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“Kick it in! Kian! You’ve got it! Yes!” Mattie shrieked as Kian kicked in a goal. It was late afternoon and the lads had spent all morning and part of the afternoon rehearsing for the upcoming three weeks and now that it was finally done with, they had decided to get up a quick game of football on the local playground to loosen up. Georgina and Mattie sat on a wooden railing cheering on the boys. They had split into two teams, and the boys had insisted on naming themselves the Sligo Studs and the Damn Sexy Dubliners, with the respective citizens of the two towns on each team. Mattie and Georgina had declined to play and protested at such horrid and vulgar names, but the lads had said that if the girls didn’t play, they had no say in the matter.
Kian ran over to the railing after scoring his goal and smothered Mattie in a wet, sweaty hug. She shrieked.
“Kian! That is so disgusting, get off of me!” She gave him a shove and he pretended to fall over backwards onto the grass.
The other lads also came over for a breather. “Mattie, you gotta help us out here,” Bryan panted, leaning his hands on his thighs. “There’s only the two of us, we’re getting killed out there, and Mr. “Best Young Goalkeeper in All Of Europe” isn’t anywhere near as good as everyone seems to think he is.”
“Hey!” Nicky said, highly insulted. “I think I did better than you did McFadden, and anyway, I’m a goalkeeper, not a kicker.”
“You can say that again.” Nicky gave him a look but Bryan turned back to Mattie. “So whaddya say? Will you play with us?”
“I’m wearing a skirt,” Mattie said witheringly. “And besides, I’m not even from Dublin, so that’ll throw the whole team off.”
“But you’ve been living here for almost a year!” Bryan reasoned. “We can make you an honorary Dubliner.”
“That’s another thing. No way will I ever play on a team called the Damn Sexy Dubliners.”
Mark laughed. “That’s my girl. She’d rather be a Sligo Stud.”
“Actually, that’s even worse. At least theirs has a literary reference in their name.”
Bryan looked confused. “It does?”
Mattie laughed and ruffled his hair. “Don’t worry about it.”
“So will you play with us then? Pleeease? We neeeed you,” Bryan said, putting on his most pathetic face.
“Maybe some other time, Bry.”
“Yeah, she probably isn’t even that good anyway,” Nicky said teasingly.
“Watch what you say Nix,” Shane said. “Mattie used to be one of the best girl footballers in County Sligo. In fact, I bet she still could whup your arse.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it.”
Mattie hopped down from off the railing and faced Nicky. “You want a piece of me, Byrne?” she said in a mock menacing tone. “Do you want a piece of me?
“Bring it on, O’Shaunessy!”
“Alright then! Give us five minutes, and Georgina and I will be back and we’ll see whose arse is going down.”
As the girls strided off down the road, Bryan turned to face the others. “Does that mean she’s not on our team?”
Ten minutes later, all five lads were still lolling around the field, occassionally kicking the footbal around, but mostly just waiting for the girls to come back.
“Where d’ya suppose they are?” Kian wondered as he lay on the grass.
Shane shrugged. “You guess is as good as mine.”
“I bet Mattie couldn’t handle the pressure,” Nicky said, nodding his head wisely. “Nope. She realized she just couldn’t handle being beat by me.”
“Hullo boys!” came Mattie’s voice suddenly. “We’re back!” The lads turned to see Mattie and Georgina, dressed in tracksuits, coming up the slope, along with Susan, Gillian, Adam, and Mrs. Byrne.
“What is this?” Nicky demanded.
Georgina smiled sweetly. “It’s our team, darling,” she said.
“What – what’s me mum doing here?”
Mrs. Byrne smiled at her son. “Just here for moral support.”
“Oh,” he replied weakly. “Thanks Mum.”
“No problem, love.”
Mattie smiled. “Well. Shall we play? Westlife against…the normal people?”
“Normal people?” Nicky said. “As opposed to us, the un-normal people?”
“Hey, are we gonna play, or are we gonna talk?”
Nicky grinned at her. “Like I said. Bring it on.”
“Alright then, let’s begin. Everyone to their huddles!”
