I raked a hand through my hair, yawning as I slid down the stairs. I peaked around the corner into the kitchen and made a face when I saw Mrs. Clary beginning to pour scrambled eggs onto an assortment of plates. Curling my lip, I decided it was better to perhaps have some toast or something in about an hour, just to avoid eating breakfast with the Clarys, and as I started to turn away, Mrs. Clary, without looking up from her pouring, called out, "Don't even think about it, Liam. Get in here."
Sucking in a breath, I ducked around the corner and flashed her an award winning smile. "Good morning, Mindy; you're looking lovely as usual."
Her dark brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun atop of her head and her bangs were tucked behind her ear. Her green eyes narrowed at me in suspicion and she rested her hand on her hip, placing her frying pan to the side.
"Don't try to sweet talk me, boy," She stated, eyeing me suspiciously. "You got in pretty late last night. Where were you?"
I stared at her in shock for a moment. That's what she was mad about? Simply, I shrugged. I pulled out a chair and slid into it, leaning on my hand. "I was with a friend."
She quirked a brow.
"Oh, yeah? Until two in the morning? Who was it? Do I need to set an extra space or did he already leave?" She drawled sarcastically, making me crinkle my nose in annoyance. David, Blake's father, who had just appeared in the room, snickered, pecking Mindy on the cheek before taking his seat in front of me.
"It was a friend," I stated, crossing my arms. "So, no, you don't. We didn't have sex. We just hung out. And frankly, I'm offended that you think I'm that sort of man."
Mindy rolled her eyes and David raised his brows. I wasn't able to tell if it was mock shock or not but I grit my teeth, cheeks flushing. I narrowed my eyes. "What?"
"Did I just hear that Liam hung out with a friend last night?" Blake yawned from the doorway, causing me to perk up. His hair was spiked at an odd angle and he rubbed his face like a child. I curled my lip at his words. "That's impossible. You don't have any friends."
"I have friends! Why does everybody keep saying that?" I demanded as Blake pulled out a seat beside his father. Blake leaned on his hand and glancing out the window, looking rather focused. Furrowing my brows, I followed his gaze and soon groaned. I rolled my eyes, seeing Kai scaling down the side of the house in what can only be assumed as a bad attempt at sneaking himself out, bare chested, and wearing a pair of pajama pants that I swore I had seen Blake wearing a couple of weeks ago. He struggled with his clothes in his hands. Mindy must have seen the same thing as I did from the corner of her eye because she simply sighed dramatically and reached over, opening the door to the patio.
"Kai, get in here for breakfast," She called, causing Kai to jump. Once his eyes came to rest on her, his face broke out into a huge grin and he threw up his hand in a wave, dropping a shoe in the process.
"Morning, Mindy!" He practically shouted as he turned around, jogging towards the door. I pinched the bridge of my nose in irritation as Mindy beamed, welcoming Kai in like the second son he had become. He waggled his brows at her. "I was just on my way inside."
Mindy rolled her eyes, laughing. "Oh, yeah, I bet you were. Just sit down and eat."
Kai bounded past her, swinging around the table to toss his clothes onto the couch. He dragged a hand through his caramel hair and I couldn't help but grit my teeth in annoyance to how comfortable he had gotten here. He pecked Blake on the cheek, dragging a hand along his shoulders, and took his seat on the other side of Blake's father. I nearly gagged watching as Blake watched him go by, like some kind of lovesick puppy. But I refuse to let Kai steal attention from the situation at hand again.
"So, as I was saying, why do you lot think it's so weird for me to have a friend?" I repeated, narrowing my eyes at everyone around the table. Blake sucked in a breath, peering over at his mother, and Kai shrugged, pulling apart a biscuit.
"Gee. You know, I don't know. Maybe because nobody likes you?" Kai offered, shooting me a smile. David snickered and elbowed Kai in the arm. Kai returned his smirk and I scowled at the both of them before Kai turned back to me, shoving the biscuit into his mouth. "Who was it anyway? Anyone I know?"
I sent him a sickly sweet grin. "Very well actually."
He raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding what I meant, but Blake's eyes snapped to me and he narrowed his eyes at me. Not angrily but more curiously.
"Who?" Kai asked, leaning forward. David glanced up from his news paper. I grabbed a biscuit and began to pull it apart, shrugging again.
"Don't worry about it."
"Hey-," Kai started, glaring at me but Blake stopped him, shooting him a look.
"Kai," Blake said sternly, making Kai glance up. Blake jerked his chin to the stairs. "You should probably take a shower, shouldn't you? We're heading out soon."
