When a Girl Meets a Boy (Saturday, late evening)

[Cres]

[[OMG I am SO sorry this keeps taking time. >.< Work is crazy right now. Damnit. lol]]

Sweetheart walked up to the front door of her house quietly. She wasn’t really feeling like going inside. She had planned a fun evening at the party with Teddy, and then… well, things had a habit of turning out bad, didn’t they? She sighed a little as she paused at the door and looked behind her, rubbing her other bare arm a little. The clothes she was wearing were not especially warm at that time of the night, and she hadn’t taken an extra sweater or anything. She brushed off a reckless lock from her hair to behind her ear.

She had never felt so lost in her life. Everything had always gone well for Sweetheart. She had a loving family and was never in need of anything; she had never had to wonder where her next meal might come from, and if she wanted anything, a new dress, new shoes, new cell phone, anything at all, it had always been there for her. She was only now shaken to the fact that it was not the same for everyone. Not everyone’s parents were as caring as hers, or as rich. The words Vinnie had spoken to her last summer still stung. He had been right, of course. She was a pampered little girl.

Sweetheart glanced down at herself. It was time she grew up. She swallowed. She had already thought she had begun the journey by changing her style a little. The new outfit was gorgeous, to be sure… but suddenly she felt like a silly princess prancing about in new clothes. What did clothes change? It was her mind, the inside of her that needed to change, not the outside. She had always lived in pink fluff when it came to the real world. Now it was all being thrown at her face at high velocity. Too much had happened that night for her to grasp and process properly. All she knew was that her long childhood was finally coming to its end.

But what kind of a woman would emerge?

Sighing, Sweetheart turned round toward the door again. It was really getting cold, and she knew her parents would already be waiting for her. She had missed dinner. She wondered if her father would be angry. He hardly ever was. Sometimes it made Sweetheart feel frustrated. Why was it that no ordinary rules seemed to apply for her? Was she really that much of a good girl that her parents felt no need to control her life?

Why did she want control, anyway?

Annoyed at her own confused thoughts, she shook her head and took out her keys, fitting them to the lock. She opened the door and stepped in carefully, hoping to sneak past to her own room before anyone noticed.

She should have known better.

“Sweetheart! Darling, where have you been?”

It was her mother’s voice. Mrs Rosacci was coming to her from the dining room, a worried expression on her face. Sweetheart sighed mentally as she looked up. Both Dandy and her father were coming after her mother. Dan was wearing an amused expression on him, but Tin seemed less pleased.

“I’m sorry, mom,” Sweetheart replied, correcting her skirt, all too conscious that she was wearing a lot less than usually. It would certainly take some getting used to with these new clothes. “I forgot the time.”

“Well, you missed dinner,” Tin said, his brow furrowed.

Sweetheart smiled just a little.

“I’m sorry, dad. But I’m not really hungry, anyway.” She made a move to start upstairs to her room.

[Sharise]

The sound of deep laughter echoed from inside the kitchen. Liam had been entertaining the triplets, which was quite an easy task for him. He had grown up with a large family and knew damn well how to play with children. The man had been so immersed with the happenings, that he hadn't even noticed Sweetheart's arrival. Until, of course, he stepped into the hall beside the stairs. And there she was... just as beautiful as Tin had described.

"Good evenin', miss." A bright smile slowly spread across the man's face as he stared at the girl. He hadn't expected to have a run in with such a lass, but he figured it didn't matter much. She was the daughter of his boss' friend. Not to messed with... yet.

A strong hand jutted forward, asking for a shake. "I'm Liam." It was a bit unorthodox, and not very... proper, but it was all he could manage. For one reason or another, all manners and common sense had left him at the moment.


[[lol Not a very poetic post. :P Ah well. It’s going to be fun when Liam gets to use some Irish slang. No one’s going to understand a damned thing he’s saying. Haha]]

[Cres]

[[Ohhhhhhhh I adore Irish accent. ^-^ Next to Scottish, it’s my favourite accent. Have you seen the movie Devil’s Own? ^-^ *love*]]

Sweetheart’s eyes widened a little when the strange boy came into view. She had never seen him before, and he most certainly did not sound like the most young men his father invited over; not a drop of Italian accent on him, but rather something more… British, she concluded. She was still too disoriented to catch the proper accent from such a short greeting, and at that moment she was terribly annoyed at her father. Why had he not told her there would be guests over? Self-consciously she corrected a few locks on her left shoulder as she extended her delicate hand for a shake.

“Uh, hello,” she replied, quite dumbfounded and glancing at both her parents and Dandy. Dan looked far too pleased to her liking; was he happy to see her so surprised. She wondered when had he arrived. He had been with Bp, but of course she had left some time ago. She had to be slightly surprised that Dan had wanted to come to the house after the disastrous evening. But then again, that was the way he handled things, was it not? She had never once seen him spend hours, or even minutes, brooding over things gone wrong.

