(I been waiting for this one.)
The phone chiming makes Liam hop up. He flips over to grab the phone. Sure enough, it's the notification from Ian saying he's out front.
Liam slides on his shoes, already being dressed. He's wearing his light wash jeans and a yellow shirt. The words 'Sugar Daddy' are printed on the front in orange, Ember thought it was the funniest thing ever and made him buy it.
When he opens the window he notices the fact that it's lightly sprinkling outside. He crawls out his window, shutting it behind him due to the rain, and makes his way through the tree. He's slowly getting better at sneaking in and out as he does so more often. He pats his pockets before running across the yard, making sure everything is there. After feeling his keys, wallet, and phone he sprints across the front and to the entrance.
Chris's car is out front. Chris is in the driver's seat with Paige in the passenger seat. She waves at Liam through the window when she sees him. Ember and Ian are in the back, Liam opens up the door and slides in next to Ian.
"Dude, you didn't bring a hoodie?" Ian looks over at him, eyebrows furrowing.
"I didn't know I was supposed to. You wouldn't tell me what we're doing." Liam defends himself. Chris laughs from the front seat.
Ian sighs and starts pulling his black one off. He hands it over to Liam. "Don't say anything, just put it on."
"Fine." Liam sighs too, pulling the fabric over his head as Chris starts to drive. "So what's happening?"
"You don't need to know." Ian smirks, placing his hand on Liam's face to halfway cover the boy's mouth. Liam scrunches his face up. Ian chuckles and takes his hand away.
"We're having a main character moment." Ember says. Her hands both go up in the air and she shakes them enthusiastically.
"That's one way to put it." Paige says, a little smile playing on her face.
"Wha-" Liam's mouth drops. He looks over at Ian in betrayel. "Everyone gets to know but me?"
Ian smiles triumphantly. "Yep."
Liam wonders why everyone but him knows what they're doing. Chris turns on the radio and old rock starts playing through the speakers. Liam doesn't process anything that the man is singing, he's too focused on the sinking feeling in his chest. What if they never liked him and this is all just some way to punk him? What if they're making a fool out of him for giggles?
To his left, out of his sight, Ember elbows her brother. Ian looks over, confused and slightly glaring. She glares right back and nods discreetly to Liam. Ian looks over to see the boy staring down at his lap, his resting expression making him look done with life. Ian doesn't overlook the way he's nibbling on his bottom lip and his fingers are wringing together. Suddenly worry strikes him.
Liam is still lost in his paranoid thoughts when Ian shifts next to him. An arm wraps around his shoulders, pulling him a little closer to Ian. Ian's hand massages Liam's shoulder lightly.
His mind goes black, all his worries from seconds before flying out the window. He practically melts into Ian's side. The boy grins down at him and then turns back to look out the windshield.
They pull up to a convenience store, the rain starting to get a little heavier than before. Chris turns in his seat and flashes them all a warning look.
"In and out. Don't grab anything crazy. We just need snacks and drinks." Chris says dismissively. "Unless it's condoms I'm not going to allow any unauthorized purchases."
"You're so fucking weird." Ember rolls her eyes, pulling the hood to her hoodie up over her head. Liam doesn't have much time to process the action before Ian is pulling his hood over Liam's head. "Let's go."
They all race out of the car and into the convenience store, trying to not get soaked from taking too long. Ian is right behind Liam the whole way, his hands grabbing the sides of Liam's waist to help stop himself while waiting for Liam to open the door.
Liam ignores the way his stomach is flipping while he walks inside. He thinks it's probably just from not knowing what's going on. It might just be the worry mixing with the happiness to just be in the moment.
Seconds after they get in and start looking through the snack isle, the bell rings again. Liam looks over, having to lean back slightly to look around Ian who's standing beside him. He sees Javi and Lucas walk in, Izzy right behind them.
Izzy runs off to the fridge with energy drinks as soon as she spots Ember. The girls giggle with each other and hug. Piage walks over too after grabbing a bottle of Mountain Dew.
Javi goes over to Chris while Lucas makes his way over to Ian and Liam. Liam turns back to the snacks, picking up a Twinkie. Lucas greets Ian and then his eyes drift to Liam.
Liam looks up at the feeling of eyes on him. He smiles at the blonde boy that just walked in. "Hey."
"Hey." A smile breaks out on Lucas's face too at being noticed. He then turns his attention back to Ian while Liam turns back to the snacks. "Your hoodie?"
