Going the Distance ✔️

Chapter twenty one.

November.

If you met Liam Gilbert, you would think that he was the type of person to show no remorse, guilt, sadness or anything out of the ordinary. If you met him, laid your eyes on him, looked deep into his eyes, you would think that he was a complete jerk who didn't care about anything. But, if you talked to him, saw beneath that facade of arrogance, you would see that there was more to Liam than he was leading on.

He held me tight and it felt warm and comforting and his arms were wrapped around me like he never wanted to let me go. His cologne wasn't strong, but it was enough to send my mind into a daydream and the smell wasn't new to me, he smelt like this most days but smelling it up close was something else. It was stuck in his T-shirt, surrounding the two of us.

But, of course, Liam had to ruin it. "Are you smelling my cologne?" I could feel him smirk as he said those words.

I rolled my eyes and released our hug. "No, there are better things I could be smelling."

He looked down at me and although the refrigerator light was still on, I could still see his eyes sparkling with that smirk plastered all over his face. "Oh, really?"

I nodded with a grin as I took a step back, keeping the distance between us. "Yeah, your cologne smells really musty. I don't know how you could put that stuff on every day."

Liam's smirk grew wider. "So you do smell it."

My eyes widened at what I just said and I backed away slowly, feeling a yawn come on. "Goodnight, Liam. I had fun."

"Me too," I could feel him smile, "and thank you."

Before I left, I smiled. "I think we both needed it." And with that, I left the kitchen and walked upstairs to my bedroom. I closed my door quietly and let the silence of the quiet house fill my mind with endless thoughts and broken dreams. I kept thinking about Liam and how he had been through something too, and it made me wonder if what happened with Olivia was the reason why Liam was like he was.

I kept thinking about what happened with me and why I came here. The truth was, I didn't come here to learn or to get the high school experience in America. I came here to get away, to get away from the ghost of Mason because staying there was too much to handle and I felt guilty for Ben. The truth was, I ran away because running was all I knew without Mason. He made me want to stay and when he left me, all I wanted to do was run. I lied to Liam about Ben. I don't know why, but, I couldn't bring myself to tell him the whole story because it hurt to say the words.

I sat down behind my closed door with my knees against my chest. I looked at my phone and I wasn't sure what time it would be over in England. I sighed, collected my thoughts and searched through my contacts for a specific number and once I located it, I rung the number. It rang a few times and I waited patiently for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end answered.

Relief filled my mind as I heard his voice. "Hey, it's Louisa."

"Louisa," Ben sounded happy to hear from me, "how's it going? I heard you went on exchange in America."

"How did you hear that?" I asked and I couldn't hide the worry from my tone.

I heard shuffling around in the background before he replied. "Justin told me. He said you haven't spoken to him since Mason's funeral. Is that why you went to America, because of Mason?" I thought of Justin, Mason's older brother. He was so protective of his brother and when Mason died, he held me until the sun came up.

"Let's not talk about that," I said with a sigh, "are you alright?"

I could picture his face, his dark hair, his smile. "I'm fine. I'm crashing at a mate's house and I got a job so I can pay rent now."