers and backpackers don't dress like that either." Rocky said.
"Well you're right Rocky, that's them." Kim said.
"Claro que lo estoy!" Rocky said.
"What? Never mind." Aisha said "They are so hot! Look at their bodies" the way she said it made Rocky uncomfortable "Kim, you have to introduce me, please, you have to! As one of your best friends you have to. One of them could be my future husband!"
"Are you kidding me Aisha, are you that desperate?" Kim asked.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I am! Every girl has a dream! Mine is to fall in love with a rich guy." Aisha said.
"You want a rich guy, when you can have me?" Rocky said joking.
"Like duh!" She said "Kim, are you just going to stand there?"
"Fine! I'll introduce you, but I'm warning you the guy in white really is an ogre, Come on." She said walking towards the guys who were looking around.
"Hey guys! How was the walk?" Kim asked.
"Oh hey Kim, it was great, beautiful place, just like you said, only problem was the clothes, you should have warned us about this mistake." Jason said pointing at their dirty clothes.
"I'm glad you like it! And sorry about that, it didn't occur to me. Anyways I wanted to introduce you to my friends, Rocky and Aisha, they come here every summer with me and help around, guys these are um Zack, Jason and Tom." She said.
"Hi, nice to meet you!" Jason said and Zack did the same, Tom just stare at Rocky, he was trying to figure out what he was to Kim, sure she said friends but who knew.
"So um you'll be staying here for a week right? We could show you around if you like" Kim looked at Aisha as if she was going crazy.
"I don't think they need our help, right guys? I'm pretty sure they don't want to hang out with the staff." Kim said.
Zack laughed " don't be ridicules Kim, we'd love to hang out with you guys, maybe we can't get together after summer is over, since we live in the same city."
"Oh well, um, sure ok, if you don't mind. So do you guys want something to drink?" she asked the guys.
"No" Tom said piss "we are going to our rooms right know. I imagine the noise won't stop until early morning right?"
"That's the disadvantage of staying in a pub, I'm pretty sure you guys knew what you where getting into right?" Rocky said.
"No I didn't obviously, I've never stay in a pub before. This should be illegal!" he said rudely looking at Rocky "if you excuse me I'm going upstairs." he walk away.
Jason looked at the others apologetically "sorry about that, we'd love to stay but we're really tired, we'll see you tomorrow."
"The offers still standing you know." Aisha said upset with Tom's attitude.
"Thanks but I think we better wait till tomorrow to see if he's in a better mood, otherwise you'll kill him. Good night." Jason said and Zach and he went upstairs.
Rocky waited till they were gone "Did you see the way that Tom guy was looking at me? If looks could kill I would be dead by now! What's he's problem anyway?"
"You weren't joking Kim, he stares and doesn't say anything and when he does he snaps!" Aisha exclaimed. "He definitely didn't like Rocky at all, I thought he was going to hit him."
"I know; He does that all the time, don't worry Rocky he did the same thing to me." Kim said patting him on the back. She was beginning to think there was something wrong with him. She thought the guy needed help and she felt sorry for him, someone like that could not be happy.
"What's his last name?" Aisha asked.
"Why?" Kim asked her.
"Because I'm pretty sure I've seen him before, after all we live in the same city."
"Yeah he looks familiar to me too. I think his last name is Oliver, let me check in the computer" they walk to the computer and she started typing "yeah that's his last name."
"Tom Oliver, Tom Oliver" Aisha repeated time after time until she gasp "Oh my god, I think I know who he is."
"Well, aren't you going to tell us?" Kim asked full of curiosity.
"I think he's the heir of Oliver Corporation" Kim and Rocky still looked confuse "you know the media company, most of the magazines and newspapers belong to them and they also have TV and radio stations. He's a billionaire."
"What the hell are they doing here then? He's not here to write a critic about my grandparents place is he?" Kim said
"Kim, please, that's not his job. He has his own guinea pigs to do that." Aisha said.
"Maybe they're just trying something different, besides I'm pretty sure it wasn't his idea to stay here, his friends seem to have made that decision for him." Rocky said.
"No wonder he's always piss, he's use to have people kissing his ass and doing what he wants. Well he will have to learn he can't always have things his way." Kim said.