She focused her eyes back to the stranger. Liam? That certainly gave him away – Irish, was her first thought. Yes, that must be it. Not quite broad and thick enough to be Scottish, Irish were just a tad tighter; or that was what Chip had told her once, going on one of his linguistic sprees.

“Pleased to meet you, Liam,” she managed after a short pause, and she couldn’t help but blushing and looking down shyly. She was making such a fool of herself! “I’m Sweetheart.” She blushed even deeper when she realised that it was redundant. “But you knew that already.”

She shot another “Why didn’t you tell me we had company” -look at both Dan and her father.

[]

[Sharise]

Liam gave a slow, sensual smirk. Such a thing was so normal for the boy, that he hadn't even realized what he'd done. "You look a wee bit s'prised." A soft chuckle escaped out from between the Irishman's lips. "You'll have t'forgive me. I was talking to yer da about me business goals. Y'don't have t'sit 'n chat if ye'don't want to. I pr'mise not to get offended." The man's brows furrowed as he realized that his words had come out wrong. "I'm sor'ry. I 'ave the scutters of me mouth."

Embarrassment was written across Liam's face as he gave a lipsided smile. He was making a fool of himself... and why? He was never like this in front of any other girl. But alas, most of the ladies he knew were Irish.. and there for a bit more... vulgar. While Sweetheart, on the other hand, was classy and proper. The kind of woman who deserved a proper gentleman. Which was not what Liam was... well, not at the moment. No, no.. at the moment he was a big, bumbling moron. But a handsom one at that.

[ah, Just in case... The Scutters = Diarrhoea :D]

[Cres]

Like it or not, Sweetheart had to be impressed over Liam. He was polite, for one thing, and for another, he didn’t seem to be checking her out like most other young men her father had introduced her to so far. She couldn’t be sure, of course, if this was another one of her father’s ploys through which he hoped to turn her attentions away from Teddy. She liked to think not, for he had not asked any more young men over since she had brought Teddy to meet her parents. Perhaps Liam was truly there to discuss his career plans – whatever they might be. She knew her father, and her mother, too, had connections to many businesses.

She smiled a little when he apologised. She was now certain she was speaking with an Irishman, and tried to quench the little tremor inside – she had always had a thing about the Irish accent. Even though she didn’t understand what his latest remark meant – scutters? she had never heard the word before – she understood the meaning behind it.

“Oh, it’s quite all right,” she replied with a smile. “And I suppose I could sit for a while. Tea might be nice, at any rate… it’s pretty cold outside.”

Her mother clapped her hands together at once, and seemed only now to take a look at her outfit.

“Madre di Dio, child, you should have taken a jacket!” she turned and started scuffling into the kitchen. “You all go to the living room, I’ll bring you tea.”

Sweetheart smiled a little after her mother and then looked at Liam a little shyly. Dan cleared his throat and stepped aside.

“I think I’ll get going now,” he said. He had, indeed, arrived some time before Sweetheart, having decided to come home after Bp had turned him down about staying over, but now he was beginning to feel rather anxious to get out again. He didn’t know quite what he wanted to do, but staying and chatting about nothing with his family was certainly not at the top of the list of things he felt like doing at the moment.

Tin had been about to move toward the living room when his wife had went to make tea, but upon hearing Dan’s words, he stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Dan instead.

“Wait,” he said. “I wanna word with you.”

Dan looked at his father a bit surprised, but nodded. Tin put his hand behind Sweetheart’s back and pushed her toward the living room with a smile.

“You show Liam into the living room, Sweetheart,” he said. “Show him the family album or something. This might take a moment.” He looked at Liam with an apologetic smile. “If you’ll excuse us.”

Then he turned to Dan and put his hand on his son’s shoulder, leading him out to the porch. Dan glanced back and nodded to Liam and flashed Sweetheart a mischievous smile before following his father.

Sweetheart blushed a little when her father pushed her, and looked behind her at her father with a bit of reproach in her eyes. Then she turned to look at Liam again and smiled.

“Well, I suppose my father likes you,” she said as she took her shoes off and placed her handbag on the little table in the hallway. She started to walk to the living room. The triplets were there, playing on the rug with their toy bricks, arguing about what kind of a castle they wanted to build. Sweetheart smiled at them and then looked at Liam, just a little nervous as she sat on the sofa. She wanted to let him know that she had already a boyfriend – but how could you slip that into the conversation casually? And why was she so worried about that point, anyway? Liam was probably not even interested in her that way, and she would only end up making a fool of herself.


[[Ya, it's useful to translate Irish slang to me. I'm not familiar with it as well as Scottish. Oooooh! Does he speak Eire though? Him and Rowie would have so much fun since Gaelic is very close to Eire.]]

[Sharise]

[Y'know... I never thought about it, but sure! Liam is a very cultured man. lol And I'll be sure to add translations whenever I use slang. ^^]

Liam smiled to Tin. "Of course." He watched as the man spoke to Sweetheart, and was completely unaware of the facial expressions Dan had been sending to his sister.

