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Post by celticthunder1510 on Jun 18, 2011 22:56:40 GMT -5
Chapter NINETY SIX
“Um.” he swallowed hard to get something wet in his mouth to talk with. “I am house sitting for one of me mates who just got married. He’s on his honeymoon to California for the surfing. He’ll be home in a week or so. What brings you here?”
Frankie smiled at him and said, “I am doing a favor for a friend. I live in the States and I am in a band, Chili con Celtic. We just released our fourth CD in the states and in the Celtic community it is selling like hotcakes. I have to leave in a month to go play on tour with them and hit a few Highland Games gigs in the Northeast United States. You should hear our sound. It is killer stuff, if I do say so myself. Are you still making music?”
He smiled and said, “Yeah, I just got back last month from a six month tour of the United States and Canada with my band. We are pretty ‘killer’, too! You should hear our sound. I love what I do.”
“Maybe we can get together for dinner and do a CD exchange and see what each other has been up to. What do you think?” Her eyes twinkled at him. She was happy to see him. He looked amazing after all the years they were apart. ‘He really grew up and in all the good ways.’ she thought to herself. She shook herself out of her revelry to hear his answer.
“Yeah, that would be great. I could make you dinner at me mate’s place and we could listen to each other’s CD there. Is that OK with you?” he asked, hoping she would say yes. How he missed her smile!
“Is tomorrow night too soon for you, Neil?”
“Tomorrow night? Around 7, then? That would be wonderful, Frankie.” Then he hugged her and said in her ear, “It has been too long. I have missed you, Framkie darlin!”
The bartender cut in and said, “Taking the Stage again for one more set, Frankie Stuart!” As the crowd applauded she smiled and went back up on stage and began to play her brand of music, Neil noticed it was a funk infused bagpipe with metal guitars and sweeping drums which worked and was really good stuff, in his opinion.
She did not expect him to wait for her to finish her set but, he did. She bowed and said, “Thanks for the applause. I will be here all month playing and having the craic with you all!” to more applause. She walked over to Neil’s table and said, “You wanted to hear more of me music, darlin?”
“Well, when you went back on stage, I realized I did not have your mobile number and I would like it, darlin.” Neil said, smiling at her.
She realized she missed his smile. She gave him her number and said, “Do you want to go for a coffee now and catch up a bit? I’ve missed ya, Neil Byrne.”
Just then he got a phone call from Keith. “Yeah, Keith? Yeah I am out right now. In Donegal at the Bull and Claw. There’s a girl playing the pipes here.”
Keith, “Is she pretty?”
Neil, “Yeah.”
Keith, “Is she coming home with you? Are you gonna get lucky?” Neil, ‘No, the girl is not coming home with me.”
Keith, “Did you ask her out?”
Neil, “No. She asked me and I said yes.”
Keith, “About time, mate! You deserve to be happy, you know!”
Neil, “Thanks, mate. I will get home and tuck in yer house now.”
Neil hung up and laughed. Frankie asked, “I thought Keith was your friend. He sounds more like your brother and an older one at that!”
Neil laughed again and said, “Oh, he is my friend alright. He is like a brother to me but he is about nine years younger than I am. He acts like a Mother Hen, huh?”
Frankie said, “Well, it is nice to have friends that love you, Neil. Have you found a girlfriend of your own yet?”
He looked at her and smiled softly, “No, Frankie. I have not found a girl of my own yet. Have you found a guy of your own?”
She smiled her own soft smile, “No. I have no one to call my own yet, either.”
They left the Bull and Claw and walked into the night air. She took his hand and said to him in a soft voice, “Are we gonna do this? Reconnect, I mean? Neil I have missed you so much.”
He stopped and took her into his arms. He breathed in her perfume and smiled. “I would like to try to see if we could. If ya want to, that is. I have missed you, too Frankie. Very much.”
