Chapter 5

'It's totally, like about story structure and stuff.'

The writer had forgotten to submit the assignment with their name. It was not hard to guess who wrote it. Eleanor crumpled up the note and threw it in the trashcan. She leaned back in her chair and smiled at the ceiling. It seemed like Shane and Erin had started to reconnect before Eleanor's slight manipulation of the group project could even nudge them in that direction. Better than she could have hoped for. Eleanor had contingency plans ready if the next three weeks wouldn't be fruitful. Announcing that the groups would have to complete multiple assignments over the year without possibilities to change configuration. Giving it the old and tired excuse of learning to work in a team if any pushback came her way from the students. She did not dare hope, but maybe those kinds of constructions would be completely unnecessary. The group Erin and Shane were in consisted of only three members in total. One of them an administrative ghost. An old student called Maureen who had graduated many centuries ago. Currently Maureen was living with her wife on one of Eleanor's protected estates. Eleanor kept her file around as if it was an active student for troublesome situations like this. Shane and Erin would not be interrupted by anyone during their study sessions and would eventually conclude their third groupmate had dropped out.

Eleanor continued checking the assignments. They weren’t of consequence grade wise. She just considered it good practice to quiz students about the readings throughout the year. Those trying to do minimal work would always exist, but a teacher should never encourage such behaviour, Eleanor believed. It was good practice to keep her students' minds working. Although, she could excuse the occasional unserious submission.

Can't wait for tonight! I'm wearing the white lace you like. Here's hoping you come take it off soon..

Anne

Eleanor felt her body come alive. Anne could be such a tease. Discipline would never remove that aspect of her. And Eleanor had no desire to either. She was in the business of enhancing, not altering. Just picturing the sight she would encounter tonight. Opening the door to see Anne, her petite frame, lounging on Eleanor's bed. Brown hair falling gently in front of those supple breast, held up by the white, almost see-through bra. Most likely Anne would try to feign innocence. To start a little game. 'oh! Miss Byrne. I did not know you would be home so soon!' she would pretend to cover up. Which other girls would be there? Eleanor could only guess. She started to unbutton the top of her blouse. Her breast could use some attention. Unfortunately the handle to her office door moved down. Eleanor's fingers stopped and calmly reached for the pen on her desk. As if they had never had any other intention. the door opened ever so slightly.

'am I interrupting miss Byrne?' Eleanor was expecting a different voice.

'Usually knocking is best practice to inquire about that piece of information. But no dear, you are not. Come in!' In front of her stood a tall woman in a white blouse, short skirt and knee-high socks. The woman was not wearing it well. her physique and posture did not project the demure personality she wanted to convey. She stood much to proud. Two pairs of eyes met. In a split second a battle played out in the retina's.

'Excuse me miss.. I was just wondering if I could ask you something?' The performance had just begun. Eleanor leaned back in her chair observing this strange woman. She didn't say anything just motioned for her to come closer. 'You see a friend of mine.. Well she always told me how great your classes are.. She told me you were a great teacher. Super engaging..' the woman gripped her skirt. 'So today I attended and I loved it. You are soo nice to watch!' Shallow flattery. The woman was sitting on her chair and tried to make herself look small. 'I was wondering if it's possible to still get a spot in your course. I would love to attend!' The woman was now squeezing her arms, lifting her breast and showing of her cleavage.

'I am in no position to refuse students. However, you are late and there is an official way to apply for courses. You can go to the student admissions office. If they deem it possible, you will be signed up for any course you would like to take, miss?...' Eleanor looked at the woman expectedly, waiting for a name. the woman feigned a startled expression. 'I'm so sorry. I never introduced myself. I'm Aisling, nice to meet you!' Eleanor felt no need to respond. 'I would go to student admissions. But… you see… my friend told me how personable you are' the woman leaned forward bashfully. 'I wanted to see for myself… I would love a more… Hands on approach..' the woman tried to find Eleanor's eyes and looked as inviting as possible. Eleanor could not deny this woman had a wonderful physique. The act, though, was thoroughly unconvincing. Pretending to be meek, to want to submit, but nothing in her told Eleanor that was actually true. Nothing physical nor meta-physical. It was time to stop this charade. 'I do not know who this friend of yours is. But I hope she is not naïve enough to think I go for insincere flattery. You can go to student admissions. I advise you to not attempt this kind of ridiculous theatrics there.' The woman looked startled. She moved back in her chair and her mouth struggled to form a sentence.

