Gathering Storm

by Jess Parry

  They reached the brownstone that was Siobhan’s house stopping to stand in a circle just outside of the gates. The fence that was shielding her parent’s pristine yard from the sidewalk always drove Siobhan crazy. She always felt as if it was her mother’s way of keeping everything of the world just out of Siobhan’s reach as a child. Siobhan took in the sweeping yard with its green bushes constantly neatly trimmed. Chuckling to herself, Siobhan thought of her mother pitching a fit if god forbids one of those perfect hedges had a twig of green sticking out of it.

  The heat of the day reflected in shimmering waves off the deep red of the bricks. The shocking white shutters standing out against the earthy toned brick. A few ferns overflowing in their pots hung precisely along the front porch. The bleached porch swing was swaying slightly with the breeze; Siobhan watched it swaying softly wishing she could be curling up into its inviting cushions to get lost in a book.

  Groaning, she gazed up at Jason standing next to her. His smile was warm as he took her hand squeezing gently. Together, they waited for Sarah to untie her shirt and lower her skirt. Once Sarah was situated back into the pristine school girl attire from her wild child look, Jason leaned down lightly kissing Siobhan lips. Closing her eyes she felt the slight tingle that came whenever he would kiss her. It wasn’t the goose bumps all over your body electric, but a comfortable tingle that was contentment to Siobhan.

  “I’ll see you in a couple of hours” he whispered into her ear as pulled her into a quick hug.

  “Yes, we must look our best for my parent’s yearly start of summer bash” replied Siobhan disconcerted. Lifting her head Siobhan gazed into Jason’s laughing warm brown eyes.

  “Be nice” Jason whispered as he kissed Siobhan’s cheek quickly. Laughing he ran down the street towards his parent’s house.

  “Oh come on girlie, you know these parties are wicked. After the hellos are done, our parent’s pretty much leaving us alone to do whatever. Hell, if we are lucky we can hit up the open bar, hey there might be a couple of cute bartenders” Sarah winked at Siobhan as she pulled her hair out of its messy bun to cascade down her back.

  “Ah, yes…I remember last year’s event fondly…tell me what was the bartender’s name again that you hooked up with?” Siobhan countered

  “Damned if I remember…Peter…John…hell he did have a sweet ass, I remember that much!” Sarah replied smartly

  Laughing, Sarah grabbed Siobhan’s arm pulling her up the steps into her house. Sweeping the front door open in dramatic flair, Sarah tossed her arm wildly.

  “Honey, I’m home” Sarah sang out

  Dropping their bags at the base of the stairs, Siobhan looked up as her mother descended the stairwell gracefully as a model walking the runway. Her mother was beautiful, with her dark chestnut hair pulled into a twist, her bangs landing just so, accenting her high cheekbones, her chocolate brown eyes shining. Her white pants were meticulous with her crème silk top showing just a hint of cleavage while the gold necklace gleamed off her olive skinned neck.

  “Siobhan, I’m glad you finally made it home, I was starting to wonder if you forgot the party was tonight” Her mother said in a tone that was between sweet and biting.

  “No mom, I remembered, I just was wondering what time I need to be down tonight?” Siobhan asked her mother just as sweetly

  “I would prefer you are down before our guests arrive, I will be getting ready shortly as your father will be home in a few minutes” she replied as she looked over at Sarah “Sarah a pleasure as always, I trust you had a good report to share with your parents?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Gallagher, I did, Dean’s list just like Siobhan and Jason” Sarah replied softly

  Siobhan glanced at her friend rolling her eyes at how her mother could draw out the soft spoken Sarah. When a few minutes ago Sarah was flaunting every attribute she had for anyone on the street to gawk at.

  “Well, mom I need to get upstairs if you want me to be ready on time, tell dad hi when he gets home”

  Grabbing Sarah’s hand, Siobhan started up the stairs, squeezing past her mother as quickly as possible.

  Once inside her room, Siobhan closing the door quietly, she watched as Sarah bounded for her bed. Sarah jumped gracefully onto the puffy purple comforter. Sinking down into plush comforter Sarah sighed as she drug pillows around her to make a barrier.