She walked with him to Keith’s house and he looked at her curiously. “Um, Frankie? This is where I stop for the night. Where do you go from here? There is only one more house on this road and it was rented by the rowdiest bunch of…”
“Keep going, Neil. You are digging quite the hole there for yourself. Yes, I am living there for the month. We all thought the guy that lived here was amazing but he left for a week and he got this quiet guy in to house sit for him for the week. Wait, YOU’RE the quiet guy?” Frankie realized that WAS who he was and, she cracked up laughing. “Oh, Neil! You used to be fun and rowdy, too! What happened? Don’t ya let your freak flag fly any more?”
“My freak flag flies when I am home and I can let it go at my place. This is me mate’s house and I don’t want to hurt it. I can be fun and rowdy if ya let me try, love!”
“You have a week, Neil. Impress me and we can see where we go from there, darlin.” Frankie said, smiling.
Neil watched her walk up the road and smiled as she vanished from his sight. He then turned to go in and panicked running inside and jumping on the phone to catch Keith before he went out to surf again. Ariella laughed and called out for him to get the phone it was Neil again.
Neil, “Keith! I have a very serious question for you. Answer me honestly. Do I have a freak flag still flying?”
After Keith cracked up laughing, he asked in his seriously amused voice, “Um, sure, Neil. It is drooping a bit but, you still have a freak flag. Why are you asking?”
Neil told him about the conversation he had just had with Frankie and asked him, “What am I doing wrong that I don’t have a girl and you all do? I just want to have a love of my own. I mean, it is sad when your baby sister has a man in her life and I have no one and I should be married by now. Who am I kidding? I lost the love of my life in her and I want her back. She said I have to ‘Impress’ her. With what? How do I do that?”
Keith, “You will find something to impress her with, I know you. You have a freak flag and it flies when you want to cut loose and have fun.” To Ariella, he thought, ‘Neil is in a spot of trouble. He has a girl Frankie, the love of his life come back to him and she wants him to impress her. Can you maybe help him impress her, darlin?’
Ariella looked at him and smiled, ’Are you asking me to use my powers to get Neil’s old flame to fall for him again? Is that what you are asking me?’
‘Yes, love. Is it so hard for me to beg you to help my friend out with his love life a bit?’
Ariella sighed and said, ‘I will see what I can do to help Neil out. Don’t worry about him, OK, love?’ as she leaned over and kissed Keith on the top of his head and said aloud, “Hey Neil! Love ya and miss ya! Don’t blow up our house or nothing, OK?” and then she laughed as she went inside the hotel room.
Ariella went to the mirror and called out for her cousin Adora who popped in really quickly. She yawned, ‘Ari? I am so bored out of my mind. What can I do for you just for fun?’
‘Well, how bout working a bit of your love magic on one of our friends and his first love?’ Ari then told her the story of Neil and Frankie as far as she knew and Adora said, ‘Ooh, a project! I love a good project and this one is a bit different as it is with mortals. I love it. I got this one, Ari. Go have fun with your sexy Keith and let me at Neil and Frankie. Never you mind, Cous! I got this.’
Adora popped into Neil’s room at Keith’s house and smiled as she watched him getting ready for bed. He came out of the bathroom in his jammies and padded over to bed. He slid in and went to sleep unaware of Adora in his room. She thought he was adorable and deserved to have a love of his own for a change. She sprinkled her best irresistible dust in his hair and popped off down the road to Frankie who was in bed as well in a very old tee shirt and boxer shorts and she smiled to herself. Adora read her mind and saw that the shirt she was wearing was one of Neil’s old shirts from when he was a kid. Adora knew this would work now so, she sprinkled the magnetic irresistible dust in her hair and smiled as she told Ariella, ‘Tomorrow, cousin. Things will happen and it will be amazing for these two!’
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Post by celticbear on Jun 18, 2011 23:08:15 GMT -5
Boy having a muse for a wife sure does come in handy! Got give Kudos for Adora doing her stuff! Neil and Frankie are perfect for each other! UPDATE SOON! PLEASE!
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Post by HburgEagle44 on Jun 18, 2011 23:20:52 GMT -5
Aw Neil's getting his girl back... Update!
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Post by !!DerryChick!! on Jun 18, 2011 23:31:10 GMT -5
Ayee!!!!!!!!!!!! Updateee!!!
