Seven Minutes From Heaven [bxb]

Chapter 11 - Indirect

When Liam stepped out, it was like his room became my playground. Everything in this room, I wanted to see and touch it all. What kinds of things did a cool and gifted soccer prodigy like? What did he do in his pastime when no one else was around him?

His plain white desk had a small shelf with a few books stacked neatly within it. They were school textbooks mixed with a couple of mystery fiction novels and soccer autobiographies. There were a couple of soccer figurines and trophies on top of his desk, too. Even the pile of clothes scattered on his bed was clean. It was the only mess in his entire bedroom, which only consisted of a sweater and a couple of shirts.

There was a nice fragrance somewhere, too. Did it come from these clothes? What did someone like Liam Petry even smell like? I sat at the edge of his bed and leaned forward, trying to locate the pleasant smell. Feeling rather certain it came from his clothes, I grabbed a sweater from the top of the pile, brought it to my nose and inhaled deeply. It smelled good, just like I thought it would.

"Does it smell funky?" The sudden surprise of Liam's voice startled me. My body moved on its own, instantly bundling the sweater into a messy heap and shoving it back onto the pile. "It did just come out of the dryer this morning," he said.

I pointed at the sweater, retracted my hand, and scratched a nervous itch on my head as I scrunched my nose a little. "I ah, yeah, just a little bit of a smell," I said, scrambling for an excuse. "Just a small whiff. Y'know, no biggie."

I'd well and truly shot myself in the foot. I glanced up at Liam, gaging his reaction. He was actually smirking right now, arms crossed, and eyes creased with gentle laughter. I'd really dug my own grave here. There was no digging my way out of this one.

"No worries," he said, stepping towards me. "I'll let my mum know."

Let his mum know... his mum... know... "Ah!" I stood up from the bed and closed the space between us in seconds, clutching his sleeve. "Ah, no, no, you don't have to do that. It's fine. It's really fine."

I was frantic. How could I get myself into this kind of situation? This was meant to be a good opportunity to get close to him, yet all I did was work guarantee my downfall. Realising that I was still holding onto him, I retracted my hand like he was a hot stove. Liam Petry was completely and utterly out of bounds to go about doing as I pleased.

"Okay," he said with a small chuckle. "How about we get going then? We should make use of the day while it's still light."

I looked at him with a combination of awe and surprise. "You mean, you still wanna go with me?" I asked as I fumbled with my hands, unsure of what else to do with them. "You don't wanna kick me out?"

Liam turned his body slightly and put his arm gently over my shoulder. "That was a very dramatic conclusion for you to come to," he said, steering me towards the door. My body was all but frozen rigid as he did all the manoeuvring. "Going now, Mum! Bye!"

"Wait, wait!" A woman's voice answered in a panicked hurry. Light footsteps came dashing through the hallway until a small Asian woman appeared before us. "Oh, you must be Jude, how sweet. Liam, you take good care of Jude and get him home safely, hm? Okay?"

She was like a cooing, doting mum you might see in American television, not the kind you'd find in real life. But she was... nothing like Liam. There's no way he came out of her; push or pulled. I glanced up at him, momentarily admiring his tall and lean stature, his brown copper hair and the faintest little freckles known to mankind. They were nothing alike.

"Of course," he answered as he gave my shoulder a light squeeze. "Save me leftovers for tomorrow."

"Oh tch," she said, waving her hand in dismissal. "Always wanting everything then more. Go, go. Don't be home too late."