I look out the window and remember the car rides with my family. My father used to drive, my mother was obviously passenger and me and my brother sat in the backseat. I love long car or bus drives. Don't ask me why.
I also remember playing this little game on car rides with my family. Every time my parents were fighting, I looked out of the window and made words with the letters from random license plates. This always worked to distract me.
My parents had a lot of fights in the past years. They weren't harmful either. They used to go violent all the time. I tried to step between them but my brother hold me back and brought me to my room. He did what I tried to do and I sat in my room crying and wondering if he comes upstairs with a bruise or not.
It stopped being violent a year ago. I don't know why but it did. I was always on the side of my dad. He manipulated me so bad that I thought my mom was the bad one. I hated my mom, that's why we used to not come along.
One day last summer she sat alone in our garden and looked at the stars. I don't know why but I joined her. I sat down and looked at the stars with her. We started a conversation and somehow we ended up talking about the relationship of her and my dad. She told me everything that happened in the last years. I couldn't believe what she said because it was the complete opposite of what my dad said. Her story made so much more sense tho and she had proof too. Since this night I talked more with my mom and we actually came along so good. I distanced myself more and more from my father because I started to realize what he has done and what he still does.
My father noticed my behavior of course and when he found out why I'm acting like I do, he tried to-
"Lia!" I spin my head to Paul. "Let's go!" I look around the bus and see that most of the people are already outside. I stand up and walk with Paul outside.
We drove 2 hours to a mini golf course. I've never done mini golf before but I'm excited to learn it.
"You good?" Paul asks me as we step out of the bus and go to the others. "Yes" I look at him and smile.
"Excited for mini golf?" Caleb wiggles with his eyebrows when me and Paul approach them. "I've never done it before but yes" I smile. "You never played mini golf before?" He says shocked. "Nope" I say. "That's a shame. I will teach you. Me and Theo are mini golf pros" he points to Theo. "Right?" He nudges Theo. "Mhm?" He snaps out of his thoughts. "I said that we're gonna teach Lia how to mini golf because we're pros" he repeats. "Oh yeah sure" he smiles.
"Can I have your attention please!" Markus shouts so that everybody can hear him. We all turn around and listen to him. "As you already know, today we're gonna play mini golf. We're not gonna make teams, we all just play against each other and for those who don't know how to play mini golf you can pair up with someone. Now let's go and have some fun" he goes in the mini golf course.
"Caleb can I pair up with you? You said you were a mini golf pro and I never played it before so..." Liv comes up to Caleb.
"You never played it before too? Damn. But yes, after we played together you will be as good as Theo, not as me tho because I'm unbeatable" he says jokingly and kinda serious.
"Oh come on Caleb you know that I'm better than you" Theo comes from behind. "You wish." Caleb scoffs. "Okay let's make a deal. You're gonna teach Liv and im gonna teach Lia. They play normal like we do and see at the end which one of them wins. When Lia wins then I'm better, when Liv wins then you're better. Deal?" Theo suggests. "Deal" Caleb says and they do a handshake.
Theo throws his arm around me and walks with me to the lady who gives us two putters and a ball. "Thank you for asking me if I even want to play with you" I say sarcastic. "I know you wanted to play with me so I didn't asked" he winks. His winks are so cute.
"Am I that obvious?" I joke. "Yes you're nearly transparent" he goes with the joke. We both laugh and go to the first hole.
"You never played it but do you know the rules and stuff?" He asks me. "Actually yes" I say proud. "Good" he replies and puts the ball down. "Okay first imma show you how I do it and then you try to copy" I nod.
He stands himself in front of the ball, puts the putter in front. Then he looks to the hole and at the ball again. After that he hits the ball. The ball rolls perfectly in the hole. He's really good.
He goes to the hole and grabs the ball and puts it to the same position it was before he hit the ball. "Your turn" he looks at me.
