A Different Time, A Different Place

I don't want to talk about it

[A/N: Quick note at this point: I learned that apparently Colin and his family in real life are living in Ireland, which I wasn't aware of (because I apparently didn't do my research properly 🙈), while I for some reason was under the assumption that they were living in LA like the rest of them. For the sake of this story though, it's important that they all live in LA, so let's please pretend, okay? 🙏😁]

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„Daddy daddy, Evan pushed me in the pool!", the little girl climbed out again, her face almost as red as the floaties on her arms.

„Hey, Flynn, Leo!", Sean yelled, „You'll be nice and let Millie play with you, alright?"

The boys rolled their eyes, most of all Evan who had hoped to catch a break from playing with his little sister today and have some fun with his buddies instead.

„Uhm... Colin?", Sean looked over at his mate, who was staring absentmindedly into the distance, searching through his memory again and again, trying to remember as many details of last night as he could possibly grasp, but all he got was moments, snapshots at most.

A sound, a whisper, a moan that sent a shiver down his spine just by thinking about it. The feeling of her skin underneath his fingertips, the smell of her hair, the taste of her tongue and then... the sex... he barely remembered it, but somewhere in his subconsciousness he knew that it must have been absolutely mindblowing... for him, at least.

Why oh why could he not remember?! How often in the past had he secretly dreamt of being with her, without even daring to admit it to himself? And then, when he actually had the chance, he had to booze so much beforehand that he was barely even present for any of it, and worst of all, he had probably made a complete fool of himself because that dangerous amount of alcohol in his blood could only have resulted in a terrible experience for her. He probably hadn't lasted more than a minute, then fallen asleep, snoring. His only hope was that she would remember even less from last night than him, she had been pretty drunk too, after all.

On the other hand, they probably wouldn't even have started flirting and making out, had they stayed sober. And the jury was still out on whether that would have been the better option. Probably, because in that case, it wouldn't be so utterly uncomfortable and embarrassing right now, thinking that at the latest, he would have to face her again next month at the convention in Paris, pretending like nothing ever happened. Yes, he considered himself a pretty decent actor, but THAT would most certainly be his most challenging role to date.

„Colin!", Sean repeated, waving his hand in front of his eyes, „Are you alright, man?"

The Irishman jerked up, looking at him as if he just now remembered that he was even there. „Oh... uhm, sure! What's up?"

„Well, your son just pushed your daughter into the pool. I mean, she's wearing the floaties, but, can she already swim well enough?"

„What?!", he turned back to the kids while Millie ran into his arms, crying, and he didn't care at all that she was soaking wet, „Evan, what did I tell you about your sister and the pool?"

„Sorry, dad..."

„Don't say sorry to me, say sorry to Millie!"

He rolled his eyes. „Do I have to?"

„Yes, you do!"

„But she started it!"

„Evan!"

„Alright...", he sighed dramatically, „Sorry, Millie!"

She stuck out her tongue at him, then went back to cuddling with her daddy until she was bored and – miraculously – everything was well again and she went back to playing with the boys, almost managing to push Leo into the pool, but she was still a little bit too small for that.