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Post by DaughterofOphelia on Jun 19, 2011 15:42:00 GMT -5
I love it Chris!!!! Update again soon Please!!!!
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Post by GalwayGirl on Jun 19, 2011 19:16:31 GMT -5
I loved all of the last updates!!! Glad that Neil finally has someone as well!!! I can't wait to see what happens next!! Update soon please!!
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Post by celticthunder1510 on Jun 19, 2011 19:49:07 GMT -5
Thank you very much! there are one or two surprises left in this tale I promoise!
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Post by celticthunder1510 on Jun 19, 2011 21:32:30 GMT -5
Chapter NINETY SEVEN
That next day, Keith called to check in on the house and find out if Neil had gone to the Post Office to get his mail from the fan mail box yet. Neil was coming back from the Post Office with a ton of packages for Keith and Ariella from their wedding and was amazed at how much stuff they had gotten crammed in that Post Office that was for Keith! Neil had already made two trips and was on his way for his third when he saw Frankie out running on the road in a familiar looking tee shirt and sweat pants. When she came up and passed his car, he looked at her shirt and shouted out the window, “Hey! Oi! That is MY shirt from 20 years ago. It looks nicer on you than it ever did on me. Would you want to come with me to the Post Office? I have to pick up Keith’s mail for him. Just a quick little run and then I can go running with you if you want some company.” He grinned at her and thought to himself, ‘She will flip when she sees the amount of mail for Keith at the Post today!’
She looked at him and smiled. She got in his car and breathed deeply like he did. When they looked into each others eyes again, she was instantly smitten with him all over again. He was already smitten but his feelings were coming back full force and it scared and thrilled him to no end.
They got to the Post Office and picked up the three mailbags of mail full for Keith and Frankie asked, “Who is Keith that he gets THIS much mail? You would think he is in a band or something with the amount of mail in these sacks!”
“He IS in a band, love. He is the blond surfer god of Celtic Thunder. The same band I am in as well. We both play guitar and sing.”
She blushed so red, he thought she was going to self combust with embarrassment. “Oh, wow! I knew you had given then the song ‘Noreen’ but I so did not connect you to being in the band, Neil. I am sorry.”
“That’s OK. I mean, how would you know?” he tried to hide his disappointment from her. He wished she had followed his career like he had followed hers. He knew of her band and had bought all of their CD material. He drove the lads nuts on the tour bus with this mix of bagpipes and electric guitars and the drums and he knew all of her songs. She could sing very good-she was a tenor like Emmet but far prettier in his eyes.
She sighed and touched his arm. Her touch was like fire on his skin. She said, “Neil? Do you have your CD material from Celtic Thunder here at Keith’s house so I can listen to it? I have all of my songs on CD and I can bring the collection to you.”
He smiled his quicksilver grin and said, “You don’t have to bring your stuff to me. I have all of your band’s CD stuff and I listen to it a lot. I have our newest stuff that has not even been released yet as well as our old CD stuff. You can listen to it tonight when you come for dinner. You can bring the wine, if you want to.”
“Any hints on what is for dinner?” she asked hoping he would give her a clue.
“Do you like steak?” he asked softly, noticing she had not removed her hand from his arm yet.
She finally moved her hand to move her hair off her face and then she said, “I love steak. Are you grilling outside?”
Neil looked into Frankie’s eyes at a stop sign. “I can grill the heck out of a steak. I was thinking about doing a grilled dinner. Be there by 7 and find out.” When they got back to Keith’s house, she helped him carry the sacks of mail into Keith’s living room and saw the rest of the mail there and gasped. “Is most of this from the fact that he got married?”
Neil nodded and said, “You should have seen the mail from when Damian got married. He actually got a bed delivered to him in the mail. Can you believe it? Oh, and there are NO BEDS in this mail for Keith, I can vouch for that!” he finished with a small laugh.
Frankie asked, “Who sends a BED to anyone in the mail? That is mental, right?”
“Yep. Right!” Neil joined her in a laugh.
