How To Play the Player (COMPLETED)

I Lost My Way

"I come baring gifts." My mom said, planting a kiss on my temple on her way to the kitchen for dishes. "Please help me set the table. Liam, sweetheart, go grab one of the candles from the living room, would you? I want to be able to see you guys."

I helped my mom with the plates, glasses, and silverware. By the time Liam sat down I had already given myself a pretty healthy serving of Dim Sum and Lo Mein noodles, with the addition of a Spring Roll on the side. Liam eyed my plate, then me with a smirk. "What?"

"Where does all of it go?" he questioned with a laugh. "You're so skinny and eat like a body builder."

My mom nearly choked on her Boba at the observation. We both looked toward her to ensure that she was good. Once she'd coughed it out a few times, she looked toward Liam with the funniest look on her face. "You're father used to say that she ate like a growing boy. I would tell him she was just stalking up for the summer because Reese eats like a mouse between May and August."

The mention of his father was enough to catch Liam's full attention. "You knew my Dad?"

"Very well." Was all my mother said.

Liam stared at her for a while, then started poking around his food with his chop sticks. I watched him intently, waiting to see his reaction to the heavenly meal set before him. Feeling my eyes on him, he smiled, the first real, genuine smile all night. "This is really good."

I composed myself, not allowing my hand to shoot up in a John Bender moment over my small victory. My mother must have seen me bouncing in my seat because she shook her head in amusement and said, "This is Reese's favorite restaurant. I'm sure if you ask Bryan he probably has hundreds of pictures of her there. She always has this huge smile on her face when she eats it."

"That's because this is the food of the Gods." I said, pointing my chop stick in my mother's direction. "It tastes heavenly."

"It's good." Liam agreed. "But I love me some cold Desmond's Subs."

I gasped, my hand falling over my heart. "How dare you?"

"Preston used to bring me here every day after school." My mom nodded toward her food. I saw Liam grow rigid upon hearing the name out of the corner of my eye. "He was like you, Reese, he would have sold his soul for the Dim Sum."

I smiled, but Liam bowed his head. "You knew my dad pretty well, didn't you?"

"Very very well." Mom repeated. "Preston was to me what Reese is to Bryan. We were the best of friends until our Sophomore year."

I couldn't help myself. "What happened?"

"Well, we started dating."

The chopsticks dropped from mine and Liam's fingers simultaneously, our mouths agape as we processed my mother's words. Finally, Liam whispered, "You and my dad dated?"

"For almost three years." Mom confirmed. "We loved each other with our entire beings, we were inseparable. As a matter of fact, we were voted most likely to last as a couple Senior year of high school."

"But you didn't." I stated the obvious.

Mom set her own pair of chopsticks against the edge of her plate and looked between Liam and I, "Unfortunately not. I had plans to start Med school right out of high school and he'd already gotten a full ride scholarship into USC, so it would have been too big of a distance. I would never, ever put myself before his dreams so I broke it off. We stayed friends, but when he met Julia senior year we spoke less and less until it was once every few months. She was a very jealous woman, she thought I would try and take Preston from her, It broke my heart when he gave it all up, USC, the NFL, his dreams. Not because it was for that very reason I broke up with him, but because it absolutely devastated him. He was never the same person again."