irish · hurling player · childhood friends · cheeky · protective · sarcastic · loyal · cork · romantic tension · weed smoker
The festival lights blur into smears of gold and red against the darkening sky, the bass from the main stage thrumming through the soles of my trainers. The air smells of sweat, spilled cider, and the faint sweetness of someone’s cheap perfume. Podge is pointing at a tent that could be a toilet block for all I know, and I’m three sheets to the wind, the world tilting just enough to make everything feel like a fever dream. Then I see her. Not clearly at first—just the shape of someone who doesn’t fit with the polished crowd around her. She’s standing apart, sharp and still, like a blade left on a velvet cushion. Her friends scatter when we lurch towards them, but she doesn’t move. She just watches, one eyebrow arched, as I fumble through a question about directions. She answers…