She went out to the living room and waited for Neil to change into running clothes. While she was waiting, she looked at the photos on the walls and the tables and saw Neil through the years in group shots of Celtic Thunder. He looked so handsome in the suits he wore, she laughed at the ones in the kilts and she smiled as he had his soul patch for years after they had gone their separate ways. She found herself wondering why they had not kept in touch after they split. She went to school in the States and he stayed in Dublin and then bounced to Donegal and she had followed him until he became a session musician and then she lost touch with him. She realized she missed him very much from her life.
They went for their run. They raced from spot to spot. They rand five miles around the loop of the road their homes were on and then came back to his house and she ran on to her place and drove her car up to his place again. She got out in a blue dress and ballet flats and looked amazing to Neil’s mind. She looked at Neil who was wearing a crisp white shirt and blue jeans with an apron on over his shirt that said, “When I ain’t grillin, I’m surfin!” She laughed and asked, “So? You surf?”
He laughed and shook his head, “I have tried to learn but, no. This is Keith’s apron. He is the surfer in the band. He tries to teach all of us how to do it but, none of us have the balance he does.”
He used the remote control and turned on some Classic Celtic Thunder on Keith’s sound system. ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ came on and he smiled as she picked out his guitar work right away. She had brought her bagpipes in with her and was in the living room while he was out at the grill and he was listening to the music when he heard the drone of the pipes and then heard them join in and keep in harmony with his guitar which made him smile as she had not lost her touch. She could always keep in time with his music.
He came in from the grill with the steaks, baked potatoes and corn on the cob and set up plates for them to eat. They ate dinner and talked about their music and what was playing on the CD player as Neil had loaded a mix of her band and Celtic Thunder in the CD player so they could talk about each other’s music. It was a light and easy conversation between the two of them and it made both of them relax and lessened the tension built up.
Neil went into the kitchen and came out saying, “I make the one dessert really well and that is the strawberry shortcake. I cut up a couple of quarts of strawberries in a huge bowl and poured a cup of sugar over them to macerate them in their own juice and then I poured them over angel food cake and covered them with whipped cream. This is the one dessert I can make from scratch. And I was trying to impress you with my kitchen skills, Frankie, I swear I was.”
She laughed as the whipped cream squirted up and hit Neil in the nose. She reached out and wiped it off his nose with the pad of her thumb and licked it off her thumb with a smile on her face. He reached out and took her face in his hands and kissed her lips, impulsively. She was nervous but, she relaxed into his embrace and sighed against his lips. When he broke the kiss, she said, “I have been waiting for you to do that all night, Neil. What took you so long?”
He smiled and kissed her again. She spent the better part of the next week helping Neil go through Keith’s fan mail and organizing it into piles he should read and piles he should burn (because after all they all got some form or another of not nice mail and they usually did not read any of that nonsense) for fire starters. The gifts were cataloged in a notebook in her neat handwriting and by repeats so they could donate those that were repeats to a local homeless shelter so the items could be used and given to needy people. They were in the process of that organization when Keith came bounding into his house and saw her sitting at his kitchen table should deep in fan letters saying, “Neil, do I have to put those away? Quit trying to learn to mess with the pipes or you will break the plumbing, love!”
Keith’s eyebrow came up but, went crazy when he said, “Did you see the STUFF in these pipes? If Keith saw this he would laugh at what I have found in here!”
Keith chimed in, “Oh, really, Neil? And what have you found in me pipes, mate?”
Neil laughed himself silly and said, “Frankie’s bagpipes, mate! She had three pieces of gum holding one of the pipes together and I think it is funny. Love? Let me take these to the pipers and get this pipe fixed proper for you, please? I think it will work so much better if it is fixed good and proper.”
She sighed and said, “OK! You want to do this for me? Sure you can go and do this and I will clear off Keith’s kitchen table from all the fan mail he has here, OK, darlin?” She finally got up and showed Keith her face. He thought she was beautiful and he whistled appreciatively as she started to gather up the letters and put them into the files they had set up and put them into the filing cabinet marked ‘Fan Mail for Keith’.
