Authors: Layla James
“Follow me, little bear,” he says, throwing a blanket over his shoulder. I cock an eyebrow but he doesn’t see. Liam walks down the beach and stops in a random spot. There are a few people out, running, walking their dogs. No one is swimming.
Liam unfolds the blankets, tossing it up, spreading it out and laying it on the sand.
“Now,” he says, to himself. He sits down, leaning back on his hands. “You
gonna sit down and make yourself at home
, sweetheart.”
I smile to myself. I nod, sitting down beside him, lying back. A warm breeze blows past me. I close my eyes, taking in the ocean air.
“Someone is enjoying themselves already,” Liam says, lying back with me. “I come out here sometimes, it’s so relaxing.”
Does he come here to think about his mom? I
want to ask but I’m afraid to bring up that memory.
I can imagine how badly that hurts.
“Why don’t you normally have girlfriend
s
,” I blurt out. It’s not what is really on my mind, but I am curious.
Liam sighs, shrugging his shoulder. “
I’m a busy guy.
Don’t have the time.”
I laugh. “Bec
ause, obviously, you’re so busy, soaking in the sun and relaxing.
”
He smirks. “My relaxing time is very time consuming.
It takes a lot out of me to do the things I do.
”
“Why couldn’t she come with you? I’m here, am I bothering you?”
“No,” he
whisper
s
. There is a silence. “You’re…you,” he says. I’m not sure what to think about that. I don’t say anything. “
Katy, w
hy Hayden?”
“What?” I ask.
“Why Hayden? Why did you date him?”
I bite my lip.
I try not to think about it.
“He
did used to be charming, Liam. He wasn’t always an ass.” I sigh.
“
I thought he was so…dreamy. I’d liked him for so long. Then he asked me out. I couldn’t wait to say yes. I’d been planning our wedding for years.” I laugh.
Liam smirks
. “How many kids did you have planned out?”
I giggle. “After our New York wedding, we were on our feet, we would have four children.
Two boys and two girls. Because, everyone can plan what gender their children are.
”
I laugh.
Liam whistles. “That is a lot of kids.” Another silence. “Did he li
ve up to what you thought he would
?”
I twist a piece of a dark brown curl on my shoulder. “At first, yes. It was perfect. He would walk me to class; bring an umbrella out to my car when it was raining. He took me to meet his parents. Then…” I trail off.
Liam rolls over on his side, facing me. His dark hair falling into his grey eyes. “Then what?”
“
It
happened.”
He shrugs his shoulders.
“What’s it? The break up?”
“No,” I whisper, ashamed. “I kind of…gave it up.”
Liam is quiet.
“Gave what up?” he asks.
I know he knows.
“
It,
my v-card.”
My face feels like someone set fire to it.
“Oh,” Liam finally says.
Oh? Is that all he is going to say? Oh?
“Yeah,” I say, twiddling my fingers together. “Then the break up happened.
Not but a few weeks later.
”
Silence.
“What a hot dog?” Liam sets up, quickly, looking anywhere but at my face.
“
Um…s
ure,” I say.
Liam jumps up, all too quickly, walking toward a hot dog stand on the pier behind us. I sink into the blanket.
Jeez, Liam can be so weird sometimes.
I’m sure he is just as uncomfortable talking about that as I am.
I try to relax but all I’m seeing are pictures of Hayden and me. His touch, his lips, all of him.
I shake my head. I shouldn’t have told Liam that. He jumped up like I set fire to his pants.
“Here ya go, one dog for the lady.” Liam sits down, handing me a hot dog.
We sit in silence for a few minutes eating. “Your dad seemed upset today.”
I scoff. “Yeah, right.” I pick a piece of the napkin holding my hot dog off, throwing it to the ground. “He doesn’t care about us. He is an abandoner.”
Liam is staring at me when I glance up.
“You don’t really believe that, do you?”
I nod. “Sure
,
I do. He is just leaving me,” I whisper. “Like I’m nothing. He doesn’t care anymore.”
“At least he told you bye,”
Liam whispers.
My heart thumps an extra beat. Like Liam’s mom done him. “Um…I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about that.”
Liam bumps his shoulder into mine. “It’s okay; it was a long time ago.
I barely remember it.
”
“It still hurts,” I say. I mean it as a question but I already know the answer.
“It does.”
“Have you…have you tried to contact her?”
“Don’t know how,” he takes a bite of hot dog, “don’t know her address, where she we
nt, her cell phone or anything. I don’t even really know if she is alive.”
“You know her name, right?”
“Yeah, Mary Beth.”
“Last name?”
“Well, it was Erickson, but I’m not sure if her and my dad are eve
n officially divorced or not. I guess they would have to if Dad married the Barbie Clone.
He never talks about her. He never told me why she left or where he thought she might have gone.”
“You asked him anything about her?” I take the last bite of my hot dog.
He shakes his head. “Nope, I did when I was younger. He ignored me. Now, he is never home and bitch queen is always there.
So, I just stopped asking.
”
“She is kind of a bitch,” I say.
“Just saying.”
“Talking dirty today,” Liam says, smiling.
“I cuss sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
“I said shit that one time.”
Liam
throws his head back and
laughs. “When you can count on your fingers how many times you’ve cussed, you cannot say you cuss.”
I laugh. “I’m not as good as you think.”