"What? I thought we were just going to chill here-,"
"We can hang out at your house," Blake interrupted once again, turning his stormy eyes back to me. "I want to see Violet and Ella anyway."
Kai paused, looking between us, but eventually sighed and nodded before standing up, and muttering something about how 'fun it is when all of his women get together'. David chuckled but Blake scowled, taking a swing at Kai as he walked by. Kai grinned playfully and leaned over Blake's chair, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, tousling his hair as he passed. I tensed.
"You know I'm just playing, sweets," Kai purred, giving Blake a half hug. Blake merely waved his hand at Kai, still pretending to be mad but he and I knew better. Blake was blushing up to his ears. I saw Kai smiling thoughtfully down at Blake as he pulled away, but not after giving him another kiss on his temple. It made my stomach churn and I forced myself to look away. As Kai was climbing the stairs, Blake's voice tore me back to him.
"Liam," He said sternly, his eyes locking with mine. "Come talk to me for a minute."
I squirmed in my chair and glanced between Mindy and David, looking for anything, anything from anyone, who could somehow get me out of this. The two exchanged looks of their own and made it painfully obvious that they were trying to look anywhere other than at me. I drummed my fingers on the table top, humming. "I'm actually pretty comfortable here, love, but maybe in a little bit-,"
"You can either come now by choice," Blake started slowly, standing up and cracking his neck. "Or I can drag you out of the chair and pull you to the living room myself. Your choice."
"Always so classy, aren't we, Blakey?" I muttered under my breath, rising out of my chair. I threw up my hands in surrender as Blake walked past me, eyeing me as he did so. I gave him a twitching smile before speaking up, "Of course! I always enjoy our little chats, babe."
Mindy sent me a sympathetic look and David smirked, turning the page of his news paper. I followed Blake to the living room, taking a seat on the couch that he gestured to me, allowing him to stand in front of me. He crossed his arms over his muscled chest and tilted his head.
"You were with West all night?"
Straight to the point, as always. I smiled up at him, giving a heave of my shoulders. "I might have been. But, please, don't be jealous, love. You're still first in my heart."
Blake ignored that and rolled his eyes. "What did you two do?"
"Just hung out."
"Really? That's all you did?" He asked, quirking a brow and I glared, nodding. Everyone seems to think I'm such a skank. Or that my standards are just so low. Although, to be fair, after last night, I am kind of seeing background character in a whole new light. Blake paused, those stormy eyes of his piercing right through me. "Do you like him?"
I flushed but curled my lips bitterly. I crossed my arms.
"No," I insisted firmly, shaking my head. "Of course not. That's stupid."
Blake scoffed, reaching up and placing a hand on his chin. He studied me, which only seemed to make me blush even more. The way that he was when he was focusing on something... It just gives me chills. It's like he's trying to look straight into my fucking soul.
"It's okay to like someone, you know," Blake drawled out, beginning to pace in front of me. I narrowed my eyes and leaned back into the chair, huffing.
"Well, that's good to know but I don't," I spat, crossing my arms over my chest. I matched his incriminating look with one of my own. "That's ridiculous; I can't believe you'd accuse me of such."
Blake rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. What? Did he reject you or something? I've never seen you turn down a cute boy."
I stayed silent, grinding my teeth together. Blake's eyes widened as realization set in and he stopped pacing.
"Is that it?" He asked, seeming slightly bewildered. "He said no?"
I scowled and tried to look past him towards the TV. Blake smiled smugly and looked oddly proud of all of this.
"Oh, piss off, Blake," I hissed, hiding my face behind my hand. I bit at my lip angrily, trying to avoid his eyes. He barked out a laugh, smirking. He threw up a hand.
"So? What happened then?"
"I... I kissed him and he... He pushed me away. He told me he only wanted to be friends with me."
Blake snickered. "What's so wrong with that?"
"Why the hell would he push me away?" I shouted, throwing my hands up, causing David to look up from his paper and Mindy to drop her fork behind us. I felt the heat rush to my cheeks instantly and I tried even harder to hide my face. My voice dropped to a whisper. "That's never happened to me before."
Blake sighed, rolling his eyes, and plopped down in the chair in front of me. He leaned on his hand, watching me curiously "Well, are you upset about it?"
"No," I spat instantly before pausing once again when Blake stared at me, raising a brow. I swallowed roughly. "Maybe. Yes. No. I don't know."
"Hmm... It kind of sounds like you've got a little bit of a crush."
"I do not," I insisted quickly, my cheeks heating up. "Why would I have a crush on him of all people? He's just some stupid background character."
"Uh-huh. Then why did you go out with him last night?"