'but.. but.. please.. Your class. My friends.. I want to join them..'

'Yes and student admissions will help you with that. Honestly girl. What could you possibly stand to gain from this lazy attempt at seduction. I hope you realise I take my job as an educator seriously and I would not jeopardise that position for a quick dalliance.'

The woman was flapping about now. Shifting in her chair, trying to show of her body in a desperate attempt at convincing Eleanor she was somehow sincere. She was looking for something to say but couldn't find it. her eyes searching Eleanor's for any kind of sign there was still an opening. Then slowly the woman steeled herself. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. Her elbow's resting on her thighs. her expression had finally turned serious and now she was trying to pierce through Eleanor's eyes with her own. It was futile. Eleanor had put this woman in her place. The intentions behind her actions still weren't clear to Eleanor, but she had to be careful. This woman…. Her attempts at seduction, it meant she somehow knew something about Eleanor's tastes and activities. But what exactly? And why someone so unfitting would still try to infiltrate… Best to keep this woman at a distance and give her nothing.

'Deidre misses you.'

Eleanor stiffened. It was all she could do not to give away anything that was happening within. For the first time in centuries she was not sure she succeeded. Pain and anger. Pain and anger and sadness. Deidre misses her? Deidre had left. This woman had the gall to bring her up to Eleanor? After such a terrible attempt at seduction this woman tried to manipulate her!? Eleanor had long ago sworn of using her power to inflict hurt. She could feel her core wanting to burst. The paper her fingers were laying on top of was shrivelling. Eleanor let a long breath out of her nose and calmed herself. She had to look at this Aisling straight if she was to get the correct measure of this interaction. And looking at her straight, she realised that maybe the horrible submissiveness this woman attempted was the real mask. A diversion from the fact that Deidre's tracks were everywhere. A light blue miasma had followed this woman in that only the trained, non-human eye could see. Eleanor had not noticed it at first because the act had been so distracting. Eleanor had to scold herself for this later on. Simple trickery like that should not fool her so easily. Now that the woman was clearly one of her old beloved's, why do this? What was Aisling's goal.

'She does, does she now? And what are you doing here for her then? A messenger? A gift? You don’t seem to fulfil either roles to any real capacity.' Eleanor kept her voice calm. 'I'm not here on her behalf. It is true though. She misses you.' Eleanor was looking for any weakness. any suggestion in Aisling's words or body language that could give Eleanor insight into the nature of this interaction. She saw in Aisling a though opponent. Eleanor's stare was being met without flinching. Aisling was holding a relaxed posture but only a fool would mistake it as truly so. Eleanor noticed the tenseness of the muscles. Aisling was ready to move in the blink of an eye. It did not matter to any real extent. Both of them knew who held the power. What kept Eleanor from removing Aisling from her office immediately was that she couldn't figure out Aisling's reasoning. But how would this Aisling reveal that to her? Eleanor had no insight into this person… except her allegiance to Deidre.

'Be that as it may, why did you come here to tell me this. And after this…' Eleanor motioned with her hand to Aisling's clothes. 'This strange performance. You do not fit my type, yet you attempt to convince me you are just so. Have you, perhaps, grown sick of Deidre, dear. Come to gain access to new pleasures?' It had worked. Eleanor noticed the tensing of the shoulders. The quick glance away from Eleanor's eyes. Something Eleanor said had hit.

'I would never leave Deidre for you. I love-'

'THEN WHAT.. are you doing here?' Eleanor could see Aisling slipping off her masks. Eleanor's rude interruption had made Aisling recoil. She had grown silent looking at the floor in thought with and expression of doubt. Unfortunately, Eleanor's triumph had only been temporary. She should have pressed her advantage because in the few moments of looking at the floor Aisling had gathered herself and the masks were back on. Eleanor had gotten the measure of Aisling, but this woman was a worthy opponent. She would not break so easily. Eleanor did not see any reason to give this woman another attempt at getting something from her. She stood up to show Aisling the door. 'I came here for myself.' Aisling suddenly said, looking up. Eleanor stayed silent, giving her a chance to speak. 'I don't want to leave Deidre, ever. But you, you and her keep circling around each other on this campus. You pretend not to know the other is there. But you do. And we do. You keep two worlds apart and more and more of us are sucked into one, not allowed to really engage with the other world again. I'm sick of it.' Eleanor gazed down at Aisling. The truth had been revealed. This woman was not hiding her intentions anymore, Eleanor could see that. Aisling's spite was clear. Eleanor had never met her before but she felt that Eleanor had somehow harmed her. What a silly girl.

