Suddenly he noticed a
young man across the table.
He was so occupied with the Williams that he hadn’t noticed that tall, blonde sleazy-rich-looking guy who watched both him and Jo the entire time.
Liam leaned closer to Jo. “Who is this?”
“Who?”
“That blonde guy who keeps staring at us.”
Jo noticed him too. “Oh, that’s Victor. He’s the son of my parents’ close friends. He just graduated from Oxford.”
Liam didn’t like the way that Victor guy looked at Jo. He didn’t like it at all.
Liam felt a little bit relieved when Mr Williams started to talk to a few other guests. Well, he couldn’t relax yet since Mrs Williams’ eyes lay on him for almost every second, but at least she stopped the questions- for fifteen minutes. Then she continued, as he feared, with questions about religion and his intentions for the future. Jo jumped in whenever it was necessary and defended him nicely, but her mother was pretty tough and didn’t let go that easily.
After the dinner was over and the guests were welcomed in the salon for further dull conversations and dance (Jo hadn’t mentioned any dance, which made Liam panic, because of course he couldn’t dance)! Before he went into the salon, Liam asked Jo where the next bathroom was. He desperately needed to calm down, but he didn’t go to the bathroom, he went straight to the kitchen. He was surprised how many people were actually working in there. They still needed to get the dessert done for later, some fancy French stuff that Liam had never seen before. It was probably that kind of dessert that was served for rich people only.
“Hey.” He looked at one of the younger cooks. “You don’t happen to have something like beer here?”
The cook looked at him a bit confused. “No, I’m afraid not.”
“Anything else? Wine?”
“Yes, we do have wine, but champagne is already served in the salon and-“
“Could I have some of the wine?”
The cook didn’t move. “Ahem… I’m not sure if I’m allowed to…”
“Listen… what’s your name?”
“Jacob.”
“Listen, Jacob. I don’t normally just storm into the kitchen of a stranger’s house and beg for wine, but I had a really crappy afternoon today. You know Mr and Mrs Williams, right?”
Jacob nodded.
“So, you can maybe imagine how I feel after Professor Williams talked to me in private about his daughter and basically made clear that I go to hell when I sleep with her, and Mrs Williams bombarded me with questions that made me only look bad, and the chance of me being allowed to date their daughter is pretty much zero… And this bloody evening is not over yet, because I have to go into the bloody salon surrounded by those bloody high-society douchebags, but I’m doing it for my girlfriend who will probably not be my girlfriend anymore after this day is over, because her parents don’t approve of me…” Liam grabbed Jacob’s arm. “So please, can I have some wine to make the remaining hours at least a bit more endurable?”
The young cook cleared his throat, checked if the two older chefs were looking, then nodded. “Follow me.”
Liam followed him to the end of the enormous kitchen where a few different wine bottles were stored.
“Any particular brand?”
“No, just give me any bottle, I don’t care," Liam replied. After Jacob handed him one Merlot bottle Liam thanked him, quickly walked out of the kitchen and disappeared in one of the countless bathrooms, where he locked the door behind him, sat down on the floor and opened the bottle. He didn’t plan on getting drunk of course, he didn’t want to embarrass Jo, but he just wanted to calm down a bit. He had planned to drink a couple of sips…and ended up drinking half the bottle. He was about to drink more when someone knocked on the door.
“Liam, are you still in there?” It was Jo.
“Heyya!”
“Are you okay?”
He threw some towels over the bottle, got up, opened the door and grinned. “Hello there!”
“Are you all right? You’ve been away for a while now.”
Liam giggled. “Sure I’m all right, I’m great! Let’s do this!” He walked to the salon, followed by a confused Jo.
“Liam, hold on.” She grabbed his arm. “What is the matter? Why are you so-“
“Happy?” He shot her a goofy grin. “Because I don’t give a damn anymore.”
Jo frowned. “Are you… drunk?”
He started giggling again. “Jesus, Jo, what do you think of me?” Without waiting for her reply he turned to the servant who walked around with a tray of champagne and grabbed a glass.
“Thanks, mate. Nice uniform, by the way”, he said to the servant, then turned back to Jo who watched him shocked.
“I can’t believe it! You’re drunk.”
“Relax, Jo. I just had a tiny bit of Merlot.”
“A tiny bit?” She snatched the glass of champagne away from him. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“Did what?” He looked innocently at her.
“Getting drunk while you’re in my parents’ house.” She checked if nobody listened to them. So far nobody noticed anything.
Another servant passed them with a tray of little quiche, and Liam just took some of them and frowned.
“What is this?”
“It’s quiche”, Jo replied.
“It looks like someone already ate it and spit it out!”
“Liam, seriously, you have to-“
“Pleasant evening, isn’t it?” Victor appeared behind Jo and smiled at her, then looked at Liam who squeezed the quiche into his pockets. “Josephine, you haven’t introduced me to you friend yet.”
