“Admit it, you’ve been looking forward to this all week,” Liam said.
I rolled my eyes. “Driving around in your noisy truck? Oh yes, I do so enjoy it’s interruptions.”
The truth was, though, I had been looking forward to this all week. As soon as my parents left, I decided to let that week to be my “mourning week”, if you will, and then to be over it. So I had bought instant cookies, brownie mix, two things of Ben & Jerry’s, Cheeze-Its, and a bunch of other junk food I would have to work off in the next week. I went to Goodwill and bought a bunch of VHSes—stuff like Love Actually, Lethal Weapon, Lost Boys, Happy Gilmore, Insomnia.
I had never seen Lost Boys before, but I loved all its corniness. Ah, the good ol’ days when girls weren’t overly fauning over vampires. Remember? When they burnt in the sunlight and died by a wooden stake? Personally, my favorite part was the vampire that died in the tub of holy water. Epic classic! Upon loving Kiefer Sutherland’s hair, thinking Jason Patrick—despite his decent acting—was the sexiest guy ever, Edgar and Alan Frog made that movie. They were just too awesome.
All the other movies I’d seen before—except Insomnia, but I hadn’t watched it yet. I dubbed it “Vampire Week”, though, and rented Vampire’s Suck at the only video store—called The Video Store—in Marshal County, thanks to Netflix and Redbox.
Needless to say, I was awful that week. I skipped school, claiming I was sick with the flu—in April—and the teachers actually bought it. I’d be done with school the second week of May, anyway. Although what my summer would look like now was a question, as I was meant to spend it in Arizona with Sooki. Maybe I’d just stay with one of my other friends there.
But when Friday night came, I shaped up. I ditched the movies and the food, cleansed it off with a nice bath and reading ‘The Joy Luck Club’—the only homework I actually did that week. Saturday morning, I felt renewed and refreshed, waiting for whatever the hell Liam had planned.
We were driving passed the ‘Welcome to Lewisburg’ sign, on the road to Columbia, so it could be anywhere.
“Alright,” I said, not quite able to help a small grin. “So when are you gonna tell me where we’re going?”
Liam chuckled. “Hold your horses, willya? It’s just’a few more minutes away.”
“So,” I said, smiling up at him. “What’d you do all week without me?”
“Are you assuming I can’t do anything without you?” Liam teased, raising a brow.
“Duh.”
He shook his head, but even I could see that hidden smile. “Mainly, I worked with Terry.”
“Terry!” I gasped. God, I was so terrible! The entire week, I’d only been concerned with myself. I hadn’t even thought of poor Terry. “So how’s my dear, darling colt?”
“You better stop getting so attached to him,” Liam warned.
I shrugged. “Too late. So…..”
“’So’ what?”
I rolled my eyes. “How’s little Mystery doing?”
“Fine. He’s lungin’ a lot better.”
I waited for him to add more. When he didn’t, I said, “And….”
Liam shrugged. “And nothing. Nothing new.” He gave me a sideways smirk. “He’s not that interesting, Pipe.”
“Psh, so you say. You’ve trained tons of horses. I’m sure they all seem boring after a while.”
I stopped talking as Liam turned into a parking lot right off the road. It was a plain beige building with a red roof and plain white, Arial lettering that read “Momma’s Country”. Just before the building was a sign with a plastic black and white horse atop of it. Weird. What was weirder was how many cars—well, trucks—were there.
“So, I’m guessing this place is pretty popular…..” I said skeptically, unbuckling my seatbelt.
“Yeah, kinda. It burned down a year ago. They rebuilt it pretty quick.”
“How’d it burn down?” I asked in earnest.
“Grease fire.”
Oh. That was boring, then. I was expecting something exciting like vandalism. “You sure we should be goin’ in, then? I mean, what if there’s another grease fire? Or what if some crazy hill- billy tries to fondle me? Or what if they gang up on me?” I mean, I didn’t exactly fit in with my gray skinny jeans, black KISS T-shirt, and faded out Converse.
Liam rolled his eyes. “Just don’t insult the slightly unintelligent folk an you’ll be fine,” he said, giving me a wink.
I frowned at him before following him out of the car and toward the building. “Is there alcohol here?” I asked at hearing the loud, country music booming inside.
“None that we’ll be havin’,” Liam said.
“Aw, you’re no fun.” Not that I was heartbroken over the fact. I never was one of those crazy teens who went to beer parties. I think, in my entire life, I’d consumed a whole of maybe two beers and a few sips of wine—which I’d hated.
