Coached ➳ l.p [au]

chapter 23: part one

"Why?"

"Because," he steps closer and smiles, "we can face our fears together."

I almost laugh, "You're afraid of heights too?"

"No, i'm afraid of girls. Yes i'm afraid of heights," He rolls his eyes.

"I knew you were gay," I comment and he gives me a playful warning glare before laughing.

"Anyways," he says, and looks over the edge at the ground that gets smaller by the minute, "I know how you feel, you feel like you're going to fall, and that you're just magically going to shrink while the world around you gets immensely large."

"You're not helping," I cover my eyes.

He laughs, "Oh right, sorry. Back to the point, though," he turns around to lean on the edge. "All you need is a distraction, I guess."

"Okay?" I still hold my hands to my eyes because I feel like the world is swallowing me whole. I should have never agreed to this stupid date thing.

"Look at me, Jo."

Dang it.

I slowly uncover my eyes and turn to look at his face. It's slightly relaxed, the corners of his pink lips almost turned up. His features are just so attractive...yes, I admit it. Liam's arms are crossed and his posture is relaxed just like his face expression. I decide to relax my shoulders to match his mood.

"What are you thinking right now?"

"I don't know," I lie. It's bad enough I was actually thinking about him.

"You're not thinking about the fact that we are about to be more than one thousand and nine hundred feet in the sky?"

"No, not really," I admit.

He smirks, "That's because i'm your distraction."

"Please," I snort. "Then what's your distraction? Let me guess, me?"

"Of course it's not, silly. My distraction is pizza. I mean it's just so cheesy, and delicious and-"

"-You're kidding, right?"

"One hundred percent," he laughs loudly, "I just loved watching your face expression change in less than a second."

"Aren't you the sweetest," I roll my eyes.

"I am," Liam smiles.

I change the subject to something serious for once, "I have a question, it's actually a serious matter."

He lifts an eyebrow, "What's your question?"

"Are you seriously planning on being a Coach your whole life? I mean no offense or whatever."

He scratches his chin in the place where there would've been stubble on, "No, actually when I was younger I wanted to be a fireman."

"What about now?"

"Now, oddly enough, i'm rather happy with my job. But only because I like Coaching you."

"Should I be flattered?" I confusedly laugh.

"Hell yeah. You're a tough one to train since you're so stubborn and you tried to get me to quit so badly, but look what happened?" he smiles at me, "Now we're on a lovely date in the sky."

I snort, "Don't remind me."

"You're in denial, babe," he says, catching me off guard. "I know you like me. I know you do, but I think the main reason why you push me away is because you aren't used to it."

"Used to what?"

"Used to someone like me," Liam shrugs. "Someone who goes to sleep thinking about you, someone who spends their whole day wondering what something as simple as your favorite ice cream flavor is, even though ice cream is quite high on calories."

We both laugh at the end, thinking of how weirdly he had ended his speech.

"Maybe I am," I say at the end of the laughter.

"Am what?" he questions.

"In denial," I admit quietly.

Maybe I do need to stop trying to convince myself that Liam shouldn't be anything more to me than just a stalker Coach. I don't know anymore.

"Maybe," I add, while looking at the boy grinning next to me.

He thankfully only winks at me before I turn to look out into the blue summer sky, forgetting that we were floating.

"You know, summer is ending," I sigh.

"I do know. And you'll be going to college," he turns around with me, our elbows touching.

I wrinkle my nose. College life will suck because I'm a loner. Daisy and Laura will be off at parties and crap while I will be alone in my own apartment on a saturday doing homework, I can see it already.

"Hey, this might sound childish but do you want to play a game?" Liam nudges me with his elbow, smiling.

"Oh god, what game?" I groan, already laughing.

"Okay, no need to applaud me or anything, but I made it up. It's called 'look out into the clouds and find shapes of objects.'"

I laugh and playfully smack his shoulder, "You didn't make that up!"

He rubs his shoulder like I hurt him, "Who cares, lets play."

The remainder of the time in the two-thousand-feet-high hot air balloon, was spent laughing at each other while we pointed out shapes of animals in the white and puffy clouds.

-

Liam takes my hand while I step out onto the grass, dizzy from being in the air so long.

The red head is still there, smiling at us.

"I actually, kind of, sort of, slightly had fun," I laugh, telling Liam how much fun I had. Honestly, it was the best day of my life, right next to the time I discovered double-stuffed Oreos.

He looks at me, "The date isn't over, Jo."

"What? But it's already been two and a half hours-"

Liam smirks, "That was only the first half."

-

ofc liam would do all that extravaganza shit lol

excuse my language im sorry dont shoot me

i wish there were guys like liam at my school dang dont u

and sorry it took awhile for the update lol there was a Walking Dead marathon and i srsly had to watch it bc i missed like 83737474 episodes

btw whats ur favorite show??

goals for chapter are idk 55 votes and 60 comments since theres gunna b a part two of their date

the goals havent rlly been reached lately so pls dont forget to vote and stuff

tell your friends and your cats and your neighbors to vote ok

!! thanks for nearly 20K !!

k bye im weird sorry ill go now

ha

-kiana