“How do you know I think you’re good?”
“You wouldn’t have agreed to this. You know being with me will give you a break with your teachers. Someone like you just doesn’t date someone like me.”
Liam makes a small sound in his throat that I don’t know what it means. “That’s not true…” he stops. I am hanging on his words. I want to shake them out of him.
But his lips are shut tight.
“What is true?” I ask.
He closes his eyes, shaking his head. “Nothing.”
Agh!
I look out over the ocean. I can’t look at him.
What was he going to say?
I change the subject.
“I think we should try and find your Mom.”
Liam is too quiet. I look over at him. He is staring at me. His grey eyes so…beautiful. “No,” he says
, shaking his head back and forth.
“No? Why
not
?”
“I don’t want to,” he says, trying to stand up. I grab his arm, pulling him back down. He stiffens at my touch.
“I know it’s scary, but just think about it. We might fin
d something. We might find her. That would be great right?”
“
Yeah, but w
hat if she doesn’t want to see me?” he whispers.
That’s the reason. He is scared.
“Look at you,” I say; poking a finger at his chest, “you’re awesome. There is no way she would not want to see you.”
He smirks, bringing a dimple up on his cheek. “I am pretty awesome, aren’t I?”
“Don’t
push it.”
He laughs. “Maybe,” he says, hesitantly.
“Maybe.”
“That’s a start.”
He throws a piece of napkin at my face. “So, little bear, about this dance…”
I throw the napkin back at him. “We don’t have to go to that thing,” I say.
“Jen just wants to live out her dreams through me. Her parents are like drill sergeants.”
“But, little bear, what would people say if Avalon High School’s newest couple didn’t show up for the Homecoming dance?”
I smile. “You want to go?”
“Never been, first time for everything, right?”
He digs his fingers into the sand.
“Right.” I know I’m smiling like a Chester cat but I can’t help it.
Liam rolls his eyes,
reaching up and
pouring sand on my hair. “Hey!” I yell. I pick up a hand full and sprinkle it on his head.
He looks back up at me, shaking his hair, sand flying everywhere. “You better run,” he says.
I yelp out, jumping up running away from him. The sand is weighing m
e down, but I dig harder anyway
. I get to the water, when Liam wraps his arms around my waist, swinging me around. He is moving toward the water. “No,” I yell. “Please.” I’m laughing so it’s coming out in gasp.
“No!”
Liam
walks knee deep and
tosses me into the water, my head dunking under. “Shit!” I yell. “It’s cold.”
Liam is smiling. “Well, not such a goody-goody, today, are we?
You are getting close to counting on two hands now.
” He
wiggles his fingers in front of him before offering
me his hand. I try to pull him down with me, but he laughs, pulling me out, effortlessly.
My clothes are
drenched. I look down. My shirt is
stuck to me
and I’m freezing. Liam’s eyes meet mine. “Um,” he says, shaking his head. “Here,” he takes off his shirt, handing it to me. I take it. I turn my back to him; slip my wet shirt off and into his warm one.
He is standing behind me, hands in his pockets. My eyes travel down his chest.
Oh, shit.
I want to run my fingers down his wash board abs. He is tan, hard and…I’ll say it,
sexy as hell
.
I will myself to stop checking him out right in front of him.
“See something you like?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I say.
Liam cocks an eyebrow.
I step toward him, mouth close to his. When he reaches for my waist, I push him down into the water.
“I’m gonna’ beat your ass,” he yells, as I run toward the blanket.
I lie down on the blanket and laugh. It feels good. Lia
m’s pants are soaking wet when h
e gets to me. He looks down at me, smiling. “You asked for it,” I say.
He tilts his head to the side, dropping to his knees. I sit up, but he pushes me back down. He reaches for my ribs. I start to laugh. “No, stop,” I say, laughing. He digs his fingers into my side, tickling me.
My dad use to tickle me so hard, I would laugh until I cried.
“Say you’re sorry,” he says, smiling.
“No!” I yell. “Stop.”
“Say it,” he says.
“Sorry! Mercy! Uncle!”
He stops, looking down at me. I’m still out of breath. Liam is laughing along with me. “You asked for it,” he says.
I suddenly realize how this looks. Liam is sitting so close to me, his legs touching mine. His face turns serious. Liam’s lip
s part
. I want to kiss him. I want him to kiss me. I just want him.
He leans down a few inches, until he
is hovering over me.
Ah, hell
.
His fingers brush against my jaw. It sends shivers down my body. I moan. I don’t know where it comes from, but it just happen
s.
Loudly. I know he hears it.
Liam snatches his hand back, shaking his head. “Um, I’m going to go throw away our trash. I’ll meet you at the Jeep.
”
Liam grabs
t
he remains of our napkins and walks toward the trashcan.
I can barely make myself move.
What just happened? Was Liam going to kiss me? Was he going to hold me?
I sit up and look over toward him; he isn’t looking back, only walking quickly toward a trash barrel. I close my eyes.
Don’t let yourself care Katy. Suck it up.
I chased him away.
Jeez, way to go, Katy.
I grab the blanket and fold it up. I walk back to the Jeep alone.
Try to act normal.
I wait by the passenger side door, leaning against it.
Liam walks toward the Jeep, hands in his wet jeans pocket. He doesn’t look right at me. It’s like he is afraid I’ll turn him to stone.