Chapter Twelve: What. How. When. Where. Why...What?
As I choke from the lack of air I'm receiving because I have my face plastered on the bed, I begin having a coughing fit. After recovering, I wipe the side of my face with the back of my hand from the drool watering out of my mouth. I bury my hand back under the covers and press myself deeper into the bed. I breathe in the smell of the sheets; chlorine and salt water mixed together, I press my face deeper into the blankets. Mmm. I love these two scents together. It smells so strange yet so familiar. Ugh, I want more of it...wait. My eyes bolt open, ripping away the crusty dryness on them, a white blinding light causes me to shut them and a pounding sensation comes knocking into my head. I groan and open them slowly this time. Everything is blurry at first, but after opening and shutting my eyes again and again I am able to see clearly again. A gray – or a bluish gray appears on the walls. Shit! Where am I? I pop up from the awkward position my body was sleeping in and turn my head in every direction to find out exactly where I am. I wince at the sudden headache and slow it down. White sheets. Bluish gray walls. Shelves with marine biology books. Medals and trophies from swimming.
"Oh...shit." I say lowly as my eyes keep wandering from object to object in his room. I quickly look to my left where the clock is displayed, but my eyes first come in contact with the tall glass of water that is sitting right at my reach along with some advil. I look around suspiciously and take the glass of water and wash down the after taste of every alcoholic drink I drank last night. Images flash through my eyes of last night and I groan out loud. My first encounter with Liam. I place the glass back down and that's when I see the time, "Aw shit." It's almost three in the afternoon. I throw the sheets away and gasp when I see the colored mess I made. Bright pink and orange paint is smeared all over the white sheets. Why the hell am I even doing here? I wouldn't have gone home with him. Hell, I wouldn't have gone near him. Unless...I look over my body; I see my clothing still intact besides the smear paint and all. Oh thank god! Quickly and quietly, I tip toe ungracefully to the white door, but once I reach for the doorknob I hear his voice nearing. I internally scream and tip toe back where I launch myself on the bed and pull the covers over my head. I clench my teeth together trying to calm the pounding in my head. My body freezes when I hear him enter the room and I hold my breath all together.
"No Bella," NO. NO. NO. He's talking to Bella? Shit. Shit. Shit. This can't be happening. I'm dead. I'm so dead. "We went out to the movies. The movie time was pretty late. Oh you know...that movie...The Fault in Our Stars?" Wait, what? He's covering for me? I take a deep breath and pull the covers down away from my face only to reveal my nose and eyes. I breathe in fresh air and clench the sheets tightly as I see him looking thoughtfully at his photo frames. "Yeah, it was pretty great. Well, after that we went back to my house and hung out for a bit –" he stops talking abruptly and I can only imagine Bella cutting him off. A second later he's laughing softly and my stomach does a flip at the sound of his laughter, "Yeah, who would've known? But yeah, she crashed here. Yeah...just like old times..." Suddenly his eyes come in contact with mine and I'm stuck right then and there. His face is grim and I groan internally. "Yeah, she's waking up right now. I'll make sure to pass along the message. See you later, Bells." He hangs up the phone and I'm doomed. And to make it even better, little bits of yesterday start to come together and now I wish to be tied to an anchor so I can sink to my death. Liam's eyes are glued to mine and then his lips twist into a smirk. "Morning." I bellow out a groan and hide myself away under the covers. Please let this be a dream.
"What in the hell am I doing here?" I moan out loud so he can hear me from the covers.
"You followed me home like a love sick puppy." He says nonchalantly that it causes my eyes to bulge open.
"WHAT!" I shriek as I throw the covers off me. My cheeks start to burn up as I see that huge smirk on his face.
"Yup." He says as he scrolls down on his phone. "I know. Almost couldn't believe it myself." his smirk grows and then he looks up at me. His eyes meet mine and I stare directly at them, another stare off. I couldn't have. As far as I remember, I was with Rita and Haley the entire time.
"You're lying." I narrow my eyes at him.
He shrugs his shoulders looking back to his phone, "Whatever you say. By the way, if you don't mind," he looks back at me and then his eyes shift to the bed. "I think we've spent a great amount of time together that it's time for you to leave." Honestly, the nerve he has.
