Seven Minutes From Heaven [bxb]

Chapter 36 - Is it gay to love your friends

"Knock, knock!" Charlie called out, quite literally knocking on the door when I didn't go to answer it. "We're your esteemed guests, Caster. Open up!"

I stared at Julie and gulped, feeling the blood leaving my face. Her thin red lips upturned into a grin. "Well?" she asked. "Will you answer the door or sit here like chopped liver?"

Groaning, I skidded out the stool and hopped down to get the door. When I opened it, both the guys kinda just looked at me for a moment. Charlie, with a devilish grin, and Liam looking entirely too awkward. This wasn't something I was ready to face. I only called Charlie for some advice on how to fix things with Liam. How could I talk to him without knowing how to first?

Charlie skipped past me and slapped my shoulder before greeting Julie with way too much familiarity. "Mrs. Ancel," he said, and I turned to watch him pecking her cheek. "You look ravishing, as always. Will you come hang outside with me? I wanna swim. Better yet, you can join me."

Julie sighed and timidly glanced up at him, taking a sip from her glass. It was probably too soon after work to handle the likes of Charlie. She opened her mouth, looking like she was ready to decline, but decidedly smiled and nodded instead. She winked at me for good luck and chatted to Charlie as they opened the sliding door and stepped out.

Liam, who was still standing at the door, kicked his foot awkwardly on the ground and gained my attention again. I looked at him. From where I stood in the entryway, I was a head taller than him for once. He looked up at me with his green eyes, brows furrowed in confusion and embarrassment. If even he felt that way, who was the most open-minded guy, then I should really just dig a hole and bury my head in it.

"Um," I started, wishing I could just send him home. If only I stuck to my old morals in never saying a word to anybody, something so horrifyingly awkward wouldn't have happened. But sadly, I had no choice but to face it. "D'you wanna come in?"

Say no. Please, say no. Say that Charlie just wanted to hang out in the pool with Julie and that you were just dropping him off, though that was a bit random. But if that's the excuse you wanna go with, Liam, I'll take it. I won't think twice about it. Just say no.

Liam nodded as he kicked off his flipflops before coming inside, tearing my soul out with every step that he passed me. We walked straight to my room, where I had to lock my sliding door and draw the dark curtains because the glass sliding door led straight to the pool and patio. I closed the door and turned on the light before sitting on my bed and gesturing for Liam to do the same if he wanted. He sat down a fair distance away from me on the bed, which was a pretty fair measurement to describe the gaping hole in my heart.

We sat in silence for a moment. Obviously neither one of us were in a hurry to address things, but my idiotic attempt to screw my head on right by talking to Charlie resulted in this mess. Well, lesson learned. It's not like I'd talk to that raging dolt again. Seeing Liam's discomfort like this... I felt my heart crush, just a little bit. Like it was being crushed and sinking in quicksand all at once. What a brutal end.

Liam's eyes flickered to mine. "So ah, you feel better than yesterday?"

"I would've," I muttered under my breath, if bloody Charlie didn't have such a loose smacking gob, but I obviously couldn't say this. I stared at my lap, wishing that quicksand would just swallow me up. "Yeah, thanks."

"That's good," he said, nodding in acknowledgement. "I'm ah, I'm really proud of you for yesterday, y'know." My head snapped up to look at him, and he crossed one of his legs in front of him while the other hung loosely off my bed.

"You are?" I asked, surprised to see how comfortable he looked compared to how I expected. The awkwardness wasn't disgust, I realised. He was probably just struggling as much as I was to put thoughts and feelings into words. Liam was really different than anybody I'd ever met. Why in God's name would he say he's proud of me?