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“So what happened then? Did you ask her about screaming her ex-boyfriend’s name?”

Mari sat cross-legged on Belle’s bed, hugging a pillow to her chest while staring at me wide-eyed in rapt attention, anxious for me to answer her question.

Belle was frowning, also on her bed but leaning against the side wall with her knees up and her arms clasped around her legs.

I sat in the desk chair, shrugging as I looked out the window. “There was no time. Once we realized her dad was outside trying to break down my front door, we got dressed in a hurry. So I’m standing there, frantically pulling on my clothes, but I’m mentally rehearsing everything I was gonna say to him, you know? Stuff about how I cared deeply for his daughter and wanted to apologize for the subterfuge.”

What I didn’t tell the girls was that I’d already run through these mental scenarios a few times over the past few months in very general terms. Even putting aside the near inevitability of Naimh’s parents catching us sooner or later, in plain simple fact I was schtupping six teenage girls, any one of whose parents could eventually show up promising me eternal damnation. Well, not Belle’s dad anymore, but even he had caught us at an inopportune moment.

“I never got the chance to put my thoughts into practice though,” I continued. “Once we got to the front door, Neevie stopped me and told me to stay inside. I started arguing with her that I had to step up and take responsibility for my own actions, but she didn’t listen to me. She just opened the door and walked out, calling ‘Dad!’”

“What did he do?” Mari asked breathlessly.

“He shouted her name from the front driveway. Apparently he’d gone back to yelling at the upstairs window. But once he heard Neevie call, he came charging back toward the front door. There was this big vein bulging on his bright red forehead as he stared daggers at me with plain intent to murder me.”

“So you didn’t stay inside?”

I shook my head. “I walked out to meet him. But I only got two steps before Neevie turned around, planted both hands on my chest, and started shoving me back into the house. Took me by surprise, and she had the leverage, so I wound up backpedaling just to not fall over.”

“And you just let her?” Belle scoffed.

I sighed. “She was all, ‘Stay HERE, Matty! He won’t come into your house - it’s a respect thing. But you go out there, there will be a fight on the front lawn, cops will be called and all that. He’ll try to kill you!’ I tried to insist, ‘He won’t try to KILL me.’ But Neevie was serious. ‘We’re IRISH. We got tempers.’”

Mari giggled. Belle shot her a look. Mari deflated a little.

“Then Neevie gave me a pleading look, said, ‘I don’t want you to hurt him, and I don’t want him pissed off that you beat him in a fight.’ I tried to say I wouldn’t fight him, but she backed up, slammed the door, and turned around to grab her dad like five feet away.”

“Did you lock the door?” Mari stared at me wide-eyed.

“What? No. I wasn’t afraid of him. He was pretty out of shape.”

“He was a lividly angry dad,” Belle drawled. “I’d have put money on him.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I muttered sarcastically. “Anyway, I opened the door again and took three steps out. She was poking him in the chest, he was yelling, and she started yelling about how every normal high school girl gets to date and fall in love and be with the people they wanna be with but he had to get all crazy overprotective and lock her up in the castle tower every night. He was trying to say he was just defending his daughter’s honor or something, and then he saw me and shoved Neevie out of the way so he could come kick my ass.”

“Wait, DID you fight him?” Mari gasped.

I shook my head. “I was all ready to do the macho thing and stand toe-to-toe with him. But no.”

Belle frowned and mused, “I wonder if Conor fought him.”

I shot her a look, and she blushed.

Mari asked impatiently, “What happened?”

“Neevie shoved him with both arms and got herself between us. They started howling at each other, but their words got really jumbled up and I couldn’t understand them anymore with those fast and thick Irish accents overlapping on top of one another. It was kinda hot, actually, watching her get all feisty and challenge him. I think Neevie started airing their dirty laundry, because her dad started getting nervous and looking around to see if any of the neighbors were coming over to see what the commotion was about.”

Mari giggled.

“Finally, Neevie’s mom stepped in and started yelling at both of them. Her dad kinda shut up but he jabbed his finger at the cars on the curb. And when they started to leave, I walked forward again and told Neevie we still needed to talk. She glanced back at me all annoyed and said, ‘Not today, Matty!’ I asked her when, and she just yelled over her shoulder, ‘Not today!’” I shrugged. “Neevie and her mom got into her car. She pulled out first and drove away. Her dad gave me one last hateful glare, and then he got in his car and drove off too.”

Mari clutched the pillow to her chest a little tighter, looking a little pale. Belle was staring off into space, and I couldn’t get a read on her emotions.

“Anyways,” I wrapped up. “I walked to the end of the driveway, stared down the road for a while until the cars were out of sight, and tried to collect my thoughts. Then I came over here and you two know the rest.”

Belle nodded, glanced at Mari, and muttered, “Code Blue.”

Mari nodded glumly in response.

My eyeballs clicked back and forth as I stared at first one girl and then the other. “‘Code Blue’?” I asked, not understanding.

Belle had already grabbed the cordless phone from her nightstand and started dialing.

“Girls thing,” Mari explained. “It means drop everything and come over here right away. We’ve only had like ... three ... ever.”

“Sam?” Belle said into the phone a few moments later. “Sorry to bother; I know you’re busy. Code Blue ... Yes, I’m serious. Neevie’s parents just caught her and Matty. They came over to his house and everything ... Uh, no, not like that. They didn’t barge into his room or anything. Just outside banging on the door ... Yeah, I’ll explain when you get here. Uh-huh ... Sure ... Yeah ... No, we’re at my place ... Uh-huh ... Oh, and I know Zofi’s at dance practice, but see if you can get ahold of her ... Uh-huh ... Yeah, Mari’s already here. I’m calling Alice next. Bye.”