I'm so tired, Jack O'Connor thought as he was sipping his seventh pint of Guinness in McIlrath Bar in Cork.
"How are ya, mate?" he heard Tim Walsh, his friend, the bartender ask.
"Quite poxy, mate."
"Oh. I'm sorry. Want another one?" Tim asked.
"I think I've had enough for today. See ya tomorrow then, mate?" Jack scoffed and slowly stumbled outside.
"Aye."
As Tim was cleaning the glasses behind the bar, he heard a loud bang come from the outside. It sounded as if a car had hit something. He ran outside to see if everything was alright.
"You know yer man, the ginger fella?" the driver, Colin McGowell, turned to Tim.
"Jack?" He asked in confusion.
"Aye. I just happened to have run over him with me Golf." He said, worryingly.
"Have you called the ambulance?" Tim asked, concerned for his friend.
"Damn right I have."
"Would you mind explaining how it happened?" Tim asked furiously.
"Well I was driving down the road, when the lass just appeared gee-eyed on the road. By the time I noticed him, it had already been too late. I didn't mean to hit him, Tim."
The ambulance arrived along with the police and they questioned both the driver and the bartender. Tim couldn't make himself to look on the floor where Jack was laying motionless, covered in blood. The paramedics had just lifted him up on the stretcher and brought him to the back of their car. Tim called his boss and told him that he was done for the day, as he needed to clear his head. He was also planning on visiting his friend in the hospital later. He got into his car and drove around for a while. Then he pulled up on his driveway, to see his sister standing on his front porch.
"Hi Maeve. What brings you here?"
"I want to stay here for a while."
"Grand! Want some tea?"
"Yeah. Green is fine."
As they were sipping their tea, they were talking about jobs, family, friends and so on and so forth. They haven't seen each other for months. Maeve was two years younger than him, and before she came there, she had lived with her boyfriend in Kinsale, just south of Cork. As she told Tim, he broke up with her and made her move out. She didn't know where else to go except here.
"I'll take good care of you, Maeve. Don't worry."
"Right. Um, there's something I have to tell you. The reason why he really left me."
"I'm not interested in your love life, sis. I'm really not." Tim replied with a smirk appearing on his face.
"You'd really want to know." She made a short pause, "You're gonna be an uncle!" Maeve squealed.
"Christ Almighty! You're really pregnant, sister?"
"Yeah!"
"Anything else I need to know before you've completely moved in?" Tim laughed and so did Maeve.
"Nope. So how was your day?"
"Had an early shift today, met Jack in the bar getting drunk, and after that he got run over by Declan's brother. I was planning on visiting him in the hospital later. Wanna come?" Tim said with his voice breaking with each sentence.
"You had a hell of an afternoon, I see. Is Jack alright? And yes, I'd love to come with you."
"I don't know. I haven't heard anything yet. I really hope so."
About an hour later, they headed for the hospital in Tim's gray Subaru. As they entered the waiting room, they saw Colin McGowell, sitting there, reading a newspaper. He told them he was there to see Jack too.
"I'm so sorry, Tim. I know how close you two are. I really hope he'll be alright." Colin said, with genuine care in his voice
"Aye. Me too."
The nurse came in the waiting room and said: "You can go see him now."
They all got up, but Colin said he'll go first, so he could apologize. Maeve and her brother agreed. While they were waiting for him to come back, they each read their own magazine. When Colin came back, Tim and Maeve approached Jack's room. As they entered, Tim was shocked by the sight his eyes met. Jack was laying on his back, with his left leg in a plaster, a sewed up chest and neck in a brace. He waved hello.
"You're the image of a massive, Jack." Tim said as he grinned. Jack raised the sides of his lips too.
"Hi, Maeve."
"Hello, Jack. How are you feeling?"
"I'm bleedin' great." he said with a bit raspy voice and laughed.
"We're glad to hear that." Maeve rejoiced.
Tim proposed to talk to Jack alone, so Maeve left the room and waited for him ouitside.
"I'm so sorry, Jack. I should've helped you get home safely. Or not sell you that much black stuff in the first place." Tim sighed.