  “I will never understand your mom’s mojo, the woman simply has to look at me and I’m five all over again” Sarah mumbled

  “Oh yah, I think that’s the Italian side of her, she does that to Jason too. We’ll be on the couch watching TV, my mom will come in smile that sweet I’m the woman of this house and he jumps two feet away from me asking her if she needs anything” replied Siobhan tersely

  Growling softly, Siobhan grabs the picture frame from her dresser that has the entire family photo. The picture had been taken when she was fourteen, right before her freshman year. She stood next to her mother with her grandparents on her mother’s side standing near her as her father stood next to her mom’s other side with his parents next to him. She still had braces on in the picture that was her gawky stage as her mother put it. She remembered that as being the best time because her grandparents had come up from Missouri to spend the week.

  Smiling to herself that had also been the week Jason had kissed her. The week everything between them had changed from best friends to a couple.

  Setting the picture down, she turned to Sarah “I’m jumping in the shower; want to pull out the dress in the closet that I know my mom put there for me to wear tonight.”

  “Sure thing Becky…will there be anything else you require this evening?” Sarah snarkily asked

  “Why yes, I would also prefer you to say Miss Becky, not Becky!” Siobhan chuckled

  “Yes, Miss Becky” Sarah retorted

  “I love you” Siobhan called as she walked into the bathroom

  Shutting the door quickly cutting off Sarah’s pithy comments, Siobhan exhaled the breath she had been holding. Tonight was so not going to be fun. Knowing her parent’s expected her to smile, as well as be polite to everyone who came to these renowned yearly bashes. She acknowledged Sarah’s parents plus Jason’s parents would be in attendance, so some of the burden would be on all three to be up to the pedigree of their parents.

  Stepping into the hot water, she let the spray run over her face, turning as the water rolling down easing the muscles in her back that were always tenser when these parties came around. Wanting to save some hot water, Siobhan stepped out grabbing two towels, one wrapped around her head, she tied the other around her body stepping back into her room.

  Glancing at her closet door she realized Sarah had taken two dress bags out, one had her name while the other had Sarah’s. Apparently her mother had known Sarah would be getting ready at her house but chosen not to comment on the fact to her.

  “My Turn” Sarah announced as she danced seductively into Siobhan’s bathroom

  Siobhan set about drying her hair into some semblance of straightness. Grumbling as caught the brush in her hair a few times, she wished she had her mother’s straight hair instead of the wild curly mess some recessive relative’s hair gene. Sarah emerged from her bathroom with a billow of steam following her out, smiling as she patted moisturizer on her bare skin.

  “Seriously, Sarah I don’t understand how you can take that hot of a shower” Siobhan said shaking her head at Sarah

  “Please I have to have it that hot to get my skin to turn this pink so you know I’m an angel” Sarah said as she bent over pulling the towel through her wet hair. Laughing loudly Sarah shook her hair as she flipped it back up spraying Siobhan with water droplets.

  “Oh come on, it took me twenty minutes to get my hair to look this decent, please keep the water away from it” screeched Siobhan as she ducked around Sarah shaking her head like a dog while laughing manically.

  “You know I wish I had your hair Siobhan” Sarah said as she grabbed a comb and started running it
through her blonde locks.

  “I would kill for your hair, not this brown mop on top of my head” Siobhan said as she watched Sarah pull her now straight sleek hair back into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck.

  “Your hair isn’t brown stupid, it’s this mix of mahogany with red highlights and when the sun hits it in the summer these blonde highlights come through. I would totally love to have that instead of this blonde white mess.” Sarah said as she grabbed Siobhan closer to her while grabbing her makeup bag.

  “Oh no… don’t you dare make me up with a ton of makeup Sarah, really you know it will cause my mom to go into a fit before the party!” Siobhan squeaked

  “Oh shut up Siobhan, I’m going to give you a smoky eye look to go with that dress your mom bought. You are totally going to rock that dress! Jason is going to pull you into the closet to have wild sex with you” Sarah said coly

  “What, no!” Siobhan said shaking her head “Jason and I are not doing that”

  “Well, why the hell not?” Sarah asked eyes wide “Girl, if that boy was mine we’d never come up for air, I don’t understand how you have not jumped that boys bones”

  “This coming from the girl who wants a man, not a boy?” Siobhan asked wide eyed

  “Oh don’t get me wrong, I still want a man, but damn girl Jason is HOT, how can you not look at him and want to bump and grind to that?!” Sarah said as she applied gray eye shadow around Siobhan eyes.