As soon as Liam opened the door, letting me go first like the perfect gentleman he was, the music slammed into my ribcage. I resisted the urge to clamp my hands over my ears—that would probably count as insulting the slightly unintelligent folk. I couldn’t help the slight cringe on my face, though. It was honest to God honkey tonk music. Real twangy.
I gave Liam a look as he stepped in beside me. “Great idea.”
“You’ll get used to it. C’mon.” He took my hand and started leading me deeper in the building.
The ceiling was high and the inside was a lot bigger than it looked. I had been expecting some- thing of Urban Cowboy proportions, but it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t dark, but rather a perfect lighting. There were tables and a dance floor where, I have to admit, some people could really dance. They were doing a group dance, something akin to a southern Electric Slide. Off somewhere was a kitchen, I could smell, and a small bar—where we would not be spending the night.
Liam lead us through the slight crowd to an empty table. I sat watching everyone dance. “What’re they doing?” I asked, having to raise my voice over the music.
“It’s called Line Dancing.”
I nodded, a little bit awed.
From the corner of my eye, I could see that devilish smirk take over Liam’s face. “You wanna try?”
“No!” I laughed.
“Ah, c’mon, duchess.” Liam stood, offering me his hand. “Loosen up, willya? That’s what we’re here for.”
“Then why won’t you let me go to the bar?” I teased.
He just stood there stubbornly.
Rolling my eyes, I stood up and took his hand. “But don’t laugh!”
“No promises,” he said, leading to the dance floor. We took the corner in the back and Liam quickly explained how to do it—it was all in the feet; which sucked cause I danced with my hips, not my feet.
Several times, I nearly tripped over. Liam snickered at me. In my determination, I picked up Line Dancing pretty quick, although “picking up” for me meant not tripping over my feet.
“There you go!” Liam laughed.
My eyes stayed glued on my feet the entire time.
But soon the Line Dancing was over. I started to run back to our table, but Liam pulled me back. “Ah, c’mon, Piper. Dance for a little bit.”
“I can’t dance to this!” I laughed.
Liam gave me a skeptical look. “I’m not taking no for an answer.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re impossible!” But I started to dance with him anyway as the country band sang something to do with falling in a ring of fire.
“You know,” I said. “Next time you’re going to one of my parties with my music. We’ll see how you fare, then.”
“If you can find one, I’ll go,” Liam relented with a laugh.
“Oh, I’ll find one, alright.”
“’I fell for you like a child. Oh, but the fire went wild,” the band sang. The lead singer had that typical country voice, but it was kinda nice, I guess. “’I fell into a burnin’ ring of fire. I went down, down, down, but the flames went higher. An it burns, burns, burns. The ring of fire. The ring of fire.’”
“Hey!” I gasped. “This was in that movie with Reese Witherspoon! Um…. ‘Walk the Line’!”
“Hey, she’s seen a country movie!” Liam teased.
I ignored him. “It was a good movie!”
He nodded. “I guess. I didn’t watch all of it, though.”
“You don’t watch a lotta movies, do you?”
He shook his head. “No time.” Without warning, he spun me around in a complicated twirl.
I gave him an impressed, open mouthed grin. “Liam Nelson! Where did you learn to dance?”
Liam smirked and shrugged. “I live in Tennessee, darlin’. Every good ol’ boy’s mama teaches him how to dance.”
“That’s just too cute,” I teased, and I could just see Auntie Kim teaching Liam how to dance the ‘southern way’.
We danced for a long time. It didn’t take long for me to get used to the music, becoming akin to its rhythm. I was mildly surprised that no one was dancing as harshly as they did in the movies, like really “swingin’ their par’ner round an round”. Everyone was graceful in their own southern way. Of course, none as graceful as Liam. It was laughable, how good a dancer he was. I never would have thought it of him.
I even noticed a few jealous looks from some girls my way. I just laughed and held Liam’s hand that much tighter. It was weird, how comfortable I was in his arms. It wasn’t weird or awkward, but rather….nice. Kind of like I just fit there.
I kept my dangerous thoughts to myself, though, so as not to ruin anything. I was so glad he’d talked me into dancing; otherwise I never would have learned to Line Dance. I was having honest to God fun. And I was dancing with Liam.
What could be better than this night?
We were laughing the whole ride home. I kept making fun of myself, how I was dancing, and it didn’t take much encouragement for Liam to join in.
“I was like a cow, admit it!” I laughed.
