Buried Wishes ✔

Chapter 17: Ten Barrels of Lube Won't Ease My Fvcked Life

~ [Liam] ~

Evelyn didn't come to class today, and I tried my best to keep the conversation going with Mason, although, my mind was miles away. Her word still hung in the air like a dark cloud above my head, raining needles onto my soul.

"I'm telling you this now, we can't do this again. Ever."

I could feel my heart shattering over and over, as I repeat those words in my mind. I'm too young to feel this kind of despair. I can't stop the frustration that took over me as I drove home. I wasn't sure, but it felt like I almost bent my steering wheel with my grip.

I needed help and I knew where to get it, but I haven't been able to face her with my own issues since the last time I had a serious talk with her about my father. He wasn't dead, she had revealed to me. My father had just simply... left us.

We didn't talk about it after that, tiptoeing around the topic all the time. I had questions but I knew I was more comfortable being ignorant.

As soon as class was over, I went straight to the company, but instead of heading to my floor, I went to the top floor, my mother's office. The large mahogany door towered over me as I knocked and then entered a moment later.

"Liam? Come and sit down, dear. What is it?" She was wearing her casual light green t-shirt and blue jeans that she always wore to work. I remembered when I was younger, I'd thought that she worked for everyone else here. When I found out otherwise, she had explained to me that she worked hard to make sure that nobody told her what to wear to work.

"Can't I visit you and be a good son, Mom?" I laughed nervously as I sat down in the warm brown leather plush chair facing her desk. It hugged my back a lot more than I expected. Must be new.

"Right," she rolled her eyes as she turned off the display on her monitor. "Like that time you were only being a good son and visiting me, when really, you needed me to sign a paper because you got in trouble at school."

"They threw a kid in the trash can, Mom. That's not cool," I responded, shaking my head.

"Doesn't mean you get to order ten barrels of lube and send it to the school under their names," she rested her forehead on her hand, as if to ease a headache.

"No. They were being a bunch of d!cks," I muttered before growing very quiet. The conversation had taken a weird detour, but now my thoughts have caught up to me.

"Come on, son. Tell me what's wrong." She rested her arms on her desk before staring at me expectantly.

I sighed, knowing it's no use hiding my own sorrows from my mother. "There's this girl I like..."

"And?" She nodded for me to continue, her dark brown waves curtaining over her shoulders.

"She keeps pushing me away, even though I know for a fact that she loves me," I took a deep breath before continuing, "She has a boyfriend, but I would never have let her go if I knew she loved me. So now I know, and I'm stuck knowing that she and I love each other but can't be together."

"Did I ever tell you that I was in love with your father?" She delivered this with such a gentle tone, I almost overlooked the meaning behind those words. There was a small smile on her lips, but no hint of pain. That's a relief.

"No," I answered uncomfortably.

"I loved him when he loved me, and I loved him even when he fell out of love with me. And I never gave up hope until I knew that he was completely out of love with me," she spoke as if it was a truth she had grown used to, which only made me even more furious. How could he leave her, leave us? She cleared her throat and then continued, "My point is, if you really love this girl, and you know that she loves you as well, you should do whatever it takes to be with her. If you know that she'll be happier with you, then you should fight for her."

"I don't understand how you can give me advice on fighting for her, when my father, whoever he is, gave up on us," I muttered. I stared at her fancy plaque that had her name printed in gold "Lillian Saunders" at the center.

"He didn't give up on us. He left me, not you."

"What does that mean?" I gave her a puzzled look, to which she shook her head.

"Nevermind, look, it's different when the love is gone. It's foreign. You have to fight when there's still love, and you have to keep fighting until your last drop of it's all gone. Your father didn't give up on us. He just found love again elsewhere. Don't blame him, Liam. You would understand, too." She started twiddling her thumbs, a habit she's never really gotten over.

"Do you still love him? My father?" I asked her with anticipation.

"No, those days are long gone. I love you, now. You're my life and you're the reason I've worked so hard to create this for you." She gestured at the whole room, and I knew what she meant. She wanted me to take over once she was done, and I wouldn't mind doing so.

"Do you still speak to him?" Was he someone I knew? How many times have I walked by my own father without knowing?

She sighed before she answered, "Unfortunately, yes. On rare occasions."

I nodded in understanding, hoping I could just brush off on this information, and as I stood up, I said quietly, "Thanks for the pep talk, Mom."

"Liam?" She called for me as I opened the door, "Go get her."

I smiled at her before responding, "I'll do whatever it takes."

As I left the building, I made a call I knew I had to make the moment I found out Ev loved me. 

I called Harper.

A/N:

I JUST WANT TO SAY RIGHT NOW THAT YOU'LL HATE ME FOR THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS. DON'T WORRY I HATE ME FOR WRITING THIS STORY IN THIS DIRECTION BUT WHAT'S DONE IS DONE.

I also know that this was a really short chapter and I swear I have more coming very soon. Ev is gonna deal with a shit ton in the next chapter...

Thanks for reading! Please vote and comment! I'm bored and I like to read reactions! 

~ My