Chapter 16: The Last Night in Dublin

(PJ's POV)

"I need 8 shots of Jager, please!" I called over the growing crowd at the bar. The bartender nodded and began pulling shot glasses out from under the bar.

When most had been filled, Dan popped up next to me and grabbed two from the front, a devilish grin on his face. "Aye, mate," I chuckled, "Could've waited till I'd gotten them all before taking one for you and Phil."

"Oh this one isn't for Phil," he snickered, his grin growing wider, "it's for Tara. I'm hoping she'll be less guarded with a few drinks in her."

"Dan," I warned, grabbing the tray of now finished shots.

"Aww relax, would ya," he dismissed, "I'm not gonna do anything with her. I already know that's your job."

"Dan!" I snapped, but he was already gone, disappearing into the almost full bar. I searched above the sea of people and spotted our table in the way back, dimmer than the rest of the bar and slightly distanced from everyone else. Dan had just arrived at the table and was handing Tara a shot. She searched the bar for a moment before locking eyes with me as I made my way to the table. She gave me a quizical look, to which I shrugged and offered her a half-smile.

By the time I made it to the table, Dan and Tara's shot glasses were already empty. "I'm sorry," Tara apologized over the noise, "Dan was badgering me."

"Don't be," I called back as I passed the rest of the shots around, "Bloke just wants to get you to relax so he can learn your dirty secrets."

"Oy, mate," Dan snapped jokingly, "Don't tell her my master plan!

"Fine, fine" I agreed, "So long as you buy the next round."

"What? Why me?"

"You stole two shots!"

"Tara had one too!"

"Only because you made her! Besides, we're all buying a round before the end of the night, might as well do it early."

Dan pondered this thought for a moment before shrugging, "Good idea. Rather do it now, so I won't get roped into something outrageous later when I won't be sober enough to say no!"

I lifted my glass in agreement before downing it in one gulp and shouting, "Let the night begin!"

And oh did it. 7 shots and two beers later, I was starting to rethink drinking the day before we left. We'd be leaving in the evening, sure, but I'd be nursing a hangover all day.

"Wait, wait, wait," I interrupted Jamie's story for what seemed like the twelth time in two minutes, "You told me you were... You were drawing a new picture. Something about the hair being impossible, mate."

"Right, right," he agreed, taking a long swig of ale, "Anyways, as PJ so kindly pointed out, I was drawing a girl and her hair was being damn near impossible when Louis came blundering in in his underwear screaming about how he'd managed to get his computer to talk back to him. Drunk bastard made me spend thrity mintues listening to it say dirty phrases."

"And I still don't know why I was only in my underwear," Louis adds through a fit of laughter.

I laughed along with him and looked around the group quickly before asking who was supposed to buy the last round of shots.

"Think you were, mate," Dan calls back, trying to wink, but failing in his slightly drunken stupor. "We all know I bought the first round," I shot back, leaning up against the table. I tried to mentally count who went, but gave up after the third failed attempt. "I think it's Chris."

"No mate," he disagreed, shaking his head, " I bought a round after Sophie."

"Maybe it was Jamie," Tara piped up. She had been quiet for most the night, resting her head on Phil's shoulder. "That's probably why he keeps telling us all of these ridiculous stories."

"Hey, yeah," Phil perked up, looking over at Jamie's guilty face, "Trying to get out of shots?"

"And steal my title," I grumbled, folding my arms over my chest.

We all laughed before Jamie ordered us a round and I ordered another beer.

Two more beers later, I decided to order us an extra round. I cheered to a safe flight home for all of us before we all knocked back it back. We'd saylt around for a while just telling old childhood stories as the bar slowly started to drain of people.

Around 2:00 in the morning I felt a pull at my jacket sleeve and looked over to see Tara. I sat puzzled for a moment; I hadn't even seen her get up from her spot next to Phil.

"What's up," I asked her, leaning closer to her so I didn't interupt Chris' story I'd probably heard nine times already.

"I want to go home, I'm getting really tired," she slurred. "Need me to take you home again," I teased. "Haha," she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, "I'll just walk back alone. "Oh no," I shot back, standing up quickly to block her path.

That's when the full effect of my drunkeness hit me. The whole room spun and I almost doubled over right then and lost all the contents in my stomach. I took a couple moments to collect myself before turning back to the group and bidding them goodbye.

"Have fun, you two," Louis called.

"But not too much fun," Sophie added.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Chris chided.