  Blushing Siobhan closed her eyes picturing Jason in her mind. He was pretty cute, he stood just over 6 feet, but wasn’t lanky about it. He was built from his years as a baseball player and his hair was always a little longer than it should be. The warm honey color of it constantly falling into his brown eyes always melted Siobhan’s heart a little.

  “Maybe one day I’ll jump him Sarah, but right now I’m just not ready to take that next step” Siobhan whispered as Sarah harrumphed applying a second coat of black mascara to Siobhan’s eyes.

  “Next step, Siobhan, you and Jason have been together since like forever, how much more time do you need to think about it?” Sarah grumbled before sliding her tongue out slightly from her lips as she looked Siobhan over.

  “Perfect Becky, I have done yet again another wonderful job of pulling out those lovely moss green eyes of yours” Sarah beamed as she began pulling out the makeup she was going to don for the event.

  Sighing, Siobhan got up, walking over to unzip the garment, she pulled the dress out, sliding into the soft gray gauzy material. Pulling it up over her shoulders, she backed up to the bed so Sarah could zip her up.

  “Well?” Siobhan asked watching Sarah applying very black eyeliner around her eyes before looking up.

  “Oh my god Becky, you are so going to lose it tonight with Jason!” exclaimed Sarah

  Feeling her cheeks getting red, Siobhan dropped to her knees and started digging out some black shoes to go with the dress. Sarah stood a few minutes later to work herself into the little black dress that was in her bag. Siobhan zipped her up as Sarah slipped into these stilettos that made her legs go on and on.

  “Well, Becky, watcha think?” Sarah asked as she did a little twirl

  “I must say you are hot, and if Derrick is here tonight, you may be the one in the closet!” Siobhan replied smiling

  “Oh one could only hope right?!” Sarah said in return

  Squeezing each other’s hands for strength, they took a couple of deep breaths before making their way to the stairwell leading down to the party. As they descended, the doorbell chimed signaling another arrival. Siobhan had heard a few before they were ready; she knew her mother would say something to her later about it.

  The maid helping out tonight opened the door as Jason’s parents walked in followed by Jason.

  Mr. & Mrs. Fellows made a beautiful couple; Siobhan could see both of them in Jason. Jason’s build came from his father as Mr. Fellows was almost as tall as Jason. Mrs. Fellow’s gave Jason those latte eyes and dimple that would pop every time he smiled.

  “Hello, Mr. & Mrs. Fellows, I’m so glad you were able to make it tonight” Siobhan said as she continued to walk down the steps.

  “Wow, dear aren’t you just stunning!” exclaimed Mr. Fellows “Jason if I was twenty years younger, I would fight you for this one”

  “Oh, and what about me, Mr. Fellows?” Sarah whined in a little girl voice

  Barking out a laugh, Mr. Bellows replied “Both of you girls are absolutely breath taking, but Mrs. Fellows here is the one who has my heart, I’m sorry girls”

  “Well, girls I think I’ll take my lovely husband here and head out to the backyard. We’ll see you three in a few minutes” Mrs. Fellows said as she took her husband’s hand walking around to the back of the house.

  “Wow!” Jason whispered as he watched Siobhan come to the final step and stop “I think I just lost my heart back there somewhere”…pointing behind him.

  Feeling the blush once again heating her face, Siobhan smiled as she slapped at Jason’s shoulder.

  “Really Jason, I don’t look like that!” Siobhan replied as her cheeks turned a brighter shade of red

  “You really have no idea how beautiful you are…” Jason retorted “But, you are all mine, so I’m ok with that!”

  Laughing softly Siobhan leaned in to give him a light kiss on his lips. Feigning indifference Sarah stuck her lips out in a little pout. Laughing, Jason grabbed Sarah bringing her down to the floor, giving her a big kiss on her lips.

