Love, Rosie (161 page)

and
you
know
Rosie—it’s
fast.
So
fast
it
had
you
and
me
in
a
slump

on
the
floor
halfway
through,
watching
cartoon
stars
and
birdies
cir-

246

Cecelia
Ahern

cle
our
heads.
The
way
Gary
moved
was
incredible,
and
he’s
a
big

lad
as
you
well
know.
He
looked
so
graceful,
spinning
and
twirling

around
the
floor
with
his
sweat
glistening
like
a
.
.
.
solar
system.

At
the
end
of
class
Ricardo
called
me
and
Gary
up
to
him
and
said

Gary
was
a
star
in
the
making
and
that
he
and
I
made
a
great

team.
Who
would
have
thought
a
lorry
driver
from
inner
city

Dublin
would
be
a
salsa
dancing
god!
Teddy
wasn’t
too
impressed

when
I
shared
the
good
news.
Well
I
was
so
excited
when
I
got

home
that
I
just
blurted
it
out
but
I
didn’t
realize
that
Teddy’s
fel-

low
truck
driving
union
friends
were
in
the
room
having
a
“beer

and
porn
night”
and
they
were
all
equally
unimpressed.
Teddy

went
even
redder
in
the
face
than
usual
and
ranted
and
raved
about

all
male
dancers
being
gay
and
that
I
shouldn’t
be
influencing
Gary

to
fancy
boys.
I
told
him
I
was
trying
to
help
him
come
out
of
his

shell
a
bit
not
to
literally
“come
out.”
But
the
lads
wouldn’t
under-

stand,
they
think
crashing
beer
cans
against
their
heads,
farting

(then
sniffing
the
air
and
laughing),
screaming
at
the
football
play-

ers
on
TV
(as
if
they
would
do
any
better
themselves
if
they
got
on

that
pitch),
commenting
on
all
the
overweight
women
on
TV
(like

they
don’t
have
big
beer
bellies
and
haven’t
let
themselves
go
ten

years
ago),
calling
me
every
ten
minutes
to
serve
them
more
cans

of
beer
(of
the
fifty
cent
per
dozen
variety),
and
then
having
the

audacity
to
lecture
me
on
what
makes
a
real
man.
The
lazy
selfish

bastards—

Rosie:

Whoa,
whoa,
whoa
Ruby
we
seemed
to
have
gotten
a
bit
side-

tracked
here.
How
did
poor
Gary
feel
when
Teddy
and
co.
had
a
go

at
him?

Ruby:

Rosie:

Ruby:

Well
the
poor
lad
was
so
embarrassed
that
he
stormed
out
of
the

room,
stomped
up
the
stairs,
and
slammed
his
bedroom
door
shut.

Oh
dear,
poor
Gary.
I
hope
Teddy
apologized.

Are
you
demented?
Of
course
he
didn’t.
Gary’s
display
only
fur-

ther
showed
how
“gay”
he
was
becoming
according
to
Teddy
and

co.
by
pulling
a
“woman’s
strop.”
But
who
cares
what
they
think?