Chapter Twenty-Eight:
“Are you ready?” Kurt asked my brother, smiling his stupid smile as he pulled up to a house.
“No,” I said sulkily, as I scowled at him, refusing to get out of the car.
“But you look so preeeettyyyyy,” Kurt argued, poking my face.
“Stop it,” I ordered sternly, slapping his hand away from my face.
Kurt retracted his hand quickly and hissed in pain. “That hurt!” Kurt whined immaturely and started nursing his hand. “Tom has pretty bad timing,” my brother muttered under his breath.
“What?”
Kurt looked at me amusedly for a second before pressing onwards. “You know . . . your boyfriend that comes around every month?”
“What?” I repeated, looking at my brother as if he belonged in the loony bin.
“. . . The abusive one that kicks you in the uterus a couple of times then leaves? You know good ol’ Time of Month?”
It took me a moment before the joke registered in my mind. “I’m not on my period, moron,” I spat, looking away embarrassed that he mentioned it.
Kurt just laughed at me. “Sadie told me that one. Speaking of whom, I have to go meet her, so get your butt out there and meet your man,” my brother commanded me sassily, pushing me out the door of his car.
“I hate you,” I told him one last time as I got out of the car.
“No, you love me for this. You’re just too stubborn—”
I slammed the passenger door, cutting off whatever Kurt was going to say. Kurt just grinned at me through the windows and pulled out of the driveway. But as he drove off, he pulled down the windows singing, “RENA AND LIAM SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I-N-G in a tree.” The rest of the song couldn’t be heard after that.
I rolled my eyes my Kurt’s childishness before heading towards the front door. I was about to ring the doorbell, but there was a piece of paper attached to the door that said, “Rena, if you are actually here, go around to the back. –Liam”
Following Liam’s directions, I walked around back, unlatching the unlocked gate and went in. As I entered the backyard, I was met by soft music playing in the background.
Walking further into the backyard, I could see the Nelsons had a pool. Then Liam came into my sight. His back was turned to me and was sitting crossed-legged by the pool.
Did he even know I was here? He hasn’t really acknowledged me, so I assumed he didn’t.
I quietly walked up to him, afraid I’d disrupt whatever he was doing so peacefully. “Hey,” I said softly when I was close enough and poked him on the shoulder.
Maybe I felt like what happened yesterday was being repaid or maybe I just had a sick, twisted sense of humor, but I burst out laughing when Liam fell into the pool from jumping at the sound of my voice. Not to mention he accidently let out a few swear words before landing with a splash. I never saw Liam as a cusser, so it was odd hearing foul words come from his mouth.
However, my smile faded and panic grew when Liam was slashing about in the water shouting for help. Did he not know how to swim?
Acting on impulse I jumped into the water, clothes and all, and got a hold of Liam around his chest. I started to drag his towards the underwater stairs, but he started laughing.
Then I realized I could touch the ground, which probably meant he could too.
“What’s wrong with you?” I snapped, releasing my hold on him and stomping towards the stairs, which is difficult in the water.
“Aw, come on. I was just messing with you,” Liam tried ‘reasoning’.
“It’s not funny. I thought you were actually drowning.” I had finally gotten out of the pool and now shivering as I yelled at Liam.
“But aren’t you happy that I wasn’t?”
I glared as he got out of the pool, but my mouth betrayed me and turned into a small smile. Liam got drenched in water. He looked like a wet dog . . . but not as dog like.
“I should have kept with the act. Could’ve had the chance of your lips on mine.”
“I would have found a leaf blower or something instead before I touch your lips with mine,” I told him matter-of-factly.
“Fine, I won’t provide you with warm, dry clothes,” Liam huffed and walked to the back door of his house.
“No, wait,” I said helplessly as I followed him, shivering in my wet clothes. “I take it back,” I pathetically corrected myself and scurried after him as he walked through the door.
I felt myself move closer to Liam when we entered his house. I felt weird in it, not that it was a bad house. It was just intimidating. It looked like the inside of it came straight from an interior design magazine. I felt weird dragging my feet amongst the polished hardwood floors, dripping water on its clean surface.