"It's not your fault, mate. I should've been smarter." Jack mumbled.
"So how bad is it? When will you be out?" Tim wondered.
"Broken femur, bruised neck, pneumothorax. That's about a month until I'll be discharged. That's not too long. Especially if you'll be visiting me very often, mate." he informed his best friend.
Tim visited his friend every day during his hospitalisation, aside from working regular shifts at the bar. Maeve's stomach has grown a few inches and she's getting more excited everyday.
On a Monday in September, Jack was finally discharged. His brother kicked him out, so he hadn't anywhere to live. Tim offered him his house, if it didn't bother him that Maeve also lives there and that they'd have to share a king-sized bed. Jack didn't have a problem with it, so he's already moved in with them.
"Thanks a million, Tim."
"Anytime, mate."
The first few nights were pretty normal, until one night when Jack and Tim were sleeping. Tim could feel how close to him Jack had got in the middle of the night, but he brushed it off. But just a few minutes later, Jack wrapped his arms around Tim's torso and lay there. As they woke up a few hours later, they were still in the same position and Tim turned to face Jack. He caught himself staring into Jack's light blue eyes and then pressed him a light kiss on the left cheek. Jack just blushed and lightly chuckled. Neither of them knew what this meant. Until the end of the day they acted as if it was just another day. But that same night, it was Tim who wrapped his arms around Jack and got closer to him. Their heads were almost touching. Tim pushed a lock of Jack's ginger hair aside, so he could kiss his forehead, but then changed his mind and brushed his raspy lips against Jack's. The raspiness of Tim's lips woke Jack up and he kissed him back. Tim slowly pulled away in shock and said "I'm sorry. I- You're just so cute when you sleep." Jack pulled himself closer to Tim and stroked his dark hair. "You're cuter." They cuddled and as it was time for breakfast, they realised Maeve was not home. Tim had a day off from work and Jack wasn't working yet after the accident. There was a note on the table. It said:
Tim, Jack, I'll be out all day looking for a job. There should be some food left from yesterday, but you can order take-out if you want. I'll be back before seven. Maeve
"Wanna watch Call Me By Your Name?" Tim suggested.
"What do you think?" Jack laughed.
They popped down on the sofa, close to each other and turned on the TV. Tim opened Netflix and started playing Call Me By Your Name
Jack snuggled closer to Tim and looked him in the eyes. He immediately got lost in them.
"You lost something there, mate?"
"Uhm...no." Jack cleared his throat.
"Alright." Tim kissed him gently again.
They were approaching the end of the movie when Tim lay his head on Jack's chest and fell asleep.
When he woke up, there was a cup o' tea on the coffee table Jack made for him.
"Good morning, sunshine!" Jack exclaimed.
"Oh....hi." Tim moaned.
"How long was I out?" he asked.
"About an hour."
"Are we like, officially dating now?" Jack contemplated
"I guess."
"We keep it a secret, right?"
"Yeah. I think it's for the best." Tim sighed.
"I'm sorry"
" Well, as long as we can still be together, I don't mind." Jack smiled towards his boyfriend.
As months passed, they managed to keep it a secret. After his shift at McIlrath, Tim returned home one day and found Maeve and Jack playing with a birman cat. Tim just chuckled lightly, what his eyes met was an incredible sight. Tim greeted them and asked what that was about.
"We found it on the side of the road there." Maeve pointed with her index finger to the other side of the road, while stroking the cat's head. "Can we keep it?" she pleaded.
"Just for clarification. You know you're expecting a baby, right? And in 4 months already. That's pretty soon."
"Yeah I know," she touched her big stomach
"This could be like a preparation for the baby, Timmy. Come on." Jack added.
"Alright. We can keep the cat." Tim gave in.
"Timmy? What is this? A nickname?" Maeve got suspicious.
"Uh....yeah. We've known each other since high school. I thought it was time for nicknames. Right, Jacko?" Tim snorted.
"Yeah." O'Connor commented.
"Okay, then."
