Liam has had a very good week. Ember and Paige have kept him company all throughout school and he just generally feels good. That's how it's been lately.
Yet, now it's Thursday. Now, he has a party to go to with his parents. Now, he's in his room and feels like he's going to puke his guts out while he ties his neck tie with shaky hands.
"William! Hurry up!" His mother screeches on the other side of his door. Her voice has never made his head hurt more.
Liam only got home from school twenty minutes ago. He was smiling when he walked through the door, that's something he rarely does. His mother then had to cut into his happiness by telling him they had an event to go to and he absolutely had to attend it with them. There was no room for objection from him.
He finally gets his tie on right and slips his dress shoes on. He walks over and opens the door to show his mother impatiently waiting on the other side. She's wearing a black skirt and black jacket over a gray dress shirt.
"There you are. Hurry now, your father is already waiting in the car."
Liam walks down the stairs with her. He can already tell the afternoon is going to be hell. He opens the front door for his mother and she doesn't bat an eye at him as she walks out. He follows after her and they both slide into the car.
"How long is the event going to last?" Liam wonders, hoping his mother doesn't find a way to take that offensively and snap at him.
"We'll be home before seven." His father answers with an even voice. Liam closes his eyes and lets out a small breath in relief.
He won't be stuck there all night, that's a good thing at least. However, he'll still have to attend dinner with his parents tonight. Probably. That's not so good.
The car stops in front of a house that's as big as their own. Liam steps out of the car first and waits for his parents to follow. When they do he walks behind them as they enter.
There's people everywhere. They're all dressed up fancy. There's some kids Liam sees, he knows they probably go to school with him too. There's waiters walking around with trays of food and champaign.
Liam's tempted to grab a glass and down it just to see if that will make this go by faster. He doesn't do that though. The last thing he needs is his mother mad at him right now.
"Will, come here boy." His dad smiles and Liam realizes then that he had lagged behind.
He walks up and sees the man his father is talking to. Next to the man is a boy, probably about a year or two younger than Liam. His mother has gone off, disappeared, most likely to find other people.
"This is my son, William." His dad says and Liam's heart squeezes at the pride in his voice. "He's the one that will be taking over the firm. Isn't that correct, Will?"
Liam's throat suddenly feels very dry. His throat has a lump in it. His father's happy eyes are on him as well as this man and his son's eyes.
He can't bare to say no. He can't do that to his father. Not right now, the man seems happy. He sounds proud of him.
"Er- that's the plan." Liam forces a polite smile on with practiced ease. He's had to do this a million times before. Have this conversation with this fake smile, nothing is new to him when it comes to this.
"Well, it's nice to meet you." The man grins and stretches his hand out. "I'm Aaron Banks."
Liam shakes his hand. When the man retracts it, it falls onto the shoulder of the boy next to him. At the new weight on his shoulder the boy smiles.
"And this is my son, Klance Banks." The man has a wide smile. The boy looks happy and his father looks proud. "Do you go to Lavex Academy Will?"
"Uh, yes." Liam nods. "I'm a junior there."
"Well, my boy goes there as well. He is a freshman." The man says.
Liam isn't sure if it's the loving way he says my boy or the proud smile on his face. Maybe it's the hand affectionately laid on the boy's shoulder, lightly massaging every so often. Either way, their dynamic makes his stomach lurch with envy. He suddenly feels like crying.
"Really?" Liam moves his attention to the boy. "Do you like it? How are your classes?"
The boy, Klance, smiles at the attention suddenly being on him. His eyes light up and he nods. "Oh yes. It's a fantastic school. I'm going to take the study of art next year. I am very excited."
Aaron's proud smile doesn't falter. His son is studying art. That's not something involved in business. If he wanted to study art his parents would probably shun him. Liam's stomach twists in pain again. "That sounds nice. I hear the art teacher is very kind."
"Oh yes. I've met him before." Klance nods. "What are you studying?"
His father wraps an arm around Liam's shoulders. Liam tenses up at the sudden affection. His father doesn't do that, he's not an affectionate man. "Will is in business and law classes."
"That must be interesting." Aaron comments.
Klance is still smiling happily. "Do you enjoy it? I hear those classes can be tough."
"They can be tough, yes. I keep my grades up though." Liam says, purposely ignoring the first question. The polite smile he wears begins feeling more strained.
"Will prides himself on his top marks." His father says, his voice still sounds proud but now it's less authentic. So he knows Liam's grades are dropping. Liam cringes on the inside at that.
"May I be excused? I need to find a bathroom." Liam asks, sounding more polite than he wants to be.
Aaron nods. His father retracts his arm. "Go ahead."
Liam walks away into the crowd. He sees his mother over by the table with appetizers on it and he immediately turns around and heads in a different direction. He eventually finds a bathroom and locks the door behind him.
Once locked away Liam allows himself to drop the act. His face drops and shivers because of how uncomfortable he feels. It got difficult to breath out there so he takes time to collect himself and have his breathing return to normal.
After two minutes he forces himself to leave the safety of the room. He has to show some face or else his mother will have his head. So, he begins to walk around.
