Liam

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

Savannah Collins

“I’m home, Kat!” I called to my best friend, who had been my roommate for the better part of the year.

We had met right after my brother and I were dragged into Leland by our very spontaneous and erratic mother. Kat and I had hit it off right from the start. A lot of it had to do with how distracted Kat was, and how many times I ended up saving her ass. Kat, in a way, reminded me a lot of my mother—except she was my age, she was nicer to me, and was a lot more reliable.

“In here!” Kat called back.

I hadn’t expected her to be awake. It was her fault I had been out in the middle of the night, and had almost been kidnapped by a bunch of creeps. The thought that I almost got taken to who knows where by some thugs should have scared me. But my mind was still distracted with thoughts of the guy who had saved me… Liam. Now he was gone.

“Where’s the food?” Kat asked, walking into the kitchen, where I was standing in front of a fridge. I really hated that I hadn’t picked up the shopping bags after Liam had saved me.

Liam… Liam. Liam. Liam.

It was stupid how much I wanted to keep repeating his name in my mind. It really was—it was pathetic. I was still trying to make sure that I hadn’t imagined the last hour. I could have. It wasn’t the first time crazy things happened to me, and Kat reminded me that I often over exaggerated. In my defense, I got that from my mother.

“I got mugged... sort of,” I told Kat, finally sticking my head out of the fridge.

Kat gasped, dramatically, and ran to my side as soon as she saw me. My clothes were soaking wet, my long dark hair was sticking to my skin uncomfortably, and I probably had a bruise forming on my cheek.

“What happened to you? Oh my God, you look like crap! Are you okay?”

Kat touched my cheek, the one I felt getting swollen. It hurt when she pressed her fingers against it and I had to slap her hand away. She apologized, but still tried to touch around my face.

“Who did this to you?” she asked, looking at me worriedly.

Before I got a chance to reply, Kat pulled away from me and went to the fridge. She was quicker than me at thinking of what to do. She was already filling up a Ziploc bag with ice cubes.

“I told you, I got mugged. The car broke down, again. I had to walk back here with the grocery bags,” I told her, taking the plastic bag filled with ice from her. She’d wrapped a kitchen towel around it, and I was thankful for that. The cold and I—we had a mutual hate towards each other.

She crossed her arms over her chest, looking at me suspiciously. As if I would lie about something like that. When I rolled my eyes at her, Kat broke out laughing. “Right, you got mugged.”

“I did! In fact, I almost got kidnapped!”

Kat was grinning at me. She walked up to me, placing her hands on either side of my face. She again apologized when I complained about her touching my aching cheek. She didn’t realize that even brushing her fingers against my cheek hurt. “You, Sav, are a terrible liar.”

I giggled. If only she knew. “I’m not lying, I swear. I can’t even believe you don’t believe me. Why would I lie about that?”

“You look too calm. If I’d gotten mugged, I’d be a whole lot more freaked out.”