  “Oh don’t worry, you are just as beautiful, but you aren’t my girl, so that doesn’t count when I get all mushy over her!” Jason said as Siobhan took the last step down

  Taking each girls hand they made their way out to the party a united front. Siobhan found her parents and did the usual round of introductions with them to their friends in addition to her father’s colleagues from the hospital. As twilight settled in, the little outdoor lights turned on giving the backyard a soft glow. People were mingling, drinking wine as the moon slowly made its presence known overhead.

  Siobhan made her way over to where Sarah and Jason were sitting at one of the many tables set up with tea light candles on pristine white table cloths. Dropping into the chair next to Jason, she took his hand as he leaned over and gave her a kiss on top of her head. They all breathed a sigh as this meant, the pleasantries were finished and they could go about their evening.

  A clinking of glass brought everyone’s conversations to a halt, as the three turned to see their parents all gathering in a semi-circle, motioning for them to join them. Groaning quietly they walked over to their perspective parents as Siobhan’s father Mr. Gallagher cleared his throat.

  “Everyone, I just wanted to say thank you for coming tonight and spending the evening with us. My wife and I are very blessed to have such a great group of friends and colleagues.” Mr. Gallagher said in his deep baritone voice as he smiled down at Mrs. Gallagher

  “I also want to say that for the past three years our daughter Siobhan, along with her boyfriend Jason Fellows, and best friend Sarah Gibbons, have made the Dean’s list every quarter.” Siobhan’s fathered paused as everyone started clapping giving both parents and teens congratulations.

  “This being their senior year, we have decided to give these wonderful kids of ours a gift of thank you” again pausing as the group clapped again “We are flying these three to Ireland for a month starting tomorrow evening!” He boasted as the group began clapping again.

  Sarah & Jason grabbed their parents into a hug, as Siobhan stood there with her mouth open in shock.

  Seeing her daughter’s surprise, Siobhan’s mother grabbed her daughter into a hug whispering harshly in her ear “Don’t look like that Siobhan, be respectful to your father and go thank him” Pushing Siobhan over to her father.

  Siobhan looked up at her dad “How could you do this? You know I’m going to the farm” she whispered

  Mr. Gallagher’s smile didn’t reach his eyes as he leaned down “You are going
to Ireland and there isn’t room for discussion on this Siobhan”

  Feeling her eyes starting to water, Siobhan politely excused herself from the group and walked into the house as calmly as she could. Once inside, Siobhan ran up the stairs to her room, slamming the door as she fell onto her bed letting the tears fall.

  “Oh lord, here we go…” mumbled Sarah as she grabbed Jason’s hand to pull him into the house with her.

  “I don’t get it, this is totally awesome, a month out of the country, no parents and she’s crying?” Jason replied inconceivable

  Walking through the kitchen, Sarah swiped a bottle of Champaign off the counter. Winking at Jason she headed upstairs. Banging on Siobhan’s door a little harder than needed, Sarah opened the door, taking a big swig from the bottle.

  “What the hell Becky, don’t be an asshat! Come on we are going to Ireland, get off your cute ass and let’s start packing”

  Lifting her tear streaked face off her pillow Siobhan looked over at her two friends standing in the doorway.

  “Go away, I’m not in the mood for this Sarah” Siobhan hiccupped “I have talked about this trip to the farm with my parents, argued and both conceded to me, but now this!” Wiping the tears off her face, Siobhan shuddered slightly

  “Siobhan, we have known about this for a couple of days, but were sworn to keep it secret, I honestly thought you would be happy…” Jason grumbled

  “Jason, I always go back to Missouri for the summer, this was my mother’s way of keeping me from going…can’t you see that!”

  “No, Siobhan, I see this as our parents rewarding us for busting our asses for the past three years, showing them they could be proud of us. This is a great job kids, here’s some freedom to go with it and you are crying, because you will only get to spend one month with your grandparents!” Jason ranted “Why are you with me Siobhan, since I apparently don’t count too high on your chain of concern”

  “Bb..but” Siobhan stammered

  “Whatever, I’m going with Derrick and heading over to Pete’s party, I’ll talk to you later…maybe” Jason turned storming out of Siobhan’s room