Liam sensed my discomfort and tried to laugh it off. “My mom is kind of an interior designer. She brings it overboard a bit. My house probably will look different next month.”
I nodded, still taking in the sight of his house. There wasn’t anything out of place.
“Where is everyone?” I finally broke out of my trance and asked as we headed through the house.
“I cleared the house just for us . . . you know . . . if you’re into that.”
I wrinkled my nose in distaste and nudged him in the ribs. “Don’t be so perverted. It doesn’t suit you.”
“They’re out on their date night,” Liam told me honestly and led me up the stairs.
“Aw, that’s sweet. My parents used to be like that. They used to go to dance classes every Wednesday and leave Kurt in charge.” I smiled at the old memory. They used to come home to Kurt and I’s fort in the living room.
“Yeah, it’s all good until they take the romance back here. Bleck,” Liam joked and went into a room.
I laughed quietly at his remark, but then my attention focused on the room itself. “. . . Isn’t this a bit girlish for you?” I asked curiously, eyeing the pink room with a pink bed, pink curtains, pink furniture and white elephants all over the place.
Liam gave me a pointed look before he replied. “This is my older sister’s room.”
I didn’t know he had a sister. Then I realized how very little I actually knew about Liam. I knew that he had brown hair and brown eyes, but nothing else. I slightly panicked then. What if I was on a date with a murderer? What if that was why he was in the hospital? To check up on past murdees so he knows whether or not he did his job properly.
I was snapped out of my state of paranoia when something was thrown at my face. Oh my goodness, he was trying to knock me out and then kill me.
“Rena? You okay?” Liam asked, concerned, flashing his hand in front of my face.
“What?” I said unintelligently, blinking a few times.
“Were you thinking dirty thoughts again?” he asked condescendingly while bending over to collect what he had thrown at me.
“No,” I said unsurely, because technically my thought were bloody, which were dirty. I shook my head a few more times and took the clothes Liam was offering me.
Liam just gave me an amused smile. “Okay, while those thoughts settle, I’m going to go change . . . not to give you anymore ideas. The bathroom is right next door if you don’t feel comfortable changing in a room of elephants.”
Hah, talk about an elephant in a room.
I changed in the bathroom and then I felt weird about being in Liam’s sister’s clothes. He had just gotten me a pair of jeans and a black shirt, but they still belonged to another person who probably had no idea I was here.
“Well, don’t you look spiffy?” Liam commented, emerging from what I assumed to be his room.
“I feel weird,” I told him honestly as he took me downstairs again. “Your sister won’t mind?”
“She’s in Massachusetts right now, so probably not,” he said nonchalantly.
“Why?”
“College. My other three sisters are in college too . . . if you were wondering.”
He has four sisters? No wonder he gave out so many compliments. If he didn’t he could be tortured by feminine products and deafened by ‘boy’ talk.
“Where are we going?” I said, seeing that he had gone out the back again and I was just standing there spaced out. Hastily, I went out after him.
“You’ll see,” he said mysteriously, holding the gate that lead to the front of his house open for me.
For awhile, we walked side by side on the cement in silence. Anticipation was coursing through me. Where was he taking me? The whole ‘Liam is a murder’ thing came back in my mind, but I quickly brushed it off.
“I’m sorry about freaking you out,” Liam apologized, breaking the silence as we walked.
“You should be. You tots ruined my hair,” I joked, flipping my hair over my shoulder for emphasis.
“At least you weren’t wearing your suit. Water would destroy it, right?”
“Why? Are you planning on sabotaging my suits?” I asked, feigning a suspicious tone.
“Nope. Just curious,” he answered nonchalantly. “We’re here,” Liam changed the subject and stopped.
“Where exactly is ‘here’?” I asked.
We were in the middle of the sidewalk staring a bunch of trees. At least it was better than watching paint dry, which I have done by the way.
“It’s still a secret,” Liam explained before taking a hold of my hand and leading me quickly into the tree-infested area.
“Why does this remind me of Twilight?” I mumbled to myself as we walked by a tree.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“No, say it. Say it out loud.”
