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“Right. Well, it turned into something else.”
“Something else, how?”
“Use your imagination.”
Niamh grins.
“We didnae go all the way,” I say, “but we did…stuff.” That’s the word Briony used, and now I’m repeating it.
“That doesnae sound so bad. Thought that would have put you in a good mood. Unless it was rubbish?”
“It wasnae rubbish.” I straighten one leg and loop a resistance band round my foot. I lean forward. Hold. “It was good. Really fucking good. That’s no the problem. Problem is, I told her it’d be a one-time thing, and she said she was fine wi’ that. Then afterwards, she asks if I’d consider more. Like, getting to know me and shit.”
“The horror! And what did you say? Let me guess, something stupid?”
I slip the band off my foot and shrug. “I got up, put my shorts on, and told her we had an agreement. There was maybe a ‘fuck’s sake’ in there.”
Niamh winces. “Emmy says Briony doesnae even swear. Maybe go easy on the language around her, eh?”
“Aye, I shouldnae have said that, even if she did know the score. And now…ach, it’s stupid. Forget it.”
Niamh prods me in the chest. “No way am I forgetting this. I’ve never seen you like this before. You like her, don’t you? Ryan Sloan is hung up on a girl!”
I glance around the gym then mutter, “Keep your fucking voice down.”
It does nothing to wipe the delighted grin off Niamh’s face.
Looking away from her, I loop the band around my other foot. “I’m no saying I like her. It’s just…I keep seeing those big blue eyes looking back at me. After I said it, she got dressed and left. Didnae argue. Didnae slam the door. That’s the worst part. If she’d shouted at me, I probably wouldnae feel so bad. But she didnae, and…it’s sitting funny wi’ me. That’s all.”
“Fuck off,” Niamh says, her voice lower now. “You really do like her, don’t you? Deny it all you like, but since when do you tie yourself in knots over upsetting a lassie?”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I say nothing.
“Did you go down and see her after she ran off?”
“Naw, but I nearly did. Kept thinking about it all night. Got as far as her front door once.” I rub the back of my neck. “Didnae knock, though. Convinced myself it’d be stupid because it’d only blur the line I’d drawn. Maybe it’s better that she’s upset. I just wish it didnae feel so bad.”
“Or,” Niamh says, “here’s a wild idea, but you could actually, you know, date her?”
I scoff. “I don’t date. And me and Briony? We couldnae be more different.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Niamh, you said it: she doesnae even swear. Can you imagine someone like that wi’ me? And she talks to her fucking plants!” Which, for the record, is ridiculous. Well, if anyone else did it, it’d be ridiculous. When Briony does it, it is kind of cute.
Niamh smooths down a bit of tape that’s come loose on her wrist. “Ry, after her birthday, you decided she thought she was too good for you when she’d said no such thing. Now you’re coming up wi’ another bullshit reason why the two of you couldnae work. She asked to get to know you. Why no just give it a fucking shot?”
I give up on my stretches and sit beside Niamh with my legs stretched out and my hands propped on the mat beside me. “It’s probably too late now. Cannae imagine she’ll want to see me after last night.”
“I’m no used to hearing defeatist talk from you. You’re the NMFC’s number three light heavyweight, aren’t you?”
“Number two,” I snap.
She winks at me and nudges my shoulder. “If you can climb the NMFC’s rankings to number two, you can grovel to a lassie. Go tell her you were a dick last night, apologise, then ask her to dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“Aye, Ryan. Dinner. Food, cutlery, conversation. It’s no that hard.” Davie calls her name from the cage, and she gets to her feet. “Forget the excuses and just do it. And I’d do it soon, if I were you. Emmy is very protective of Briony. If she finds out you’ve upset Briony again, she’ll have your baws.”
