Let Me Down Easy

Chapter One

Chapter one: *Soul Meets Body*

            Leslie walked into the house only to find that all the lights were off. A little skeptical she walked towards the stairs where she saw a sticky note hanging off the banister.

Meet me in my bedroom.

I figured I’d make something good come out of the lights going out. Forgot to pay the bill again. Haha.

-Liam xx

            She shook her head slightly and wandered up the stairs, wondering what it would be like to live in such a big house all alone. She guessed it lent itself to some pretty good parties. But other than that, she felt lucky to have a loving-and quite hectic-family.

            Suddenly, she felt sympathy for Liam. His parents lived all the way over in Switzerland- where they were very important epidemiologists, or in simpler English, scientists who study the transmission of diseases among other things.

            She didn’t know all the small details, but mainly she knew that Liam’s parents, The Prestens, had been offered a very good job opportunity and Liam didn’t want to move. So, instead he got himself emancipated. And as Liam likes to phrase it “the house was completely paid off and I myself make enough money for food, utilities, and laundry detergent.” She had laughed at the last part and he had told her that besides his own job, his parents still sent him money (although she wasn’t sure how much) every month and occasionally his Aunt Terry would invite him to her mansion (she was beyond wealthy apparently) and during those visits “help him  out” like Terry phrased it.

            But besides that, Liam didn’t like to talk about it much.

            When she reached his bedroom on the second floor, she immediately noticed the orange glow emanating from under the doorway. She had tripped a few times making her way to the room, considering it was eight at night, and the house was rather dark, but somehow she managed to stay in one piece and fixed her hair before walking into the room.

            It didn’t matter that they had been going steady for a little less than seven months and sometimes he had seen her looking like a complete train wreck; she still felt the need to ready herself before she saw him. She still felt the nervous butterflies shoot through her stomach when she thought about his arms snaking around her waist.

            Her breath caught when she looked into the room. Dozens, and she really meant dozens, of white candles littered the entire room around her. So many so that when Liam grinned up at her and moved off the bed, about thirty different shadows were cast on him.

            “Sorry, I couldn’t find any roses to scatter around as well,” he chuckled, “I mean, it was a spur of the moment type thing. I didn’t know the lights were going to go off.”

            She felt herself smile even though she wanted to reprimand him about not paying his bills. If it weren’t for her, he’d live in eternal darkness…or at least he’d stay in the darkness until his phone ran out of battery and he got hungry.

            “This is why today I set up an online account for all your utilities. Every month they will deduct the payment from your bank account. Your welcome,” she finished sounding confident but feeling nervous.

            Had she taken it too far? Was she too comfortable? What if he didn’t appreciate her gesture and instead found it an invasion of privacy?

            Sure, he said he loved her. Sure, she loved him too. Sure, it had been seven months since they started dating, but sometimes, just sometimes, she still felt insecure around him.