Between Us

chapter nine

"Absolutely," Liam says. I turn my head and steal a glance at him, noticing how he sticks his hands in his pockets and looks off to the side.

I start walking into the kitchen, hoping he's following me. Another look back tells me he is, and I lead him to where the rolls are rising. I lift the towel off one of the pans, looking at how light and puffy they are.

"Wow, those look great," he tells me, lightly poking one. I slap his hand away with a playful glare, but he just laughs.

"Thanks," I say, laying the towel back down over the bread.

"Great, you're here!" Mom says, walking over with a dish towel in her hands. "Were did your boots go?"

I give her a blank look. "They grew their own legs and walked away."

She rolls her eyes. "Very funny. Anyways, can you take all the kids upstairs? Put a movie on in the game room, they're being very loud."

"Why do I have to do it? They'll trap me!" I complain.

"They won't trap you, Tare," Liam says, crossing his arms with an eyebrow raised.

I look up at him through my eyelashes. "You haven't met my cousins."

"Stop arguing and go do it."

With that, Mom turns around and gets wrapped up in something else, leaving me sulking as I trudge out of the kitchen.

"Children under the age of me, go to the game room upstairs!" I yell, stepping away from the staircase as they run up the stairs.

"That's one way to do it," Liam says, laughing. I wink and give him a thumbs up.

Once all the kids are upstairs, I follow them and enter the game room, which is basically a living room upstairs that we converted to hold Sophie's toys and Reed's game crap. There's a giant bean bag in the corner, which I drag to the middle of the room.

"It's movie time, lay down and I might pick a good one," I say, watching as they scramble and fight over the good spaces on the bean bag until they're all settled in.

I walk over to the movie rack and squat down, trailing over the movies with my fingertips. I feel a presence behind me, and warm breath on my neck. My heart beat speeds up as of realize it's Liam and our close proximity.

"Pick Toy Story," he whispers, reaching in front of me to point to the title.

I can't speak, it's almost like my throat has closed up. I just nod and grab the movie, standing up slowly and putting it in the DVD player. As it comes up on the TV, all the kids cheer. I skip the ads and click play, then set the remote down and watch as they all quiet down and focus on the movie.

"I'm going to my room," I say to Liam. "You can come too, it you want."

Right as the words leave my mouth, I realize how they must sound. "Um, not like that," I mumble, ducking my head down as I blush.

I hear him chuckle. "It's fine, Tare. Let's go to your room," Liam says, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the hallway. I lead him to my room, where I flip on the light switch and plop down on my bed.

He stands kind of awkwardly, which is an odd sight to see since he never seems to be anything but calm, cool, and collected.

I give him a teasing smile. "You can sit down, Liam. I don't bite," I say before adding, "much."

Liam sits next to me on my bed, leaning against the wall as he kicks off his shoes and crosses his feet. "Make yourself at home, why don't you," I say with a laugh.