"Blake, my love, please. Just shut the fuck up," I said gently, clenching my teeth. Blake smirked at me, seeming far too amused for my liking.
"Quit calling him that," A voice said irritably from around the corner and I peaked over to see Kai wearing the same jeans he had been carrying earlier. He held one of Blake's light blue muscle shirts in his hand and his chest was bare. He dried his caramel hair with a towel in his other hand. He sent me a scowl and crossed the living room, snaking one arm around Blake's waist, pressing his lips to his shoulder. "He is not your love. He's my love. Now, what are we talking about?"
Blake stared at him hungrily, seemingly forgetting about our conversation all together and, honestly, I understood why. Like I said earlier, one of the things that pissed me off so much about Kai was that he was so gorgeous. Looking at him now, he was perfect. His abs were taunt and tight, his chest was wide and his caramel skin still glowed from the shower. His dark eyes were hooded and his cheeks were flushed from the heat of the bathroom and his hair dripped around his face, framing him. His plump, rosy lips were parted, showing off perfect teeth. He was out of breath and all steamed up and if this was the way he looked in bed... Well, I'd fuck him too.
The way Blake was looking at him was like he was waiting to devour Kai right there in the middle of the living room. It made my stomach churn.
I forced my eyes away and scowled at nothing in particular, turning my nose up. "None of your business, little one. Now do us all a favor and put on a shirt."
"Keep if off," Blake's little sister, Alice, called over as she walked past the living room, stealing glances at Kai. One of his other sisters, I couldn't tell which, giggled and I scowled at both of them. Kai gave a triumphant smile and winked in the girls direction. He shrugged.
"The people have spoken," He said, pressing his lips once again to Blake's cheek. Blake shook out of his trance and turned to look back at me.
"We're not done talking about this, Liam," He said sternly, reminding me of a chastising father. I practically shrunk into my seat and looked to the ground. Placing his hand over top of Kai's stomach, Blake urged him towards the door. "Let's get going to your house. You drive. The shirt stays off."
Kai leaned closer to Blake, that smirk still on his face, and I heard him, his voice barely of above a whisper, "Awh, sweets, if you wanted to make out with me, all you had to do was ask."
I made a gagging noise, sticking my finger to my throat, and Blake flushed, ignoring me all together, as he shoved Kai closer to the door. Kai chuckled and the two of them nearly knocked down Rose, who had just come downstairs. As they rushed out the door, they both called, "Love you! Bye!" and, "We're leaving now!"
"Wear a rubber, Blake!" Rose called after them, shutting the door as they left.
"Rosie!" Mindy scolded and David wrinkled his nose. Alice and Sky roared with laughter, which made Rose grin. I rolled my eyes, wanting to think about almost anything other than that. I stood up and stretched. I looked to my plate at the table, surrounded by the Clarys and what do you know, suddenly, I wasn't that hungry anymore.
I glanced down at the floor, wringing my hands together.
A crush on West...? No.
No.
Fuck no.
He's nothing more than a background character to my life. I hardly ever talked to the kid. Well. Aside from last night that is.
But... I don't know. The way that he was last night, sweet and funny, I guess I was sort of feeling like maybe I could. When he rejected me during the kiss... I honestly was just utterly confused. And shocked. And embarrassed. And a little angry. But that's only because, not to toot my own horn here, but that's never really happened to me before. I mean, I've been punched maybe, once or twice, but West, he just... pulled away and told me he wanted to be friends. Friends? Who the hell just wanted to be friends?
Ignoring Mindy calling to me, I walked out of the living room and headed towards the stairs. I paused by the window something caught my eye, stopping me dead in my tracks.
Blake and Kai hadn't even left yet. There they stood, in the driveway, locked together. Blake had pushed Kai up against his car, cupping his face in a sweet kiss. I could see that Kai was smiling through the kiss, his arms moving to Blake's waist, the keys jingling in his hands. They were attracting the attention of almost every neighbor that was outside at the time but they didn't seem to care. They were lost in each other and it made my heart ache.
It's times like this where I really do catch myself thinking, even if it's just for a moment, that maybe... maybe I want that. Or something like that. Something that makes me feel alive and just completely forget everyone else there. Is that really too much to ask?
As much as it hurts to admit it, I... wanted someone. I wanted someone who would love me for, well, me. I wanted someone who would pat my head and tell me that everything would be okay... That I wasn't weird or broken... That I'm fine just the way I am.
I tore myself away from the window with a grimace, unable to stand staring at them any longer.
E-Even if I did like West... which I don't... He only wanted to be friends. He didn't want to be like that with me. But, let's be completely honest here. Who the hell would, I'm a damn mess. I don't even know how to like someone.