Next To You

Here For You

As Heather stood at the entrance of the cemetery, clouds gathered and it started to drizzle. She opened up her umbrella and sighed. The sky seemed to feel the same way she did. Connelly stood erect next to the car, holding his own umbrella. Mya had her mom drop her off. She stood next to Heather as they waited for Eoin.

Mya could see something different in her, and she had so many questions, but because of where they were, it didn't seem appropriate.

Eoin finally pulled up to the curb in his truck and threw his hood on as he stepped out, "I'm here, sorry if I kept you waiting too long."

He glanced over and saw the man that had picked up Heather the night before. He couldn't help but feel intimidated by him. He shot an inquisitive look at Heather. She motioned for him to follow her and Mya as they made their way through the muddy grass, between grave markers.

She walked closely with him and spoke quietly, "that's Connelly, he's the guy my grandparents hired to keep an eye on me when I started high school. The worst he'll ever do is snitch on me to my grandparents, so I really have to watch what I do when he's around. I heard he used to be in the secret service though, so I don't know how stealthy he really is, and that is nerve-wracking to me."

Eoin peered back at Connelly, who was following at a short distance, "he's so serious, do you think he's ever killed anybody?"

Mya hid a giggle and peered at Heather's expression. She looked nervous, so Mya continued to stay quiet. They finally came to a stop, and Heather looked up at a concrete angel.

"This is it, my mother's grave," She knelt down and pulled out a small bouquet of yellow roses, then placed it at the base of the statue. She glanced up at Eoin and Mya, "yellow was her favorite color."

Heather bowed her head and closed her eyes, they joined her as she said a little prayer, then they sat in silence. Eoin read the plaque on the angel's foundation. "Millicent Shannon O'Reilly, Beloved wife and Mother, Born 21 May 1975, Died 7 December 2010" it read.

"She was only 35 when she died? What happened to her?" Eoin hated to see Heather hurting so much.

"She had cancer... she should've been able to live a long, full life, but she didn't get that chance," Heather said sadly.

Mya turned to Eoin, "I didn't meet Heather until after it happened, but I heard she was a really wonderful person."

"She's the reason I do ballet, she was a dancer. She had a dream of becoming a famous one someday, until she met my father. When she first told the story to me, I was really young, she said her dreams changed once she met him. A handsome, educated young gentleman that could show her the world. It sounds rather cliché, but it was nice to hear growing up. People could tell they really loved each other though. My father was shattered when she passed away," Heather stared at the statue as if she were witnessing it all over again.

Eoin put an arm around her, "are you okay?"

Mya noticed how easily he had done it and felt the questions piling up in her mind, ready to spill over at any moment. She looked back at Connelly, his eyes seemed to narrow at the gesture, he was taking note of it.

Heather sighed and stood up, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to fully move on from this, but every year, it does hurt a little less. I guess I'm afraid I'll forget about them completely."

Eoin wanted to ask her what happened to her father, he recalled her telling him he had disappeared, but she didn't explain the story behind it. He figured the best thing to do was let her tell him when she was ready to.

Connelly came over and put a hand on Heather's shoulder, "it's time to leave now Ms. Heather, there's a storm coming."

She nodded at him then turned to Eoin and Mya, "thank you both for being here, I really appreciate it. I guess I'll see you in school."

She walked away with Connelly at her heels. He opened the car door for her and quickly ran to the driver's side as the rain came pouring down harder.

Eoin looked over at Mya, who was shivering from the cold and the rain, "do you need a lift?"

"That sounds wonderful, thank you Eoin, you are my hero, it's better than calling my mom and waiting for her out here in this awful weather."

As they drove away, Eoin pulled a towel out and started dabbing his face and hair with it, "there's another one in there if you want to try drying off, don't worry, it's clean. I wash my gym stuff every Friday night, because I usually have basketball practice on Saturday mornings, coach canceled it today though."

"Oh, thanks, but I think I'll be fine. I would, however, like to know what's going on between you and Heather," Mya came out and asked point-blank, seeing no reason to beat around the bush.

Eoin set his towel down as he turned a corner, not sure how he should answer, "not much really, we're just friends, that's pretty self-explanatory."

"Did she shoot you down? Because after last night, I figured you two would be dating already. Obviously, she told you her secret, so that's got to mean something, right?" Mya teased.

"No, nothing like that, I walked her home, or rather, to the bridge, we talked for a while, yes, she told me about herself, but I'll leave it up to Heather to talk to you about it, you are her best friend," Eoin completely avoided telling her anything she wanted to know.

She directed him to her house and he dropped her off. Before she got out, she looked him in the eyes solemnly, "fine, for the time being, I won't bother you about it, but at least answer this for me, is everything out on the table? Did she tell you how she felt?"

Eoin rested a hand on his steering wheel, and smiled to himself, "yeah, she really did. You have someone waiting on your front porch for you."

Mya looked over and saw Ivan standing there with her mother. She blushed, and with a quick goodbye, hopped out of the truck and ran up the walk. Eoin laughed and closed the door after her before he drove off.