Liam pretends not to hear. He doesn't think it's that weird. Why is Lucas asking about it? Is it weird that he's wearing Ian's hoodie? He likes it.
"Yeah. He forgot his." Ian answers simply and, before Liam can wonder off to go find a drink, Ian slings his arm around the boy's shoulder. Liam stops in his tracks, deciding to survey the snacks over here a little longer.
"Oh." Lucas nods. There's something in his tone that's unfamiliar to Liam. When he looks over the blond boy is simply smirking while looking up at Ian.
Liam turns back, picking up a cosmic brownie. He nudges Ian's side, not difficult considering he's being held into it. Ian looks away from Lucas immediately and down to Liam. He smiles softly. "Yeah?"
"Which one should I get?" Liam shows him them. "Or I could get both. Why are we getting snacks again? I think you forgot to tell me."
Ian laughs. "Stop questioning things. Get them both if you want. Get as much junk food as you want, if you can't eat it all or don't like something I'll eat it for you."
Liam nods a little and holds both the snacks in one hand while surveying the other snack cakes the store has. He gets another cupcake thing and then decides he's happy. It's then that Ian and Lucas seem to finish their conversation. It's also then that Liam realizes he's been unintentionally tuning them out.
"Do you got all your snacks?" Ian looks down at Liam again. Liam nods. "Alright. Let's go get drinks."
Ian's arm doesn't slip off his shoulders until they leave the isle. Liam wanders away from the other two to go find the Pepsi. Ian and Lucas go over to the energy drinks, striking up another conversation.
Lucas gets a Monster and Ian gets a Gatorade. Liam takes in his lack of unhealthy things and starts to overthink the amount of sugar he has himself. He doesn't get to worry over this for too long though because Ian walks over and takes his arm load from him, going over to the checkout without even saying anything to Liam.
Liam follows behind and watches as Lucas pays for them three. The suggestion of paying himself dies in his throat. Lucas looks over at the three girls crowding around the candy isles and then over at Javi waiting to leave by the door, having already paid.
"You guys want to go with us and leave Chris with the girls? He's got more patience than I." Lucas asks, his gray blue eyes coming over to look at Liam rather than Ian.
Ian looks at him too, holding the sack with all their stuff in his hand. Liam looks over at him only to see the boy raise his eyebrows expectantly. He doesn't think it over too much, he's okay with the idea of riding with Lucas and Javi, so he shrugs.
Lucas smiles again. "Alright, let's go."
They walk over to Javi by the exit, seeing Chris go up to the checkout after them. Ian spins around to wave at him. "Hey, we're going with Javier. You get Izzy."
Liam looks over his shoulder in time to see Chris with a pout on his face. "What? You're leaving me?"
"See you in a bit." Ian chuckles, waving a little.
Javi smiles at hearing the news that he won't have to wait any more. The three of them walk out of of the store and then start the dash to the car. Liam sticks close behind Ian since he doesn't know what Javi's car looks like.
Ian pulls him into the backseat once they get there, then reaches over his lap to shut the door. Liam feels a heat crawling up his neck and wishes he had something to dry off with, scared of possibly catching a cold. Even if he wasn't in the rain very long, the sudden burst of warmth is making him paranoid.
As soon as the car starts the radio starts playing. Liam realizes immediately that there's speakers behind him, to his sides, and in front of them. They aren't playing loudly but he can guess by their positioning that they could have potential to blow his eardrums up.
"The speaker system is pretty awesome, right?" Javi grins back at the two. Liam notices the towels covering the front seats, he also notices the one he's sitting on. There's a whole pile down behind the driver's seat. He wonders why they're here but doesn't question it. Ian told him not to question anything anymore.
Ian nods, sitting the bag down between them. "Yeah man, pretty sweet. They gonna be loud enough?"
"Hell yeah."
Ian hasn't moved from the middle seat and doesn't look like he's planning to. He digs around in the sack before handing Lucas his Monster, then moves the sack into his own lap to look through more properly.
"Oh thank you." Lucas takes it politely, opening it immediately. The heater is starting to warm up in the car and Liam crams his side into Ian, even though his clothes are kinda wet too, in any way to warm up a little.
Ian drapes his arm over the back of Liam's shoulders. He pulls out a bottle of Pepsi from the sack and hands it over quietly. Then, he pulls out the package of Twinkies and looks over at Liam.
"Which one do you want to try first?"
"Those work." Liam answers him in a little mumble. Ian smiles with warm eyes and hands the package over.