'So in the end. All you are here for is just selfish desire.'

'whether or not it is selfish doesn’t mean it isn't true.'

Aisling stood defiantly in front of Eleanor. If anything, this woman was brave, Eleanor had to admit to that. 'and you know what I think is selfish. Expecting everyone you know to play along, because you can't face Deidre!' The two women's eyes met again. fire met fire. Their mutual anger burned in the small space between them. Eleanor had enough of this woman. 'It has been a pleasure Aisling. Please, leave my office as I have work I need to get to.' For a second it looked as if Aisling wasn't going to back down. Her stare stayed intense and confrontational. But quickly she realised this was not a request. Aisling's eyes flashed a brief look of fear before she steeled herself. 'thank you for your time miss Byrne. I hope to see you again soon.' She turned around and a moment later the door slammed shut.

'I think the easiest way to go is to discuss one of Márquez's books and present it as a case study for South-American literature generally. I know that is cutting a lot of corner's and excluding a lot of variation but we don't have that much time.' Erin was in her element. If she had a handle on the material she was a steamroller and Shane was just standing in her path of scheduling destruction. After class she had pushed Shane to start mapping out the presentation with her already. They had left a message for their third group member, hoping she would get back to them soon. But truly, there was no need for extra help. Erin had set up the dates their group would meet for the coming weeks. She had set deadlines for every single meeting. What reading needed to be finished, what part of the presentation needed to be done. She had held a solo discussion on the potential books they could discuss in the presentation. Shane occasionally filled in the space with a 'mmhmm' or a 'ahhh' or a 'you think?' giving Erin the illusion he was actually participating and not just stunned into silence seeing the Erin machine operate. It had been a long time since their presentations in high school, and he had forgotten the beast that hid inside of Erin. He never liked presentations. He was always a bit shy to speak in front of a crowd. Erin loved them though. Usually they did their presentations together. Doing them with Erin had helped Shane. He was encouraged by her, but also felt pushed on by a guilt that he let Erin do all the heavy lifting. Their presentations therefor turned out great. Erin being naturally gifted for them and Shane performing extra hard. When they stopped working together Shane could not find that extra strength that pushed his natural shyness to the side. His grades suffered a little because of it, but not enough to care much beyond it. Just looking at Erin now he had forgotten how fun it was to see Erin like this and work together with her. He started to feel his motivation rising, for the same reasons it did back then. He wasn't going to disappoint Erin.

'I think that a few years ago I read one of his books. It was really good. I just don’t remember the title right now.' Shane gave his first real contribution to the discussion. 'how can you not remember the titles of márquez? They're the best!' a little glint appeared in Erin's eye. 'Was it one hundred years of solitude? I was thinking the same thing. I mean it’s a really obvious choice, but it does sort of embody a lot of topics and themes in South-American literature. As well as like, the whole magical realism thing. It's probably the best choice-'

'No it was another one' Shane interrupted. If he didn't get a word in now, the matter would be resolved by Erin alone. 'It goes something like a planned murder? announced murder?'

'Chronicle of a death foretold?' Erin asked. Shane nodded slowly. 'Yeah it sounds right. It's like this book about a guy who gets killed but the whole book is about the run up to it. explaining why it happened in detail.' Shane started to explain. Meanwhile Erin was lost in thought when suddenly her eyes lit up. 'It's perfect!' she exclaimed!

'It is? It's just the one I remember most'

'No it's perfect!' Erin's excited face stared at Shane. He felt a nostalgic beating in his heart. 'It's easy to read. Easier than one hundred years of solitude. Not too long. It won’t take a lot of time for us to read it again, so we can focus on analysis. The book's still deeply about Colombian culture. We can definitely use it to project other themes of South-American literature on. Like I said we are cutting corners and painting with broad strokes but Professor Byrne can't reasonably expect us to surmise all of South-American literature with just a short presentation right?' Shane wasn't really absorbing all the words. He just kind of nodded up and down, thinking of all the times he had seen Erin like this in the past. 'Been a long time.' Slip of the tongue.

