my eyes and tipped my head up. I felt his breath on my lower lip, tasted his warm scent on my tongue, felt the slightest brush of his nose against mine, and then–
Knock! Knock! Knock! “Becca?”
Ryland! Damn it!
We both turned our heads toward the door, and from the corner of my eye I saw Alex blink a few times, then stand calmly, take the bowls from the table, and walk into the bathroom, leaving me sitting on the couch in a – dare I say hot-and-bothered – stupor.
“Becca, you there?” Ryland called again from the other side of the door.
“Yeah, it’s open,” I called, rubbing my hands over my face.
He came through the door, all smiles, “Hey! Oh hey, Alex!”
I looked over to see Alex was indeed back from the bathroom.
“Hi Ryland, how’s it going? You like it here so far?” Alex asked grinning, as though nothing had happened.
“It’s awesome!” Ryland plopped down on the couch, right where Alex had been all evening.
“Glad to hear it. I’ve got to run, but I’ll see you soon, OK?” he said, looking decidedly at Ryland and not me.
“OK, bye.”
With that, Alex tuned and opened the door, stopping only when I called to him, “Will I see you tomorrow?” I realized that I probably sounded needy, but I sure as hell wasn’t about to let him leave without so much as a nod in my direction after almost kissing the guy.
Almost… Damn!
He turned and met my eyes for the first time since leaving with the bowls. “Of course,” he said, as though there could be no other answer.
He shut the door behind him with a soft click, while Ryland began digging through my goodie box from Mom.
“Aw! You got peanut butter M&M’s, I only got plain! Can I have some? I’ll give you some of mine. Becca?”
“Hmm?” I asked, still looking at the door.?“Can I have some M&M’s?”
“Sure,” I said, lying back against the couch. “Whatever you want.”
13
If there was one thing I learned over the next few days, it was that Ireland was nothing like the US. I guess I should have suspected that, but for some reason my subconscious had it figured that since the people in Ireland spoke English it must be a lot like home.
It was not.
Sure, there were similarities; they did (basically) speak English, though there were some euphemisms I was unfamiliar with, like “trainers” for shoes, and so on. My personal favorite was “feck”. As you can imagine, the Irish dialect caused the “e” to sound a lot like a “u”, which sorry, but I got a kick out of. Hearing that – ahem – word thrown around in casual conversation by everyone from professors to students was hilarious, and it took me several days – and a lot of suppressed giggling – to get used to.
The food wasn’t much better. I have always been a picky eater, and unfortunately the Irish cuisine wasn’t doing it for me. In the cafeteria’s defense, they did try. The school hosted students from all over the word, and I could tell that the culinary staff did their best to cater to everyone, what with “Italian Day”, the “Eastern Buffet”, and the “American Specials”. But, try as they might, putting a sign over something that says “American”, doesn’t inherently make it so. For instance, the “American Grilled Cheese” was grated hard cheddar, melted between two slices of rye soda bread.
No thanks.
I was anxious about breakfast as that had always been my favorite kind of food, and was happy to find that most of it was the same sort of stuff I was used to – eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes – except of course, the baked beans. Who in their right mind came up with the idea to serve baked beans for breakfast I’ll never know, but it isn’t a tradition I’ll be adopting any time soon.
And then there was the weather! After a few days I started to wonder if an umbrella shouldn’t be added to the national flag, as I’d never seen so much rain in my life! There wasn’t a day without it, and you never knew when it might pop up. Sure, there were your typical storms that were easy to see rolling in, but sometimes a shower would sneak up, soak you before you had a chance to run, and then be gone again like it had never been.
Strange euphemisms, weird food, and crazy weather aside, my stay at St Brigid’s was turning out much more enjoyable than