Sour Sweet Love

Chapter Thirteen

                BECAUSE of the traffic in between classes and our own lives, I was only able to have a conversation with Joey a several days later. We met in my dorm room because it had become our unspoken sanctuary. When I told her about Liam, she lost her sense of peace. "He did what?!" she exclaimed, floundering for words and her sanity.

"I don't get him," I announced. "But yeah. Same dialogue, same expression. Verbatim."

"And, Avery, what exactly did you say?"

I shrugged innocently, pouting my lips. "Oh I don't know. What would you say if your ex-boyfriend cheated on you with an unknown girl and then he came back acting all sweet and lovable and asked you out in such a cute way that you seriously could not refuse?"

She gawked at me. "Yes..?"

I scoffed. "No."

She shrugged. "Good choice, I suppose, but a part of me wants you to break him, you know?"

"He's not a piece of glass," I told her. "He's made of steel."

"Liam fucking Andrews," she muttered in disapproval. "Has he approached you since?"

I shook my head. "I've been avoiding him like he's the plague."

"Funny you say that. Molly's been clinging to Declan like he's plague-medication."

I resisted the warmth that threatened to gather on my face. "Oh?"

Joey, noting the monotone in my response, eyed me cautiously. "You didn't laugh at my joke," she said pointedly. Then when I began to laugh tersely, she shrugged it off. "Anyway, they're supposed to be seeing each other right now or something."

"That's cool, I suppose," I said curtly.

My mind was racking up all the reasons that Declan would do this. Did he like her? Because fuck, I was concerned. I was just beginning to ponder the possibility that he might actually like me; and I may have considered a plane of existence wherein I felt the same way; and I may have even considered it happening within this plane.

And he was with Molly? 

Of course he was—he had every right to be. He was in no way entitled to me, and he provided no sign that he even wanted to be. I told myself to calm down before doing just the opposite of that.

"Fuck," Joey cursed. "It's Liam—he's here."

I turned around to see that the door had been opened by the devil himself. "You're not invited here, Liam," I told him.

He rubbed his back sheepishly. "Sorry," he muttered before leaving without a word nor explanation as to what he was doing here. I dismissed it because it was the easier thing to do. And I was far more preoccupied with another Andrews—what was he doing with my best friend? Were they falling in love as Joey and I spoke?

"Oh my god! You guys will not believe what just happened to me!" Molly exclaimed, breaking through the door. Her dramatic entrance calmed my heart while simultaneously causing it to hammer sporadically.

"Molly," Joey began. "Are you not wearing...lipstick or lip gloss?"

"Shut up," she ordered, glaring at Joey.

I released a fleeting chuckle. 

"Actually, Joey, I am wearing lipstick. It's just not dark. It's light."

"But that can't be it," Joey observed. "Why are you glowing, woman?"

Molly grinned. "So we were outside, right, sitting on the grass under a tree. He looked so cute today. And we were just talking about like, life, you know? Ah," Molly released a wistful sigh. "It was after a little bit, but that was when he leaned in and kissed me."

"Um, who kissed you?" Joey asked.

Molly rolled her eyes. "Seriously guys?" she said incredulously. "Declan, of course!"

"Declan..?" Joey asked, causing me to gasp. "Declan kissed you..?"

My jaw clenched as Molly released yet another dreamy sigh. "Yes, Joey, yes," she exhaled. "Declan kissed me. And it was magical."

So it was. But then why was my heart being so reckless, acting as if Molly was undeserving of Declan's lips and that I was a better candidate? As Molly continued describing her evening in detail, I felt my heart fragmenting into tinier pieces. It was not that I was in love with Declan—it was too soon for that—but perhaps it was the truth that somewhere amidst this chaotic week of revelations and nostalgia, I had begun to rely on him for something beyond just a simple, innocent transaction? Maybe I relied on our fights and our blunt, profound encounters.

Snap out of it, Avery, my mind chastised.

I twirled my hair around my fingers, trying to hammer it home that Declan and I could never be anything more than a passing thought. But why was my heart telling pleading for otherwise?