'What has?'

'Hmmm?' Shane's eyes focused. Erin was observing him. 'What has?' A small moment of confusion passed between the two of them. 'What has been a long time?' Erin looked intently, it made Shane lower his eyes. His core started heating. 'Oh, you know.' he gestured vaguely with his hand. 'this, presentation, stuff. It's been a while. since, you know, we did it.' He kept his eyes averted. 'yeah, it has.' Erin said, but stayed silent for a long stretch after. Shane could still feel her eyes on him. his nerves worked overtime. The heat in his core was spreading. He slowly looked up again. Erin was staring at him, or through him. Her gaze was intense and aggressive. An anxious feeling overwhelmed Shane, had he upset her? 'I'm sorry… I shouldn't have brought it up.' He quickly said, looking down again. A mix of shame and guilt started replacing the warmth. How could he be stupid enough to remind Erin of their past together, and by doing so the pain he caused, Shane thought.

'no it's fine Shane, I-' Erin started to say.

'I shouldn't have brought it up' Shane started to look around.

'Shane. It's okay really.'

'Are we done, I should leave, I need to-' Shane got up.

'Just sit down!' Erin's hand gripped Shane's wrist and guided him down. Erin was stronger than he remembered. 'It's fine Shane, really.' Erin didn't let go of Shane's wrist. 'The worst thing you can do now is go..' She said, staring Shane down. He returned her gaze with what must be a deer-caught-in-the-headlights kind of look. Trapped by the eyes and the grip on his wrist, he slowly quieted the instinct to run away, but he couldn't think of anything that could move the two of them forward. 'I don't want to make you angry at me.' Shane eventually said. He felt small. He must have said something right though, because Erin was suddenly snorting, trying to keep from laughing. 'believe me, I wasn't angry' She said.

'Okay.. good. Because I don’t want to… make it worse.. I mean. I don’t have a right to be reminiscing about the past. I fucked it up, you have a right to be angry.' Shane rambled, saying every thought that flooded his brain at the moment.

'Will you stop that!' Erin suddenly exclaimed. It was the first time she actually looked annoyed. Shane shut up, Erin was in complete control of him. 'I know I have a right to be angry. But that isn’t going to do anything for either of us is it?' she asked rhetorically, yet with the intensity of expecting an answer. So Shane slowly shook his head. Erin composed herself a little bit and took another moment to think. The pause in their argument made Shane realise that Erin was absentmindedly stroking his wrist with her thumb ever so slightly. She probably didn’t even know she was doing it, Shane thought. 'You know after Friday I have been thinking..' Erin continued. 'You don’t seem like the same person after all these years. And maybe we can just move on. Today was pretty great too. But if you are going apologise all the time, or worse, run away again, I don’t think… I don’t think I can move on.'

Shane stewed in his own nerves a bit. Once upon a time he felt like he could read Erin's facial expressions well enough to know what was going on with her. In this moment though, maybe it was his nerves, maybe he hadn't seen her in too long, he couldn’t figure out what Erin's intense eyes meant. Except that they made him squirm in his seat like a crazy person. He kept flicking his eyes everywhere but Erin's, only to end up meeting them for a short beat and feeling his stomach flip over again. 'shouldn't we.. you know.. talk' he squeezed out.

'maybe at some point.' Erin said, whilst giving Shane's wrist one more squeeze before letting go. 'Right now, let's just keep going.' Erin looked expectantly at Shane. It was as if she was saying that the ball was in his court now. She wasn't holding on to him anymore. He could leave.

'I think I have a paperback of the book, a chronicle of an announced murder was it? I can read it first and borrow it to you, I just don’t know where it is.' Erin's face lit up. She smiled broadly at Shane and he felt himself return the smile. Slowly his nerves settled down and the gentle warmth in his belly came back. 'Chronicle of a death foretold.'

'what was that?'