Jo blushed. “Victor, this is Liam, he is…”
“Annoyed by your snobby face”, Liam said before she could finish her sentence.
“Liam!” She shot him a warning glance, then smiled apologetically at Victor. “He’s just joking. He often makes jokes, so don’t take it personally.”
“Don’t worry”, Victor said. “I heard that the Irish have a rather peculiar sense of humour.”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Liam looked at the blonde boy. “English guys are just too stupid to get any kind of joke. You’re no better than Germans.”
“Liam, enough.” Jo looked at him sternly. “I’m really sorry, Victor.”
“Don’t apologise, Josephine.” He smiled at her. “By the way, you look lovely tonight.” He was clearly flirting with her.
“Hey!” Liam put his arm around Jo and pressed her a little too rough against his chest. “She’s my girlfriend, okay? Now you might be from Oxford and drive a Bentley or Jaguar or whatever insanely expensive car rich douchebags like to drive, but I’m the one who sleeps in her bed, not you!”
“Liam!” Jo backed away from him, obviously shocked.
“What? It’s the truth. We live together, Mr. Handsome over here should know that before he continues flirting with you.”
“You live together?”, Victor asked, trying to hide his surprise, but it didn’t work.
Liam grinned. Jo knew that grin. It was his cheeky little-boy-grin that always appeared when he did something. “Yes, we do. And you know what, Mr. Expensive Suit Guy, I’m going to hell because I’ve failed the stupid test. I’ve been a really bad boy, isn’t that right, Jo? If you knew-“
Before he could continue to go into details she pressed her hand on his mouth and grabbed his arm. “If you’ll excuse us”, she said to Victor, then turned around and pushed Liam out of the salon into a quiet room.
“Sit down!” she commanded, pointing on the antique couch.
He sat down, still grinning stupidly at her. “You want to be alone with me, hm?” He touched her arm, but she took a step back and crossed her arms.
“You’re going to stay here for a while until you cleared your head. I’m going to tell my parents that you’re not feeling so well. Oh God… I hope they didn’t hear anything.” She sighed. “Liam, I don’t know what’s gotten into you. You’re more responsible than this. I know you were nervous and my mother was really hard on you, but that’s not a reason to get drunk in the bathroom.”
He was quiet for a moment and just stared at her. “Jo…” He paused for a second. “Why are you wasting your time with me?”
“What do you mean?”
“You heard your mother. You should be with some Oxford guy like that Victor, and drive nice cars and be a perfect little housewife with perfect little kids and pearl necklaces and that stuff…”
“But I don’t want this. I want you… well, when you’re not drunk.” Jo smiled at him. “I told you that the Jo you know is the one you see every day at home. I don’t want some rich, shallow man. You are the smartest person I’ve ever met, it’s almost scary how smart you are, but that makes you different than the rest, and I like different.“ She sat down next to him, taking his hand. “And if I really go to hell, there’s only one person I want by my side, and that’s you.”
“And I would go with you.” He chuckled. “After all, my lust driven soul got you into this in the first place.”
Jo laughed. “Please don’t take my mother’s words seriously.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “Now you stay here for a bit until you’re a little more sober. I’ll bring you something to drink.”
“Merlot?”
“Water.” She got up, but he grabbed her arm.
“I really want to be your Peter.”
Jo could hear her heartbeat. She knew he was drunk and said all kinds of weird things, but still…
“I want to fly, and fight pirates, and save chicks… but what I really want is your, what do you call it again, that little thing…”
Jo smiled. “Thimble?”
“Yes, thimble… I want that.” He giggled like a little girl. “Thimble… now that sounds dirty in a way.”
Jo shook her head, smiling. “You’re impossible.”
She kissed Liam before she went to the kitchen. “Excuse me, I know that it is not yet time but I would like to have two very strong coffees. Can you please bring them in the Fireplace Salon?”
“Of course Miss Williams.”
“And no word to my parents. Liam doesn’t feel very well and needs some coffee.”
“Yes.” The young cook who had just moments ago given Liam that wine.
“Oh and I think there is a wine bottle hidden in the yellow bathroom.”
The young cook nodded and went to get the bottle, while Jo went back in the Big Salon. Her mother came right away to her. “Josephine, Victor told us that Mr O’Doherty doesn’t feel very well. Where is he?”
“Mother I think you did enough of you investigation, just let him be for a moment okay?” Jo left her shocked mother stand and went to her father.
“Daddy, please excuse my interruption but I really need you.” Jo pleaded.
“Please excuse me gentleman.” Her father went outside in the corridor with his daughter. “Darling what is wrong, is Liam alright?”
Jo shook her head. “Daddy you scared him a lot and…” Jo looked with tears at her feet.
“He didn’t leave did he?” Her father sounded stern.
“No but… that is embarrassing… he is drunk. I don’t think he meant to get drunk he just wanted to calm down a little.” Colin lifted the head of his daughter.
