A Dash of Luck and Basic Observation

Sunday morning and Nora had managed to sleep until the crack of ten in the morning. Her ankle was throbbing from yesterday, which made sense from all the dancing she’d been doing. But it had felt like she was walking on air all of yesterday, like magic.

Magic.

Nora got ready for the day, trying to make sense of the past few days. She puzzled and puzzled until she was convinced she was missing pieces from the box.

She was stopped from considering it further by a gentle knock on the door.

For once, Sylvia was wearing something flattering – a peach sundress. She was blushing already, leaning forward and falling into Nora – who’d caught her on reflex.

“H-Hey,” said Nora.

“Hi.” Sylvia was lightly dragged into Nora’s house, content to just lean against her new girlfriend and do little else.

Nora lightly ruffled Sylvia’s hair as she got to the kitchen and sat, ending up with Sylvia on her lap. “I seem to remember telling you I’d find out who you thought was cute and start getting judgmental. You picked a real headcase, you know?”

“She’s a moron,” Sylvia blissfully sighed. “Absolute moron who couldn’t figure it out until it was right in front of her.”

That got Nora to laugh. “Is she cute?”

“The cutest,” said Sylvia. “I can’t take my eyes off her.”

That got Sylvia a peck on the cheek. “Stop, you’re going to make me blush.”

Nora watched Sylvia chuckle in a way that she’d never seen before. What was the right word for it? ‘Ominous’? ‘Foreboding’? “Oh, there's years of payback she's got to pay off for making me wait.”

“Years?!” gasped Nora. “When? How?”

“Freshman year. Gym class, second semester. I didn’t know I was into girls yet. But we were changing out of our gym clothes, and it just… clicked.” Sylvia snapped her fingers. “That’s when it all started for me.”

Nora blinked. “You figured out you liked me when you saw me change clothes?”

“I thought of you as a friend already, I just didn’t understand why I kept substituting you for the men in my romance novellas. It was like magic.”

That got Nora back onto the line of thought she’d been considering since she woke up. “Can you excuse me for a bit? I need to freshen up.”

Sylvia reluctantly got off of Nora’s lap, rounding the corner and marching down the hall to her bedroom where she found Sheamus packing a small briefcase. He was holding the talisman that turned him to stone in his hand.

“The hell do you think you’re doing?” asked Nora.

“The feck’s it look like I’m doing?” Sheamus told her. “I’m feckin’ off. Skippin’ town.”

Nora shook her head. “Bullshit. You were supposed to give me two days’ worth of good luck. I rolled my ankle and had to stay after school! The only magic you did was give me a dress!”

Sheamus wagged his finger. “Ah, lass. To be fair, ye kept turnin’ me to stone early on. Not me fault you wasted some o’ yer time. But let’s be honest about things, from leprechaun to human.” He pulled himself onto Nora’s bed. “Do ye really think ye’d have passed that test if ye’d time to cram for it?”

“Yes! Probably! …Maybe? …Hopefully?” Nora’s responses gradually grew more and more muted.

“Answer’s no,” he chided. “I made yer bad luck work for me to force ye to act different. I didn’t even have ta use magic to make sure ye passed – yer dunderheaded teacher came up with that cockamamie test logic all on his own.”

Nora struggled to continue. “Yesterday. The dance. Jack and Sylvia –”

“Oh please,” Sheamus sighed. “I paid him to act that way towards yer girlfriend. Some o’ me last gold pieces I had 'til I can get back home. The only magic I cast there was to give yer ankle relief ta dance with her. And let’s not pretend she wasn’t in on it.” He looked past Nora. “Isn’t that right, lass?”

Nora turned around to see Sylvia, her glasses having slid down her nose. “H-Hello, Sheamus.”

It stunned Nora to her core. “You knew?!”

“He approached me the night before,” she explained. “He said he had a debt to pay and that helping you figure things out one way or another was the way to settle it.”

Sheamus slid off the bed, his suitcase clasping closed all on its own. “Lass, face it. Ye’ve been yer own worst enemy. My offer wasn’t fer helpin’ ye win the lottery or some other shite people with a wish would ask fer. Ye want that, go rub a genie's lamp. My deal was fer helpin’ ye make yer own luck. That’s a kind o’ magic most people take fer granted. So fixated on magic fixin’ their problems they lose track o’ how to solve it 'emselves.”

He walked past the two girls into the kitchen with Nora calling after him. “That’s it? You’re just gonna walk out of here saying that you barely had to lift a finger?”

Sheamus stopped midstride. “My dear, did ye ever bother checkin’ the mail yesterday?”

She hadn’t. It would’ve been in the basket next to the front door by now. Nora raced over and picked up a mass of envelopes, pulling out one particularly large one.

“It’s from Cee Tech,” she gasped. “They wouldn’t have something this big just to say that I’m rejected, right?”

Sylvia stared at the thick envelope. “Open it.”

Pieces of envelope went flying in every direction as Nora tried to tear the blasted thing open.

“‘Miss Nora O’Donnell’,” she read aloud, “‘We are excited to offer you admission to…’” Nora blinked, rereading those words. “I got in. I fucking got in!”

Sylvia tackled Nora to the ground in a tight hug. “Oh my god, you’re in! We’re going to the same college!”

Nora couldn’t believe it. Her reach school of all places had come through. She looked up at Sheamus, who’d swung the door open to a dancing array of rainbow light on the porch.

Sheamus winked. “Okay, maybe I did a wee bit o’ magic. Top o’ the mornin’, ladies!” With a tip of his hat, the leprechaun disappeared into the end of a rainbow and did not reappear.

The rainbow itself vanished seconds later, with Nora and Sylvia finally extricating themselves from the floor. Sylvia stared into the sky, whistling. “Now what?”

Nora’s attention was drawn more to the ground. A small cast iron pot had been left there, filled to the brim with coins. Golden coins. She grinned. At least now she’d be able to pay to go to college with her girlfriend.

If she played her cards right… She looked at Sylvia with a grin, lingering on her hand. Nora could afford to put a ring on it. And that sounded like the kind of luck she could live with.