We got back to Aladine later Sunday afternoon, we took our time getting up and around that morning and ended up getting breakfast at a local diner before hitting the road back home. I was exhausted and hungover so I ended up just staying at Liam's that night. I had found myself at home with him nearly every night, it just became a pattern, a habit to just end up with him every night.
Half the reason I'd wanted to leave the night we went to Canada was because Nikki had pissed me off on my birthday. Sure, she'd let Liam in in the morning or whatever but she hardly saw me all day even thought I knew she had practice in the morning and one lab until noon. I saw her as I was leaving for my game but she didn't even bother to show up for that. My mom had invited her to dinner with us and she made up some shit about a group project or something she was working on at nine thirty on a Friday night. I stayed with Liam that night but had stopped at the apartment to go back and grab a change of clothes for Saturday but she was on FaceTime with her cousin and completely ignored me.
"Where'd you disappear to Saturday night?" Nikki asked me Monday as we did homework in the study room at the library.
She'd warmed up a little bit Monday, we went and got lunch at the dining hall together between classes and she'd suggested I come to the library with her that evening before dinner. She said she hadn't felt good over the weekend, which I thought smelled like bullshit but I went along with it.
"Canada," I replied, looking over my work.
"What?" she asked.
"Liam and I went to Canada," I replied, "We went out to some club he and his old team used to go out to back in juniors. It was my idea."
"Is that where you got the nose piercing?" she asked.
"No that was in Waterford, I got a tattoo too though," I replied, "It's that one I showed you last year. It hurt pretty bad yesterday and the day before but it feels fine now and-"
"Stop," she said.
"What?" I asked.
"Stop talking," she said, "I can't stand it. Liam has changed you Liv and I hate it."
"What? Nikki, Liam hasn't done anything to me," I replied, completely flabbergasted at her attitude.
"Alright then, riddle me this. Before August when Liam 'accidentally' spilled his drink all over you at that party, you told me everything. You never went anywhere without telling me, you couldn't even send a freaking text to a guy without consulting me for half an hour. Now you go off to freaking Canada to drink, which, by the way, you wouldn't have done in August before this whole thing with Liam started. You've gone from constantly needing everyone and their brother's advice on a five word text to hooking up with someone else's boyfriend on our couch in our apartment, not to mention however many other times you two have hooked up. You're not my best friend anymore Olivia, you're not the same."
"Well maybe I wanted to change," I snapped, "Maybe I didn't want to be the same boring person I was in high school. I'm my own person, I always have been and you know that. People change Nikki, I'm sorry I didn't consult you first," I spat, "And I told you, we're just friends."
"People don't change this much in this short of time without someone who makes them change!" she exclaimed, "And that just friends thing is total bullshit, don't you realize that I heard that he broke up with Lila before Thanksgiving and that he went home with you for Thanksgiving? Or that I don't realize when you sneak out at night?"
"You need to stop, right now," I said, my voice lowering, "You don't even know Liam, you don't know what our relationship is like because you never wanted me to even be friends with him in the first place. I'm leaving now."
"Olivia I'm not done!" she exclaimed.
"Well I am," I glared, shoving my notebook and textbook into my bag and storming out of the room.
I made a beeline out the door of the library and back to our apartment where I shoved a change of clothes into my bag and grabbed my shower stuff and walked down the street to Liam's.
"Hey, you alright?" he asked as I walked into his room where he was doing homework on the bed, "What's with all the crap?'
"Nikki and I got into a fight," I replied, "I'm not dealing with her and there's only a week and a half left of school anyway and there's no way in hell I'm staying with her."
"What was it about?" he asked.
"She's all pissy because I don't depend on her like a four year old anymore," I grumbled to myself as I threw my duffel bag in the corner of his room, "She says I've drastically changed and you're the reason."
"You have changed," he remarked.
"Because I wanted to," I replied, "It's college, you're supposed to branch out and try new things and have fun, she just can't handle it now that I'm the one getting the guy."
"But have you changed as much as she says you have?" he asked.
"No, maybe, yeah I guess I have," I sighed, "She's right, this whole thing with you and I, never would've done any of it a year ago. But I'm okay with that, sure I'd like to stop making up scenarios in my head to try to tell my mother when she eventually asks me how we started dating or how you won me over but it's fine, I'm going with the flow, I'm learning that everything isn't going to go exactly the way I plan it out to go."
"Have you had dinner yet?" he asked.
"Were you even listening to a word I said?" I asked, ready to explode in either a fit of rage or tears.