"Exactly what wouldn't you do, Chris," Dan hooted, making all of us burst into laughter.

Tara pulled on my sleeve again and I put a healthy tip down on the table for the waitress that'd been serving us all night. I then turned towards the exit and wrapped an arm around Tara's waist before pulling her to the front door.

Once outside, the chilly Dublin air helped me sober up just enough to help guide us to our hotel two blocks down. Tara held my arm to keep herself steady, but after about a block and a half, and one too many almost falls, she asked if she could get a ride on my back.

'Probably not the best idea, but what the hell,' I thought, before nodding and crouching down slightly to let her on. My thinking proved to be right; as soon as she jumped on, I lost my balance and we both spilled onto the concrete. We laid there for a moment, just giggling, before I stood up and offered her a hand. Once we were both up we once again began the trek back to the hotel.

Upon reaching the front doors, Tara seemed to be revitalized with an energy that I hadn't seen in her all night. "Race you to the room," she called over her shoulder before taking off up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I laughed and followed after her, trying hard not to lose my balance and tumble back down into the lobby.

She'd made it to the room faster than me and upon reaching the door, she barely squeezed through it before closing it in my face. I shook my head, chuckling, and took a few seconds to dig the key out of my pocket and put it in the lock.

I swung the door open to find Tara digging excitedly through my suitcase. "What're you-" I started, before she jumped up with a bundle in her hands and took off for the bathroom before I could finish my sentence, locking herself in. Letting out an amused sigh, I crossed the room and sat in one of the chairs, waiting for her to return.

I'd been half paying attention to a news article I was reading on my phone when the bathroom door finally opened.

Tara stepped out in my white and tan jumper. 'Ah, so that's what she took,' I thought to myself, smiling at her softly. It struck me then that she didn't appear to be wearing anything else. The jumper cut off above the middle of her thigh and from there down it was just her soft, pale legs.

Shit.

I cleared my throat loudly, "T-tara.. uh-" "Oh relax," she shushed, as if reading my mind, "I'm wearing shorts, you loon." And to prove her point she pulled up the jumper to reveal a pair of black shorts. "Jeez, you really are short," I snickered, slightly relieved.

She grimaced and an awkward silence fell over us like a dense fog. I looked at her for a couple seconds more before looking back down at the news article that I couldn't remember anything about now.

I'd barely heard Tara's words a few minutes later. "Huh?" I asked, turning my attention to her. "Tell me a story," she repeated in a soft voice, her eyes wide and curious like they'd been the morning after our trip to the bogs. My stomach tightened slightly and I tried to ignored it, averting my sight away from her.

"Alright," I cleared my throat and set my phone down on the small table, "There was once this... Orc-"

"Named Morcon" Tara interrupted, taking me by surprise. I looked up at her, quirking an eyebrow, before shrugging and looking away again. I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair, continuing, "Yes, an orc named Morcon. He lived in a cave in a mountian-"

"With a pet canary-"

"With a pet canary named... Err... Mildred after his great aunt that he hated."

"And he fed Mildred twice a day," she added, her voice a bit hushed. I wanted to open my eyes and see if the curious glint in her eyes was still there, but didn't risk. Something about that look, the same look she gets when she's taking pictures, it just throws all the logic I have out the window. I focused again on the story.

"Except one day he fed her three times. Which wouldn't usually be such a big deal, except he feeds her a magic blend of frog's breath, um cinnamon and mushroom stems so that she has the most beautiful singing voice a canary has ever had."

"And?"

"And... Well, since he fed her three times instead of two, the canary lost her voice altogether; she couldn't utter even the simplest of notes. Morcon tried for days after to get Mildred's voice back, but he knew the only way to get it back would be to visit the great wizard, Quig, in his hut far away. So he set out on the long journey and made it there in three days time because he'd had no road troubles... Umm..."

I stopped for a moment to think up the next part of the story when I felt it. The softest of breath hitting my face. Before I could open my eyes or even ask what she was doing, I felt Tara's lips press lightly against mine. The chair shifted some as she sat down on my legs and pushed her lips a bit harder against mine. My whole body felt frozen, like the dream I'd had the day we left. 'That's it,' I told myself, 'It's a dream. It has to be. I closed my eyes and fell asleep telling the story. I need to wake up.'

She pulled back then and my eyes shot open, looking up at her. Just like the last dream her back hair dimmed out the light. Her eyes were wide and she looked at me like she'd just been shot.

