Strange Love (Brendan Murray)

McPhee

"Bad day, ay?" She asks.

"Something like that" I mumble in response. She digs her hand into her pocket and fishes out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.

" So tell me..." She begins, before pulling out a cigarette from the packet and places it between her lips. She holds out the packet in my direction. I shake my head to refuse her offer and she simply shrugged her shoulders, unstirred by my response. She tucks the packet into her pocket again before bringing the lighter up to the cigarette held firmly between her lips. She clicks it a few times before it ignites. She sucked in on it making the tip glow a fluorescent orange colour. She removes it from her mouth parting her dark cherry red lips that were home to a black lip ring as the smoke rolled out into the frosty night air.

"How was your day?" She asks while the last of the smoke drifted from her lips.

Without thinking, I reply with what I always do "Fine, you?". She gave me a stern look.

"Considering the panic attack you just had I'll ask that again, how was your day?" She said strictly. I have known this girl not even five minutes but she seemed more interested in me than most people ever have. Something about that gave me a sense of trust towards her.

I look down at the ground, should I tell her the truth or just leave it? She wouldn't care either way. Feck it. It's not like this day could get any worse.

"I walked in on my girlfriend snogging another guy" I admit, still not looking at her.

"God that sucks" she replies, sounding genuinely sympathetic.

" Yeah I guess that might have triggered whatever just happened back there," I say feeling embarrassed.

"Here wait, I usually have something to help with that, you know, to calm you down a bit," She says reaching for her bag.

"No you don't have to, I'm fine" I eagerly refuse.

"You sure?" She says cautiously.

"Yeah I'm fine now, it's over". She just nods.

There was silence between me and her. The only noise was the faint echo of the music inside the house. The two of us just sat looking out over the dim moonlit garden that was littered with plastic cups that once held alcohol.

"Heyyyy McPhee" Ella's brother Adam cheered as he walked towards us. McPhee???

"I didn't think you'd show up" He added as he bent down to sling his arm around her.

"I was nearby and you know how I like a good party postman pat," She said into the hug with a light giggle. Postman pat? What the hell is with the nicknames between them two. They're obviously close but how come Adam never mentioned her?

"Here I've got to get back inside. I'll leave you two alone but don't be afraid to come inside McPhee" He said giving her one last squeeze and walked away.

"Postman Pat?" I asked. She just smiled.

"Think about it" She replied.

What was that supposed to mean? I thought deeply about it for a minute that's when I remembered a random conversation Ella and I had a few months back. She had told me about when Adam was in his freshman year of college. One night when he and his mates were drunk they kidnaped the local postman's cat. To this day, Adam is still scared of what the postman would do if he found out who done it.

"The cat he stole?" I ask unsure if the was why she called him that.

"Yeah, the irony of the postman's black cat was hilarious!" She said adding her adorable little giggle at the end.

"So you were there?" I ask wanting to maybe know how she knew Adam.

"I used to think it was cool to hang around college guys" She vaguely replied. So she's younger than Adam, ok then.

"So why are you, McPhee?" I ask. I want to find out as much as possible about this intriguing girl. She was like trying to piece together a puzzle.

"When you need me I'm here. When you no longer need me I must go" She vaguely quotes Nanny McPhee.

"That's just how I am with people I guess," She says shrugging her shoulders.

"So did Adam need you here tonight?" I ask curious as to why she's here. She shakes her head.

"Nah not Adam" She replies.

The question of 'who' lingered in the air between us but neither asked or volunteered the answer.

"You're a very curious person Brendan" She states.

"you're a very mysterious person," I remark making her smile.

And again we sat there in silence as she puffed out smoke from her parted lips. That's when it hit me.

"Wait did you just....?" I blurted out not even finishing my sentence.

"Just what?" She asked biting back her lip ring while stubbing out her cigarette on the concrete.

"You called me by my name a minute ago," I remarked.

"And....?"

"And I never told you my name" I say still confused as to how she knew my name.

"I overheard someone calling you as you walked out here" She admitted.

She shook her head and looked out over the garden again staring like she was deep in thought. Part of me felt she was lying but how else could she know my name. She seems like a straightforward person who wouldn't lie, but she's also so mysterious.

"Do you want to get out of here?" She asks still observing her surroundings. I agreed, getting tired of the cold ground we had been sat on and offered to go back to my place. I didn't want to lose sight of her and God knows where she'd take me. I need to be somewhere tomorrow so I best not get lost.

A.n
Hi, so this is part 2 gold star to anyone who's read until this point. Don't be afraid to comment what you think of the story so far.