Heather was completely committed to event planning. Every time Eoin saw her, she was in the middle of consulting with other students or helping to put up decorations. One morning, before classes started, he found her sitting on top of a ladder, trying to hang up a garland. She remembered to have someone hold onto the ladder this time. It was a guy from the student leadership club.

Eoin tapped his shoulder and the guy peered up at him in awe through his thick glasses, "hi, I'm-"

"Eoin Flannery... yes, everybody knows who you are. I'm Kevin Fielding, I'm the secretary of the student leadership club. Did you need something?"

"Actually, I was just about to volunteer to hold this ladder for you, do you mind?" Eoin said with a charming smile.

Kevin let go and gestured for Eoin to go ahead, "thanks Eoin, is it okay if I call you Eoin?"

"Of course, that is my name," Eoin teased, then reached over and grabbed the ladder.

"Oh, well, thanks again... I'm just going to go do some stuff over here," Kevin said in a quiet, shaky voice.

Heather had watched the interaction and smirked, she finished putting up the garland and started climbing down, "you have such a way with people Flannery."

Eoin heard the sarcasm in her voice, "what can I say, it's a gift? Do you always allow these opportunities for other guys to look up your skirt?"

Heather scoffed as she came down from her perch and faced him, "a little jealous, are we? Besides, I'm prepared for that, they all know if they try anything like that, they'll be punished."

"And what if they have a fetish for that? There are some very twisted people out there, Ms. Librarian, you should be more careful," Eoin teased her as he playfully brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek.

Heather laughed and turned away from him, "I'm fully aware of that, and I have taken that into consideration. It's why I asked Kevin to help me, because dear boy, anyone who knows Kevin personally, knows that he's not into that sort of thing."

Eoin raised an eyebrow, "and what does that mean?"

Heather picked up a box and rested it on her hip as she patted Kevin's shoulder, "it means he doesn't like girls."

Kevin had been staring at Eoin, when Eoin looked over at him, he started to blush and quickly looked away. Heather moved on to her next task, with Eoin right behind her. She knew Kevin had a crush on Eoin, too. She was wondering if there was anyone who didn't. Eoin didn't know how to respond, so he awkwardly started helping her with her tasks.

When the warning bell rang, Heather grabbed her bag and books and started walking to class. Mya met up with them in the hall.

"Hey, how are the preparations coming?" Mya asked cheerfully.

"A little slow, people keep bailing on me, and stuff keeps piling up. Thankfully, Eoin helped me out for a bit this morning, so I feel like we're getting things back on track. How's your end doing?" Heather asked as they entered their classroom.

"Good, for now. We'll have a lot of booths, but I'm having trouble with the music program part of it, I haven't been able to get a hold of anyone. Melody said she'd sing, but I still need to find more people to perform. What should I do?"

Heather thought for a moment, "I could probably solve part of that problem.The ballet class has a recital on Christmas Eve, but it would be good practice for them to get another performance in before then. I'll talk to the other ballet teachers and see what they think, and I'll let you know if I find anyone else."

Eoin observed them as they planned things. He could see how much other people depended on Heather and finally understood what Mya had meant when she told him before how Heather was more behind the scenes than people realized. He was seeing proof of her talent for keeping things running smoothly. When she was doing her jobs earlier, she didn't seem to be worried, even though she was losing people and ended up doing most of the work herself. He believed she thrived on it.

When he was on his way to basketball practice that afternoon, he saw her working alone.

"Where's Kevin?" he asked her as he stopped to see how she was doing.

"He had other things to do after school today. We're spread pretty thin right now, a lot of our members have other obligations, some got stuck with budget tracking, others got stuck with trying to book food vendors. This is the biggest event of the school year for us. No other event we plan will be quite as big," Heather was going down a list and checking things off.

Eoin wished he could stay and help, then he got an idea, "well I have to get to practice now, will you still be here later?"

Heather shrugged, "it depends on how long it takes me to get this stuff done, but I can't stay too late. My grandmother will bite my head off if I'm late for dinner again."

"How about tomorrow morning then? I assume you'll be here working again?" Eoin persisted.

She eyed him warily, "yes, probably."

Eoin smiled and kissed her forehead, "great, I'll see you then."

Mya walked home with her so they could make some calls and do more planning. They were sitting on her bed, when they finally took a break, she turned all her attention to Heather, "so, what's new with you? We haven't really had a moment to talk, just the two of us."

Heather knew she was hinting at something, but continued to go over some notes, "that's true, this stuff is pretty time-consuming."

"What's the deal with you and Eoin? I couldn't get any details out of him," Mya sat crisscross and rested her elbows on her knees attentively.

"There's no deal, we like each other, end of story," she knew Mya wanted details, and after a heavy sigh, gave in and told her everything.

When she finished, Mya's eyes were wide, and her smile, even wider, "I still can't believe, out of all the girls at school, you're the one who gets to know what it's like to be the focus of Eoin Flannery's attention. How does that make you feel Heather?"