"At least his hot! I wouldn't mind dating him." Aisha said.
"Are you crazy? He's arrogant, mean, disrespectful, doesn't have tact and he's uptight. You really wouldn't mind going out with someone like that?" Kim said.
"Not if he has money." Aisha said.
"You're unbelievably crazy." Kim said.
"Oh come on! There must be something good about him, none of us is perfect!" she said "He has the excuse of being rich; most rich people are like that. It's not his fault he's encapsulated in a bubble and he can't see farther than that because he doesn't know another life, He's pretty comfortable where he is, that's why he thinks he doesn't have to make an effort."
"I don't think that gives him the right to treat people badly. Just because he's rich doesn't mean he can't tell right from wrong." Kim said.
"Maybe you should teach him how to behave" Aisha said teasingly. Kim gave her a disgusted look.
"Let's forget about them for today and lets go dancing!" Rocky said and the girls agreed.
Tom woke up early the next day; he got dressed and went downstairs. He saw an old man and woman behind the bar preparing breakfast. "This must be Kim's grandparents" he thought.
"Good morning young fella!" the woman exclaimed smiling.
"Good morning" he answered back smiling too. "She really must be her grandmother her smile was just like hers."
"Would you like breakfast?" the old man asked. The old woman interfered and said "We have bangers, rashers, pudding, beans, eggs, potatoes and bread and for drinking tea, coffee and juice."
He was grateful that she show him which was which; he didn't liked to look like an idiot in front of strangers. He thought the food was very unhealthy but he didn't dare say so, instead he opted for the eggs, rashers, potatoes, bread and a cup of coffee. He was reading a paper and drinking coffee when he saw Kim walk in with a guy that wore glasses. "Great! Another one!" he though.
"Hey gramps, hey nana!" she said while she hugged them.
"Kimberly what are ye doing here? Ye should be sleeping!" her grandma said.
"I'm not tired, so I thought I accompany Billy here and say hi to you guys. I'm going to grab a cup of coffee and then I'm going for a jog." she saw Tom sitting in a table eating breakfast, she grab a cup of coffee and signaled Billy to follow her.
"Bon appétit Grumpy! So, how are you today? Did you get to sleep last night?" she said with a smirk.
Tom couldn't help but laugh, he knew she was teasing him but he didn't care for the first time. "Thanks and sorry about last night. You must think the worst of me." Tom didn't care at all what people thought of him but he really care about her opinion.
"You love apologizing don't you? I'm pretty sure you don't really care what people think of you, so it doesn't matter what I think right?" she saw he was looking at Billy like he was an intruder "This is my friend Billy he's from NK also. Billy this is Tom."
"Pleasure" Tom said without looking please at all.
"Likewise" Billy replied "well um I'm going to help Colleen and Patrick with the food, see you later Kim." Billy said and left them.
"You just made my friend uncomfortable" Kim said looking Billy's way.
"I really don't care." He said without caring "I overheard you saying you were going jogging later, do you mind if I join you? If you want you can sit, that way we could talk a bit more." Tom suggested.
Kim was surprise by his request, she wanted to say no but curiosity got the better of her, she was curious about him, she wanted to knock downs his wall and understand his behavior, why he was sometimes nice and other times the most obnoxious man in the world. "Um, sure, why not?" She took a sit and began sipping her coffee. "So why are you always angry?" She asked without hesitating.
He was surprised by her question it was so direct "I'm not always angry!" He disagreed with her. This girl really challenges him.
"Really? Well you fool me. You really need to let down your guard, not everyone in this world is out to get you, you know?" She said. The poor guy felt the need to defend himself every single time.
"My guard is down!" he said agitated confirming he was lying.
Kim laughs and rolls her eyes "then why the attitude? Until you don't let down your wall this conversation is going nowhere." She said.
Tom took a deep breath, she was right. How could he make her like him if he attacked her every single time? "Okay I agree with you" he said with difficulty "I do have a problem trusting people, I don't trust anyone. There I said it" he said
"See now we are making progress, saying what you feel is not bad, is a good thing it makes you feel better." She said "so why don't you trust no one?"