"Ian, are you not gonna wear a hoodie?" Javi suddenly asks. Liam looks up to see he's taking a drink out of a Doctor Pepper.
"Liam's wearing his." Lucas answers before anyone else can. His tone is teasing and light.
"Oh." Javi's tone is the same as Lucas's was before. His eyes flick over to Liam, and then in between him and Ian. A smile is playing on his lips.
Liam wonders why everyone's reacting like that. He thinks that maybe it is weird of him to be wearing Ian's hoodie. Maybe that tone suggests this is some kind of inside joke between them. Maybe they're laughing at him on the inside and trying not to let him know.
Suddenly, Ian's arm tightens around him. Liam's mind suddenly goes blank again. Just like before, he doesn't care anymore. He's comfortable and likes Ian's hoodie, Ian doesn't seem weirded out by it, and so he decides not to worry about it.
They see the moment Chris's car starts up. Through the increasingly getting faster drops of rain on the window they can see when the headlights start up. Javi smiles while shifting gears.
"Alright, time to go."
As they start driving again, Liam continues to snack on his different cakes. He tries the brownie next, splitting it in half. He holds it over as a way to silently ask Ian if he wants it.
Ian smirks. He uses his opposite hand, the one that isn't wrapped around Liam, and brings it to lightly lift Liam's hand with the brownie in it upwards. Once it's a little higher he leans down and takes a bite out of it.
Liam feels heat creeping back up his neck as he holds the brownie for Ian to eat out of his hand.
When Ian is done, Liam eats his half, staring down at his lap while his face feels hot. He opens the third and this time when he offers it to Ian, his head still down and feeling warm, the boy takes it and eats it like a normal human. Liam munches on his own after the other leaves his hand.
It isn't until they park, which is soon after, that he looks back up. He can barely see anything through the windows.
"Uh, where are we?"
Javi turns around to look at him. After processing his blank stare he turns to Ian. "You didn't tell him?"
"I wanted it to be a surprise!" Ian says in a defensive voice.
Javi rolls his eyes, throwing an empty water bottle at Ian. "He probably thinks we're gonna murder him. For fuck sakes." Javi then turns to Liam with a small smile. "This is kind of a tradition of ours. Any time someone gets a new car, we wait for a good rain to come through and come here. Sometimes it's at night and sometimes it's at day."
Liam perks up at the fact that somebody is actually explaining something to him. He's been wondering this whole time what's going on. The idea of a tradition is unique, he likes it.
"You see, this is just a big, usually empty, parking lot. It's for the store across the street but they had higher expectations for the amount of cars that would be parking here. So, usually it's empty and we take advantage of that."
Lucas smiles and turns around too, starting to join in on the explanation. "Basically we run around in the rain while blasting music in the car like we're the main characters in a teen drama show. It's pretty awesome."
Liam slowly nods. "That sounds cool."
Ian squeezes his shoulder. "It is."
A sudden thought appears to Liam. He looks at Ian with expecting eyes. "What about my wallet and phone?"
"Oh, let me see them." Liam pulls them out of his pocket and hands them over. Ian reaches over and picks up a towel, swaddling them and his own phone. He then turns back to Javi. "Now c'mon, I'm excited to hear this thing. I bet it gets louder than the big speaker and we can actually hear it."
Javi cranks the speakers up a little. Immediately, it's too loud for Liam. He cringes and goes to cover his ears. Ian doesn't miss the action.
"Oh shit. Let's get out first before he starts." Ian nudges him and that's all Liam needs as encouragement to get out of the car. It's really starting to pour, he pulls the hoodie tighter around him.
Lucas and Javi roll down the windows and then crank it up. Ian and Liam stand out in the rain, getting poured on. Chris and the girls are soon to join them though. Ember jumps on Izzy's back for a piggyback ride and they're both grinning like idiots.
Javi and Lucas get out after stuffing all the technology left in the car under the towels. Javi immediately goes jogging off, running after Chris who Liam didn't even see take off. Lucas exchanges a glance with Ian before shrugging and running after them.
Ian looks over at Liam. Paige smiles at Liam reassuringly and so Liam smiles at Ian. At the reassurance he follows after his other friends.
"What do I do?" Liam looks at her, feeling absolutely clueless.
Meamwhile, Ember and Izzy are lost in their own world. Izzy is spinning around in circles with Ember on her back. They're both laughing their heads off.
Paige shrugs in reply to his question. "Whatever you want. Just mess around Li, there's no rules here."