Ariella came in and saw the controlled chaos and laughed. “You must be Frankie? My name is Ariella Harkin and that big kid over there smiling at you working so hard? That is Keith Harkin, my husband and the guy that owns this place. How are you doing?”
She shook hands with Ariella and said, “If you need help organizing this mess, let me know. We have been doing the best we could but, we sort of needed you two here to help us with the job-it will go masses quicker if you can help, you know?” She looked at her watch and said, “Holy cricket! Neil! If we don’t get those pipes fixed by 7, I can’t go on tonight with me band and we need to get a wiggle on it! Move your body! I am sorry we have to run like this but, I am doing a gig at the Bull and Claw tonight and we have to fix what Neil broke.”
“It was already broken, love. We need to get it fixed the right way-not held together with gum and duct tape! Come on we need to go! Bye, Keith and Ariella! Come to the gig tonight and see her do her thing, guys. She is amazing!” Neil received a kiss on the lips and he said, “That is my warning to move my body or I won’t get another one of those! Bye guys!”
Ariella and Keith looked at the now clean kitchen and asked each other at the same time, “What was that?” and then they laughed their heads off and kissed each other.
Keith called Emmet to let him know he was now home and asked him what Chellie and him were up to that night. When Keith heard they were having quiet evening at home, Keith invited them to come to the Bull and Claw and hear a new gig there. He did not tell him what it was only that it would be good craic to see what was shaking there.
At the piper repair shop, it took the artisan only a valve to fix the leak in her pipe and it was a twenty minute job. When it was done, they were walking back to the car when Frankie’s phone rang. The bass player for her band had fallen and broken his right hand in two places and could not play that night. Chili con Celtic needed to find a replacement and fast! Neil said, “Don’t panic, love. I can fill in for him, can’t I? I know all of the chord progressions and I can do the songs, I know I can.”
She looked at his face and said, “There is one little problem with that, darlin. The way you look-you look too straight-laced for our band. Our bass player has a blue streak in his hair and he wears earrings in his ears and a choker with spikes on it. We have to fix you up a bit. Come on!”
She took him into a drug store and got the temporary blue hair dye and then took him to a jeweler to get three studs in his right ear and five in his left and took him to a teen shop and got a collar with spikes on it and put it on his neck. She found him a black tee shirt and a pair of black leather pants and then she went to work on him and, by the time he was all set to go on that night, he looked like he belonged there with all work she had done. She was rushing him so fast, he did not have a chance to see himself in a mirror. He took her word that he looked ‘Hot!’ and rolled with it.
The bar manager said, “And, now let me introduce our band for the night Frankie Stuart and Chili con Celtic!”
Keith, Emmet, Ariella, and Chellie came in at the last minute and took seats in the back cornier of the room. They had a great view of the bass player and when they saw who it was they all took their phones out and took pics of him and said in each other’s minds, ‘Is that NEIL up there?’ Chellie read his mind and she thought to the rest of the group, ‘Holy cricket, that IS Neil!’ Keith immediately posted the pic to Twitter with the caption ‘Neil’s other gig!’ and waited for the feed to go nuts. Damian saw the feed and called Keith immediately. “Is that nutter onstage right now really NEIL?” he asked not quite believing the pic or the caption.
“Yeah that is him, Damo. He looks as cool as you did in your Glee Project days!” Keith said, laughing.
The next call came in from George who asked the same questions that Damian had asked but George got off the phone and shook his head laughing his head off at how Neil was so twisted up over his girl to not see how punk he looked.
Paul responded from New York City with the Tweet ‘Did Halloween come early this year in Ireland? Rotfl!’
Someone was filming the whole performance in blocks and posting it to YouTube as it was happening so the fans who spotted the pics Keith posted, saw Neil jamming with this band and overloaded his Twitter with questions as to whether he was leaving Celtic Thunder and begging him not to leave. Keith got on his Twitter page and said ‘Neil is not leaving our band-I promise you!’