“Jerkwad,” I insulted him, shaking my hand out of his to shove his shoulder. “You should really cool it with the Twilight references. I’m beginning to think you watch it obsessively.”
Liam looked at me like he was missing something. “I don’t make that many Twilight references.”
I paused and then came to realization. That was only in my dreams.
“Aw, you dream about me?”
Crap. Did I say that aloud?
“Yeah, I dreamt that Edward whisked you away after you battled Bella for his everlasting love, but then James realized that he, too, was in love with Edward dearest and killed you off,” I saved myself from humiliation.
“Psh, Bella’s no match for me. Edward would’ve chosen me right off the bat . . . no pun intended.”
I laughed at his unintended pun. “Edward would turn into a fairy though.”
“Okay, enough with the Twilight stuff and come with me,” Liam changed the subject before veering me to the right through a bunch of bushes.
“Dude, what the—”
My own shock cut me off as we stepped past the bushes. There on the somewhat dead grass was a blanket. On top of the blanket was a basket. But the thing that made my breath cling onto my throat was the candles. They were everywhere. They were even in the trees, illuminating the spot that was masked by the shadow of the trees. The only place on the ground uncovered was a small path leading to the blankets.
“This is a fire hazard,” was the only thing I managed to say.
I wanted to slap myself. He went through all the trouble of lighting these candles and all that registered through my mind was Smokey the Bear saying, “Only you can prevent wildfire fires”?
“Not the reaction I was hoping for,” Liam tried to laugh off my comment.
I looked up at him with a guilty expression. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I swear! It’s just that Smokey . . . candles . . . fire. . . it’s really sweet!” I babbled unintelligently as he just stared at me with an amused expression.
“You’re adorable,” Liam told me, cutting off my random mumbling.
My stomach churned uncomfortably. I wasn’t really used to being complimented. After one and a half years of public humiliation, who would be?
“Let’s just get this over with,” I mumbled embarrassed by his compliments and headed over to the blanket.
The ‘date’ started out pretty slowly at first, but I got over the uneasiness of the situation I started to have fun a little. We finished eating within the first fifteen minutes, so then we just talked about random stuff. Well, mainly about him.
I learned that his mom was a stay-at-home/dabbler in interior design mom and his dad was a therapist. His sisters were all math majors and were urging him to go pursue the same steps as they did.
I heard a lot more, but I didn’t hear what I wanted to hear.
At some point we had ended up laying side by side each other in silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable. We were both looking at the sky, well, what we could see through the treetops.
“What is that?” I asked curiously pointing at something floating in the sky.
“Hey, you’re wearing my present,” Liam observed, completely ignoring my question, as he looked at the bracelet on my wrist.
I held it over my face and looked at it too. Then I turned my face towards his and smiled. “Of course I am. It’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever done for me.”
“I don’t know. What Maria and Ryan did was pretty awesome too. How did you guys get to be such good friends, anyways?”
I put my arm by my side again and looked straight up. “Well, I met Maria back in my pageant days. I think we were both four or something. I was prepping myself but accidently messed up my hair because I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to brush it after it’s been curled. I started crying and Maria went up to me with a can of hairspray saying that it fixes everything. I believed her of course. Next thing I know, she missed and sprayed my face and then she tried wiping it off my face with her hands. When that didn’t work, she tried using tissue paper, which got stuck on my face.” I smiled at the memory. We were both so stupid back then.
“Did you win at least?” Liam asked, a ghost of a smile on his lips.
“After Maria pushed me on stage introducing me a mummy Rena and did the ‘mummy’ dance with me, I didn’t really have a chance.”
Liam started laughing, but calmed down again. “Why don’t you do pageants now? You would definitely win by landslides every time.”
My stomach churned in discomfort again, so I ignored his last comment and went on talking. “And Ryan I met doing out-of-school drama. We didn’t really talk much until our first kiss,” I explained Ryan and I’s simple meeting.
“Whoa, whoa you guys kissed? Were you guys in a relationship? Are you still in a relationship?” Liam sat up, shooting me questions rapidly.
I raised an eyebrow at his behavior. He was usually so calm, but that one tiny sentence that probably didn’t make sense sets him off?
