3 | we're not going out

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I swear time slows when Liam walks in. My eyes are drawn to him almost immediately, even though he is among a gaggle of his other friends. It is a little alarming how he stands out to me so effortlessly, how so painfully aware of him I still am.

Liam walks with purposeful steps, with his eyes on Kyle, who is saying something that I cannot quite catch. Then Liam briefly runs his fingers through his hair and smiles, and I am hit with a wave of pathetic longing.

It takes a Herculean effort to force myself to stop staring. I make my way over to table two with a practiced smile on my face. I serve them their drinks, with my mind refusing to function properly with Liam so unexpectedly in my immediate vicinity. It is really no surprise that I blurt out, "here is your long black sir", to the lady who had requested a caramel soy latte.

I stammer out an apology as my cheeks flood with colour and make my way back towards the counter. It is now that our eyes meet.

Liam could not have caught sight of me at a worse possible time. My apron is patchy and adorned with splashes of coffee stains, my bun is not cutely messy, and my face is splotched with colour and blanched from lack of sleep. Yet he locks eyes with mine for what seems like an eternity. He drinks in my features and I drink in his, and then he looks away with a rough jerk of his head, as though angry at himself for betraying interest.

I stumble over towards the counter. Shelia blinks like a deer caught in headlights when she sees my face. I can feel myself flushing even brighter with embarrassment at myself.

I look up cautiously. Brenda Stevens is shooting me a calculating look, with a smug, little smirk playing at the corner of her mouth. I had never understood why Liam was friends with her. She had never given me friendly vibes, and her comments had always been a little too snide to be considered harmless. She had always acted so differently towards me whenever Liam, or anyone like Shane or Kyle, were around too. I wrinkle my nose at her.

She studies me with her usual 'you don't deserve to even look at me' attitude. She opens her mouth to speak, and I know that nothing good will come out.

"Oh, Liam!" she gasps. "I didn't know that your girlfriend worked here!"

Four other pairs of eyes swing towards my direction. I hurriedly occupy myself by wiping down the countertop, and in doing so, I knock one of the decorative pot plants over. It shatters on the ground with a burst of sound, spilling dirt and pottery shards everywhere in a splay of directions.

"We're not going out."

I flinch. My hands are shaky as I bend down to begin sweeping up the mess.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Brenda replies, sounding innocently apologetic. "I never would have recommended this place if I knew."

I want to punch her.

I do not hear Liam say anything in reply. He must have shrugged this off or ignored her, because one of his friends asks Brenda what she is getting. She replies with some nonsense about there not being any pumpkin spice lattes here with a huff of indignation.

"I'd much rather just have a taste of you."

Brenda says this in a smooth sultry voice. When I look up, her eyes are perfectly hooded, and she is leaning in towards Liam with a beautifully manicured hand on his bicep.

"Liam, kiss me." she purrs.

I freeze still in my movements, only staring with my eyes wide and fixated on the two of them. Brenda leans in, and my breath catches. For a moment, I am afraid that Liam will only stare, that he will actually let her kiss him. But then right as her mouth is about to connect with his, Liam turns his head to the side. Brenda's lips land squarely on the side of his jaw.

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