Rain

Chapter 2: Hopeless Romantic

Meghan snapped, sitting beside the brunette and swatting her on the shoulder to get her attention. Anna lifted her head up, some dark locks sticking to her face before slipping off as the girl looked at her friend with a skeptical, nervous frown, grey blue eyes suddenly cloudy and unconfident compared to the boldness before.

"But.. all his friends are there, not to mention that sl-er, other girl with him, they'll laugh at me."

Anna said, eyes widening slightly as she lifted her hands and pressed them to the sides of her face, tangling her fingers into her curly, unruly hair and returning her uneven gaze to the tabletop. What had made the girl think this was such a good idea in the first place? Oh that's right, Liam's stupid, smug smirk, that singluar raised eyebrow that arched almost into his dirty blonde hair, the spikeyness that fell along his face...

Oh my god, I'm swooning over Liam Emerson.

The girl thought, her face paling at the crazed thought, Anna pressed her nails slightly into the skin of her cheeks then removed her hands and shook her head, taking a deep shaky breath and sitting up a bit straighter, pulling her hair from her face.

"Okay, okay, I can do this... but how about we wait until after lunch, when he's alone? It'll be better."

Meghan raised an eyebrow when her friend panicked, and rubbed her back a bit before nodding with a smile when Anna set her resolve.

"Good girl, that's... not quite what I was hoping for, but it's better than nothing."

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"Hi, um... Blake?"

She said, voice just over a murmur, though Anna tried to make it as loud as she could, tapping the thin, relaxed shoulder in front of her. The young man turned slightly, glancing at Anna with an unreadable expression before his lip curved into a slight, lopsided smile, then Blake waved a farewell his friends who walked farther away from the dining hall.

Meghan was a few paces behind her friend, eyes bright as she followed them out of the eating space before moving to stand in the crowd so she could eavesdrop, giving an awkward, embarrassed Anna a raised eyebrow and a thumbs up.

"Hey, Anna, right? How can I help you?"

He said, flashing the rest of the billion watt smile at Anna, who's stomach fluttered away, her heart thumping nearly out of her chest as she looked up at him.

"Uh, yeah... yeah. Oh, er, I was going to ask you something.."

"Oh, that's right! Yeah, you're boyfriend talked to me earlier, Liam, nice guy by the way, you scored big. Anyway, I can totally arrange a date for you guys, me and Miranda were going out tomorrow if you wanted to tag along?"

He said, smiling at her and hooking one hand into his back pocket as he ran the other through his hair, oblivious to the destruction he'd just caused. Meanwhile sirens sailed through the landscape of Anna's mind, bombs crashing down and leaving the hopeful place barren, desolate, destroyed.

"I... um, no, that's f-fine, I think I found a place."

The words came out, but Anna was sobbing behind them. Eyes frozen in what she supposed was a blank expression, but she still wonders how in the world he hadn't noticed something was wrong, given her a hug, asked if she was okay, anything. But Blake just shrugged at her, clapping a hand over her shoulder before turning and waving over his own.

"Oh cool, well I'll see you around, Detrich, have fun!"

What. Just. Happened...?

Before he'd even finished speaking Meghan had rushed to Anna's side, starting to wrap her arm around her friend's shoulder before the girl ducked under her lifted arm and dove into the crowd of people.

"Hey, Anna! Come on wait!"

She called, but the brunette was fighting back tears, chomping down on the inside of her cheek as she used her small figure to her advantage, ducking and weaving around every person she saw in the hallways.

Anna was making good time, the tears were bunched in her eyes, her fists balled so tight she thought her nails would slice right into her palms, and as she pulled up to her dorm room, shaking hands fumbling as she tried to pull her keys out, the girl ran right smack into a wall. But not like any other wall she'd seen, this one grew arms that snaked around her waist.

"Oh no... what's wrong, love? Don't you worry, whatever hurt you, I'm right here to-"

Smack.

Anna's hand was out before he could finish speaking, flying across his smug, cocky face and flinging it to the side.

For what seemed like forever Liam stood like that, face turned to the side, eyes wide and mouth closed in shock, with Anna full on crying, the tears dribbling down her face and off her chin. Neither heard the skid as Meghan stopped a few feet down the hall, or her loud gasp, and they didn't see her hand fly to her own face in sympathy either.

As Liam turned his head to look down at the furious and crushed girl, she bit her lip, one hand flinging the tears from her face as she opened the door and stepped inside, but before she could slam it in his face, the young man grabbed it and pulled it a crack open, staring at her.

"Y-you.. you.. you-... bastard."

She whispered, then closed it the rest of the way on him, leaving Liam standing with his hands limp at his sides, eyes fixed on the spot where her tears had fallen from her face.

What. Just. Happened...?

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Author's Note ≈

Hi readers ^^ Plot twist good, eh? You probably suspected it, with this sort of title there's no way it could go perfectly, but still, I'm feeling good about it, anyway, until next time!

The Dreamer