The Westlife lads gathered together and Mattie, Georgina, Adam, Susan, Gillian, and Mrs. Byrne when into their own huddle. Nicky looked up at them.
“Hey! What’s my mum doing in your huddle! I thought she was just here for moral support!”
“And she’s giving us plenty of it, Nix!” Gillian yelled back at her brother.
“Okay,” Mattie said when all their attentions were back in the circle. “Everyone got what they’re supposed to do?” They all nodded except Georgina.
“Erm…I should tell you that I’ve never played a game of football in my entire life,” she said.
“That’s okay. If we stick to the plan, we’re going to win this, no problems. So, everybody got it?” They nodded again. “Alright then! Let’s play!”
Both groups broke out of their huddles. Bryan and Adam were sent for the kick off. Bryan looked down uncertainly at him. “Uh, Adam? Are you sure you want to do the kick-off? I mean, I no one would make fun of you if you wanted to substitute someone else to kick-off. Someone about three feet taller?”
Adam turned around and looked at Mattie, who gave him a thumbs-up. He turned back to Bryan with a grin on his face. “Naw, it’s okay.”
Bryan shook his head. “If you say so.” The two took their positions and waited from the whistle from Mrs. Byrne as the signal.
“FWEEET!” As Bryan’s foot went out to kick the ball, Adam’s foot came out in retaliation and made direct contact with Bryan’s shin.
“AHHHH!” he shrieked, holding his leg and hopping around on one foot as Adam kicked the ball away. The other lads were so distracted by Bryan’s yelling and jumping around that they hadn’t even realized that Adam had made it to the goal and kicked in the ball. In fact, It wasn’t until they heard the other girls screaming that they realized what had happened. Gillian, Susan, Mattie, and Georgina all rushed over to Adam and gave him hugs and a kiss on the cheek. He was all smiles.
“Hey…” Kian said. “What do I gotta do to get on that team?”
“Quit thinking inside your pants!” Mark said. “We’ve got to get that goal back!”
A minute later, Nicky had finally got hold of the ball and started to kick it towards their goal. He was almost there when he heard his mother shouting at him.
“Nicky, love, pull up your trousers! I can see your crack!”
He gasped and stopped, yanking up his shorts. In a split second, Susan came out of nowhere and kicked the ball away. Nicky realized what had happened and started running frantically after Susan, who immediately kicked it to Mattie. Mattie received it easily, and with little effort kicked it straight into the goal. The girls and Adam cheered wildly.
“Thanks Mrs. Byrne!” Mattie called, waving.
“No problem dear!”
“These girls play dirty!” Nicky exclaimed.
“Only cause you lads are stupid enough to fall for it,” Gillian chided her brother, who gave her a dirty look. The ball came out of them and they all ran after it. Kian got to it first and ran quickly towards the goal. Gillian looked over at Mattie, and Mattie nodded.
“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed. “My tank top’s fallen down!”
Kian immediately swiveled his head to look and tripped over the ball. Laughing, Mattie kicked it away and ran past the other lads to score another goal.
Bryan and Mark laughed. “Now that’s playing dirty,” Bryan remarked.
Nicky walked straight over to Kian and slapped him upside the head. “What the hell are you doin, man? That’s my sister!”
“Chill out! It’s not like her top actually came down!”
Nicky held up a finger in warning before running back to join the other lads.
“Guys,” Georgina said, shaking her head. “You can always count on their hormones.”
Mattie grinned at her. “I know that’s what I was counting on.” The two girls laughed. The next person to get the ball was Shane. The girls had decided to let them have a break and allowed him to make his goal without any tricks. However, when Nicky got the ball again, it was time to show no mercy. As he ran with the ball towards the goal, Georgina caught up with him, grabbed his collar, and kissed him directly on the lips. He didn’t fight it and put his arms around her. In the meanwhile, Mattie had taken the ball back and was kicking it in the direction of the goal.