I take the putter in my hand and hold it in front of the ball. I look at the hole and hit the ball a bit too light. "It's okay. You can go to the ball now and do it from there" he says. I go the ball and do the same thing I did before but now with a bit more strength.
The ball rolls to the hole but not in it. It stops right before the hole. "Really?" I chuckle. I go the ball, hit it and the ball rolls in the hole.
"Not bad" Theo says and writes down our points. Three for me because I needed three hits and one for him because he did it first try.
We go to the next hole which looks very different from the other one. It is more difficult. Theo begins again and this time he needed two hits. Then it's my turn again. Before I hit, Theo stops me. "I'm gonna show you how to do it right okay?" He approaches me. "Okay" I respond.
He goes behind me and puts his arms over my shoulders to reach my hands. He's basically hovering over me like a hug from behind. He puts his hands on mine and shows me how my hand placement should be. "Then you turn the putter a bit to the side so you have a better angle." He does it for me. "And now you hit it with a good amount of strength" he steps away. "Can you show me what 'a good amount of strength' is?" I look at him. "Sure" he goes behind me again. When he touches my hands I get this feeling in my stomach again. I love that feeling. It makes me so happy somehow.
He swings the putter back and hits the ball. It's a lot harder than I would've done it. We both look after the ball and see it rolling perfectly in the hole. I wide my eyes and look at him. He looks down to me and chuckles. "I just know we're gonna win" he smirks.
~
"We're gonna loose" Theo says after I nearly throw my putter away while hitting the ball.
"I knew it's gonna get harder but do they really have to make it that hard? I mean isn't this for kids too?" I complain.
"Three hits!" A kid shouts from behind me. "Wha- how? I needed six" I look shocked at Theo who's trying not to laugh. "Stop laughing" I slap his arm lightly. "Don't worry. I mean that was really bad but we're not done yet and we don't know how Liv is doing" he comforts me. We have like five more holes. I can do it.
~
"That was fucking amazing" Theo says almost speechless. "Thank you" I say proud of myself. I had only three hits and it was the hardest and the last hole.
Theo puts his hand up for me to high five him. I high five him and want to let go again but he intertwines our hands and pulls me to him so our bodies are pressed against each other.
His other hand lands on my waist and I put my hands on his chest like a reflex. My heart starts to beat faster. I hopes he doesn't feel it. I look up to him and he down to me. He then breaks eye contact and looks at my hair. My hair?
Why- "you had something in your hair" he grabs something out of my hair and shows me a little leaf. He definitely could've grabbed that normally and not with the whole body against body thing. If he can do that, I can too. I slowly put my hand against his cheek and make deep eye contact with him. I can feel him tensing. Then I rub my thumb against his cheek, pretending to wipe something away. "You had something on your cheek" I put my hand down again. He looks at me and says nothing. I guess it worked.
Theo's pov:
"That was fucking amazing" I say amazed after she did her last hit. "Thank you" she looks so proud.
I'm hundred percent sure that we'll win this.
I put my hand up to high five her. She high fives me happy and wants to let go again but I intertwine our hands and pull her close to me. Her look goes from happy to kinda shocked and nervous. My hand lands on her waist and her little hands on my chest. She's so small, I look down to her. She looks up to me with her long lashes. I think I never met someone with those eyes before. You seriously could get lost in them...like me right now.
Right what am I even doing. I need to find a excuse. I spot a little leaf on her hair, perfect. "You had something in your hair" I grab it and show her the leaf. Her eyebrows kinda furrow. Oh god she knows that I- holy, what is she doing?
Her hand goes to my cheek. How can a hand be that soft and warm. She begins to wipe something off my cheek. "You had something on your cheek" she puts her hand away again. I just look at her and say nothing.
"We're done ladies" Caleb says enthusiastic. I turn my head to him. Hopefully he doesn't saw us doing what we did. "Let's check the points" he says. I look over to Lia and signal her to give me the paper with the points on it. She gives it to me and I look at Caleb again. "I think we should check the points" Liv points to herself and Lia. "Okay" I give the paper Lia again.
