Beautiful Eternity

Ch. 1: Emeric

The rain pounded the cobblestone pavement as I walked down the street to the local Irish.

Pub. My two best friends in Ireland, Aoife O'Connell and Laura McGuffey, were chattering happily as their umbrellas swayed back and forth. I trotted a few steps behind them as there wasn't enough space on the narrow sidewalk for three talkative girls. Between the pounding of the rain, I could hear them talking about some boys who lived in the town. Aoife had lived in Mountnugent, County Cavan, her entire life, with Laura moving from County Galway four years before I came. I was the only one in our trio who wasn't from the Emerald Isle, moving over from America for college and staying after I got a job and Aoife's dad's paper, The Irish Gra. The longer I stayed in Ireland, the more I was glad I moved to Ireland permanently.

"What do you think, Luc?" Aoife turned around to me.

"Think about what?" I asked, taking a few steps closer to hear her better.

"About that one lad, we always see outside the Mountnugent parish. Cute, huh?"

I shrugged. "I generally don't pay attention."

Aoife and Laura playfully gasped. "All these cute Irish boys, and she doesn't even pay attention to them?" Laura smiled.

I rolled my eyes. One of their missions was to find me an Irish boyfriend and possible husband. "So that you can stay in Ireland forever with us!" Laura always said. Much to their chagrin, I had said no to almost every boy they had introduced me to. When I got a job and stayed, that mission fizzled out after university.

I was thankful when we arrived at Sticky's Pub. It was the main pub for students from Dublin, primarily because of cheap drinks. The girl often teased me because I was always in the pub with my friends.

"One Irish coffee, hold the Irish," I smirked at Aoife, who was buying that night.

She rolled her eyes. "One coffee. Guinness?" She turned to Laura.

Laura nodded, crawling into a booth at the back of the pub. "You got it."

I sat down next to Laura, looking around. I had been in this pub several times since I'd started college. It was still dark but not the type that tickled your nose, and it was a comforting kind of musky.

In the back of the bar, a long table filled with university-aged lads, clearly drunk, loudly and obnoxiously sang "The Wild Rover." Even though they were very out of tune, they managed to get the time right.

"Eejits," Laura muttered under her breath. "I can't believe any of them managed to pass secondary school, let alone make it into university."

I chuckled, my eye catching someone at the very end of the table. He was slowly sipping a pint of Guinness, looking amused, slightly embarrassed, and annoyed at the noise the other lads were making.

"One Irish coffee, hold the Irish," Aoife announced, plopping down the drinks on the table, though careful not to spill a drop of the Irish liquid gold of Guinness. "And two Guinness' for the true Irish gals."

Before I could say anything, Laura groaned, causing Aoife and me to look at her. "What's the craic?" Aoife asked, sitting down.

"Look who just walked in? And my night was going great!"

Laura and I looked to the pub's opening to see a young lad walking in, his hair slicked back with almost too much hair jell, a nice pair of slacks, a button-down, and a slick jacket. He seemed to smirk more than he smiled, and his black hair almost glistened with grease.

"Who's that?" I turned back.

"Seamus Heaney," Laura responded, sipping her Guinness.

Aoife scoffed. "More like Seamus Meaney."