“Get her!” Kian screeched. “Noooooo mercyyyyy!!!” Shane, Kian, Bryan, and Mark started to run towards her at full speed. Bryan was almost there when Susan ran up from behind and jumped on her brother’s back, to slow him down. Mark was the next to reach Mattie. He ran up from behind and grabbed her around the waist. They both lost their balance and went tumbling down on the grass. Kian and Shane, who had been right behind them, couldn’t stop in time and fell on top of those two. Bryan, who was still carrying Susan on his back, tripped over the group and they went down as well. Then Adam came running over and he threw himself on top of the pile, along with Gillian. Georgina broke away from Nicky, and she ran off to join the others in what was now a messy tangle of human bodies with Nicky following suit. Mrs. Byrne was laughing so hard she almost fell off the railing.
“Ahhh! Get off me!” Mattie gasped, laughing. “You’re digging me into the mud!” One by one, everyone rolled off of the pile and onto the grass, still laughing.
“Ah, I think that was the best game of football I’ve ever played,” Bryan said as he sat up.
“Yeah, except Mattie cheated,” Nicky said as he got up and dusted himself off.
“It wasn’t cheating,” Mattie protested innocently. “I like to call it “constructive football.”
“Well you can call it whatever you want but someday, we’re gonna have a one-on-one O’Shaunessy, just you and me, and no tricks,” Nicky said.
Mattie smiled up at him. “Just name the time and the place Nix.”
“Oh, you can count on it.”
“Well kids, that was great fun,” Mrs. Byrne said coming up to the group. “I haven’t laughed so hard since their father got bit in the bum by that goose at the pond last summer. But now it’s time for you to get on home, young man.” Mrs. Byrne took Adam by the shoulder and Gillian got up also. “We’ll see you lads tomorrow, alright?” A chorus of good-byes sounded as the three members of the Byrne family went off.
Susan looked at her watch. “Oh, I’m going to be late getting supper,” she said standing up. “I should get home too. What time are you getting home, Bry?”
“Eh, I’ll be along in a while. The lads and I are going to catch a movie tonight after supper.”
“Except for us,” Georgina said, giving Nicky a kiss on his cheek. “We’re going on an old-fashioned date tonight, just like the old days.”
“Alright then, have fun tonight, and I’ll see you at supper.” Susan bent down and kissed her brother on the cheek. “Goodbye all!”
“Bye, Susan!” they responded, waving.
Mattie got up from her position on the grass and ran a hand through her ponytail. “Yuk!” she said as her finges caught a clump of mud. “I really need a shower. Look at my hair!” She turned to Mark. “Now was it really necessary to tackle me down to the ground like that?”
Mark grinned. “Well I had to stop you from making that goal somehow. And is it my fault you have no sense of balance?”
Mattie pointed a finger at him. “Do not mess with a girl when she has mud in her hair.”
“You know, I heard that mud is supposed to help your hair. Minerals and stuff.”
“No, actually,” Mattie began slowly. “It’s supposed to help your skin.” She gave him a mischievous smile. Suddenly, Mattie reached down, grabbed a handful of mud, and without warning, mashed it into Mark’s face.
“There now,” she said as she spread the muck in a mask on his face. “Doesn’t - that - feel - good?” Mattie patted his face in time with her words. “Can’t ya just feel those minerals at work?” Georgina and the other four lads burst into laughter at Mark’s shocked expression.
“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that,” he said, getting up. Mattie got up also and ran, shrieking, away from Mark as he tried to catch her.
“Oh no, I’ve gotta help her,” Georgina said as she began to get up.
“Just a minute, you’re staying here with me,” Nicky said, trying to pull her back down. Georgina grinned slyly back at him and sat down with her hands behind her back. “Uhh, Georgina? Why are you looking at me like –” He didn’t get any further because at that moment, Georgina had taken a hand from behind her back and smushed a handful of mud into Nicky’s face. She got up laughing and ran off to join Mattie. Nicky sat still for a moment, trying to register what had just happened before he finally got up and ran after Georgina.
Bryan looked at Shane and Kian and shrugged. Then he took two handfuls of mud and shoved it in each of their faces before getting up and running off as fast as he could.
“Bryan!” they sputtered, goth getting up to chase him. For a while, all seven ran around the field like maniacs, all attempting to push each other in the mud. Finally, a truce was called and everyone trudged back to their respective homes to clean themselves off for their night out.
“Umpf! Have you got it?” Georgina panted as lay on top of her suitcase.
