Authors: Layla James
“Read
y
to go?” Liam asks, unlocking the door. I nod, pulling myself up into the Jeep. Liam’s eyes are wide, his shirt still off, and his pants soaked. I want to say something. I want to make him talk to me.
Had he wanted to kiss me? Was it just in the moment? Did my dang moaning like an idiot scare him?
God, I hope it’s none of that.
I give Liam a sideways glance. He is staring forward. He doesn’t look at me. I bite my lip, looking out the passenger side window.
This is awkward.
The ride home is silent. Liam turns up the radio, but it doesn’t seem like he is even paying attention to it. He just stares forward. I sigh.
I’ve never known Liam to stay quiet this long.
When we pull into the driveway, Dad’s SUV isn’t there. I’m half relieved. “Um, so, I had fun. Thank you,” I say, lowly.
Liam looks
over at me. “I’m glad you did. You needed a break.”
I nod. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
I have my hand on the door handle. He doesn’t stop me.
“Tomorrow is school,” he says.
“Yep.”
“Well, see ya then,” he says, looking out his window. I want to grab him, hug him or touch him. But he is looking the other way. He wants me to leave. I do. I get out, waving at him, while he drives away. I walk over to my bag sitting in the grass.
Mom didn’t pick it up? Something must be wrong.
I hesitantly open
t
he door.
Mom is sitting at the kitchen table when I
walk in
. Her eyes are glazed over. Her face emotionless.
Her hair looks like a bird’s nest.
“Momma?” I ask.
She glances up at me. “Katy, you’re home…where have you been?”
“
With Liam. We went to the beach for a little while.
”
She glances down at my shirt. “Is that your shirt?”
I shake my head. “Liam’s, I got
mine wet, he let me have his.”
She nods, staring into space. “Are you okay? What’s the matter?”
She places her hands over her face. She lets out a small
sob
. I walk toward her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. They’re shaking. “Momma,” I say.
“He is leaving. Really leaving. I knew he would some day. I knew we didn’t love each other like we should, but it…it’s happening. I’m going to be alone.
I won’t wake up to him anymore.
”
I squeeze my mom tighter.
God, I’ve been so selfish. I haven’t even considered my mom’s feelings. It’s all about me.
She is losing her husband. She is losing twenty years of her life.
“I just don’t know where everything went wrong. It just happened. He didn’t care, I didn’t care. We barely spent time together.
It became routine being together.
”
I clear my throat and run my fingers through my mom’s hair. “This happens every day. People fall in and out of love. It’s as simple as turning a switch on and off. I know Daddy and you love each other, but sometimes it’s easier to love someone and not be with them. Does that make any sense?”
She smiles into my shoulder. “Yes and no. It just hurts, that’s all. He said you ran off today.” She pulls back to look at me. “I know this is probably going to be hard for you, but we can handle it. We can get through this all by ourselves.
We will have each other. `
”
I nod. “I know we can. We just have to believe that we can.”
She nods, pulls me down onto her lap and strokes her fingers through my hair. “I’m the one supposed to be giving you advice, not the other way around.” She smiles. “When did you get so smart on relationships?”
I shrug. “I’m not, believe me.”
I have a pretend relationship right now, I do not need to give anyone advice.
Mom wipes her eyes.
“How are things at school? With Jennifer, Hayden…Liam?”
I twist in her lap. I desperately want to get away from her now. The mother daughter moment seems to have gone from lovey to uncomfortable. “Um, things are fine. Hayden is jealous.”
Mom lifts an eyebrow. “You aren’t trying to make him jealous are you?
Because, as your Mom I have to tell you that is never a good idea.
”
Yes
. “No. It’s
just kind of a perk that comes along with it. He even bumped into Liam and me today when we were…” I trail off.
Shit.
Mom doesn’t need to know the gory details.
“When you were what?” she asks.
“Talking in the hallway…
hey,
I guess I’m going to head on upstairs to work on some homework.”
That does not exist.
She lifts an eyebrow. “I told you he was cute,” she says. “I knew you two liked each other. I can tell by the way he looks at you.”
Looks at…me? He doesn’t, does he?
My heart flips in my
chest. My stomach feels like bees are swarming inside of it
. “
How does he…look at me?”
Mom smiles. “He is your boyfriend. You see how he looks at you.”
But, it’s just pretend.
“
Yeah,
I guess
sometimes, it just happens.”
“Oh,” Mom says, standing up. She rummages around in her purse. “Jennifer called and told Dad about the dance this Friday.” She pulls out a wad of cash. “Dad left this for you. Jennifer explained how extremely important it is for you to have the ultimately perfect
,
sexy dress for homecoming. Her words not mine.”
I grab the money. “Thanks Mom.”
“Thank your Dad.”
Maybe later
. “Talk to you later.”
Chapter Six
“Come on, try the one with the sides out,” Jennifer says, pushing me into the dressing room.
I groan.
She is really bossy
.
“I’ll look like a baby prostitute,” I whine.
“You’ll look hot. Believe me I know fashion.” She twirls around showing off her kitten sweater. “You may not be able to tell because my mother still dresses me, but one day…” she says.