I huff, "Fine." I throw the covers off me, "Where the hell are my flip-flops?" I snap breathlessly after whipping my head over the whole room. Liam amusingly points at his door and they're there. I purse my lips together and take the glass of water in hands and take the advil. "I'm taking your water."
"Oh no you don't."
"Relax, I'll return it."
"That's the problem."
I narrow my eyes at him, "Wow. Okay. You can have your stupid water." I sluggishly hand him the glass, but then he dismissively waves his hand and hits the glass causing it to slip from my hand. Water hits my feet and ankles and I immediately jump back.
"You jerk!" I screech and wipe away the strands of hair from my face, "Ugh!" Shit! Any second now I'll change into a tail. "Get out! Get out! Go! Shit!" From my cries of distress I can tell now Liam is concerned because his smirk falters. Not to mention he doesn't make a move to leave so when I feel the transformation happening I let out a scream of frustration and run for the bathroom. I shove him out of my way and sprint to the next room. I barely have time to shut the door, but what I do have time for is seeing my reflection in the mirror. "Seriously?" I hiss as I see that I look like a raccoon with makeup smeared around my eyes and the paint smudged, not to mention my birds nest...I feel my legs give out and I fall on the front side of my body to the floor with a loud thud. My elbows sting from the impact of the cool, hard tile floor. I turn my head around to see the spine of my tail outstretching across the small bathroom floor. I breathe out a sigh of relief and lie flat on the floor.
"Uh, Gaby?" Liam calls from outside and starts shifting the doorknob to the side and the door begins to open.
"I said get out!" I roar as I push the door close with a loud slam and I lock the door. "Damn it, haven't you ever heard of fucking knocking?"
"...Sorry?" I hear him walk away and I sigh. I fall on my back trying to calm myself. Too close. Way too close.
Once I'm dried up and have legs again, I grab a towel hanging off the door and wrap it around my body securely. Out of habit, I take a look in the mirror and see that all my makeup is gone, all the paint is gone, and my hair is clean and back to its almost tamed curly state. Okay...you're in Liam's house, now it's time to get the hell out of Liam's house. I look at myself in the mirror with the teal towel wrapped around my light tanned, naked body. Plan B, get some clothes. An idea pops in my head and I open the door carefully and sneak back into his room. I shut the door and begin my search for something to wear. As I go through his clothes, I feel the thin straps of swimsuit material.
"Shit." I mutter as I crouch down and cover my face with my hands. I go back into the drawer and pull out my old navy scoop bikini top with beige lace in the back and with a pair of black sports shorts. I sigh deeply and begin to slip on the bikini bottoms and then begin to put the top part on when the door flies open and Liam steps in. I jump a thousand feet in the air and cover myself with the towel. He jumps back shielding his eyes and I'm furious. "KNOCK!" I scream, "Knock!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" he cries and then tries to glance at me with a faint blush on his face.
"Leave!" I snap and give him a glare when he doesn't make a move to go. He puts his hands up in surrender with an annoyed look on his face and makes his way out. "And lock the damn door!" I huff and when he closes the door with the lock in place, I feel like I'm about to pass out from everything that has happened. I sit down on the bed and cover my hands over my face. I drop my hands and look at my bikini top lying on the wooden floor. I'm about to put the top on when there's a knock on the door, I huff in annoyance, "What?"
"Uh...I know I said you needed to leave, but if you want there's breakfast downstairs and..."
My eyebrows furrow together, oh. "Yeah, okay. I'll be right down." It's quiet from the other side of the door and as I put the top on quickly I think about actually having breakfast with him. Is this some kind of truce? I make my way out of his room and when I'm halfway down the stairs, I hear Liam laughing softly...to himself? I straighten up and stop in my steps.
"No dad, nothing happened. Trust me." I freeze. His dad? His dad is here? Oh shit.
"Sure...nothing happened." I hear his dad drawl out sarcastically and I look down at my body in shock at the thoughts he has going through his head. He thinks Liam and I...? Well, shit.
"Dad!"
"Fine. Fine. But, you've had a secret smile on your face since this morning. I want to see her. It's been far too long." Oh shit. I take a step back and press myself against the wall because I want to hear more.