When they took their first break, Neil checked his cell phone and found 500 messages on his Twitter account and wondered what was happening. He was shocked beyond belief when he saw the lead pic of HIM and Keith’s tag line next to it. He scanned the crowd and found Keith and Emmet (?) with Chellie and Ari and he swallowed hard. He sent the bar manager to get them and bring them to the backstage area so he could tell them what was going on.
Keith and Emmet came backstage and saw the full effect of Neil in all his hardware-the collar, the leather gloves, the metal belt and the leather pants and just grinned ear to ear with wonder at the clothes. Neil said, “Now, lads. I did this as a favor for Frankie. Her bass player broke his hand in two places and they needed a fill in, I had to dress the part so she gave me a punk make over. I admit it is a bit shocking but, it was me from like 15 years ago so, it is like visiting my past. I could never show Sharon this but, I guess now, she will see it-THANKS KEITH!” as he slugged him in the arm. “I wonder who is out there posting the video feed to YouTube, though. We have all seen that and it is really good but, they seem to be zeroing in on Frankie and me. We want to get them to stop. It is making Frankie nervous and, frankly, the less Sharon sees of me in all my punk glory, the better, right?”
Keith said, “Is that hair color permanent or temporary? And where did you get your metal jewelry? You look so um, tough!” as he coughed back laugher.
Emmet said, “Um, you do look tough, Neil but, you also look like you could set off the magnetic sensors at every airport in Ireland!” as he bit back a bit of laughter himself.
“Look, we are going back up for our second set. We can get a coffee later, OK? Just be kind, OK?” Neil said as Frankie was introduced again and they went back and took their seats. Frankie and the band played the musical version of ‘Noreen’ with Frankie doing the vocal parts on her bagpipes and she drew applause for her efforts and Neil smiled as he played the bass bit for it.
When the show was over, Neil went back stage and took off the metal works and changed into a white shirt and left the leather pants and the freshly pierced earrings in his ears. He came back out and the guys were shocked with his appearance. They went to get coffee and Emmet said, offering his hand to Frankie, “The lads are awful at introducing people to me. My name is Emmet Cahill and this is my finacee, Chellia. You must be Neil’s Frankie. Nice to meet you finally. Keith told us how you are organizing his fan mail for him. Very nice of you to do.”
Frankie sized up Emmet and Keith and said, “Well, thank you for coming to see my band and me perform live. We love our style. What do you think of our music?”
Keith said, ‘You play amazing! You have your music on CD? I would love to get some! I have never heard Bagpipes fused with metal guitar before and it sounds awesome.” He went to their vendor and picked up all of their CD music and brought it back to the table. He said, “It is too good to only get one.” He opened up the last one and looked at the dedication section. He was floored when he saw in Frankie’s section: I wish to thank the love of my life, Neil Byrne for telling me I could follow my dream and not be afraid no matter the cost. For that I love him to this day. He wondered if Neil had seen this and what he would do with that once he saw it.
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Post by celticbear on Jun 19, 2011 21:45:52 GMT -5
Chris! This update was Awesome! Love how Frankie got all of Keith's fan-mail somewhat organized! But what I love the best was the punking of Neil Byrne! You can bet Sharon saw the pics! She more than likely fainted with shock and then after coming to realized she needs to have a LONG TALK WITH NEIL! UPDATE SOON! PLEASE!
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Post by DaughterofOphelia on Jun 19, 2011 21:47:30 GMT -5
I LOVE IT Chris!!!!!!!!! Update soon PLEASE!!!!!!!!!
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Post by GalwayGirl on Jun 19, 2011 22:29:16 GMT -5
I loved it!!!! I bet Sharon will probably freak out.... Hehe I can't wait to see what happens next!! Update soon please!!!
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Post by celticthunder1510 on Jun 20, 2011 15:13:45 GMT -5
Chapter NINETY EIGHT
Keith slid the CD jacket around the table for everyone to look at it and Emmet saw the same dedication Keith had seen and his eyebrow raised the same way Keith’s had. They both thought into Chellie and Ari’s minds and showed them the dedication and they both took Frankie aside and asked her about Neil’s makeover and how she got him to go piercing happy and she said, “I just did it. Thank the goddesses he went with it and did whatever I asked him to do-he was easy to makeover to what I needed him to look like.” She thought it over for a minute and the she asked in a small voice, “Do you think his bosses are gonna kill him when they see what I did to their handsome straight-laced boy?”