- - - - - - -
One day when Maeve was shopping in a mall, she felt something weird. She could feel her legs were kinda wet and then she looked down to see her pants were wet as if she had peed herself. She panicked and called Tim.
"TIM! MY WATER JUST BROKE!"
"Where are you? I'm coming."
Maeve told her brother to meet her at Cork University hospital, as she was just about to call an ambulance.
When Tim and Jack arrived at the hospital, Maeve was already in a hospital room, dressed in a hospital gown and just laying on the bed. "Guys!" She greeted them happily.
"Hey sis. How are you holding on?" Tim asked her genuinely.
"I'm bloody scared, Tim." She replied with a panicked chuckle.
"It's going to be okay, M. You've got us and we've got you." Jack points out.
As it was getting darker outside, around 7pm, the doctor told Maeve that it was time. They prepared her and moved her to a different room where she gave birth to a healthy little girl that she named Rebecca.
Both Tim and Jack waited outside during all the pushing and screaming as none of them actually wanted to see that.
But as soon as it was possible for them to see Maeve and her child, they entered the room. They saw a very exhausted Maeve in a hospital gown, holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket. The baby was crying and so was Maeve.
"Oh my Lord. She's so cute!" Tim stepped closer to his niece.
In a few hours, they were already good to leave, so they headed home.
Prior to Rebecca's birth, they've already put together her crib.
When they arrived home, Maeve put Rebecca to sleep and then she fell asleep too. She was really tired.
Meanwhile, Jack and Tim were in their bedroom, cuddling on the bed. They shared a passionate kiss and Tim laid his head on Jack's shoulder.
"I think we should tell Maeve. Soon. It's been almost a year." Tim sighed, looking up at his boyfriend's face.
"Yeah, it'd be for the best." He replied.
The next morning, as they were sitting at the kitchen table, the men looked at each other nervously and Jack nodded firmly towards Tim. The latter then cleared his throat and started: "Maeve we need to tell you something."
"What is it, Tim? Is something wrong?" She questioned a bit nervously.
The cat, they named him Ronan, brushed his tail at Maeve's leg under the table.
"Uhm... Jack and I, we're uh we're kinda like, going out." He revealed, raising his voice at the end of the sentence as if he wasn't sure if it was true. Then Jack nodded again, his lips forming a big genuine smile. Maeve just sat there, holding Rebecca in her hands, not saying anything, until finally she opened her mouth: "I'm so happy for you, guys. How long?"
"Pretty much since he moved in." Her brother smirked towards Jack and chuckled.
"And they were roommates." She announced, giggling.
As months passed, nothing much had changed. Until one day, when Tim was napping on the couch, and he heard a knock on the door. He opened his eyes and realized he was home alone. He went to open the door and saw Declan McGowell, who also works at the McIlrath Bar, looking kind of relieved. Tim was confused as to where Jack, Maeve and Rebecca had gone. He went into the kitchen looking for a note that would tell him where they'd gone, but what he found was not what he was expecting. He realized everything looked just like before Maeve and Jack moved in. He checked his mobile phone if either of them texted him, but he only had one missed call from his boss at McIlrath. He didn't understand why, as he had taken vacation days to hang out with his boyfriend. He called his boss back and he told him that they were worried at work because he wasn't answering his phone and they sent Declan to check on him. Tim was still confused, but got ready to go back to work.
As Declan parked his car outside, Tim started his shift. And what he saw felt like a déjà vu, as there was Jack O'Connor sitting by the bar, drinking Guinness. Tim realized he had fallen asleep and only dreamt about dating Jack and Maeve giving birth. He then also found out this was the day Jack would get run over by Declan's brother. That's why Tim insisted on driving Jack home himself. He knew Jack's brother had kicked him out earlier that day, so they drove to Tim's house. Jack was really drunk and Tim thought it was unsafe to leave him by himself, so he told his boss he couldn't come in that day anymore. It's great Tim's boss was so understanding or he would've lost his job.
He put Jack on the bed to sleep and after an hour he headed to bed too. At that point, Tim was pretty sure he loved Jack.
He gave him a soft kiss on the lips and it woke Jack up, but he didn't pull back. He kissed back!