I laugh and lock the dressing room door. I
slip into the dress, zipping myself up. “So, what are you wearing?”
I ask through the door.
“Oh, I’m not going,” Jennifer says.
What?
“What?
You’re making me go and you’re not even going?
Why aren’t you going?” I ask, stepping out of the dressing room. Jennifer gasps.
“First off, my mother would have a stroke. Secondly, no one asked me. Thirdly, if they did my mother would make me say no.” She puts her hand on her h
ip. “You know this, now spin.”
I spin a circle. “Until then, I will live my dreams through you, my young child.” Jennifer is s
miling. “You look amazing. Stunning.”
“I feel like a prostitute.”
This is a little bit of a lie.
The dress fits to me perfectly. It’s to the knee, well fitted and a hole cut out of each side.
I swirl to each side, looking at myself.
“You look hot. Stop being so damn dramatic. Liam is going to love you in this.”
There that name is again…
Liam.
He has barely talked to me since our ‘moment’ at the beach. He walks beside me, talks to me, picks me up, but something isn’t right. He is being quiet. Too quiet. It makes me want to look as hot as I can.
Maybe that will get him talking?
“Yeah, he will, won’t he?” I ask.
She nods, smiling like a lunatic. “So, I talked to him and told him to get a w
rist corsage with black ribbon,” she says.
“I haven’t even bought the dress yet, Jennifer,” I say, admiring
the way it barely hits my knee.
“Yes, but I hid this dress in the back just for you. I knew you’d get it.”
Jen smiles.
I
laugh
. “That’s why you’re my best friend.”
“Honey, I got this. This Asian knows what she is doing.”
After I pay
, we go to the food court. We sit down with our
Chick Fillet
at a table in the center.
I glance around and make sure there aren’t any angry gay people. I don’t have anything against gay people but I sure do love me some chicken.
“So,” Jennifer says.
“So,” I say, tearing my chicken strip apart to cool.
“Have you guys done it yet?”
“What?” I bark out. “
Who?”
Jen rolls her eyes. “You and Taylor Lautner? Liam, duh!”
“
No! Of course not.
We’ve only been dating a freaking week.
”
We’re just pretending! You can’t pretend to do that, it’s either do it or don’t!
She holds her hands up in surrender. “Okay. Okay. I’m just curious. Damn. Can’t blame a girl for fantasying over him. He’s hot.
Anybody with eyes can see that.
”
Something tingles in my belly.
You can’t be jealous of your pretend boyfriend
,
Katy
.
“Yeah, he is,” I snap.
“Do you plan on doing it?” she asks, over her chicken strip.
“I don’t know, we haven’t even been going out a week
, like I said
.
That’s a big step for anybody.
It took me and Logan seven months before we done it.”
“I hear the second person is easier.”
I roll my eyes. “Jennifer,
you’ve never done it, you don’t know.”
“You don’t know if I have, there was a rumor I gave it up at Asian camp,” Jen says.
“You started that rumor.”
She smiles. “It was still a rumor.”
I cock an eyebrow.
“N
ew subject, this is making me nervous.”
“What’s making you nervous,” I hear from beside me. Liam is
standing above me, his lip curled up into a smile.
“Nothing--,”
“Doing it,” Jennifer blurts out. “You know, shaking the chandelier, getting ya groove on, making babies.”
“I think he got it the first time,” I say.
Liam laughs and sits down beside me. He grabs one of my fries. “Yeah, I knew what you meant. What about it?”
“Nothing---,”
“I as
ked if you two had done it yet,” Jen says. “Katy went to freaking out like always.”
Liam chocks on my
fry. He is probably repulsed. “What?”
“I know ridiculous,” I say.
Liam stares at me and cocks an eyebrow. H
e grabs my thigh and I shiver. He leans in close to my ear, pressing a soft kiss to my neck.
All the heat in my body pulls to that one spot.
“We just haven’t found the right moment yet. Not ready.”
Jennifer is wide eyed. When Liam pulls back, I’m quaking. “So, who won that game last Friday?”
“What game?” Jen ask.
“You know the game,” I bite through my teeth.
“There wasn’t a game,” Liam says.
“It’s not even a season.”
I grab my chicken and shove it in my mouth.
I can tell they are both about to laugh, but they hold it back.
After the embarrassment of talking about sex dies down, Liam offers to take me home. I would rather ride with Jennifer since Liam has been acting strange but what girlfriend wouldn’t jump at the chance to be alone with her boyfriend.
So, I get in the Jeep with Liam.
“So,” Liam says, tapping his fingers along his steering wheel. “Homecoming dance tomorrow. Is that your dress in there,” he asks, eyeing the sack in the floorboard.
“Yep, it’s black. I like it.”
“Can I take a peak?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Bad luck.”
“I thought that was a wedding not a dance.”
“Close enough.
” I wave him off.
“Getting married and going to a dance is close? Do I get a honeymoon stage afterwards?” He wiggles his eyebrows.
Ugh, here we go again.
“Stop,” I say.
He throws his head back then laughs. “Why were you
so embarrassed to talk about that
today?”