He passes a boy leaning against the wall and recognizes him. The boy smiles and speaks. "Hey, you're Paige's friend Liam."
He stops and looks at the boy. His mind races to match a name to the face. Then he remembers that this is the boy Paige is tutoring. Zander Raves was his name.
"Yeah, that's me." Liam nods.
"I'm Zander, Paige is helping me with math."
"I heard." Liam says. "How's that going?"
"Really well. I was scared my dad would murder me because I had a C in math. I've got it up to a B and Paige promised I'll be able to get an A before the school year is over."
Liam nods. "She's good at school. You picked the right person for the job."
"Yeah. She's really good at teaching the material." Zander smiles. "I did have a question for you."
Liam's eyebrows raise. "Okay, what is it?"
"Paige... is she single?" He gives a look at Liam that suggests he's not only asking that but also making sure he doesn't have any competition.
"Yeah." Liam nods. "I should warn you though, she's not really looking for anyone. She claims to have enough on her plate with work and school."
Zander smiles. "That's okay, I'll change her mind. I'll try at least."
"You like her?" Liam questions.
"I do." Zander nods. "She's better than the other girls at our school."
"That's because she's nothing like them. She got in through a scholarship."
"I'm aware." Zander hums. "I think it's admirable. I mean, how she works so hard for stuff."
Liam hums. Zander looks to be in thought before his attention moves over to Liam again. He flashes a friendly smile.
"Are you bored out of your mind too?"
Liam smiles weakly and nods. "I cannot stand things like this."
"I know." Zander smiles a little. "I don't think they're all this bad but it's definitely easy to get sick of them."
His eyes observe the crowd. A frown sets into his expression. Liam frowns too because he finally feels like he can.
"It's just a bunch of people flexing their money and talking shit on each other."
"Exactly." Liam sighs. He ends up leaning against the wall next to Zander. "It's sickening."
Zander hums in understanding. There isn't much conversation after that. They both just stand silently next to each other and watch as people walk by.
"William, there you are." His mother's voice can be heard before he sees her. He squeezes his eyes shut but quickly opens them. He looks over just as she stops next to him. "Come with me. June Dawson and her daughter are over there."
Liam glances at Zander before taking a step closer to his mom. It seems that's when the woman notices the boy. Her eyebrows raise and then she smiles.
"Well, hello. You're the Raves family's son aren't you?"
"Yes." Zander nods. "I'm Zander, it's nice to meet you Mrs. Caddel."
"Well, it's nice to meet you too." After they shake hands she leads Liam away. "He seems like a fine young man, are you two friends?"
"Not really. Paige is tutoring him so we kinda know each other I guess." Her smile falters then.
"Well, that's fine. Come on now." The way she says fine makes it sound like anything but. Liam frowns and follows after her.
He doesn't get to talk to Zander again that night. He's stuck with either his mom or dad and goes around having idle conversations with people. When they finally get in the car to leave his fake smile falls instantly.
His family doesn't say anything to each other the whole drive back. When they get home Liam starts to head up the stairs before he's stopped.
"William, it's almost seven."
His steps falter and he stops halfway up the staircase. He turns around and walks back down. His mother is glaring at him.
They move to the dining table and Liam sinks into his seat. The air is more tense than usual. As the first course is served his parents start talking about who they talked to during the event.
They talk about rumors and gossip like school girls about the people they were so nice to at the party. Liam tunes out their shit talking and picks at his food. It's shrimp. He hates sea food.
"William," His father starts. By the use of his full name Liam can tell this isn't going to be a fun chat. "We need to discuss your grades."
Liam's eyes fall back to his plate. "I'm passing."
"You only have two A's. What happened to your straight A record? You're grades are dropping and I do not appreciate it." His voice is stern as he scolds. Liam feels like melting into a puddle under his gaze.
"It's probably because of those new friends of his."
"It's not them. They're not exactly new, Mom. Paige is in my Philosophy class and I have a 98 in there. She's got a 100. They have nothing to do with my grades."
"I doubt that." His mother mumbles.
"Either way, you need to keep your other grades up as well. Your Intro to Law grade is almost a C."
His mother gasps at this. "What?"
"That's not my fault." Liam defends. "I can't stand that class and I can't grasp the concepts because every time I try my mind feels like it turns to mush."
"That is ridiculous, William. Don't talk like that." His mother snaps.
"Maybe you would understand more if you went to some meetings with me and showed interest in the business some more." His father says simply. "You've been avoiding that this whole time, it's probably not doing you any favors."
"I can't show something that isn't there father." Liam says quietly. "I don't like attending business meetings, just like I don't like attending these business and law classes."
"William, stop being ridiculous." His mother snaps. His father seems to have given up. He goes back to his seafood with a disappointed expression. "This is all because of those friends isn't it? You know the company you keep is important."
"My friends have nothing to do with any of this."
"Oh really? Ever since they came around you've been slacking, dressing like a hooligan, and acting disobedient."
"I'm not a damn dog." Liam mumbles under his breath.
"William!"