'The book. Its name is Chronicle of a death foretold. What you mean you can't find it?' Erin asked. She was leaning her cheek on her hand now. Shane would almost like to describe Erin's expression as dreamy. At the moment he didn't thrust his own judgement. 'Well you know.. It's not that I lost it. I just have to look for it, and that might be hard.'

'and why is that?' Erin teased whilst Shane fidgeted. 'Well, When I moved I didn't really have a lot of money. And my old stuff didn't fit. So I just kinda stacked the books on top of each other in my room, and it makes it a little unorganised..'

'wait you're saying you don't even have a bookshelf in your room?' Erin asked in a befuddled tone. It was hard for Shane to keep eye-contact. He didn’t like talking about his room. He never had people over to see it, so it was mostly empty and purely functional. Something he didn’t dwell on. 'Yeah not really. It's not strictly necessary.' He mumbled.

'If we only had stuff in our rooms that was strictly necessary we'd be sleeping on a mattress without a bedframe in an undecorated room!' Shane fidgeted some more. he looked up to see Erin's eyes wide from shock. 'you can't be serious!'

'It's not that bad!' Shane started to say. 'Ooh, it is that bad! You can’t live like that Shane. You can't sleep on the fucking floor!'

'I have a bed' Shane interjected. Hoping that was the end of it. but Erin didn't drop the topic. 'aaaandd…. What else?' She waited for Shane to start talking. Shane was desperate to not go into detail. 'My books. I have my books.'

'And those aren't even on a shelf!'

Shane's hands were fascinating he thought. So interesting that they had five fingers. Not four. Not six either. And thumbs, wow. Maybe thumbs would help him not talk more about this, they were so funny looking they could help him out for sure. 'You have to buy more furniture. Or some plants. Let me at least help you buy a houseplant or two. Just to fill the space up a bit.' Shane tried to see some ancient wisdom in his hands. Something to help him out. He was staring at them so intently and yet neither pinkie or thumb would talk to him. now Shane saw four hands. That's two more than usual. And the two new ones were gently sliding over the old and started to hold them. Shane shot back up into reality and Erin was grinning at him encouragingly. 'c'mon, it will be fun!' At this point his head raced with many, many, words. For some reason his mouth cruelly said the three most likely to make him collapse.

'It's a date'

Four hands fitted together. Four eyes locked. A moment passed in a scared glance and a soft smile.

'It's a date' Erin repeated.

Shane could stay in that moment a lot longer. But he noticed something behind Erin. Someone was approaching them, someone in a weirdly sexual schoolgirl outfit. He even knew her, although it was rather weird to see her dressed this way. Aisling was awkwardly walking down the hall. Shane noticed she wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings. Barging her way through, people had to dodge out of her path. She stumbled into a chair blocking her path and almost fell over. She looked up and finally saw Shane looking at her. Aisling approached with long, confident strides which did nothing to hide how wrong the clothes were on her.

'Why are you dressed like that?' Shane couldn't contain a grin. Aisling still had the physique and proud stance Shane now realised she always carried herself with. It just didn't come across as effectively as usual. Aisling ran a hand through her hair. 'Oh I just did something stupid. Something really, really stupid. I hope it's not gonna bite me in the ass.' Her eyes flicked from Shane to Erin, to their hands, back to Shane. 'anyway, I have to go change, get ready for training and all that.' Shane instinctively pulled his hands away and into his lap as Aisling started to turn. 'Wait! You're really not going to explain any more than that?'

'Yeah actually, I would like to hear more as well!' Erin concurred. The two of them looked up at Aisling with pleading expressions. Aisling looked back and forth between the two of them, her mouth slightly agape. She ran her tongue over her front teeth so fast Shane almost missed it. he didn’t though and the gesture made his head spin. 'Would you two believe me if I said I tried to seduce a primordial creature of folklore by wearing the cheapest outfit I could find in a sex store, all so I could get with someone else?' Both Shane and Erin took a little bit to process what Aisling just said. They looked at each other confused. 'I guess not.' Aisling shrugged and pretended to turn away again. 'You're making fun of me!' Shane exclaimed.

'no. I'm making fun of the both of you.' Aisling winked at Erin. Shane saw her blush. He felt a little jealous, he can't remember ever making Erin blush, he thought. 'What are you two up to?'

