"Hello?" Pt. 2

Hit Me with Your Best Shot

Nodding, I pull into the long driveway and park the car behind my father's Range Rover. Once I turn the key in the ignition, all my car doors slam shut, my passengers already making a break for it. Dad's passenger's, meanwhile, take their time in getting out and stretching their legs. My mother is fussing over her large statement necklace, while Milli is helping Lucas with his oxygen cylinder, careful that none of the components get stuck in the door. Emma and Adam arrive shortly us, the honeymoon phase clearly over if their bickering was anything to go by. 

"I told you not to take that left," Emma ranted at her husband. Sulking her way towards where I was stood near the car, she pointed at Adam accusingly. "That idiot decided that going through Sandymount was better than following you."

I simply nod in solidarity with her anger but shoot an amused smile to Adam, looping my arm around his shoulder when he's within reach. "Personally, I would have taken her through the City centre to piss her off even more."

Laughing, Adam shakes his head and motions for me to walk ahead of him as we make our way to the door. My family is already inside, no doubt making Aunt Helen's bar in the drawing room their first port of call. Counting the number of cars in the driveway, I suspect that most of the Delaney family is already here, minus a few. From the noise coming from inside the house, my guess was correct. 

Bodies fill the drawing room, all shouting over each other as they struggle to be heard. Somewhere in the middle, Daniel is lost amongst the madness and chaos. My cousin, Niall Delaney, is the first to see me, making his way over to give me a hug and telling Adam how nice it is to see him again. A tall blonde hangs of Niall's arm and if my memory serves me correctly, she is his girlfriend and her name is Saoirse. She's also a model here in Ireland and maybe even a former Miss Ireland, but I can't remember if that was this girl or Niall's ex-girlfriend. They're all blonde haired and blue eyed that it's starting to become an issue differentiating between them all. 

Thankfully, one Plus One that I recognize straight away is Niamh MacNamara, Oliver's girlfriend for almost ten years. They quite literally started dating when they were twelve and have been inseparable ever since. If these two broke up, I think my family would disown Oliver and keep Niamh, that's how much we all like her. Which isn't something I could say about Killian's girlfriend, though. 

What can you say about Catriona Kennedy that the newspapers and any gossip TV show haven't already said? A starlet from some show that's been running forever, Cat Kennedy was most famous for a sex tape that went viral last year. Thankfully, her partner in the video was not my cousin, but it was a slight embarrassment to Killian's mother, Moira, that he would date someone like Cat Kennedy. The fact that none of Killian's family disliked Cat wasn't enough to dissuade him from breaking things off with her, but it did limit how much involvement she had with the family. Tonight was one of the rare occasions that she was permitted to grace us with her presence, although she could have done more effort to put more clothes on that a skimpy silk mini dress that looked like a nightgown. 

"She looks like a hooker." Ah, Echo. Turning to face the youngest of the entire family, I blink when I take in her appearance. Although she'd fallen short of giving her customary black palette a night off, Echo was out of her grungy skinny jeans and graphic tee combination and instead wore a white cape dress that looked suspiciously like the Valentino dress I'd sent to her a few months ago. Aside from the dress, Echo looked different in the hair department, too. Her signature bold hair colour was gone, replaced by a chocolate colour that complimented her skin tone. Granted, there was a hint of another colour coming through. Her piercings- all of them- remained, but the most striking difference for me was the fact that she no longer wore her coloured contact lenses. Sighing, Echo nods her head and then motions to the boy that's stood a foot behind her. "That's Logan."