Here Comes the Sun | ✓

Chapter Thirty-One - Liam

A small laugh bubbles out of me without my permission. "What do you mean? I've never felt so alive than now, Libby. Now is exactly the right time."

Her frown deepens and she only shakes her head, finally letting my arms go from her possession. "I, um... I'm gonna go lay down. I'm tired," she mumbles, as if flustered for some reason that's beyond me.

I know my drunken mind can't be turned off like a light switch, but I can almost swear it does when I watch her stand up from the floor and walk up the creaking stairs.

Jimmy speaks my mind: "You fucked up."

I sigh, but not as dramatically as I want to. "I know." I lie back down on the ground, this time without my Libby to hold me. "What do I do?"

"Well...." Jimmy draws out, and I roll my eyes.

"Libby is not one to take drunk sex lightly," I answer his unsaid suggestion. We may not be brothers, but we have  lived in the same apartment for three years.

Jimmy just groans, leaning his head back on the cushions of his couch. "Then I've got nothin', brother."

I mean, although sex sounds great right now, even I don't want to be drunk beforehand again. "I should just talk to her."

He immediately shakes his head no. "Not a good idea - especially in your state."

"Well I have to do something."

"Just..." and then he snaps his fingers like the world makes sense again. "Make her coffee. And then talk."

I raise an eyebrow. "How does coffee make a difference?"

Jimmy smiles like a proud dad. "Coffee solves everything, man. Trust me."

Clearing his throat, he pushes himself off the floor and walks over to the mirror that hangs on the wall behind our tiny T.V..

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna head over to the party down at the university." As he saunters away from the mirror and pockets his keys formerly lying on the counter, he calls over his shoulder to me, "Don't make too much noise up there," and then shuts the door behind him.

After standing and walking into the kitchen to prepare the coffee, I hear footsteps behind me. "What are you doing?"

I jump in my spot, not expecting to have company. "Oh, um... I was making you coffee." I feel her tug at my sleeve and I turn around, engulfing her in my arms. "I'm sorry."

She shakes her head and I just know that she's smiling. "Coffee at midnight, huh?"

"Jimmy's idea," I mumble, and she nods in my arms. The coffeemaker's bell rings, signaling that it's finished brewing. "Coffee for two?"

___

"You."

I can almost hear him smiling on the other side of the line. "Me."

"What do you want." It's not a question - it's obvious what he wants.

"My daughter."

"And how do you plan on getting her?"

It's been six hours since I shared coffee with Libby; six hours since she forgave my social hiccup. Now this bullshit woke me up, and with Lib being the hardest sleeper I've ever known, of course she didn't budge when the phone rang. I've never been so jealous of someone in my life.

"Easy: by talking to you." His voice is so smooth and casual, like the snake from Ella Enchanted, where his only intentions were to kill Prince Char. Great.

"Well, bye."

"Mr. Nottes, please cut the shit out of this conversation," he says, and I can almost hear the irritation in his voice. A smirk reaches my lips. "I know you want to hear what I have to say."

"Fine. Talk to me about my parents. Let's see what you have to tell me that I haven't already found out."

"Well, that's the thing. I'm not telling you anything."

A laugh bubbles out of me. "Then why the hell am I on the phone with you?"

"Because you haven't hung up," he points out, and I can't blame him and the point he's made.

"That can be solved quite quickly, Mr. Earnest."

"Please, call me Cal."

I roll my eyes. "No thanks."

"Alright, back to the matter in our hands-"

"In your hands. I have no part of whatever ploy you've come up with, sir. I'm just curious, is all. Now please just tell me what your intentions are."

"Break up with my daughter, and you'll have all the information you've ever wanted about your parents," he says smoothly, and I... I stand in my kitchen in shock.

"Break up with Libby?" This guy must be calling me from their local loony-bin. "And then what? Ride a griffin to wherever my parents may be? If they're, y'know, even a-"

"Alive? I knew that was one of your theories ," he says, the smile clear in his voice. It's like he's dancing at the thought of me giving in.

"What does that even mean?" I laugh humorlessly like I find myself doing a lot while talking to this asshole. "You know what? I don't even care. Now take my advice: Don't call here again. No one wants to hear your voice anymore - I doubt even your wife does, after all you've been putting Libby through."

"What I am putting Libby through?" he asks incredulously. "Her mother and I have been worried sick! She's living with two lousy nobodies - one who's been kicked out of a fraternity, and the other who impregnated a girl at only the age of fourteen whose only job to raise his son with is a full-time job at a record store. How does that sound?"

I listen... and I stop. It's like everything stops. His words are tightening around my lungs and I can barely breathe. He's voicing the thoughts I've had ever since I got to know Libby: she deserves better. Something better than any life I could ever give her.

"She deserves so much more, Mr. Nottes. Can't you see that?" Mr. Earnest sighs over the line, and I can almost hear the shaking in his voice. He's hurting. He's lost his daughter, after all. To what? A nobody like me. "If you truly love her like you say you do," he murmurs, his voice to where I can barely hear, "then let her go."

And then the tone dies... but not because of me this time.