"What did the wizard tell Morcon," she asked in a voice so soft I wouldn't have heard it if our face hadn't been right next to each other.

"He uh... He gave Morcon the antidote and.. and the canary sang so beautifully that it helped the orc.. helped-." I stopped. It hit me so hard I thought my heart skipped a beat. She'd asked about the story. I hadn't fallen asleep. This wasn't a dream. It was actually happening. She actually kissed me.

"Tara, why-"

"Finish the story," she begged, "Please?"

"He uh .. the orc found a beautiful wife, well, beautiful by an orc's standards and lived happily ever... After?"

She groaned and leaned back a little so that I could see her in the light. "That was a horrible story," she complained, "I thought you were a professional."

"I am," I snapped protectively before calming down, "Just a little confused as to why you... Well, why you kissed me."

She bit her lip, directing her gaze to the wall to the left of her. "I don't know," she spoke at last, "I don't usually. Not even when I'm drunk. But it just... It felt right. I know we've never really talked about it. I mean, anytime our friends bring it up we're trying to convince them there's nothing. I just. I was thinking about it and I wanted to know if I felt anything. And... Bloody hell I never even thought about how you felt. For all I know you could be talking to someone. I mean, we've never talked about it and I could have just ruined our friendship."

I grabbed Tara by the hands and tried to calm her before she burst into a drunken fit. "Hey, hey," I tried, "Don't freak out, Tara. It's nothing to beat yourself up over. Shh. Don't cry. There's no need to cry. Focus. Look at me. Okay. Deep breath. Now tell me something. You said you wanted to know if you felt something, yeah? Well, did you?"

"What," she gasped; I'd taken her completely by surprise, it seemed, " I mean, I uh... I didn't really... I was too busy thinking about how I'd just ruined our relationship. I didn't..."

"Okay," I stated, thinking for a moment. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled her into me and kissed her softly on the lips before pulling away. "How about that time?"

Instead of looking at me, she rested her head against the back of the chair and nodded. "Yeah," she whispered into my ear, sending chills down my smile, "I liked that."

I closed my eyes and turned my head slightly to the right, ghosting my lips up her jawline before nipping at it softly. "What about this," I asked as I kissed the juncture where her jawline met her neck, "Do you like this?"

She let out a soft breath before whispering a mute yes. An amused smile pulled at my lips and I let them trail their way down her neck to the groove of her shoulder, stopping at her collar bone. I pulled the jumper down some before setting my lips down on the defined bone "And this," I mumbled softly before biting down playfully.

Tara let out a moan then that reverberated off my eardrum and unleashed an animalistic instict I didn't know I had. I bit down on the soft spot just between her collar bone and shoulder, sucking a large purple welt into the pale skin. Tara squirmed above me and pulled at my jacket until the zipper reached the bottom. slightly and helped her take the jacket off, discarding it carelessly on the ground next to us.

Looking up at Tara's face, she looked slightly peeved as she stared at my shirt. "Always with the buttons," she muttered before leaning down and kissing me, her fingers fumbling with the button at my throat. Once undone, she began on the next one, moving her face down to my neck where she peppered it with soft kisses and marks that made my breath catch in my throat.

When she reached the bottom she ran her hands back up my chest, making gooseflesh appear on my arms. I pulled my shirt off, before gathering Tara up into my arms and turning off the side lamp. I carried her over to my bed, trying painfully hard not to let the drunken dizziness topple us both over again.

"That story really was crap" she whispered when I set her; I could just make out the curious glint in her eyes in the moonlight, "Good thing I like this one better."

I grinned before dipping down into a passionate kiss, that made a wave another wave of dizziness wash over me.

EDIT: OOPS REALIZED I MISSED SOMETHING. THAT'S WHAT I GET FOR BEING IN A RUSH!

Hey guys, I know it's been a while.

So this chapter is pretty detailed. I'm not one for writing super graphic smut though. So you'll never get that on any of my stories. So if you were ever hoping for that you should just banish the though now. If it is too detailed for your liking with what I wrote I apologize sincerely. I am not much one for relationships and such, (at least right now) just really good at writing them.

How is everybody's summer break going? I am super extra nervous-scared for college. I wish everybody luck with their next school year (if they are going into one) or whatever lies ahead!

I got the Jamie story idea from his instagram since I follow him. If you don't you should totally check him out, his drawings are incredible ( jamievstheuniverse)

Nobody is mine and you can never say they are (and be telling the truth)

Love, Boots~