A Saint's Savior

1

Finley ducks inside a small pub a mere minute after it started to downpour but that's all it took. She was drenched and tired and decided to take a seat and have a drink while waiting for the storm to blow by. She downed two shots of whiskey before ordering a beer. Its been a half hour since it started down pouring and it hasn't let up. She lives another 8 blocks away so she was stuck for awhile. She starts to watch the soccer match that's playing on the TV as she takes out a stack of papers and begins to grade some work. Another half an hour goes by when there's a small group of men pushing and shoving their way inside, also drenched. It wasn't the fact that people came into the bar, it's how loud they were when they came inside that grabbed her attention. They were arguing about something and cursing like sailors. Although they were hitting each other they were also laughing and Finley just figured most of them were already drunk, just moving along to the next bar. After watching these hooligans get inside she turns her attention back to the papers in front of her and starts grading again. Eventually one of the guys who sauntered in comes over and mumbles out "heyyyy, who have we here, aren't you a peach!"

Finley rolls her eyes but places her pen down and slightly turns her body towards him "and aren't you a fool, I didn't know men in Boston couldn't handle their liquor."

Some of the men laugh and holler at her slight diss but the drunk guy just replies "am I not handling my liquor or am I handling it damn fine for being drunks for two days straight." He thrusts his hand out "Rocco, and you are?" Only he doesn't even get close to shaking her hand as he knocks down her beer and it pours all over her graded papers.

"Ah fuck!" Finley let's the language slip from her mouth, annoyed all the papers are ruined.

The men he's with quickly jump in, some pulling Rocco away and hassling him and others throwing napkins at her to help dry the mess "sorry lass, he's a real fuck boy that one." One man says as he wipes up a pile of papers.

Another man says "yeah, we shouldn't have even let him out tonight. Hope these weren't important."

A third one picks up a paper and looks at it, then chuckles and looks at his friends "what kind of lass comes to a bar to grade primary papers? Your life that fucked?"

The first man who apologized on behalf of his friend slaps the guy across the head and growls "ahh, fuck off Conner. I recall your dumb ass torturing every grade school teacher we ever had!"

The man laughs back and places the paper down "fuck, we probably made em all alcoholics!"

"Put her bill on ours, Doc!" One of them yells over to the old man whose been serving me drinks. She noticed how awkward he was when she first came in but witnessed it get even stranger after the group of men came in.

The bartender screams back "fuckin' bitch, fuck, fuck!" But he nods and leans down to grab her another drink.

She shakes her head and says "oh, no it's fine. Really, I should probably get going anyway."

She starts to stand and gather her papers but the man to her right, she thinks she remembers the one man saying his name was Conner says to her "aw, yer heading out in this storm on account of us bastards? Come on, have another drink."

She looks out the dirty window to see it still heavily raining. She looks at the few guys still around her and shrugs "alright, fine. One more drink."

The four men smile and she takes the beer that was placed in front of her and takes a big swing. "So, are we just gonna call ya Lass all night or do ya got yourself a name?" One of them asks.

Finley can't help but smile hearing the two men talk with Irish accents. Her parents were both Irish immigrants and although she was raised in America, she knew how to sound Irish. She replies to him "Finley Murphy."

The two Irish men catch on to the way she says her name and share a glance, the one directly to her left then says "ahh fuck, yew Irish?"

"100%" She replies. It's probably more information then she's suppose to give but she can't help it. They are cute and remind her of her parents. Some of the men with them ooh and holler but Finley doesn't blush or shy away, she just smiles and looks to the one "so, I gathered you're Connor but who are you, sir?" She looks to the other man on her right.

He smiles and replies "Murphy MacManus, and Conner over there's my brother."

"Ahh, brothers. That explains it." She returns, letting the Irish accent fall off as she talks in her normal American accent.

Conner catches it at asks "so, Irish or American?"

"Can't I be both?" She asks.

Conner snorts as his reply but Murphy says "sure can, whatdaya say to a shot?" He leans over the bar and grabs a bottle, not waiting for the bartender to help.

The bartender doesn't even flinch as he watches him take the bottle and then the man who ruined all my students works starts to stumble over towards her. Finley takes a shot with the two Irish men, their Gaelic much better then her own as they say a short cheer. She slams the glass on top the bar when she's finished. Conner then grabs Rocco over by his shoulder and demands he apologize to her "you ruined this ladies night, apologize you ugly bastard before I shove my fist down your throat!"

Murphy laughs, as do a few other of the people around them so Finley chuckles as well as she looks around. Rocco mutters "I'm sorryyy, I really didn't mean to make a mess, cause a scene."

"It's fine, really." She insists to him.

He smiles and leans down to try and give her a hug. Finley freezes to accept but his dark beer spills out of his glass and all over her shirt and pants "ahhhh!" She partly squeals.

A bunch of the guys start cussing at Rocco and pushing him away "fuck, you fucked up again you fuckin' arse!" Conner yells the loudest.

Murphy tries to help Finley "shit, here." He thrusts some napkins at her, knowing not try and help her clean herself up.

"Fuck, this is a mess!" She looks down at herself, wiping slightly at her shirt. It's useless, a napkin wouldn't help.

"I am so sorry about him, he's a true asshole." Murphy apologizes for his friend.

Finley just shrugs "nah, I've seen real assholes, he's just drunk." She takes two more swipes at her top before throwing the napkin on the bar and letting out a sigh "but I think that's a sign that's it's time for me to pack it up."

She pushes her chair back to stand, now having more space to move since all the men in the group are now hounding Rocco over by the pool table. Murphy was the only one to stay and try and help her. He replies "you're gonna go out in this? You'll get soaked."

She looks down at herself then back to him with a smirk "a little late for that." She moves to stuff her things into her bag "besides, maybe the rain will wash out the beer before it stains."

Murphy shakes his head as she starts to walk towards the door. Once he steps outside with her and the door closes he shrugs out of a dark navy  jacket he has on "here, wear this."

She tries to decline "no, really. I'm fine, I'm only like 8 blocks from here."

He insists "take it, I wouldn't want ya catching a cold on a count of me not bein' a gentlemen."

She smirks "fine, but how can I get it back to you?" She starts to slip one arm into it "it's an awfully nice jacket."

He smiles back and says "I'm here all the time."

Finley nods and then waves "bye Murphy, it was a pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure was all mine, Finley Murphy." He winks just before she turns away from him. Murphy heads back into the bar with a smirk on his face, rubbing a hand through his hair.