When Love Comes to Town by Tom Lennon

give me a ring later.”
    “Right.”
    “All the best, Neil.”
    “All the best.” Neil put the phone down, closed his eyes in anguish, and cursed himself for being so careless. He had visions of Sugar calling around to the house and asking his dad if he could take his son out on a date. Oh Jesus, why had he gone into town?
    “Who was that, Neil?” his mum called.
    “Just someone about some job I applied for,” he said, joining her in the kitchen.
    “How did last night go?” His mum was making brown bread, her back turned to him.
    “Fine,” he said, taking the carton of orange juice from the fridge.
    “What time did you get home at?”
    “Not too late, around one.”
    “Put that in a glass!” his mum snapped without looking around.
    Neil shook his head and smiled. “How d’you know I was drinking out of the carton?”
    “I know what you’re like.”
    You probably do too , Neil thought. You probably even suspect who that was on the phone . Gulping his orange juice, he stared at his mum, in her floppy blue tracksuit and her white sneakers. What would she say if he told her where he had been the night before? Nothing, more than likely. She’d probably just wear her knees out praying to save his soul.
    “And someone left an empty milk bottle in the fridge last night.”
    “Must’ve been the fairies,” Neil said, unable to contain a self-mocking laugh.
    His mum looked around at him. “Go and put some clothes on.”
    “Is Jackie here?” Neil asked.
    His mum snorted derisively. “I’ve missed the last bus home,” she said in what was supposed to be an imitation of Jackie. “I don’t know how Michelle puts up with her, imposing on her and her flatmate like that all the time,” she added with a sigh.
    Neil furrowed his brow. Surely his mum didn’t really believe that Jackie stayed with Michelle. Of course not, it was just more of her hiding from the truth.
    “What’s the job?” his mum asked.
    “What?”
    “The man on the phone.”
    “Ah, it was just some office job Gary heard about,” Neil blustered, feeling his face redden.
    The doorbell rang, saving him from more lies. He slipped into his sweats while his mum answered the door.
    “Oh hello, Gary, hello, Trish.”
    Neil cursed under his breath when he heard his mum bringing the two lovebirds into the hallway and telling them he wasn’t dressed yet.
    “Nothing we haven’t seen already,” Gary replied, and Trish giggled.
    “Neil!” his mum called, laughing.
    Grinning, Neil went out into the hallway and greeted Gary and Trish with his best glad-to-see-you face.
    “Oh, he’s made himself decent,” his mum said.
    “No cheapo thrills for Trish in this house,” Neil said, wondering what the reaction would have been if he said no cheapo thrills for Gary.
    “Where did you get to last night?” Gary said, and Neil glared at him, flashing his eyes toward his mum, who was lingering at the kitchen door. She smiled at Neil before she went back into the kitchen.
    “You missed a great party at Tara’s,” Trish added.
    “Ah, I was out of my brains,” Neil said, motioning the pair of them into the living room.
    Gary and Trish gave him a blow-by-blow account of the late night party in Tara’s mansion. Who got off with whom. How many beers they drank. Who locked themselves in the parents’ bedroom with the waterbed for over an hour. How Mick Toner let off a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Who was smoking joints…Neil smiled as they described scenes he seemed to have experienced a million times, scenes he never felt part of. He wished he could tell Gary and Trish about his own night. Instead he told them he had puked his guts up and gone to Becky’s house to recover, aware that he was rapidly becoming one of Dublin’s most compulsive liars.
    “Right, get your act together,” Gary said, standing up and rubbing his hands together, “we’re going to Brittas Bay.”
    “Tom’s got his mum’s car,” Trish explained.
    “MacDaniels