“Al…most…there!” Mattie grunted as she finally managed to snap the valise shut. “Whew!” she said as she wiped away a bead of perspiration. “I can’t believe we actually did it!” Mattie flopped down onto Georgina’s bed face up and the two girls gave each other a hi five.
“There now, I think that was the last one,” Georgina said surveying the six suitcases that littered the floor of her bedroom.
Mattie eyed Georgina four suitcases warily, compared to her own two. “George, are you sure you’re going to be needing four suitcases?”
Georgina nodded emphatically. “There isn’t one thing in those suitcases that I can afford to do without for three weeks,” she said firmly. “And besides, it’s only three valises and one toiletry case. See?” Georgina picked up the smallest of her four pieces of luggage. “I can carry this one with me.”
“I hope you’re not going to regret this,” Mattie said shaking her head and smiling. “So where are you and Nicky going tonight?”
“We’re going out to dinner and then to a club after, for dancing,” Georgina said as put down the case. “What are you going to be doing all night?”
Mattie shrugged. “I guess I’ll just loaf around and read or something.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to go out to the movies with the other lads? You can still take them up on their offer, I don’t think they’ve left yet.”
“No, I don’t really feel like going out tonight,” Mattie said. “I’m a little tired, and I think I just want some time to myself.”
“Alright,” Georgina nodded. The doorbell rang then.
“Ah, that’s probably Nicky,” Georgina said as she clasped a necklace around her neck. She took one more look in the mirror. “Well, I’m off!”
Mattie smiled. “Have a lovely time tonight, and tell Nicky I said hello.”
“Will do!” Georgina shut the door behind her and Mattie leaned back onto the bed and yawned. She reached over to the night table for her copy of Sense and Sensibility and opened it to the spot where she’d left off. Mattie had been reading for a few minutes when she heard a knock at the door. She looked up in surprise.
“Yes?” she called. One of the maids entered the room and curtsied slightly.
“There’s a young man waiting for you downstairs, ma’am,” she said politely. “Should I tell him you’ll be down?”
“Who is it?” Mattie asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach. For a moment, Peter’s image flashed into her head. Mattie was surprised, she thought that after what had happened at the club that he’d never want to speak to her again.
“Mr. Feehily ma’am.”
“Oh!” Mattie said, relieved. “Yes, I’ll be down in a minute.” The maid curtsied again and disappeared, closing the door behind her. Mattie put her book back on the nightstand and quickly clattered down the stairs. Mark was waiting at the bottom, and a grin lighted his face when he saw her.
“Hey!” Mattie said as she gave him a hug. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to the movies with the other lads.”
Mark shrugged. “Didn’t really feel like it tonight,” he answered. “And since I knew you’d be here I thought I’d come over and hang out with you.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No.” Mark looked confused. “Can’t I just spend some time with my best friend for no reason?”
“Of course,” Mattie said, blushing. “I was just wondering.”
“No, there’s nothing wrong. Just wanted to talk.”
“Oh.” The two of them stood there uncomfortably for a moment, neither knowing what to say. Mark was feeling awkward, and this was a new sensation for him, in this case anyway. Usually, Mattie was one of the few people that he could completely relax around, and this awkwardness he was feeling was new and confusing to him.
“Sooo…” Mattie began.
“Yeah?” Mark answered, grateful that she had spoken.
“Do you want to go outside and talk then?” she suggested.
“Sure,” Mark answered, grateful for a chance to get past the uncomfortable silence. She led the way out the back door and into the Aherne’s lush backyard and sat down on a wooden bench. Mark settled down beside her, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. They sat in silence, but for some reason, it didn’t feel right. Usually, sitting together and not having to speak to each other was a natural thing, one of the aspects Mark cherished most about their friendship, but this silence was different. He couldn’t put his finger on where the difference lay, but he just knew it was there. In the past, Mark would have just come out and said something about it, but for some reason, something was holding him back. Even if he knew what to say, he didn’t think he could have managed to get it out just then.
“Mark?” Mattie’s voice broke into his thoughts and he turned to look at her. She was looking at him with a curious expression. “Are you alright?”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah, fine.” He turned his face forward again.