"Yes, I was listening and now I'm wondering if you would like to go out on a real date, in public, with me," he said.
"Really?" I asked.
"Really," he replied.
"Let's go then," I smiled.
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"I didn't believe it when Coach said it but this place has the best Mexican food you'll ever eat," Liam remarked as we pulled into the parking lot of a hole in the wall Mexican place down in the rundown part of town.
"It really is the best," I remarked as he parked the car.
"Wait," he said, undoing his seatbelt and jumping out of the car, only to run to my side to open my door.
"Why thank you," I smiled as I got out of the car and we walked up to the door.
"After you," he said, opening the door.
"Thank you," I smiled as we sat down in a booth in the corner of the restaurant.
"What do you recommend?" he asked.
"Enchiladas," I replied, "I get two and two tacos, with sour cream and without onions," I added.
"You've got it down," he laughed.
"Damn right," I laughed as the waitress came to take our order.
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Liam did his best to distract me during dinner, he didn't talk about Nikki and I or the fight I had started to fume to him about. I'd never been on a real date like this before, I mean, I had gone to prom and homecoming with my high school boyfriend and the dinner thing before but never a real, grown up date. Seemed a little backwards in my head the way we were doing things, I thought a normal relationship would start with a date and then progress to sleeping with the guy.
"Why do you think you changed?" Liam asked long after we had finished our food and had made our way over to this ice cream stand that had been in town for thirty years and sat in the car after eating our ice cream..
"What?" I asked.
"Why do you think you changed?" he repeated.
"I wanted to change, wanted to be something different," I replied, "I was a loser in highschool, I was tired of it, I wanted to branch out and be something different."
"Did you want to be different because you thought I'd like you more?" he asked.
"I used to," I replied after a minute, "I used to think I'd have to change and be like every other girl if I ever wanted someone to want to be with me, someone like you anyway or someone like anyone here honestly."
"I asked you to leave with me because you're not like every other girl," he said, his dazzling green eyes looking straight into mine, "And to be totally honest, I spilled my drink on purpose so I'd have an excuse to talk to you."
"You're an asshole," I said, a grin creeping onto my face, "But you're my asshole and you make me happy and I figured out that when you're at a party with someone who makes you comfortable and happy and with people you like that I actually do like to go out and have fun with my friends. If I ever went out in high school with Nikki she was the one who knew everyone, I didn't. I just think she doesn't like that I'm finding my own way now I guess."
"That's not your problem," he said, kissing my cheek, "And I'm glad I make you comfortable, and happy, you make me happy."
"Good to know," I smiled as he reached for my hand across the center console.
"I never just wanted a fling Olivia," he remarked, "I wanted a relationship and I still do."
"I didn't want a fling either," I sighed, "But honestly, I just wanted to be with you. I didn't know what that was going to mean and I didn't care. But then I got jealous and I got angry and then you said you loved me and I got angrier. That's why I left."
"What?" he asked.
"That's why I left the night I got jumped," I replied.
"No," he said quietly, "It's, it's all my fault. If I just would've-"
"Stop," I said, "It's not your fault, I left on my own, okay?"
"I shouldn't have said it then," he sighed, "I'm sorry, it wasn't the right time or situation, I should've waited, Liv, I'm sorry."
"It's okay Liam it's over with," I said.
"It's all my fault you got hurt, Liv, I'm so sorry," he said, a look of hurt in his eyes that I'd never seen before. The look in his eyes made my heart ache.
"It's not your fault, please Liam, don't blame yourself," I said.
"I'm so sorry," he sighed.
"Don't be, I'd rather be happy than dwell on it, okay?" I said.
"Okay," he said, "But Liv, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"Liam, I told you to stop," I grinned, "You're forgiven, does that make it better?"
"Maybe, but do you know what I definitely think would?" He asked, leaning in.
"I think I do," I grinned, leaning in and kissing him on the lips.
"So you're staying with me tonight, right?" He asked as he pulled away.
"Yeah," I replied, "I'm sure as hell not going back to Nikki."
"You think it'll blow over?" he asked.
"I don't know," I sighed, "We usually don't fight like this."
"People change," he said, "I know it's hard but it's true."
"Yeah," I sighed, unbuckling my seatbelt as we pulled up into the driveway of the house, "I just don't want us to drift apart."
"I understand," he sighed as we walked up to the house, "But, we're on a date so I don't think you want to talk about that or think about it either, right?"
"Nope," I replied, "Because right now I'm with you and you're all that matters to me right now."
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***