Tag: romance

Galway Girls Part 14

It’s true, I had. A drunken tendency to tell my friends I loved them. And I did. But things change. I had a woman and my reptilian brain was telling me to lose the friends and fast.

“Oh, you don’t want us now. Forgotten about for some woman,”

It was Sean and he loved it, grinning with a wide smile across his face.

“Are you even going to introduce us?”

Fuck no, I thought to myself.

But then I realized I needed help getting down the step.

She took the initiative.

“It’s Leslie.”

Remember Leslie, Leslie is her name.

“Sean.”

“Ronan.”

And with that, they shook hands.

“And what am I to do with Ronan,” Sean asked as he helped me down the step.

“He’ll be grand. Shur, he can stay on the boat.”

That’s right, Sean had a boat and would occasionally stay the night.

“Oh, thanks. The two of us in a little boat.”

With that, we went in different directions. Myself and Leslie going in one direction and them in the other.

“Nice friends.”

“Yeah.”

“No really, I can see they really care about you.”

She must still be drunk.

It took us only a few minutes to reach the hotel. It was starting to feel cold.

Pegasus Part 37

Tahir led us up a steep mountainous slope. Higher and higher we went. I looked down and wondered if I was in more danger of falling to my death or from one of those creatures munching on me.

As we carefully placed one foot in front of the other, the conversation restarted though I was minded to just concentrate on my footing.

“So, how did the dinosaurs get through? What happened to the sonar defense? Tabitha asked.

“One words – Pterodactyls. They were released into the habitat only recently. The sonar defense affected them in flight so we had to switch it off. It would be too obvious that we were here. They are the worst, a terrible menace. That’s why I have one eye on the atmosphere above us. Fortunately, their numbers are still small but that will change with time.”

Fuck. That was the last thing I wanted to hear. Now, I couldn’t decide whether to look up or down.

“That’s not good news, what are the plans now?”

“They haven’t decided yet. It will be so hard to find somewhere like this again, if not outright impossible. These are dark days for the movement.”

The talking stopped.

It soon became clear why they were so downbeat.

Galway Girls Part 13

She looked at me and grinned. She leaned towards me, putting her arms around my back, and kissed me on the lips. It was gentle at first but quickly escalated to her moving around my mouth.

I felt like heaven and never wanted it to end. It was like there was nobody else on the dance floor – just me and her. All thoughts of my two friends quickly went out of my head.

Then the background music stopped. This was not good news. A few moments later all the lights were on. The nightclub was over. Just like that and all too soon.

We broke off our kiss. She had such beautiful blue eyes.

“So, where to now?” she whispered.

“My hotel room is close by,” I replied trying to feign conference.

“Oh, you are sure of yourself. Come on so, let’s go.”

Everything was going to plan except, of course, I hadn’t planned for this event whatsoever. For, a second I even had to think about whether or not I had the key to the room. Phew, I had. Time to just run with the flow and hope for the best.

So, off we went.

“Hey horse, where are ya going? Running off without your mates. You were tell us you loved us only an hour ago.”

Pegasus Part 36

Running furiously was not enough. I could hear its steps getting closer and closer and turned my head in despair.

Its mouth was opened wide and I thought its large teeth would be the last thing I’d ever see as it pounced on me. Then I heard what sounded like a gunshot. Blood splattered all over my face and body as its heavy body fell onto me.

Then I heard Tabitha screaming, “Are you okay Ciarán?”

Concern was etched into her voice.

She clasped my hand and between the two of us, I managed to get out from under the body.

“What happened?” I asked half dazed.

“I don’t know, they never gotten into this part before.

“Tabitha, is that you?”

A black man, not quite six tall holding a heavy machine gun was now standing just a few metres from us.

“Tahir?” Tabitha said under her breath.

Tabitha ran towards him and they embraced warmly.

This was the man that had saved my life but I couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

“Tahir, this is Ciarán. He saved me and helped get me here. He wants to join us.”

“Any friend of Tabitha is a friend of mine.”

He shook my hands firmly.

Then he said, “Come this way. It’s dangerous out here.”

Galway Girls Part 12

This was somewhat of a novelty. Heading back to somewhere I had already been and it was right back into the same room too. In fairness, they made a good effort to transform the place. All the chairs had been removed leaving a good-sized dance floor. It was now dark with strobe lighting. By this time I had enough drink and instead just enjoyed the music, which was a mix of modern songs and some classics. The loud songs vibrated through me.

We took up a position beside one of the walls and I took in the atmosphere. It felt alive like anything in the world was possible. As I watched the elegant dancing, part of me wished I could just stand up and join them.

It was getting towards the end of the night now and I had run out of things to say to my friends. Then there she was. The woman whose eyes I met during the comedy gig and they were meeting again. She was staring right at me from across the dance floor. Then she started to walk towards me. Suddenly, my heart started to race and I felt wide awake once again.

She leaned down and said something to me but it was too hard to make out. She smelled of perfume and Guinness. I remember thinking – you only live once and I kissed her cheek.