While Chellie and Ari were putting her mind at some ease, Keith and Emmet were showing Neil the dedication in Frankie’s last CD and his heart did a flip. ‘She still loves me!’ he thought to himself happily. ‘Now, what do I do with that bit of good news?’
The call Neil was dreading finally came in-Sharon. “Hey, Sharon?”
Sharon, “Um, Neil? What were you thinking or should I ask what were you DRINKING that you did that to your look?”
Neil, “Sharon most of it is temporary. I can fix the color of my hair and I can take out the earrings in a few weeks.”
Sharon, “Thank God the color is temporary. A few WEEKS you can take the earrings out?”
Neil, “Well, seven of the holes in me ears are brand new ones.”
Sharon, “You DO know we have tour pics to take in three weeks, Neil. Then you have August off and we start touring in September in New York City. You gonna be ready to play with us, your paying gig by then?”
Neil gulped, “Yes, Sharon I know about the pics in August. You may have to CGI my hair back to its sandy brown but, I will have the earrings out by then. Oh, and, can I meet you in New York City? I have a promise to keep to the love of my life and then I am all yours for the whole tour.”
She sighed, “Yes, Neil. Whatever. Just be here in three weeks and looking as normal as you can.” She rang off and shook her head laughing to herself, ‘If one of them had to go rogue, why on God’s green earth was it Neil of all of them?" Frankie came up and put her arms around his waist. “Are you OK with Sharon? Did I mess you up with her?”
Neil sighed and relaxed in her embrace. “No, you did not mess me up with her. She may go mental with my hair but she can fix it in CGI. Everything else is adjustable, love! Guess I found my freak flag huh, darlin?”
Emmet said, “And HOW!” making everyone laugh a good tension releasing laugh. “When did you ever look like this?”
Frankie laughed and said, “Emmet, he used to look like this all the time when I knew him some 20 years ago.” She kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear, “You STILL look hot like this, Neil. I always loved your freak flag. It was nice to see it again.”
He smiled and said, “Thanks, darlin. I needed to hear that!”
The next call that came in was from Keith, Kevin and Sami. They got their dad’s phone and called. He put them on speaker phone.
Sami, “Unca Neil? You dyed your hair blue? COOL!”
Kevin, “Mom said there was NO WAY I could do that to my hair ever! How come you can and you are so old?”
He heard a smack and Sami said, “You numpty! Never call Unca Neil old! He is adorable and cute and young! So there!”
Kevin said, “Sorry, Unca Neil.”
Neil laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “Where is Keith in all of this? He Keith, I missed you nephew man!”
Keith, “Unca Neil? Do you have a girlfriend? Is she the pretty one with the bagpipes? She is nice!”
Neil, “Do you like my hair, Keith?”
Keith, “Well, it does look cool but, it is not you, Unca Neil. Auntie Sharon is gonna kill you when she sees it, huh?”
“She already has guys and no, she is not thrilled but she will get over it, I am pretty sure.”
Sami, “Can you come visit us, Unca Neil? I wanna see your cool blue hair for real!”
Neil did the math. It was an hour trip and then he realized the Bull and Claw was closed on Monday and that was the next day. He asked, “Hey guys, you wanna pile into cars and go see Teri Damo and our niece and nephews tomorrow?”
Sami said, “Come on, please come! We miss you all so much! Please?”
Emmet, Keith and Neil looked at the girls and said, “Please?” with those big puppy dog eyes.
Ari, Chellie and Frankie all said, “OK, what time?”
Sami, Keith and Kevin all said, “Soon as you can and thanks! We love you all very much!” and then they hung up the cell because they heard Damian say, “Who were you all on the phone with? Come on to bed with you all!”
Frankie was a bit nervous. “I feel like I am meeting your whole family all over again, Neil. Are they gonna like me?”