Liam decides then that it's best to just be quiet. His mother starts a long lecture about his attitude. The lecture lasts through the next two courses of food. Liam doesn't eat much as a result.
"May I be excused?" Liam looks up from his steak. He ate about half of it but can't stomach any more.
His mother looks displeased. "I am not done discussing this with you."
'Discussing'. This was hardly a discussion. She was talking and he was trying to pretend it didn't make him all want to puke. He didn't get to talk.
"Can't we continue this another time?"
"No." She snaps quickly. "You need to understand how important this matter is."
She continues to complain to him for the next hour. It moves on from friends to grades, and then again to his inactivity with his father's law firm. He doesn't have any time to cut in. She just talks and talks with a hateful voice.
Finally, dinner is over. Liam walks quickly up the stairs. He reaches his room and shuts it behind him with mote force than necessary. He's so tired.
He looks over at his bed. Every fiber in his being wants to just walk over there and collapse. He wants to sleep until the aches in his body and the pain in his mind leave.
He can't though. As tired as he is, he has homework. He also has school tomorrow.
With a sigh he stands up and trudges over to his desk. He throws his jacket off in the process and takes his shoes off. He loosens the neck tie and sits down to look at his laptop.
He opens it and clicks in his password. It's 9:05 at night and he just wants to sleep.
He scans through his assignments. There's quite a bit but some of it will be easy. He does all the easy stuff first. Then he works on the more difficult stuff.
Finally, there's history. He has to read a snippet from some historic story and then write five paragraphs about it. His eyes burn from staring at the screen and his throat has a lump. He just wants to cry in frustration.
He doesn't cry though. He can't cry. He has to finish this damn assignment.
Liam starts it with a headache. He reads through it and begins writing. His head aches and he's not sure anything he's writing is making sense. He has to finish this though.
At ten fifteen there's a knock on the window, taking his attention away from his homework.
What the hell? Liam looks at the window, wondering if he's hearing things. That thought is proven wrong though when he sees someone through it.
His eyes widen and he walks over to open it. "Ian?"
"Hey, Li, sorry this is weird. Can I come in? I promise I'll explain."
Liam steps aside and the boy climbs in. He doesn't know what to do. Ian leans against the window behind him and grips the windowsill.
"So um. You know how Em and I are step siblings right?"
"Uh, yeah." Liam nods, wondering where this is going.
"Right, so that means I have another mom. And my mom, my bio mom, she gets this thing where sometimes she feels she hasn't seen me in a while and wants me to come over. Usually I'll just spend like Thursday through Sunday over there or even just the weekend. I live with my dad full time because he's closer to the school and to be honest, because I like him more. But anyways this is one of those days when she decided she wanted me to come by and stay over.
"The only problem is I hate it over there. She's dating some rich douchebag and I can't stand him, something about him just makes me uncomfortable. So when I'm in that house I usually have trouble sleeping. Sometimes I'll drive down to Lucas's and stay over there. I just have to set an early alarm to go back before my mom realizes I'm missing, but when I was driving I saw your house. And you live closer to my mom. I didn't even think about it I just parked outside your gate and came up the drive. I understand if this is weird and by all means, you can tell me to leave. It's not too late for me to just go to Lucas's, I'll get it. It's just- you live closer to my mom's so I thought I'd ask. And I don't have your phone number so I couldn't call."
Liam nods, taking in all the information he could from that. It was a lot. He looks up again and sees Ian still standing there, gripping the windowsill so tight his knuckles were turning white. He looks tired.
"You can stay here. I don't mind." Liam answers. Ian's body relaxes at that and he gives Liam a soft smile.
"Thank you so much."
Liam nods and then looks at the bed. "You can go ahead and set your alarm, I get the right side of the bed."
Ian goes over and Liam turns back to his desk. He closes his laptop and decides he's too tired to be properly proofreading anyway. He stuffs it in his bag and then walks into his closet.
It's a relief to finally get the stupid suit off. He changes into a plain shirt, it feels a bit tighter around the shoulders than it used to he but he ignores that, and sweatpants before going back to his room. Ian is laying on the left side of the bed and is covered up. Liam goes and lays down face first on his side.
"Were you still doing homework?" Ian's voice is soft.
Liam hums. "I had to go to some stupid event with my parents so I didn't have time until now."
"It's getting kinda late." Ian comments.
"I know." Liam sighs. "I'm so fucking exhausted."
Ian hums in acknowledgment and then they both fade into quietness. A thought occurs to Liam and he glances at the boy next to him.
"How'd you know which window was mine?"
Ian chuckles and it sounds like he's slightly embarrassed. "I didn't. I knew it was on the second story and I walked around to this side because there's a tree there I could use to climb. I only found it by glancing in the first window I saw with light coming out." He suddenly laughs again. "Fuck. I sound like such a stalker right now."
Liam chuckles quietly too. "Just a little bit."
It's weird having someone only about three feet next to him but it doesn't matter too much. Liam falls asleep quickly anyway.
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A bit of a longer chapter than usual.
Love you ♡
- Z