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I’ll wait
He wasn’t lying when he said it. He would wait.
For Erin he would do anything, that was part of the somewhat botched declaration he’d made in the house, before… it. In the space of twenty-four hours, less actually, he’d had both a near death experience and the best moment of his life.
By far.
Prom wasn’t bad… neither was the day he chose the girls over his mum.
But this… this was the best day of his entire life.
Michelle might have gotten in the way, but that was nothing new. She was always preventing him from doing something or other or giving him grief for what he was already doing, if she’d not been able stop him already. As much as her ranting and raving about how they could not date, how a breakup between him and Erin would be disastrous, was aggravating, she was doing it because she cared.
After all, she was right.
When they were back in Derry, walking back to their respective homes as a group before parting ways, he took his normal spot with Orla at the back, not a word more said. The other two hadn’t seen a thing, nor would they need to know about it. Nothing more was said, the matter closed, dealt with. Erin was right. Michelle’s words of wisdom were correct. A breakup would break the group up, at a time of their lives where the work they put in mattered so much for the future. Nothing could jeopardise that.
Erin didn’t turn around at all, and when they parted ways, he got nothing more than a small smile. It was what he expected though; not quite awkward enough for it to be noticeable, but nothing like the bliss of earlier in the day. Nothing would quite be like that… not for a while.
There were exams to focus on, battles with Jenny Joyce no doubt to come and the sad notion that their time as irresponsible young adults was coming to an end. Soon enough they’d be heading off into an adult world, a new world of adventure and possibility. Of hard graft and dark days that would push all five of them to their limits.
In that world though, he had a chance.
No… They had a chance.
Waiting for Erin to be ready would be tough, with no guarantee that she would still reciprocate those feelings in the future. Where there might be a John-Paul O’Reilly or a David Donnelly to sweep her off her feet, away from him.
But that was all speculation, not fact.
One fact remained, a fact that shone like the light at the end of an epiphanic tunnel.
He would wait for her.
If that meant one week, one month, one year… or more, so be it.
Because that was it really. He didn’t just like Erin.
He loved her.