Sour Sweet Love

Chapter Ten

            IT rained on our short and unplanned journey to Liam's car. By the time we reached, Liam, Razor and I were drenched in rainwater. Liam had resorted to parallel parking because the mall charged money, and he (being a student) had little to spare. To my dismay, the storm increasingly gathered intensity and I had always been terribly afraid of thunder.

When lightning cackled in the distance, I had no option but to accept Liam's comfort. "It's okay, Avery," he would say. "Calm down. It's nothing. It won't hurt you." I was nostalgic for the days when I could accept those words without an ulterior thought barring my sense of peace.

"It's a good thing we spotted you, huh," Razor said softly.

I nodded. "Yeah, about that. Thanks bud."

Liam ruffled my hair. "Anything for you bud."

It was an additional ten minutes later that we reached Liam's car. He was an expert driver, breezing past the rain with an effortlessness that I had never stopped assigning to him. The roads were astonishingly clear for rush hour and the three of us talked about everything and nothing at all. I remember laughing and losing sense of myself and forgetting everything in the confines of that warm vehicle. 

Liam stopped the car a several blocks away from campus. "Just so we don't get caught," he explained sheepishly; I nodded in understanding.

I waved goodbyes to both Liam and Razor before leaving the car. To my surprise, Liam began trailing behind me. 

"Can I help you?" I asked him.

"Just wanted to drop you at the door," he said cheekily, and that was exactly what he did. When Liam left to find Razor, I entered the campus by hopping our fence. As I clumsily landed on the other side, I noticed a figure standing by the campus door. In fear that it was a watchman or worse: the principal, I cowered, lowering my head to avoid any gazes.

A little too late, I realized that the person on the other side was Declan.

"Fraternizing with my brother again?" he commented in bitter amusement.

"Not that it's any of you business, is it?" I retorted.

"You might want to watch your tone tonight," he cautioned.

"Why the hell would I do that, Declan?"

A corner of his lip twitched, foreshadowing a smirk. "Because I'm today's volunteer watchman."

My jaw dropped. "No."

"You overestimate me, Wilson," he said. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't rat you out."

"Because I'll have—uh—sex with you?" I offered, biting my lip.

He took a several steps closer, enclosing the proximity between us. "You do look good in that dress."

I looked away from him in disgust. "The fact that you responded that way says a whole fucking lot about your character," I blurted out. Then I chastised myself for being so impulsive.

He feigned a flinch, pretending to recoil. "Ouch."

I hardened my clutch on the clothes on my hands.

"But you look good, Avery," he murmured, softening his visage. "Pretty."

I scratched my head with my idle hand, gawking at him. "Seriously? I'm not even going to comment on your volatility, Andrews. You're insane."

He shrugged. "Yeah. Maybe. Still ratting you out though. Winning the genetic lottery doesn't guarantee you anything."

I felt an onrush of anxiety overcoming me. "You wouldn't." 

Would he?