“Yeah, that’s why I’m letting him cheat on me with Maria,” I answered sarcastically.
“So you guys still had a thing?”
“It was a stage kiss,” I elaborated further.
“Oh,” he trailed off awkwardly before lying back down. “Was it nice?”
“Err. . . what?” I questioned, making sure I heard his question correctly.
“The kiss . . . was it nice?”
“Well, it was my first kiss and in a way, aren’t they all supposed to be . . . ‘nice’?”
“But it’s kind of sad that your first kiss was staged. Can you even consider a staged kiss to be a real kiss?”
I stared at him thoughtfully. “I guess not, but it’s kind of pathetic to tell people you’ve never kissed anyone when you’re seventeen and a day old.” My eyes widened once I realized that I just said. “. . . I was kidding,” I blurted out. “I’ve kissed plenty of guys.” . . . on stage at least.
Liam smiled deviously at my former secret. “Well then . . . you wouldn’t mind if I’m one of those ‘plenty of guys’, would you?” he asked softly, his face inching closer and closer to mine.
My face was burning at this point, so I scooted away and sat up.
“I’m joking,” Liam clarified quickly, as if he was worriedly that I took him seriously.
“I know,” I told him honestly as he got up too. “You know that I would slap you across the face if you tried something on me anyways.”
He just gave me a small smile at my response. “In all seriousness, what would be the perfect first kiss for you be?”
“You know, Liam. With all this feelings talk, you’re starting to sound like a girl,” I joked, trying to avoid the question, but Liam gave me a look that said he wasn’t amused. “I know it sounds extremely corny and never bound to happen, but I’ve always wanted to have a kiss in the rain.”
“But it barely rains here . . .” Liam murmured more to himself.
“What about you then?”
“I’ve always wanted to have it with a girl in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a bunch of candles. Oh, and the girl’s name has to be Serena Davidson.”
“Stop teasing me,” I warned, slapping his arm playfully.
“Who says I’m teasing you?”
You’re not the right guy. I couldn’t help but think. Why did I have to have a crush on Uranus, who has girl he can love? Why couldn’t my heart be set on Liam? He was so sweet, yet I felt nothing towards him. Stupid cupid messed up. Did he enjoy creating unrequited love?
“Rena?” Liam called my name when he realized I had spaced out.
“Hmm?” I answered, staring off into the trees.
“The candles are going out,” he noted nudging his head towards the candles that were indeed almost to their end. Were we really here for that long?
I watched as the candles one by one reached the end of their lives as they flickered out one by one. And pretty soon, Liam and I were stuck in the darkness, but neither of us had gotten up.
“Liam?” I said softly, scared of ruining the natural silence that had fallen upon us.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for today,” I thanked him sheepishly. “I had a lot of fun.”
“I did too, but I’m kind of sad it’s over. After today, you’re going to start ignoring me at school, aren’t you?” Liam didn’t sound accusing, just disappointed.
I hesitated in answering that, but I had to tell the truth. “Yeah,” I said simply.
“Am I ever going to find out why you’re really wearing it?”
I froze. He caught on. I knew that this was going to happen. “I don’t know,” I answered quietly, not bothering to deny it.
“If I don’t get my full share of Rena-time, I’m just going to have to get it now,” Liam said, throwing out the previous conversation all together.
Before I could ask what he meant by that, he put an arm around my waist and pulled me right next to him. He didn’t say anything else. He just sat there with his arm around my waist and his eyes looking at the stars above.
I don’t why, but I let him.
Just about when I thought that we were done talking, Liam broke the silence again.
“It has to rain sooner or later.”
:::x:::O:::x:::
Author’s Note:
What does he mean by that? ;) Anyways, I’m sorry this took so long, but I was stressed from having to babysit my cousins for the past two weeks. They’re crazy kids. Just so you guys know, this is unedited because I have to leave in like four hours to go on my vaca (finally!) and I want to get the other chapter out (I feel guilty for being so mean on updates)
Do you guys have any personal questions (that aren’t that personal) for me? I wanna do a Q&A thing, but I don’t think you guys are actually interested in my life.