Childhood best friends to enemies to lovers.
Alina wants nothing to do with the rebellious bad boy, Liam Somner.
Which is difficult, because he goes to her school. And lives on her street. And keeps showing up at her apartment, and sitting in her ki...
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When I'm mid-panic attack, I usually listen to breathing exercises from an app, or repeat mantras to myself, or sometimes read WebMD articles about panic attacks, because for some reason that helps calm me down. But now that I've got no phone, I'm at a loss. I've got no clutch, except a stupid notebook full of drawings of triangles.
I'm trying to do my English homework, because it's due tomorrow and I haven't started, but it's almost impossible to try to read and take in the words in a book while I'm freaking out about how much study I have to do.
I'm sitting on my windowsill now, with legs dangling out to the fire escape, so that the lamp from my bed can light the book. The words are getting all blurry and I keep reading and rereading the same paragraphs because I can't concentrate.
When Oscar's bedroom window opens I'm almost relieved, thinking that he'll distract me with the plot line from the latest tv series he's binge-watched. But then Liam is emerging from Oscar's bedroom and I'm reminded once again that I cannot escape him, even on this fire escape.
"What you reading?"
"Did you have a shower?"
His hair's wet, which is why I ask. It's dark brown and sticking to his forehead, instead of pushed back like usual. It makes him look younger, with his hair flopping across his forehead, like he looked when he was young. When we were young.
"Why do you never answer my questions?"
"Why do you never answer mine?"
Stalemate.
But now he's worked his way out onto the fire escape and he's pulling his legs together so that we can both fit. He's wearing what I recognise as Oscar's sweat pants, and no shirt, but I refuse point blank to let my gaze go to his chest, because I know he'll notice.
"You okay, Leens?" Liam asks, and suddenly it's the most heartfelt thing he's ever said to me, which instantly makes me suspicious.
"I'm fine," I say. "Why did you shower here? Your apartment is literally two minutes away."
Liam shrugs. "Just wanted to stay here. Your Mom said I could."
"You're back less than a month and Sonja's already kicked you out?"
"New record," Liam says, and a ghost of a smile plays on his lips. Then he leans back. "Nah, I just figured you Cooks need some company."
I glance back through the window Liam came out of - Oscar's window.
"He's watching Netflix," Liam says. "He's not good, Leens. Do you know how long it took me to convince him to have a shower today?"
I grit my teeth, pissed off. Liam's gone for a year, and he thinks he can come back into our lives now and tell me about my own family?
"I'm the one who has been here," I remind him. "I'm the one who's been here every single day, doing my damnedest to get him out of bed. And where have you been?"