"Well, she's coming down soon so don't worry." His voice sounds strained and then I back up another step. No. No. I'm not going down. I turn on my toes and go back up the stairs. I walk back over to Liam's room and close the door. My eyes pass through all the photos as I make my way towards his window, but I stop sharply and back up. I take a photo frame in my hands and the photo swallows me whole. The photo is with Bella, Liam, and I all together getting ready to start the first day of freshman year. My eyes are not glued on Liam, but me. My hair is a rusty brown bunched together in two French braids, my teeth are covered in metal and my eyes are a dark hazel. My eyes dart to Bella who looks just the same, except now she's even beautiful, and then there's Liam stuck in the middle. His lanky arms are wrapped around our shoulders pulling us in closer, the lucky shit got his braces off before me and I remember being so jealous of him. I gently slam the frame down on his desk and open up his window. I climb on top of his desk and step my foot out and place it on one of the branches of his apple tree. I pull my body out and begin to take the familiar steps down the tree like I used to back when I had to sneak out for staying out too late at his house. As I reach the bottom, I brush myself off and make my way out of his drive way. My stomach then grumbles out in hunger and I throw my head back sighing. Really?
I've been pacing back and forth on the beach since I left Liam's house and for the past hour I've made it across seventeen times already. Not even the surfers can distract me or the screaming kids as they play around in the water. Liam hasn't been able to leave my mind and I'm beginning to regret going to Sydney's party yesterday. I also haven't been able to recall anything that had happened, like how I managed to go home with Liam last night. It's already been over a week and I can't bring myself to believe that Liam is back. Does this mean having a second chance at mending our friendship back together or will it just be us constantly fighting and once again getting nowhere. Stopping in place, I shake my head and lift my head to watch the waves crash down. I lick my lips and puff out my cheeks. But the thing is, do I even want to mend our friendship? We haven't gotten anywhere since our first encounter at Rita's and he doesn't seem to be making any effort – well, except for today I guess. I just can't bring myself to do it, to try to be friends with him. He's changed so much. I've changed so much. I make it to the end of one side of the beach and turn around to retrace my steps when I see Bella approaching me. I meet her half way and give her a warm, friendly smile.
"There you are." Bella says falling into step with me as we walk along the beach. "Hey..." her voice in recognition, "I haven't seen that swim top in forever. Where did you find it?" Shit! I try not to panic as I think of a way to say that I didn't find it in Liam's room because I somehow transformed.
"Uh – somewhere deep in my closet – in one of my swimming bags." I chuckle nervously as I look out towards the water.
"Oh! So, how was the movie last night? Were there a lot of people at the premiere?"
"What?" I pull my head back in confusion. "Premiere?"
"You know, the book you read back in senior year. The one you were obsessed with?"
Oh. Oh! Oh! Oh shit! "Oh! The movie! Yes! It was packed! So crowded!" I begin to exaggerate that I have another episode of verbal diarrhea, "Like the line was so long, and so many people like wow!"
"Wow. Did you and Liam get good seats?"
And the verbal diarrhea stops, Liam? Liam! "Great seats! So great! It was unbelievable!"
"And how was the movie? Was it just how you expected it to be?"
I freeze. The movie? Shit! "Yeah it- it- it was o-on point. Right on point." I shake my hand out exaggerating how great the movie was even though I haven't seen it yet, but from what I've seen from the trailer I can only hope that the movie is great. "You know it was so great I want to go see it, again!"
As we're heading up the path to the house after watching the movie, Bella is babbling away about how great the movie was. I can't help but contemplate my own love story - oh wait, I don't have one.
"You know, I'm glad you and Liam hung out together last night." Bella then decides to crash the train of forbidden thoughts off the tracks.
I stop in place and look at her suspiciously, "Nothing happened last night."
"No. Yeah. Of course. I mean you guys spending time together. It's been awhile. Did he ask you?" I snort, "Or did you ask him?" I snort again and continue to walk up the path.
"It was more like we ran into to each other and then hey! What do you know?"
Bella grins, "Aw, look at you two. It's like those last five years never happened." She opens the front door and steps in and I take a deep breath, if only she knew.
Enjoy!
Love,
Mar