“I just don’t want you to get hurt and here I am being the reason for this. Did you order a strong coffee for him?”
“Yes.”
“Good, I want that you go back to him and I make sure no one misses you, and I hope you know that I think Victor is a douchbag?”
Jo giggled, “Yes I know he is but mother likes him very much.”
Colin kissed his daughter on the cheek and went back to his guests. And Jo hurried back to Liam in the Fireplace Salon.
He lay on the couch, looking at the ceiling when Jo came in.
“Liam, how do you feel?”
“Stupid.” He didn’t look at her when she came closer.
“Why?”
“Why? Because I got drunk in the bathroom of your parents’ house and I have squashed quiche in the pockets of an expensive suit that isn’t even mine. I don’t even know why I put it in there.”
She chuckled. “I guess because you didn’t want to eat it.” She sat down next to his feet and put her hand on his knee.
“I’m sorry, Jo…”
“Hey, it’s okay.”
He kept on staring at the ceiling. “Maybe I’m just not…”
“What?”
“Boyfriend material.”
Jo smiled. “What are you talking about?”
“Well… I never had to be anybody’s boyfriend because the girls I liked never saw me as anything but a little boy, and Mina, well, that was more a physical relationship. And I’m like a little brother for her. So I start thinking that I’m not made for… this stuff. Maybe I’m like Dick, just not as grumpy.”
Jo giggled. “You, Liam O’Doherty, are most certainly not like Dick. And you should seriously stop worrying that you’re not good as a boyfriend, because you are. I couldn’t wish for anyone else.”
“And what’s with that Victor guy?”
Jo shook her head. “My mother likes him and thinks he’s the perfect son-in-law, but I don’t think so at all. He’s not really interested in me, he’s more interested in my family’s money.”
“So you’re not into him?”
“Of course I’m not!”
“But your parents want you to marry him.”
“Maybe my mother, but my father only wants me to be happy, and he knows that Victor is definitely not the one who ensures eternal happiness for me.” She reached out for Liam’s hand which was extremely cold. “My father likes you, Liam.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Oh yes? He didn’t really bring that message across.”
“That was just to make sure if you’re really someone he can trust, and if you’re responsible enough to ‘take care of me’.”
“Well, obviously I’m not very responsib-“
“Hey”, Jo interrupted him. “You may have gotten drunk today, but the past few weeks I have seen how responsible you are, and you always made sure that I’m okay, and that matters most, especially to my father. Just because you wear a Mickey Mouse sweater and like to watch Tom and Jerry doesn’t mean that you’re not responsible.”
“You don’t have to tell your parents that…”
“Don’t worry.”
“And you really think your father likes me?”
“Yes, he does.”
“Even if I failed the stupid ‘resist temptation test’ and violated your sacred body?”
“Well…” Jo grinned. “We don’t need to tell him that right away… And by the way, he called Victor a douchebag.”
Finally the hint of a smile appeared on Liam’s face.
“Miss Jo, may I come in?” Anne came into the room with the coffee.
“Thank you, Anne”, she said while the maid placed the tray on a small table next to the couch where Liam was still lying as if he’d been shot.
“Is the young man all right?”
“Yes, thank you.” Jo nodded and waited until she left, then turned back to Liam. “How long do you want to admire the ceiling?”
“Until I stop feeling embarrassed.”
Jo sighed, then took her shoes off and climbed next to him on the couch.
“Jo…” He wanted to sit up, but she didn’t let him. “What if your parents walk in?”
“Nobody is going to walk in, don’t worry.” It felt nice to lie in his arms, that was her favourite place in the whole world. “I’m sorry that my mother asked you so many personal questions today.”
“That’s okay, it’s not your fault.”
“You never told me much about your background, I barely know anything about you.”
“Well… you do now.”
“I don’t even know if you have a second name”, Jo said.
“Seamus. Actually, my mother wanted to name me William, after her favourite poet William Blake, and James was supposed to be my second name, after James Joyce, but she thought that William James sounded too English, and since she was a proud Irish she decided to use the Irish versions of those two names.”
Jo giggled. “That’s interesting.”
“Do you have a second name?” he asked her.
“Yes, Yvaine. It’s Scottish and means ‘Evening Star’.”
That was the first time that Liam looked at her since she entered the room. He looked so intensely at her that she started feeling butterflies again.
“Evening star”, he repeated, smiling warmly. “Yvaine. That suits you.”
Jo blushed. “No one ever called me Yvaine. Do you feel well enough to go back into the Big Salon?”
Liam sighed. “I guess we have to.”
Jo grinned, climbed on his lap and kissed him. “We kind of have to, but father is holding our back free so we have a few more minutes.”
For a moment Liam seemed to want this a lot, but the words of Jo’s father appeared in his mind. “Jo, I wish I could, but I really can’t do this here.”
Jo kissed Liam once more and climbed down from his lap. “Okay let’s go back.”