Never Let Me Go » Liam Dunbar

the one with the ass-apalooza

It had been a mere eight hours since Sophie had ditched Liam for his biggest enemy, almost accepted a werewolf bite, kissed said enemy, apologized to Liam, and then became friends with him. And now she was following Mason up the stairs towards Liam's bedroom and swallowing down a grapefruit sized lump in her throat.

Her boots, jeans, and sweater had been exchanged for a comfier pair of magenta high top Converse, black leggings, and a lemon yellow drapey long sleeve that made her bright eyes pop and her cheeks seem shades rosier. Mason had assured her numerous times in the car that she looked good and like 'perfect friend material,' however Sophie was all but convinced.

Now, as Mason pushed the grand front door of the Dunbar mansion open and wandered in confidently, she lagged behind and attempted to convince herself that the newest edition of Lydia's light reading psychology textbook had not confirmed she was exhibiting multiple symptoms of a panic attack.

They climbed the stairs, the sound of their footfalls echoing in the vast emptiness of the house, Sophie clutching the banister like a life line. Her heart was going approximately a thousand miles a minute, her contents of her stomach were climbing up her throat, and a cold sweat was beading up on her hairline and was surely frizzing her once pin-straight hair. Mason was oblivious to the mental anguish of the girl behind him and carelessly swung open Liam's bedroom door, administering his usual dramatic flourish.

"What's up?" Mason asked, dropping a collection of video games on Mason's messy bedspread and sitting beside his shocked best friend, motioning Sophie over with a wave of the hand.

"Hey, you guys." Liam said in mild confusion, although a second later it melded into an expression of relief.

"Listen, I know something's going on." Mason said, surprisingly addressing not just Liam, but Sophie as well. "And I know neither of you want to talk about it. And I'm not talking about this extremely uncomfortable sexual tension, either. I can literally feel that on me skin and it's revolting." Mason shuddered, blinking rapidly.

"But..." He carried on with a dramatic pause, "You're still my best friends. And considering the fact that the last close friend I made turned out to be a professional killer, I'm thinking that I don't have too many options for new ones." Sophie snorted, although her face contorted into a look of slight offense, "So when you're ready to talk, talk. Until then, well, I know I can kick your asses in at least one of these games."

Liam's lips twitched up into a smile and he looked around at the assortment of games spread out in front of him. He plucked one out of the bunch and looked up at Mason, "Never played this one."

Mason grinned and set up the game, bouncing back onto the bed beside Liam and handing over a remote. Sophie pushed back the pillows and stuck her bare feet under the covers, leaning against the wall. Her eyes flashed over Liam's profile, the way he got little wrinkles beside his eyes and the corners of his mouth when he smiled, to his increasingly manly shoulders, his muscular arms, and the grooves of his hands...

"Stop looking at him like that." Mason mumbled, his eyes glinting knowingly at Sophie. She jumped slightly in surprise, watching Liam set up the game without the slightest hint that he noticed them talking.

"Like what?" Sophie asked, her eyebrows drawing together.

"Like you're in lesbians with him." Mason winked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Sophie closed her eyes in exasperation. "I wish you hadn't made me watch Scott Pilgrim and that I had no idea what that meant."

"You ready?" Liam asked, turning to Mason and waving the controller at him. Mason nodded and got ready to kick ass at the GTA knock-off, but not before Liam could give Sophie a surprising bright smile, one which was a little too wide, that made the lump in her throat double in size.

Sophie watched the screen as it split in two and showed Mason's decked out green race car and Liam's sleek red speed-mobile. "Nervous for the lacrosse game?" Mason began casually building up conversation while he did, in fact, pulverize Liam's character.

"Nope." Liam responded confidently. "Because now I have an even better motivation for destroying the Deveford Prep team." He continued. Sophie froze. Of all the teams in the entire state, of course it had to be them. Of course it had to be tonight.

"Yeah man?" Mase asked, lurching the controller to the left so he could swerve and cut Liam off. He let out a shout of protest before his car shot off the edge of a bridge and his side of the split screen turned black.

"I'm going to completely destroy Brett Talbot."