This Town

Chapter Twelve

The first couple of weeks of that summer were boring as hell. Everyone was gone. Everyone was leading more interesting lives than me and Siobhan. I occasionally saw her helping her dad out at his shop. But that was it. Every weekend, she went down to the camp Devon was working at to see him. And every weekend I stayed home and played video games.

One weekend, though, she came back the day she left and she was not happy. I hadn't heard her arrive but I did hear her screaming. I jumped up off the couch I had been living on and ran across the street and through her door. I found her in her room ripping a bunch of shit to shreds and hurling it out the window, profanities spewing from her mouth. 

"Siobhan!" I shouted at her.

She stopped and stared at me, "This is your fault!"

"What did I do?" Offended, I backed up.

"You--you--you! Get out of my house!"

"No, not until you tell me what's going on!"

"What's going on?" She laughed a sarcastic laugh, "What's going on is that I just caught Devon fucking another girl! And this is all your fault!"

"How is that my fault?!"

"Had you not been so damn afraid!"

"What the fuck are you talking about, Siobhan, calm down a second and take a minute to realize that you just blamed me for your boyfriend being an ass!"

She stopped and dropped everything from her hands, "He cheated on me, Niall." The anger turned into tears as she started to cry, "Please, leave me alone, you're good at that." She turned away from me and my heart broke into a million pieces.

I slowly walked over to her and tried to give her a hug but she slapped my hand away. "Siobhan, I'm so sorry."

"Please, just go, Niall. Please," she said, softly between sobs.

I slowly backed up, turning to walk away; leaving her there, in tears as my heart tore up and my head got angry. Who the fuck did he think he was cheating on her?! I almost turned back around but decided against it. She didn't need me to ruin anything else for her.

A few days later, I had been watching her house like a hawk. She hadn't come outside or anything. The windows to her bedroom remained shut and closed off from any sunlight. I couldn't let my best friend suffer alone. I needed to get in there and drag her out of her misery. Devon was not worth her tears.

I threw on my swim trunks and marched my arse over to her house. I knocked but when I got no response I found the extra key and let myself in. "Siobhan, get up and get dressed, we're going down to the river. Now!" I announced myself to the world as I walked through her bedroom. She was there, somewhere in the darkness, I saw a lump hidden under covers. "Siobhan, c'mon, get up, let's go. Don't waste anymore time on that asshole."

She rubbed her eyes, which now that mine I had adjusted, I could see she had been crying still. "Niall, go away."

"No, you're in pain, and as your best friend, I'm here to help you." She raised an arm from above her eyes and looked at me. "C'mon, please?  I miss you."

She sighed and slowly got out of bed. "What are we doing?"

"Swimming, find a suit, you've got five minutes before I come do it myself." I walked out of her room and waited in the living area. A few minutes later she stepped out of her room and blinked at the brightness of the sun through the windows. "Ready?"

She looked at me, "I guess."

We silently made our way to our spot by the river, with the swing. Neither of us knowing what to say since we hadn't said anything to each other in over six months. "Apparently, as soon as he got there, he started fucking her," Siobhan suddenly said.

"What?"

"Devon. Apparently, because I wouldn't sleep with him, he was going to get it from someone else."

"Hun, I'm so sorry. I never would've thought he would do something like that to ya."

"Me neither. He said the only reason he did it was because I wouldn't which makes sense in someone's warped little brain, I suppose, but not mine."

"So you never slept with him?" I asked.

"No. He never made me feel like it was something special to him. Which, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure it's anything special to me. But, I guess, I still want it to feel like it's something meaningful. Ya know?"

"Yea, I guess so. I really wouldn't know."

We finally made it to our spot and looked around. Every summer we had this spot to ourselves. The river looked welcoming as it was a bit of a sweltering day. Siobhan peeled off her summer dress as I removed my shirt and shoes. I then, without thinking too hard about it, picked her up and ran into the river. "Niall!" she screamed as I dunked her under the water.

But she didn't come back up. I started to panic a little before I felt her arms around my shoulders as she tried to put me under the water, laughter spilling into my ears as I went under. 

The best sound in the world.

We spent the entire day at that river, just like we used to. When dusk finally arrived, we decided to head home. Her father was out of town for the weekend, so I invited her over to my house. She hesitated a little before accepting. She first went home to change. I decided to wait for her in the street. We made our way inside my house, to my dad's surprise.

"Siobhan, it's good to see ya, hun. How ya been?" He said, giving her a hug.

"I've had better moments but thankfully Niall here came along to save the day, again."

My dad looked at me and smiled, "Well, that's the boy I raised him to be, I hope."

After dinner, Siobhan and I went to my room to play video games. She was never much of a person to like them but it's all I had been doing for months. I sat on the floor, letting her have the bed. I don't know how much time went by but at some point I turned around to see her sleeping. I got her into the bed a little better and pulled the covers up over her. I turned out the light and played my game for a little while longer before passing out on the floor.