'nothing much. Just preparing a presentation. We're doing something on South-American li-'

'Shane doesn't even own a bookshelf!' Erin interrupted. Aisling regarded Shane and he could feel his cheeks burning. 'It's not strictly necessary..' he repeated himself. Aisling exhaled a deep breath. 'C'mon Shane you can't live like that!'

'I just don't really.. See the point.' He whispered.

'The point is that it's fun! Besides you already promised me we would go buy you some plants.' Erin said.

'Sounds fun! Anything else you're getting him?'

'No not really, I haven't really decided yet. I first want to see the room before making a decision. You got any ideas?'

'I don't know. a couch is always good, but I would need to know the measurements. How about some paint? Every room could use some colour. What do you like?'

'hmm. I soft yellow maybe? If a room doesn’t get a lot of sun I usually like yellow. Hey, you want to join us when we go?'

'Me and Shane were going to hang out tomorrow. Maybe we can do it then?'

'I was supposed to meet up with Anne.'

'why don't you take her with. make it a group project.'

Shane's eyes were moving back and forth back and forth. Aisling then Erin. Up to Aisling, down to Erin. Up to Aisling, back down to Erin. All the while his life was being planned for him. They couldn't just control him like that, he had to do something. 'This is my room! Don’t I get a say!' he shouted, hoping to win back some authority. Unfortunately all that came out was a high-pitched squeal. Erin looked at him with a gentle sympathetic look, whilst Aisling… Shane rather not think about what Aisling's look made him feel like at the moment. 'Sorry if this sounds a little mean. But knowing you, if we left it to you in two weeks you would come to us with a plan to go shopping for the next month.' Erin said. Ouch. That was a rude call-out. Though absolutely true. Shane would have forgotten this conversation semi-purposefully. 'don’t worry. You get full control over what we buy.' Aisling said. 'But we control when we buy it.' Again, Aisling's grin made Shane turn his face away and rather not think of the implications of her controlling him. What was going on with him today?

'Sorry to interrupt girls.' Shane hadn’t noticed the man approach them. That should be considered a miracle since 'beefcake' was the only way to describe the particular man. The three of them were looking at the man now 'I'm Dylan' oh crap! Shane made himself small. 'I just noticed your outfit from over there, and wow! You are banging girl. Why don't you and your friends come join us for a good time.' He gestured to a table where a group of similar looking meat towers were sitting, eagerly looking their way. They didn’t really stand out much form each other, except for one considerably smaller guy with a red cap on.

'No thank you.' Aisling said curtly. 'sorry, but could you leave. You are interrupting.' Aisling didn't look particularly sorry. She was trying to set him on fire with her eyes. 'damn girl. I don’t mean any insult. But don’t pretend you don’t want attention dressed like that. Now let's just go meet my friends. Holly shit Shane is that you!' Dylan had noticed him. He had been an older member of his rugby team. They didn’t share any other relation or group. Dylan and him only shared the same locker room for half a year, but it had scarred Shane enough. Dylan had been brash, rude and gross, and as the biggest, meanest player on the team he got away with it. To Shane's deep shame he had even pretended to like him. 'Hey Dylan… How are you?'

'No no no no. You don’t get to ask me that. What to fuck is going on with you man? you don’t work out no more? You pretend to be my friend and you one of the girls now? you faggot!' Dylan's fat, sausage like fingers pushed against Shane's shoulder, jostling him in his chair. Before Shane could react he saw Erin get up in a flash and moved between him and Dylan. At the same time Aisling pushed against Dylan's broad chest with both hands. Dylan went flying into the trashcan behind him.

'How dare you!'

'Don't you fucking touch him!'

Two bodies were between Shane and Dylan now. Still, Dylan got back up and towered over everybody. Shane knew how nasty Dylan was, he pleaded to anybody listening that Aisling and Erin weren't going to get hurt. 'You protect that worm? you bitch! I'll-' Dylan paced forward. Aisling braced herself. Shane was already picturing the worst. But a teasing laugh rung out from behind Dylan making Dylan stop.