Liv goes beside Lia and they both look at the points. Then I see Lia's eyes widen. And Liv smiling. Oh no. They both look at each other and smile. What. Now they're laughing. "Tell us!" Caleb says inpatient. "We both have the same amount of points" Lia chuckles. "What!" Caleb and me say at the same time. "No" Caleb grabs the papers and looks at the points himself. "I can't believe it" he says. "Oh common" I say annoyed but kinda amused.
"So nobody lost and Nobody won. You guys are equally good" Liv says. "Whatever" I say and roll my eyes. I was so sure that I was better.
"Yeah whatever..." Caleb says. "but I think it's because I taught you Minigolf and that's why you're so good" he adds. "Oh my god. Really?" I look at him. He really wanna start this fight again, does he. "Boys" Liv laughs as she and Lia walk past us.
~
Lia's pov:
"Oh common don't be moody now" I say to Theo as he plops down next to me in the bus. "I was so sure we're gonna win. You were so good" he looks at me. "And Liv was also good" I look at him too. He rolls his eyes.
"Okay I don't want a grumpy seat neighbor" I say jokingly and stand up, pretending to leave. "You're going nowhere" he grabs my hips and pulls me down again.
"Then smile" I look at him waiting for him to smile. He fake smiles and drops his smile right after. I chuckle and shake my head. I look away from him and lean my head on the bus window next to me. I feel his hands on my shoulders pulling me to him. Then he grabs my head and lays it on his shoulder. "My shoulder is comfier" he just says. I don't respond and smile to myself.
I grab my phone and scroll through Instagram. I see so many posts from girls who are so beautiful and absolutely not afraid to post something. I want to post something so bad, I even have the pictures for it but I'm just too afraid. Posting on Instagram is stressful.
I go to my camera roll and go to my favorite pictures of myself. I need a second opinion on these pics. I get out of Theo's arms, turn around and sit with my knees on the seat so I'm facing the row behind me.
"Liv" I get her attention. She looks up. "Can I show you some pics and you say if I can post them?" I ask her. "Hey why didn't you asked me" Theo gets in the same position I'm in.
"I need an opinion from a girl" I look at him. "Sure, show me" Liv says excited. I give her my phone and let her scroll through the pictures. "Lia" she says shocked. Shit. I knew this was a bad idea.
"Why didn't you post them sooner? You look gorgeous in all of them" oh. I feel myself blushing. "Thank you" I say flattered. "If you want to I can help you later with the caption and stuff" she offers. "Please. I'm so bad at this" I chuckle.
"I want to see them too" Caleb speaks up for the first time. "You will see them when Lia posts them" Liv winks at me. "Ugh unfair" he crosses his arms. I laugh and turn around again. Theo does the same and we get in the position we were before. "Can I see them?" He asks. I shake my head. He sighs.
~
"What do we need?" I walk up to Justin. "Oh you finally decide to hang out with us too?" He puts his arm around me. "Nah" I say sarcastic.
"First you play Minigolf without us and then you don't even sit with us. Found better friends?" He pretends to be mad. "I will never find better friends then I have now" I say honest. "That's what I want to hear" he brings me closer to him.
"So what do we need?" I say again. "Shampoo" we walk to the shampoo section in the supermarket. "What do you need?" He grabs the right shampoo. "Nothing. I still have everything." I reply and we make our way back to the others who are buying alcohol again.
"You little alcoholic" Justin slaps Tyler on the back of his head. Tyler turns around and slaps Justin too. "I didn't do it that hard" Justin slaps him back. "Yes you did" Tyler slaps him. They do this for about two more minutes until I grab Justin's hands.
"Enough" I look at both of them. It was really funny to watch them but they wouldn't have stopped. "The fight is not over yet" Justin says with his index finger raised.