“Shut up, Piper, you’re not like a cow.” He paused a minute. “Okay, so maybe for the first few songs, but after that you were just fine.”
“Ha! Says the boy who had his mommy teach him, you little cheater!”
“How is that cheating?”
I shrugged. “I dunno.”
Liam shook his head as he pulled down into the driveway. “So tell me the truth. Are you all scared being home alone?”
“Oh, terribly!” I said mockingly. There was no way I was going to tell him the first few nights I had slept in the couch cause I was too scared to get up. And there was no way I’d tell him the rest of the week I’d slept in my parents’ bed because I was afraid of facing my dark room. And, also, I wasn’t gonna tell him I slept with all the lights on.
“Lucky,” he muttered, parking the truck. “You can trash the house all you want.”
“Haha! No way, dude. It’s cleaner than it’s been in forever.” I threw the door open and jumped out of the truck. “I’m too OCD to leave it dirty,” I said, making my way up to the front porch.
“I love how you just assume I’ll follow you up to the house,” Liam muttered behind me.
“Well, yeah, I forgot to leave the porch lights on! So if there’s a murderer in the house, at least you’ll protect me, huh?”
“Aha! I knew you were scared!”
I laughed, digging my keys out of my pocket.
“And you locked the doors. How responsible.”
“Which is more than I can say for you,” I teased, opening the screen door so I could unlock the front door. I turned around before I walked in, though. “Hey, though, thanks.”
“For what?” Liam asked, smiling.
I shrugged. “Tonight. For getting my mind off…..” I looked at the keys in my hand. “stuff.” I looked back up, smiling. “Anyway, I had fun.”
“Yeah?”
I looked up, realizing how close we suddenly were. My heart skipped a tiny beat, but I didn’t move away. “Really. I mean, totally not what I expected. But in a good way. Plus, I got to see you dance.”
Liam laughed. “Well, that’s always a plus. Bein’ as though you’ll never see it again.”
“Aw, I don’t know about all that.”
For a minute, the sound of our soft laughter was all that ricocheted across the hills. But even that stopped after a minute. Silence. Not at all awkward, but electric, if you know what I mean. Why was I thinking this? I mean, this was Liam.
“And,” I said, taking a step back. “I should probably say goodnight now.”
“Yeah. Look out for those monsters under your bed.” He said it jokingly, but his voice sounded soft.
I hesitated before putting my hand on the knob.
It was barely twisted before Liam said softly, “Piper?”
I looked back at him, maybe a little too eagerly. “Yeah?”
Liam’s reply was gently pressed to my lips. I gasped at the sudden, yet faint, contact. I knew I should have pulled away right then before my head got dizzy. But I’m ashamed to say I didn’t. Not only was I like hypnotized, but a part of me was very curious…..another part was sighing at the simplicity, one word coming to mind; right.
Liam must have sensed my indecisiveness, for the pressure on my lips increased. Suddenly his hands were on me—and not at all in a bad way. One gently gripped my waist, easing me closer into him. The other tentatively cupped my cheek. His hand was warm, and way too big for my cheek. But it just sort of belonged there. Even as I gasped at the sudden contact, I didn’t flinch away. The simple warmth of him drew me closer.
And then I was kissing him. It was like I’d never been kissed before—obviously I had—but kissing Liam was so foreign, electric, and exciting all in one accord. My hands didn’t know what to do with themselves, my lips numb and slow to respond, my body trembling in the slightest. But then I tentatively started to reach up. Put my arms back down. Reached up, keeping them suspended…..
Liam, smiling through my lips, grasped my hands gently, guiding them to his shoulders. Then his hands were back where they belonged and my hands were, slowly but surely, snaking around to clutch the nape of his neck. The short, fine hair there tickled my fingers as I made my way up, curling his soft hair in my fingers.
My back pressed against the door, but Liam didn’t press himself against me, not really. He was such a gentleman….such a sweet boy….My hand slid down his chest, feeling his muscles there. My skin crawled at the slight intake of air he took at my touch. I pulled back slightly, our lips barely touching, to look at him. He had his eyes closed. My heart skipped a beat at seeing the peaceful expression. It was so unlike him and yet…..he’d never looked more beautiful.
Then his eyes opened slowly, looking straight into mine. Those hazel eyes were intense and soft, with something hidden in their depths. Something foreign to me. His eyes begged me to recognize the emotion, but my head was too dizzy already.
“Piper.” Oh, God. Another chill went through my body at hearing his low and husky voice, my name on his lips.