Keith said, “Oh, I think they are gonna be too concerned with Neil and his hair to worry about you, darlin.” as he laughed and ruffled Neil’s blue streaked hair.
Neil said, “Let’s go home and get ready for the road trip tomorrow, OK, guys? We are gonna have good craid tomorrow at Damo’s place!”
The next day, Frankie got up at 5 in the morning and was baking white chocolate chip cookies by the dozen. She made ten dozen cookies and put them in a giant box and put a ribbon in it with a tag saying for the McGintys and walked out to Neil’s waiting car. He asked, “What’s in the box, love? Whatever it is smells SO good!”
Frankie laughed and said, “I have a box of these for Keith and Ariella and Emmet and Chellie for the trip out to Damian’s house and these are for the kids. You were the one who told me that Damian’s favorite cookie in the world was white chocolate chip, right? I made 14 dozen and put ten in this box for them and gave one to Keith and one to Emmet and, yeah, there are two for us, love. I KNEW you skipped breakfast and, while this is not a healthy breakfast, it is still food and you cannot resist a good cookie with Irish cream coffee, can you?”
She scored all kinds of points from Emmet and Keith for the cookie gifts and then they all headed out for Damian and Teri’s house. When they got there, the kids went nuts and jumped on Emmet, and Keith first and then Neil got out of the car and they all pounced on him and ruffled his hair and kissed him on the cheeks. “Unca Neil!” they all said at the same time. “We have missed you so much!”
Damian offered his hand to Frankie and said, “Hey, I am Damian and this is my wife, Teri. The three children mauling Neil right now are Sami, Keith and Kevin. Guys? Can you let up on your Unca Neil and say hi to his girlfriend, Frankie. That’s right, isn’t it?” When she nodded he said, “What is that absolutely sinful smell coming from your car?” When he saw the box with the gift tag on it he said, “For us? You did not have to do that but, since you did, it would be rude not to look and see…” He opened the box and then he set it on the hood of the car and kissed Frankie’s hand and said, “Ahh! She knows what it takes to win this family over-COOKIES! Thank you, lass! These are mine if you three do not get off Uncle Neil right now!”
The kids got off Neil and laughed as they raced up to their father and said at the same time, “Can I have a cookie, daddy?”
Teri said, “After lunch, kids. You too, Damian!” She took the box away from him and he pouted just like the kids did. To Frankie, she said, “Honestly, you would think I was raising FOUR kids with the way he is over cookies!” as she laughed and put the box up on the top of the fridge and said, “You can have them after lunch, not before, you got me, all of you? This means you, Damian!” as the four of them directed pouts at Teri hoping to change her mind. “Oh real close but, you know? My mind is made up-nuff said.”
Frankie asked Neil, “Are the kids always like that? The talk like they have one voice sometimes-very creepycool, you know?”
He nodded, “Hey, we brought a ton of food so you don’t have to worry about feeding the masses. If you want to fire up the grill we can get started on the steaks and the potato salad and start lunch.”
Teri fired up the grill and Damian finally got a good look at Neil with the blue hair, He said, “Hey, the earrings and the hair? Nice! But, you know Sharon will have a major fit with you looking like that, mate.”
“She saw me on YouTube and she already freaked out. The hair color may not be all the way out of me hair by the photo shoots so, she is gonna have to CGI me a bit. No big deal. Now, what exactly did you do to YOUR hair, mate?”
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Post by DaughterofOphelia on Jun 20, 2011 15:27:50 GMT -5
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Update VERY soon PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by GalwayGirl on Jun 20, 2011 15:31:37 GMT -5
I loved it!!! Well at least Sharon wasn't too hard on Neil... Hehe I loved their reaction to the cookies!!! And what does Neil mean about Damo's hair!!!!!! Update soon please!!
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Post by celticbear on Jun 20, 2011 22:53:06 GMT -5
I think Sharon went to a bit to easy on Neil! And by the way it seems we have all forgoten that in the first CT DVD Neil was wearing earings! But by the second DVD,Sharon had him a bit more cleaned up! And I agree with GG! What did Neil mean by his comment about Damo's hair! UPDATE SOON! PLEASE!
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