Hero » l.p. au

Chapter 21

"Yeah," I almost sighed in relief.

"But why is it a bad thing?"

I bit my lip again as I stared at the road ahead of me, "It's not exactly bad, it's... it's gonna be awkward."

Liam breathed out a laugh, which I took as a good sign. "So, my parents potentially thinking we're together... is awkward to you?" I shouldn't have taken it as a good sign.

"Um..." To think, I was counting the seconds until my last period of the day ended, just so I'd get to see him again, and now this. It was really dumb of me, to be fond of sneaking around with him and even kiss him in public, but when it came to making this weird thing between us more serious, I'd chicken out. And I kept mentally slapping myself because it wasn't a problem to me.

"Sort of, yeah." I grimaced at my words, but there was no point in lying to him. I noticed Liam nod from the corner of my eye, but I couldn't dare myself to look at him. Whatever expression his face held, it would make me regret what I'd said.

"Okay then," He sighed and leaned back in his seat, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stay quiet.

"I'm sorry?" I almost asked as I looked up, avoiding any kind of contact with him. Though I was surprised when I heard him chuckle; the least I was expecting from him was an unconvincing 'it's okay', and he's laughing? And it didn't sound forced?

"It's okay," He said, but not in the tone I'd expected; it really sounded as if he was okay with it.

"Uh... really?" I frowned and finally looked at him. Just like his voice, his face stunned me as well.

"Yeah, I mean... after what you told me last night, yeah, it's okay."

It took me a second to remember what I'd actually told him the previous night; and despite his positive reaction to it, I still felt like an idiot for telling him. Now he knew something was up; and even though he wasn't asking any questions, he was surely going to ask about it sometime in the future.

I already dreaded that moment.

"Um..." I began, somewhat loudly as I sat up, "It has nothing to do with that," I lied.

"What?"

"What... what I told you last night," I stammered, "It has nothing to do with... me feeling awkward about your parents thinking we're together."

I gulped and turned my head to look at Liam again; he was already nodding, not looking away from the road at all. "Okay."

I knew he didn't believe me; am I that transparent? "Liam, I'm serious."

"I said okay."

"Yeah, but what you actually mean is okay, but-"

"Sally," He said loudly, the way my name sounded coming from him causing me to stop talking. "I said. Okay."

I sat back in my seat and watched him; he seemed completely casual about the whole thing - too casual in my opinion. If it was really okay, as he said it is, he would surely ask for another reason. He's Liam, after all.

But this way, I knew that he knew I was lying. And if it was about absolutely anything else, I would have been fine with it, but when it came to that... I was ready to do anything to make him get it out of his head.

"Hey, you know what I remembered?" I winced at how loud his voice was when he spoke about a minute later, yanking me out of my thoughts. "You know when I came at the music store to buy a present for a friend of mine on Monday?"

Oh, and when you made a scene too? How could I forget about it? "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, his birthday is on Wednesday, and..." He licked his lips before continuing, "I want you to come with me."