She belongs with me

32

'I thought you were staying with Nora,' he says then.

'I was,' I murmur. 'But then we got into a fight.'

'You and Nora fighting?' Liam laughs. 'That's a new one for me. What happened?'

'She thinks I was just using Caleb,' I mumble. 'But I wasn't, I swear. I told him that as well. I get that Caleb doesn't want to see me anymore, but Nora is my best friend. She should have my back.'

'You'll work it out,' Liam says, stroking a strand of my brown hair out of my face.

'I don't want to interfere in anything,' Astrid says as she comes back from the kitchen with a tray in her hands. 'But what's the deal between you two now? I heard from Liam that you're trying again?'

'Yeah, we are,' I confirm. 'But we aren't official or anything. We're just taking it slow.' Astrid nods and hands me a mug with hot chocolate.

'Will you sleep in the same bed or shall I put another mattress on the ground?' she asks us then. Liam gives me a questioning look.

'Whatever you feel comfortable with,' he says.

'We'll sleep in the same bed,' I tell Astrid. It would be weird to not sleep in the same bed. We've slept together countless of times.

'Oh, Liam, have you already told her the great news?' Astrid asks him.

'What news?' I look at Liam.

'I'm going to school next week,' he tells me. 'Only for half days though.'

'That's great!' I exclaim.

'He will be fully present after the Christmas break,' Astrid explains. 'So he might even be able to get his diploma after all.'

'Liam, that's amazing news!' I tell him. He nods, agreeing with me and smiles.

After we've had a long chat with Astrid, Liam and I decide to head to bed.

'Can I borrow a hoodie?' I ask Liam once we're in his room. 'I don't have any clothes with me.' Liam nods and takes his hoodie off so he can hand it to me. I've always loved to wear his worn clothes. They smell like him. I quickly change into his hoodie and crawl underneath the sheets. Liam pulls his joggers down and sits down on the bed to take it fully off.

'Does it hurt?' I ask him when he frowns.

'I can't really bend yet,' he explains. 'So getting dressed and undressed is a bit of a challenge.' He slowly gets into the bed with me and places the covers on top of him.

'It feels like ages ago since we last spent the night together,' Liam mumbles.

'I know,' I sigh.

'Liv, I need to tell you something,' Liam suddenly says.

'What is it?'

'Amy stopped by today,' Liam tells me and I immediately get a weird feeling.

'Oh,' I say, trying to sound as normal as possible. I don't want to make a big deal out of it.

'Nothing happened,' Liam immediately says when he sees the look on my face. 'She just wanted to know how I was doing.'

'Okay,' I mumble. 'It's fine.' Liam smiles and places a soft kiss on my forehead.

'It feels like forever since we last shared a bed together,' he whispers.

'We did last week,' I say and Liam laughs, shaking his head.

'That was different,' he says. 'I mean sleeping next to each other.'

'I fell asleep a lot of times next to your bed in the hospital though,' I murmur.

'I haven't thanked you yet for being there for me,' Liam says, grabbing my hand. 'I know it must've been hard.'

'You don't have to thank me,' I assure him. 'You were my boyfriend, of course I was there. Besides, you would've done the same thing for me.'

'I love you,' Liam whispers, stroking a piece of hair behind my ear. 'Please, remember that. You're the only one for me.' I want to kiss him, so badly, but I know that's not a good idea right now. If we're taking things slow, we shouldn't kiss or anything like that for at least a couple of days. It's not fair towards Caleb. Even though he thinks I played him, I still care about him. Caleb truly deserved the world and I hate the way I treated him. I know I shouldn't have slept with Liam. I know it wasn't right. Caleb and I weren't together officially, but you can basically call it cheating and I hate myself for letting that happen.

I know I was never going to be able to be worthy of Caleb. He deserves a girl who is willing to give him her whole heart, not just a bit. I really thought I could do it. I actually thought I could get Liam out of my head and be with Caleb, giving him everything that he deserves. And I was able to not think about Liam while I was with Caleb, but everything else reminded me of him. My room, the school, even Nora. We have so many great memories together.

'Hey, that pretty head of yours is gonna explode if you don't stop thinking so much,' Liam laughs.

'Sorry,' I sigh. 'I was just... Nevermind.' I don't want to bore Liam with my shit right now.

'We should get some sleep,' Liam says when he realizes I don't want to talk about it. I love this about him. He never pushes me to tell him something. He knows I'll tell him at my own pace.

Liam rolls on his side so he can face me.

'I have to warn you in advance,' he says. 'I've been dreaming a lot lately and then I start moving in my sleep. So if I accidentally kick you-'

'It's fine,' I assure him. He smiles and gives me one last kiss on my cheek before he closes his eyes and it's not long before I close mine as well.