"Because I can't! Have you any idea how traitorous people can be? Is worst when you have money, people just want to be with you for your money, you don't know who's fake and who isn't and there's always someone ready to stab you in the back." He explained to her.
"I think I get you, but I don't think your way of approaching things is the best to deal with things, would you like people snapping at you every single day?"
"How else I'm going to make people respect me. You have to be firm! Otherwise people will do as they please."
"Have you gain respect by treating people like that here?" Kim asked.
"At least not yours, people usually look down when I speak to them and don't answer back to me." He said.
"What did you expected you disrespected me first, you are not the only want in this world that deserves it. You think people respect you, but they're only scare of you and fear my friend is not the same as respect and to tell you the truth they may even hate you." Kim said.
There was nothing he could say to that, what she said made sense, he never really thought about it, but yeah he could say everyone was scare of him.
"You are going to be here for a week so get use to the idea of people standing up to you." Kim warned him.
"I'm not going to tell you I like the idea of people standing up to me, but I just…I really don't like it, I don't!" He said desperately. "I'll try to control myself from now on is all I can do for now.
Kim thought the guy was ridiculous. The way he said he didn't like people standing up to him was somehow funny but at least he was honest and she could even say he wasn't that proud, he never had a problem with apologizing. "That coming from you is better than nothing."
"So you don't go out much do you?" Kim said
"No I don't have time to go out. How can you tell?" He answered.
"The way you act, you look tense all the time. So why don't you have time? She asked.
I'm a workaholic that feels out of control when not working so I spend all the day in an office. I get stressed whenever I try to have fun; all I do is think about work, I think of all the things that have to be done. I obsess about every little thing, I just can't stop it." It was the first time Tom talk to a woman about his life, he felt he could be honest and open with her and the best part was she listened carefully, unlike the women he knew she wasn't self-centered and she was genuine not fake.
"Now I know why your friends kidnapped you, you really need to forget about work and learned how to relax. You're lucky to have friends like them you know? " Kim said.
"Yeah I know." He said.
"You know what? We are going to have fun this week. You obviously need it." Kim said smiling. He really like her smile it made him feel better. "Are you ready for going jogging?"
"Yeah I really need to burn all this food." he said. He could feel his attraction for her growing and even though she was being nicer to him, he didn't know if she felt the same way about him but his guess was that she didn't and that made him sad. He was going to try hard to win her completely. Whenever he wanted something he got it but there are a lot of things that money cannot buy and he knew this was one of those times. She was priceless.
"Irish food is delicious but not the healthiest, so let's go." She said standing up. "Gramps were leaving; we'll be back in an hour or so."
"Don't forget to put a gap in the bush." Patrick said and she closed the door.
"Did he just tell you to put a gap in the bush?" Tom asked.
Kim looked at him and laughed "is just an expression, he wanted me to remember to close the door."
"Why?" He asked.
"Because I always leave it open. Come on" she started to jog and he follow her.
"So you and Billy are only friends?" he asked hoping her answer was no.
"Yeah and so is Rocky before you ask." Tom felt relief when she said that.
"I think is interesting you come here every summer to spend it with your grandparents."
"I really enjoy it and I love it here, besides is only for a month. Sometimes I come for two weeks and then my friends and I travel around Europe." she said.
"What do you love so much about this place? There is nothing to do; what is there to do here?"
"You say that because you're use to city life, you think that you can't have fun if there is no club, restaurants, theater, movies or whatever there is to do in the city. Here everything is simpler, you can just go for a walk, meet people, you won't see concrete all around you, so it's relaxing and besides there are plenty of things to do here, not the type of thing you're use to, but believe me there are a lot, your monotonous life is over."
"I do lead a monotonous uninteresting life." He laughed "I have been wasting my life."
"I figure that out when I met you. I'm pretty sure you have been around the world and never really seen it. It seems to me you are all about luxury and not getting dirty."
"Well you're not wrong about that, after all, it's all I've known since I was born."
"I'm glad that your friends brought you here because I'm going to show you that you don't need money to have a good life." She looked at him and smile he smiled back. They jog for a while and then decided to split, he went to the pub and she to her grandparents place to get Rocky and Aisha.