Mattie shook her head. “No, there’s something bothering you, I know it.”
“How do you know it?”
Mattie smiled at him. “Mark. This is me, remember? All I have to do is look at your face, like this-” she put her hands on either side of Mark’s face, turned him toward her and looked directly into his eyes. All at once, Mark’s face began to get hot under her fingertips and he knew that he was blushing, but he couldn’t seem to figure out why. He quickly turned his face away again.
“And I – and I know exactly what you’re feeling,” Mattie finished softly. She drew her hands away from his face, her fingers still tingling from the heat of his skin. She clenched them tightly together in her lap and looked down.
“You always do don’t you?” Mark said suddenly. “You always know exactly what I’m feeling.”
“It goes both ways,” she answered, looking back up at him. He looked down at her and for a moment, he was caught by the beauty of her eyes, glowing a clear grey in the evening moonlight. The eyes that had been so familiar for so long suddenly looked different to him, somehow. There was a sparkle and a luminescence in them that he never seemed to notice before. Had it always been there? He didn’t know. But Mark could feel himself getting lost in their clarity. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes away from her face, as much as he tried. Finally, it was Mattie who looked away.
“So what is it?” she asked.
“What’s what?” Mark answered, still feeling a bit disoriented.
“What’s bothering you, Mark?”
“I-” he faltered. Then he remembered. “I was just feeling kind of…overwhelmed, I guess you could say.”
“By what?”
Mark blew air out of his lips. “Everything, I guess. Rehearsals today kind of brought it all back about how much work we’re going to be doing in the next three weeks, and in the weeks after that.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know – it’s just, we had to run through all the dance routines three times today so we can look really slick for the American audiences, and I was thinking, ‘What if we do make it’? What if we do make it in the States?”
“Isn’t that what you’ve wanted?” Mattie asked gently.
“Yes, it’s what we want. It’s what I want,” he replied. “But I was thinking that if we do crack America, it’s going to be absolutely hectic. This past year has been wonderful, but it’s also been a lot of hard work. Making it in America will mean ten times more work. I’m just not sure if I’m ready for it, if I can handle it.”
“What makes you think you won’t be able to?”
Mark sighed again and rubbed a hand tiredly across his face. “Have you seen our schedule for the next three weeks? It’s packed. Completely. I was looking at it, and there was one week where we’ll actually have to go to three different states in one day. I don’t know too much about American geography, but I’m going to take a guess that we’re going to be covering a lot of ground.”
“But that’s what this business is about, Mark,” Mattie said reasonably. “You’ve been through this before, you can do it again.”
“Yes, but that was here. This is America now. Do you know how much pressure is going to be on us? To have to build up a steady following and try to fight our way onto the charts? I really do want us to make it in the States. I do. I’m just wondering how we’re going to manage it.”
Mattie took Mark’s hands in hers and turned her body to face him “Listen Mark. Listen to me. You can’t keep thinking like this. You can’t be having this mentality while you’re touring in the States, or you’re never going to get anywhere. I know how much you want this, I know success isn’t going to be handed to you there like it was here, but Mark, you’ve got to understand that we’re behind you, supporting you, always. Your family’s behind you, the whole of Ireland is behind you…I’m behind you.”
Mark squeezed Mattie’s hands and smiled at her. “How is it that you always know exactly what to say?”
“It’s a gift.”
He took one of his hands away to put his arm around her. She moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder, and he rested his own chin on her head. The initial uneasiness between them seemed to be gone, much to Mark’s relief, and the old familiar feeling of being with her came back.
“Have I told you how glad I am that you’re coming with us?” he murmured into her hair.
Mattie smiled. “Only about a million times.”
“Make it a million and one.”
Mattie yawned. “You tired?” Mark asked concernedly.
“Not really. I should get to bed soon though, we’ve got an early morning.”
“Yeah, we do,” Mark said regretfully. “And here I am at ten o’clock at night keeping you up when you’re not even used to traveling so often.”
“Oh, it’s no bother,” she responded. “I’ve always got time to talk. But I have to admit, I didn’t expect you here tonight. When the maid came up to tell me someone was at the door, I half expected it to be Peter.”
