Forever & Always

Chapter 16

"So, at least we know who's the resident badass of our little friend group," Liam snickered as he walked me to my house. 

I took a tiny bow, but winced when I stood up as the blood rushed to my head. "Hold your applause," I feigned adoration. 

I appreciated that Liam came with me. It would have been a lonely walk back to my house and I'm sure some secret service like agency has already been contacted to hunt me down and kill me for a substantial amount of money  for punching Annie in the face and (possibly) breaking her nose. It's fine, it probably wasn't her original nose anyway. 

"I'm just glad someone finally has the balls to stand up to her," Liam continued, as we wandered down the street. "I mean, it's not like she's all that scary, it's just people are so much more content with blending into the woodwork."

I threw my hands in the air. "That was my goal for this year, before getting dragged into this hell storm!" 

We both laughed at my failed attempts to blend into the hustle and bustle of everyday senior year life and then fell silent for a while. It was times like this when I realized I didn't know Liam all that well. It wasn't like walking with Sara, who I knew a little better and didn't feel like there were many breaks in our conversations. With Liam, I hadn't really spent a lot of time with him and didn't know a ton about him, so as nice as he was to walk me home, these moments of silence just felt awkward. 

"Hey, Liam," I piped up. "Be honest. Did Shane say anything to you about sleeping with me or anything like that?" 

Liam looked at me and shook his head. "Of course not. Shane is not that kind of guy. You should know that of all people. Do you doubt what he told you?" 

I looked down and shook my head. I don't why I was unsure about the whole thing. As tough as I try to be, it really does affect me when I think other people have a false perception of me, and I wasn't sure how the pictures from last night were making me look. Whoever those people commenting on Annie's tweet obviously thought I was the next Hester Prynne. But I don't know, and that uneasiness with mixed with my hangover was not a good combination. 

Still in silence, we made it to my house and stopped at the beginning of the walkway up to the front door. 

"Well, thank you for being such a gentleman and walking me home," I said, still looking at him through my sunglasses, like an 80-year old woman. "I really appreciate it since I'm not feeling the best today."

Liam nodded with a smile. "Anytime," he replied. "Just make sure you get some rest and keep drinking water."

I expected him to start turning around and say goodbye, but he was lingering hesitantly, like there was something he wanted to say, but didn't know how to. 

"Liam, you look like you're about to vomit, what is wrong?" I asked with a chuckle. "I'm the hungover one here!" 

He laughed and shook his head, as if he was coming out of a trance. "Would it be weird if I said we should hang out sometime?" 

Yes, yes it would, considering your best friend is my boyfriend. 

"Not in any romantic way, obviously," he continued. "Just to get to know you a little better. I don't really know you all that much and you don't know me and since you're dating my best friend, I'd just like to know that you're not a crazed lunatic. I mean, at this point, I'm practically the godfather to your future children," he finished with a laugh. I laughed too, but it came out nervous and slightly pained. The subject of kids at this age made me want to swallow bleach.

I could see his point, and like I said, it would be good to get to know him so it wasn't so fucking awkward when there was a lull in conversation.