The man chuckled as he took a seat beside Sweetheart, though he remained at least two feet away from her if not more. "It's me accent... It gets e'eryone." A single eye winked at the girl. Again, his natural charm had begun to take over.

For the first time, Liam studied the girl's face. But it wasn't in a sexual manner, no, no... it was more of a curious studying. Truth be told, he already knew who the girl was... Bp had mentioned her. And afterall, he had met Teddy on several occassions. So the Italian beauty had no need to tell him about a boyfriend... but how could he let her know that? He didn't want to make any more of a fool of himself than he already had.

"Y'ave a wonderful fam'ly..." Liam's attention turned to the tripletts, then back to Sweetheart. "Me own kin is way back in Ireland." He smiled and shrugged. "Except for me cousin. She's here."

[Cres]

[[Weeel, if he lives in the actual Ireland, as far as I know, Eire is the national language these days, so it wouldn’t be so weird if he knew it. ^-^]]

Sweetheart giggled a little when he resorted to his accent as the reason why he was loved. What with all the drama that night, she was in desperate need of a little easy chatting. She relaxed on the sofa a little, leaning backward when he settled farther off. That, too, was quite polite and she liked it. Definitely an improvement on the usual macho types her father introduced to her.

Sweetheart followed Liam’s eyes to the triplets and smiled affectionately to their squabbling. Her curiosity was awakened, when he mentioned a cousin, however, and she looked at him again.

“Cousin?” she asked. “What’s her name?”

[]

[Sharise]

[Oh, well then.. that works! lol And I was hoping she'd ask. ;)]


Liam smiled at Sweetheart. The thought of his cousin always made him smile, she was his favorite person. "Baby, but folks 'round here call'er Bp." He knew that name would hit home with the girl. "Baby is me bestfriend.... we grew up t'gether back in Dublin."

The Irishman leaned back against the couch. He wanted to give the girl a chance to make some sort of a response to that bombshell. But alas, being the man that he is, he didn't even bother to think that Sweetheart might not like Bp as much as he did.

[Cres]

[[Aaaand she's back with a post! Oh yeah! *lol* Sorry about that... I just keep being busy, don't I?]]

Had Sweetheart been eating or drinkin something, she would have choked on it now. As things were, her breath caught in her throat for a moment and her eyes widened just a little. Bp! Why did everything in her life always come back to Bp these days? She felt a hot surge of anger at this thought, and paled a little in the aftershock – she did not see herself as the type that would get angry, and condemned herself strictly for any such feelings.

It took a fair bit of time for Sweetheart to rearrange her thoughts and manage to smile back at him.

“I… see. I happen to… know your cousin, then.” At any rate, she found this the perfect opportunity to make clear the fact that she was indeed taken. She didn’t stop to wonder at why she felt such an urgent need to emphasise it. “She’s my boyfriend’s best friend, too. His name is Teddy – I’m sure she would have mentioned it.” She blushed a little. “Teddy and I just got together today… officially, that is.”

Unconsciously, her other hand went down on her dress and pulled it downward, to cover her legs better. She wasn’t why she felt so strange with Liam – and why she felt like she needed to remind herself and him of having a boyfriend.

It must be the Irish thing.

[Sharise]

[It's fine. Life's been a little crazy around here as well. ^^;;]


The girl's reaction made Liam frown. She obviously wasn't on great terms with his cousin, and he knew why. Teddy. That lass was quite the charmer... he must've done something.

"Not a big fan?" There was a lopsided smile on the man's face. He wasn't about to let his disappointment show. But then, there was the comment about Teddy... he had to reply to that. Somehow.

Shifting his weight on the couch, Liam looked Sweetheart straight in the eye. He made sure to relax as he spoke. "I know. I met'im. Nice lass, that one." He eyed the girl as she adjusted her skirt. It was all too obvious that he was having an affect on her. "Y'alright? Y'seem a wee bit.... tense."

[Cres]

[[uh, I think that ought to be "lad" though - so far as I'm aware, "lass" refers to a girl. At least so in Scottish, hehehe.]]

Sweetheart felt a bit better when Liam said he knew about Teddy - and much better at knowing that now she had done what she was supposed to, told him of her situation with Teddy. His question proved out to her that she wasn't doing so well on the whole "taking it cool" front. She smiled a little in her shy way and looked down, a faint blush rising on her cheeks.

"Oh... I'm fine," she said. "It's just been a bit... exciting day. I guess you'll hear more about it from your cousin later." She tried to lean back, relax, but she couldn't look at him - and she felt him looking at her all too acutely. Suddenly she wished she had just gone upstairs with a complaint that she was tired and it was getting late. This Irish fellow was having too big an effect on her. "Anyway... are you seeing anyone?" The question slipped out before she could stop it, and she could only hope he understood it the way she had meant it; a friendly question to show interest in his life.

She scolded herself on being distracted so with inappropriate thoughts.