Mark stiffened at the mention of his name. “Oh.” His arm tightened around her shoulders protectively. “Shane told me what happened between you two.”
Mattie immediately sat upright. “He told you?’
“Yeah.”
“What-what did he say?”
“Just said that Peter wanted to get back with you but you said no,” Mark answered shrugging his shoulders.
Mattie let out a sigh of relief. “That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” Mattie settled back into her position against Mark.
“I think you made the right choice,” Mark continued. “I mean, that Peter guy – I didn’t get a very good feeling about him.”
Mattie pulled away once more to look at Mark’s face. “And why is that?”
Mark shrugged his shoulders. “He didn’t seem as great a guy as everyone thinks he is. In fact, I didn’t like him at all.”
“What on earth are you talking about? How could you possibly not like Peter?”
Mark thought. “Well, the way he was dancing with you, for instance.”
“What about the way he was dancing with me?” Mattie said in a dangerously low voice. It was the voice that signaled she was getting angry, but Mark seemed oblivious to it.
“For one thing, he was dancing way too close to you. And he was touching you too much.”
“Touching me too much?” Mattie said incredulously as she stood up, her voice getting louder with every word. “Well excuse me, Grandpa Feehily, but that’s how people dance nowadays, alright? And how dare you say that about Peter! He was nothing but nice and gracious to you. Peter still one of my closest friends, boyfriend or no, and I won’t have you slagging him off. He is a wonderful person, and a perfect gentleman. He sweet, and he’s smart, he’s kind and he’s got a lovely sense of humor and he’s friendly-”
“Then why aren’t you with him?”
That question stopped Mattie’s tirade cold. She opened her mouth to answer but found that there wasn’t one. Finally, she managed to come up with one. “Because he doesn’t give me the funny feeling,” she said softly.
“Huh?” Mark looked confused.
Mattie sat back down on the bench beside Mark. “That funny feeling. As great and wonderful as Peter is, and despite everything we have in common…I don’t get that funny feeling when I’m with him. You know that feeling you get right kind of above your tummy,” she demonstrated, placing her hand on Mark’s abdomen, “It starts right there, right at your tummy, then somehow just begins to radiate out throughout your whole body, until you can feel it to the very tips of your fingers. The feeling you get when you know you’re with someone special, when you’re with someone who you know is going to change your world in a wonderful new way. The feeling you get…right before you’re about to kiss someone you want for the first time.” Mattie looked at Mark with a tender look on her face. “Now do you know what I’m talking about?”
Mark looked down at her hand still placed on his abdomen, and like before, his skin began to feel hot under her touch, and he knew he was blushing again. Yet he still wasn’t sure why. Finally he let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” He looked up and once again he found himself met with the depths of Mattie’s eyes, now gleaming a warm blue in the light of the moon. Mark caught his breath. As hard as he tried to look away, he found that he couldn’t. They sat there for what seemed like an eternity, neither speaking nor moving. But when Mattie finally broke the gaze, Mark felt that it had been too short. He watched as she got up off the bench and stepped away.
“Well I suppose I’ve got to get to bed now,” she said normally. “I want to be fresh and ready to go tomorrow, and that means you have got to go home and quit bothering me.” Mattie bent down and took Mark’s hand, leading him back to the front door of the house, where he had come in. They stood there together, the uncomfortable mood settling down upon them again.
“Well…” Mark said finally. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“See you tomorrow,” Mattie repeated.
Mark hesitated, then bent down and kissed her awkwardly on the cheek. The familiar gesture that he had done a thousand times before now seemed new to him, like he had never done it before.
“Alright then, Mark, get home safely, goodnight!” Mattie opened up the door, practically pushed him onto the porch, and then shut the door behind him. Mark was left staring at the Aherne’s brass knocker, confused as can be.
“Goodnight,” he said into the door before turning around and walking back onto the sidewalk.
On the other side, Mattie was leaning against the door, staring at the ceiling. She had been relieved to get him out of there. Mattie sighed heavily. “Lord help me,” she said to the ceiling. “How am I supposed to get over him if he keeps looking at me that way?”
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