"I don't wish to be the focus of anyone's attention, we've still continued to do what we always do, nothing has changed, except for the fact that we know how we feel about each other, that's all there is to it."

"Okay, fine. Way to be a downer, Heather, but still, who knew Eoin was such a romantic, it's just too wonderful," Mya squealed.

Heather smirked, "oh, okay, then what's the deal with you and Ivan? I told you about Eoin and I, now it's your turn."

"What? Well... okay, we've been hanging out a lot, but I don't think he likes me that way, he hasn't asked me out once, I've used my best flirting on him, but he doesn't seem to take a hint very well. I guess I shall resign to being single for now," Mya said, with a discouraged expression.

Heather shook her head, "I'm sure that's not true, maybe he just doesn't know how to ask you. Or maybe he just wants you two to get to know each other better first."

"Heather, that's pretty much what dating is, getting to know each other. At least you know Eoin likes you and plans to ask you out eventually. I never know what Ivan is going to do, I just don't know what he's thinking," she sighed in frustration.

Heather laughed, "that's not necessarily a bad thing Mya, just give it time, see what happens."

The next morning, Heather was back to setting up. Mya had just finished sending emails and mailing letters, then came to help her out. Not long after, Eoin showed up with rest of the members of the basketball team. Heather and Mya were stunned.

"Here you go, any heavy lifting or hard physical labor that needs to be done, we've got you covered," he grinned.

They all nodded, seeming to resent being there, but too polite to say anything. Even Ivan came to help.

Heather smiled graciously, "awesome, let's knock this out then."

She got excited when she saw how much they were getting done, they were officially back on schedule. Mya was instructing them from the top of a stepladder, and Heather was organizing task groups. They finished putting up a large platform for the stage and marked spaces for booths.

When she got a moment, she pulled Eoin off to the side, "I can't believe you did this, how did you get them to come and help?"

"A rousing speech, and maybe I intimidated them a little bit. I told you I'd do anything for you, Heather, and of course it's helping the school too," he added, once she shot a look at him.

"Well thank you, Eoin, this was really sweet of you and your teammates to help, I fully intend to reward all of you somehow after this is all over," she beamed.

During the next couple of weeks, they were able to catch up on everything, and Heather was able to help Mya out with the rest of the planning. Eoin came and sat with them at lunch one day and found them talking about the holiday bazaar music program.

"Since it's a great opportunity for the performing arts department to get donations, I convinced the drama club to do various holiday skits throughout the event, and the school choir and orchestra are more than happy to perform some holiday music. The other ballet teachers agreed to get the girls together to dance for it. I also found some more independent musicians here to join, too. So that pretty much covers the music program," Heather read off of a list to Mya.

"Oh thank goodness, I couldn't have done any of this without you, Heather, you're amazing. Now, the food vendors, Moira and Jenny both found a couple of local businesses who are willing to work some carts, one of the bakeries, and some new coffee shop, they're going to do hot cocoa and some other blended drinks, so we are so close to being done," Mya leaned back in her chair and let out a huge sigh of relief. "I don't know if I can do this next year.."

Eoin chuckled heartily, "I'm exhausted just hearing you two talk about it, and Mya, I don't think anyone would blame you."

"It is a lot of hard work, but so worth it when everything comes together. I have to admit though, I'll be glad when this is all over," Heather opened her lunch bag and quickly started eating.

"Amen to that! I'll be right back," Mya got up and walked off in a hurry.

Eoin turned to Heather, "what are you doing on friday night?"

Heather finished chewing and swallowed her food, "I'll probably be here, making sure everything is ready. Why?"

"Tara and Ryan have been asking about you, I thought we could go do something."

She dabbed her mouth with a napkin, "you could bring them to the bazaar, there will be stuff for them to do there."

"I know, but you'll be running things with the rest of the student leadership club, do you think we could do something during break?"

"Sure, that would be fine, just let me know when," she started putting her lunch things away.

"I would, but I don't have your number," he hinted with a goofy smile.

"Seriously Flannery? If you really wanted my number, you could've just asked me," she laughed.

"Okay, Ms. Librarian, may I have your number please?"

Heather pretended to ponder the question, "hmm, I don't know..."

"Seriously?"

She giggled, "I'm just messing with you, hand me your phone."

He took out his phone and gave it to her. She entered her number into it then handed it back. By his reaction, it was like she had handed him the world.

"I'll call you soon," he smiled triumphantly and winked at her before he got up and left.

She hid the fact that she was looking forward to hearing from him. Even though she cared for him, she felt like everything was slipping through her fingers. She wasn't sure how he planned to impress her grandparents, who were impressed by very little. She knew Eoin was an extraordinary person, but was afraid he wouldn't meet their ridiculously high standards. The anticipation was torture for her, and she couldn't see how someone would want to keep putting themselves through disappointment and humiliation for one person. Eoin said he would keep trying, and if all else failed, he wanted to be with her anyway, but she was still unconvinced.