It kind of overwhelmed me. Wait a minute. This. Was. Liam; my best friend! And I had just let him kiss me. No, worse; I’d kissed him back! God, I was so horrible! Here I was, just out out of a relationship, and I’d kissed Liam. How was that fair? I just had to ruin everything, didn’t I?
“I can’t.” My voice was harder than I’d intended, but he had to understand. I pulled my hands free from him, flattening myself against the door to keep a moderate distance, though it did little good. I shook my head adamantly. “I can’t do this, Liam.”
He blinked, confused. Then he smirked. “You sure seemed like you were doin’ fine.”
I sighed, raking my hand through my bangs. “I’m serious. I shouldn’t…..I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why not?” Was that hurt swirling around in those hazel eyes?
Oh God. “Because. We’re friends.”
“Yeah. We are.”
I frowned. “Just friends, Liam.”
This time, he was the one to shake his head. “I don’t wanna be just friends, Piper. I never have.”
I knew this. And yet….hearing him say it was so much different. “Well. I don’t.” Liar, my inner voice screamed at me.
He watched me a minute. Then he up and decided, “You’re afraid.”
“What?” I blanched.
“You are,” he said stubbornly. “But what I don’t understand is why. Are you afraid of me?”
“No! I’m not afraid!”
“Piper,” he gripped my hand gently. “I would never hurt you. Don’t you know that?”
“Can’t you not hurt me,” I said, pointedly pulling my tingling hand out of his. “and still be just friends with me? I mean, c’mon, Liam! You had to know!”
“Had to know what?” he asked, frowning.
“That I didn’t feel that way about you!”
He smiled without humor. “That’s a lie, Piper Smithson. An you know it.”
Boy, did I ever. But if I could lie to myself all this time, I sure as hell was gonna lie to him. “If something happened…..Liam, and we couldn’t be friends anymore…..I can’t not be friends with you.”
“Piper. We’d still be friends.”
“With benefits.”
“No,” he said sternly—angrily? “Not at all like that.”
I shook my head stubbornly, inching my way out between him and the door. “No. It won’t be anything like that, because we’re just friends.”
“Piper, I….” He raked his hand through his hair, anguish in his eyes.
“What?” I asked, almost afraid of what he was going to say. My heart was beating one hundred times a minute. Why was this happening now? What was wrong with staying friends?
He looked at me sadly. “I can’t just be friends with you.”
Why was it my heart constricted painfully when he said that? “W-why not?”
“Just…” He was pulling away; not going to tell me.
“Why not, Liam?”
His eyes were definitely filled with anguish. Oh God. “Friends don’t feel the way I do about you, Piper. An I don’t wanna hide that. Not anymore. It’s not fair to you or to me.”
“And how do you feel about me, Liam?” Even as I said it, I already knew the answer. It was so obvious, and yet I had been telling myself otherwise all this time.
Liam chuckled humorlessly. “Piper…..”
“No. Liam. How. Do. You. Feel. About. Me?”
He smiled sadly, the words ‘you-don’t-wanna-know’ clear in his expression. But he said anyway, “I love you.”
I bit my lip to hold in the gasp, though nothing stopped the loud thump my heart made when it plummeted to my stomach. Apparently, I stayed silent long enough. With a last, sad smile, Liam turned and walked back down the porch steps. A part of me wanted to run out after him. It wasn’t the last time I’d see him. But it would be the last night we were friends. After all, I didn’t want to torture him. I left it all up to his digression.
I watched, a painful ache in my chest, as he climbed in his truck and disappeared up the drive.
______________________________________________________________________________
A/N So, maybe not the way you thought this was gonna go. I hated writing this, though, seriously. I just wanted to put it off. I even had chapters all laid out an everything. But those chapters took away from the story, so I knew I had to man up and write this. Ah, my stubborn Piper. I’m screaming at her, too, just so you know. But this is probably how it’d really go. She wouldn’t just realize after one kiss that she’s loved Liam all her life, or even after he tells her how he feels. I feel this is a pretty realistic scenario, even if it kinda bites.
And I’ve never been to Momma’s Country, but it actually does exist. I’ve also never Lined Dance in my entire life. But I thought it’d be fun to add this in here, even with the blowout ending.
These next few chapters are gonna be really different, but now I’m finally getting to the point of my story. I love this story so much; it’s just too awesome. Hoping you guys are loving it, too. Sorry for the late updates. Let me know your thoughts! Love y’all!
VOTES?
COMMENTS?
TTFN,
Hannah
P.S Do you like Liam or Piper more?