Galway Girls Part 11

The drinks were flowing freely now but I knew the importance of pacing oneself after many nights of overindulgence down the years. It was important to be still able to talk to people at the end of the night or so my friends would tell me.

There were other ladies I got to chat with too. I always loved female company even if it was to just try and get a laugh out of them. Rachel, in her mid-twenties, was a fashionista, owning her own brands. She had blonde hair and was wearing a black jacket. She was affable and easy to talk to. Not the kind of girl that you would get chatting to in Mullingar.

And then there was purple-colored hair Rose, with a large ring on her nose. She knew everybody including myself by the end of the night. I would describe her as eccentric and presume she must have been snorting some cocaine at some point. If anything, she was a bit too chatty and I was relieved when the lads told me it was nightclub time.

“Where are you from?”

“What do you do?”

And she told me all about herself. An Arts student wanted to be a social worker. My voice had gone hoarse.

“So, where to now Sean?” I asked enthusiastically on getting outside.

“Back to Roisin Dubh.”

Galway Girls Part 10

“And Paul is a writer,” Sean said somewhat proudly.

“Yeah, what do you write?”

Of course, I’m not one of those who like to boast but for pretty girls ten years younger than me I can always make an exception.

“Yeah, have you read or heard of Anderson’s Quest?”

“I have, are you the author?”

“Indeed, I am.”

“No way, and are you rich now?”

I briefly thought about trying to explain that it wasn’t about the money for me. But about the joy of writing, that it was a release and a form of self-expression. After, a few drinks though, I decide it’s better just to go with the flow.

“Not yet, it was big in Ireland but not much outside. Hopefully, next time.”

It was then that I noticed how she was glancing at Sean. Not that I blamed her. He was well built, muscular but not overly so, with a square jaw. And he was charming too.

It was just that I wished a woman would look at me like that. It had been years since I had last been with a woman and it was something that I wished to explore further.

Then Ronan began to speak and my focus switched back to the present.

Galway Girls Part 9

This gave me a minute or two to collect my thoughts and survey my surroundings. The place was electric with everybody seemingly in good spirits. There also seemed to be a great sense of camaraderie, with some of the women going from group to group chatting away.

A few moments later the two lads had returned. With a quick shake of Sean’s head, I was informed that there was no space for a wheelchair inside. Not that I minded.

“A lot of talent around here,” I said loudly to Sean over the din of music.

Sean was somewhat of a connoisseur.

“Yeah,” he replied, “it’s all the universities, tourists and the like. It’s unbelievable around here. You can just be walking down the street and see so many good-looking women.”

I took another slug of my vodka and took in the atmosphere the two lads talked for a while.

Then while I got lost in my thoughts.

“Say hello to Irene,” Sean said to me.

She was one of the girls that had been going from group to group earlier.

“Hi, lovely to meet you,” I replied.

“Hi,” she replied with a warm smile.

“She’s a musician, very good too.” Sean continued.

She had shoulder-length brown hair and was wearing a black jacket.

Pegasus (Part 32)

We must have drifted off asleep because the next thing it was bright again. But now the train was hurtling through a rainforest. A blanket of densely packed trees leaving a dark forest floor. No more large herbivores were to be seen. I nudged Tabitha to wake her.

“What?”

She immediately looked around as if sensing danger.

“It’s okay. Just wanted to wake you. We seem to be in some sort of forest.”

“Yes, in another few hours, we’ll come to a clearance. The train will slow down somewhat and then we’ll have to jump.”

“Jump?”

“Yes, jump.”

Damn it. That is not what I wanted to hear. This didn’t look like the kind of place one would survive an injury.

“What if we get injured?”

“Oh, you’ll be okay. There’s a technique to it. I’ll show you.”

With that, she showed. It involved rolling once your feet touched the ground.

I sure hoped it would work.

“Once we’re off the train, we will have a bit of a walk through the dense jungle ahead of us. I want you to know that we’ll be perfectly fine. I’ve done this particular journey a few times previously.”

I nodded.

“So tell me about your family Tabitha. I want to know everything about you and where you are from. How did you get involved in all of this?”

Galway Girls Part 8

Just as well, Sean was with us because I would have no idea where I was going with all the side streets. Turn left, turn right there, like a maze in a labyrinth of possibilities.

“Just across the road now. Can you get up that path?”

Looking across the road, I see that it is an aging, degraded footpath with only a small bump required to get up onto it.

“Yeah, I’ll be grand,” I replied.

A few moments later Sean was pointing down a narrow laneway, which led to a relatively large but narrow smoking area. I found a suitable spot to park. It was a beautiful sight to behold, more women than lads in what felt like a crowded, raucous outside garden with hanging flowers here and there. Sean really knew the best places to go.

I also gathered what he meant by “alternative”. There were all colours of hair and piercings. All very exotic for the likes of me. Most were smoking away on their vapes and in boisterous, jovial form.

But priorities, priorities. We had our priorities and drink was top of the list. This time Ronan was entrusted with the responsibility. Sean said he would check if there was any space inside as it was at a premium where we were.