~
"Let's do it" Liv pats the spot next to her. I sit down and grab my phone. "So we're not gonna post every picture today, that would be weird. Which one do you want to start with?" She begins. "That's my favorite so I think I want that first" I click on the photo. "Yes! I love that too. Do you want to put a filter on it and edit it or do you like it that way?" She asks. "I think I like it that way" I really like the picture. I felt so beautiful this day.
"Good. Give me your phone and I'm gonna do the caption and stuff, I show you my result and you decide if we change something or not" I just nod and give her my phone.
After some minutes she's done with everything and shows me the result. She's really good. "Post?" She looks at me. "Yes" I look at my picture. "Don't overthink the picture. That's rule number one when you post something" she takes my phone and posts it for me. "Hey!" I laugh and grab my phone again. "No problem" she laughs.
"Shit" I hear Jacob who's on his phone. "What?" Caleb looks at Jacob's phone. "Oh shit" his mouth is dropped open after looking at whatever Jacob has on his phone.
"I want to see it too" Liv walks over to them. When she looked at Jacob's phone she smirks and looks at me. Then she goes to Theo and whispers something in his ear. He grabs his phone and she walks to me again.
"They were looking at your post" she smiles at me. "Really?" I say surprised. "Can't blame their reaction, you do look very hot in it" she compliments me. She's too sweet for this wold.
I look at Theo who's looking down at his phone. He doesn't say anything. I don't expect him to say anything but he literally shows no emotion. He thinks I look ugly, I just know it. Or he doesn't even look at my post, yeah that's it.
"Don't overthink!" Liv reminds me. "I was not overthinking" I deny. "Should I ask him what he thinks about the picture?" Can they all read minds or did I miss something?
"He?" I pretend I don't know who she's talking about. "Theo" she rolls her eyes knowing I know who she's talking about. "Sure great idea" I say sarcastic. "Kay Kay" she stands up. "I dare you!" I pull her down again. "Just a joke chill" she laughs.
~
"Wait!" Justin stops us from going any further. "What?" Tyler says confused. "Shhhh" Justin puts his index finger in front of his mouth. "I think they're talking about one of us" he whispers.
We all go silent and listen to the conversation inside the men's bathroom. "Did you not see her new post?" I hear Jacob. "I did but what's so special about it?" Theo says annoyed.
"She looks fucking amazing. Even Liam said that" wow thanks, I mentally roll my eyes.
"I don't fucking care about that ugly picture. Don't hype her up like that. She doesn't even look that good." Oh okay. I knew it. I knew he didn't like it but do I really look that bad...maybe I should've overthought that post.
"I'm gonna leave now" I smile and walk away. "I will kill him" Tyler walks towards the bathroom. "You're not gonna kill him and you don't walk away" Paul stops Tyler and grabs my wrist.
"You know you look fucking amazing in that picture, right?" He looks at me serious. I shrug not knowing if I really do. Maybe Liv just hyped me up because she doesn't want me to feel bad.
"Lia I can promise you that everybody thinks you're perfect in that picture. Did you see how many positive comments you have under your post?" I in fact didn't look at the comments. "Theo's just mad because you're not his" I furrow my brows. Justin slaps Paul.
"Anyways...don't overthink now because you heard one bad comment." He ends his "speech". He's so cute. "Thanks" I say and hug him.
"Gang bang or what is going on here?" Liam... . I look behind me and see him, Theo, Caleb and Jacob looking at us.
"Everything okay?" Caleb looks at us worried. "Mhm" I smile at him. "I'm going now" I say and try to walk but I'm being stopped again. "Is really everything okay?" Theo whispers to me. Is he serious right now?
"Don't fucking talk to her" Tyler steps forward. "What?" Theo looks at him confused. "Tyler stop it. It's fine" I say. "What's up with him?" Theo asks me. I look at him but ignore him and walk away, this time successfully.
How can he be so fake towards me. He acts all sweet and then talks like that behind my back. He would never done something like that in middle school. He wasn't fake at all. If he had a problem with someone, he showed it and didn't act like he liked the person. I can't believe he changed to someone like that. And I thought we would get our old friendship back...