'Told ya, ya didn't have a chance.' The small guy wearing the red cap had approached them. From up close Shane could see strands of greasy black hair peeking out from underneath the red cap. They matched the thick beard the man had. Despite that his face was youthful and his dark eyes held a glint that lit up his face. Dylan's demeanour did a full turn. His aggression left, his muscles deflated. 'no man. It's just this chick man. She must be some kind of dyke!' Although he raised his voice at the end, Dylan didn’t put as much fire into this insult as in the previous ones. He was losing the grip over the situation. 'Took you long to figure that one out. just get back will ya, you're gonna get us all kicked out.' The little man said.

'You knew?!' Dylan shouted. In a quiet but powerful voice the small man responded. 'What made ya think I thought it was an interesting challenge?' He giggled cruelly. Dylan looked back and forth between the small man and Shane's group, thoroughly humiliated. 'get back.' The small man repeated and Dylan sounded the retreat of a defeated lion. 'Sorry for my friend there. Just made a friendly bet with him. Didn't think he would make an arse of himself. Didn’t mean to ruin you gals' day.' Shane noticed that the little sparkle in his eyes never seemed to leave. The three of them had to adjust to the new situation. Shane was still bracing, his entire body tense. Erin and Aisling looked to be in about the same condition. The little man was the exact opposite of them. He casually looked between the three of them. He settled on Shane.

'Oh sorry again. You aren't a lass are ya. Sorry for the mistake. But can ya blame me. You lookin' quite dainty.' Shane couldn't respond. What did this man even mean by that? Why did it make him feel so observed and uncomfortable? The little man's smirk was almost reaching ear to ear. Aisling saw Shane's discomfort. She took a step to block the little man's eye line with Shane. 'Thanks for stopping him but could you leave. We were in the middle of something.' Aisling took a step forward, she was a lot taller than the small man.

'No need to be rude. Call my Davis. What's your name?' Davis said calmly.

'I'm not really interested in pleasantries.' Aisling answered.

'Are you upset I said to Dylan you're a 'dyke'' Davis made little air quotes, as if to say he didn’t approve of the word. The venom he put behind the emphasis however... He looked at Erin while he said it, not Aisling. 'Do not worry, I just needed him to leave. No need to explain to him the nuances of sexuality. Although you really could do better than 'him'' Davis leaned to the side to make direct eye contact with Shane. It was as if Davis's stare made Shane skin itch. His body felt discomfort like he never felt before. He wanted to run. To hide. To not see the sun for a month. He just wanted out of this situation. Aisling blocked Davis's view again. meanwhile Erin touched Shane's arm again. she whispered quietly 'It's okay Shane. don't listen to them. It's just words.' It didn't feel like just words.

'I don’t know who you think you are. I don’t need a pathetic little man like you to tell me who I should or shouldn't like. Just go back to your friends.' Aisling spit out. She could be incredibly intimidating. It didn't face Davis though. 'Suit yourself lass. Just know, I'll be around.' Shane saw him walk back to his friends, even skipping a little. Aisling turned around and joined Erin in consoling Shane. 'You okay?' Shane felt weird. Here they were consoling him when both of them, Aisling especially had been threatened just as much, literally blocking Dylan's path to him. Both Erin and Aisling could have been seriously hurt. 'I'm okay? Are you? Dylan was gonna kill you!' he exclaimed.

'Oh don't worry. I know how to fight. Men like that are usually all brawn no brain.' Aisling deflected Shane's concern casually. 'who was he anyways? Why did he know you?'

'We were on the same team for a little bit…. Unfortunately. Who was that other guy?' Aisling shrugged, her expression turned bitter. 'A little pest. That's what.' Shane looked away from Aisling to Erin who seemed lost in thought. 'Erin?' he asked. Erin was startled out of her thoughts. 'I'm good!' she said but quickly started turning pensive again. Shane gently reached for her hands, but Erin pulled away. they looked at each other. 'Sorry, I'm just a little tense from all that.' Erin said. 'It could have ended badly.'

Shane agreed. Even though they had avoided a fight, Shane still felt horrible. Davis's words stung more than he could explain. And even though Erin had distracted him throughout the day, the lingering feeling of this morning was still there. He really needed to talk to- Shane looked at the time and shot up from his chair. 'Sorry you guys, but I have to leave. I need to talk to miss Byrne.'

'Wait! What about tomorrow?' Erin asked. But Shane was already moving. 'We'll text about it!' he shouted back