She spins around, losing balance and going toppling over while trying to regain her balance. Liam looks around. He walks away from the cars firstly, trying to get away from the loud speakers.
The sound of rain starts to even out with the music when he stops. He surveys the area. There's silhouettes of teenagers all around him. They're all jumpimg or spinning. Paige is even dancing a little.
It's very chaotic. Everything about it screams inconvenient and crazy. Liam feels a smile tug at his lips as he spins in a circle. He kind of loves it.
It's so pretty out here. It's impossible to see the sky, the clouds covering all the starts. Yet, Liam still finds himself looking up. He likes the feeling of all the water running down his face.
Liam was never the type people thought would be surrounded by beautiful chaos.
He was always proper, poised, and neat. All his life he has been a calm kid, happy with peaceful things. He'd never been the type to be hectic or find such crazy things pretty.
Yet, here he was. 17 years of those beliefs washed down the drain as he stood in the pouring rain.
His clothes were totally soaked through, his skin feeling moist beneath the cloth material. There was loud blaring music thumping in his ears and all around him were the smiles of people he had come to consider his family.
Adorning his face was a smile bigger than anyone had ever seen. It wasn't fake or strained and in his eyes was a glint of something that not even he himself would've expected to ever see. Freedom and bliss.
In this moment where water was crashing down on him and the asphalt under his feet, he could only see beauty.
Here and now in a moment where his parents would see the world crashing and their lives coming to an all time low he saw something so amazingly beautiful.
There wasn't a weight on his shoulders bearing him down and there wasn't knots in his stomach or an unmoving lump in his throat.
Here in this moment for the first time in his life he didn't feel like clawing at his skin or like he was in a body that would never be his. He wasn't just a shell of some person that would never be, no, right now he was more Liam than he'd ever been in his life.
Right now, he was free.
He looked up at the sky that was pouring the rain down on him, he felt the water drop on his face over and over again, and all he could do was smile with his eyes closed. He put his hands up to his face, running them back through his hair which only added to the bliss of the moment because it made it all feel more real. He was real, this was real, it wasn't a dream.
"Liam!" He looked over to see Ian walking, half jogging, with a big smile. "It's cool right?"
He had to speak pretty loudly to be heard over the rain and the speakers of the car but not too loudly that the whole world would hear. He was speaking only for Liam to hear.
"It's awesome!" Liam couldn't help the giddy smile and enthusiasm that came with his voiced thoughts, things that felt so foreign to him yet so right.
Ian's smile matched his and for a long moment they just stood there in the rain staring into each other's eyes. For a moment Liam thought time might've stopped and he didn't have a problem with it.
When Ian leaned forward and his eyes dropped Liam was surprised with himself by meeting him halfway. Their lips crashed and Ian's hand went under the hood and to the back of Liam's neck to hold him while they kissed. His other hand was on the boy's hip. Liam's hands were placed firmly on the Ian's shoulders.
When they pulled away, foreheads touching, Liam searched Ian's face for any signs of anything. He found a smile and a genuine glint in the boys eyes which caused a wide smile of his own to form. They didn't say anything after, just simply slipped out of each other's hold with their smiles still intact and continued as they were.
Ian hopped along cheering in the rain, going to join Chris and Javi at the other end of the parking lot and Liam stood there. He just stood there watching a certain someone jump around before laughing to himself and spinning in a circle with his arms out and his head facing upwards.
This whole thing was insane, he'd thought that not long ago. Everything around him was crazy and maybe in the past he would've felt largely out of place, but not anymore. Now he felt amazing and nothing less.
Paige ran over with a smile, her hair sticking to her face as she approached looking as drenched as him from the downpour.
"Come on!" She grabbed on to Liam's wrists and the two spun in circles with laughter barely audible around them.
The air was light. At a time of night where Liam would normally be trying to fall asleep and get an empty feeling to leave, he was here. He felt alive like never before, on an ultimate high that he felt he'd never come down from - and he didn't want to.
For the first time Liam felt like he knew himself. This was him, who he was.
He was a boy that went on a walk around a hidden lake while shirtless, snuck out his bedroom window and almost slipped off the roof, and played on a playground at one in the morning before going to get milkshakes. He was a boy that kissed another boy in the rain and danced in an empty parking lot while it poured. He wasn't anybody anyone else wanted him to be, right now he was him. In this moment he was Liam, and nothing less.
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Kind of a longer chapter but oh well, I love it.
Something finally happened oh my gosh!! (Fun fact: it's literally thundering outside my house right now lol)
Love you ♡
- Z