Lia James
We all stood still, like time had stopped and we were all doomed to immobility. Andrew was especially frozen, he arms remaining in the same position, which were down at his sides. He fists clenched, and his eyes narrowed. I was scared for him, I've never seen him so mad in my entire time of being in California, so it's difficult to tell what his next moves will be.
Shelby scrambles to her feet, trying to adjust her clothes as fast as she could. The guy that was under her a few seconds ago was zipping up the fly on his pants. How lovely.
They were both embarrassed and...scared? Yeah, they better be.
Fuck them up Andrew.
"Do you think I'm fucking stupid?" He says quickly. I stay behind him, not wanting for him to notice me standing here yet.
"No! Of course not!" Shelby goes over to him and grabs his biceps, his arms stayed in the same position as before.
"Then, what is this? Why would you think that you could get away with this?" He shrugged Shelby away.
"Because..." She couldn't find the right words to say. "Andrew, listen-"
"No, fuck that. I'm not listening to a fucking word from you. I mean, come on? Sammy Reyes, the kicker?" He laughs. "That's like saying you'd rather kiss Shrek than the prince."
"Andrew, I tried making it work, but you made it so hard for me. You hated the public affection, and you never wanted to kiss me. I've always been the one to kiss you."
"No! Don't you fucking do that! Don't turn this around when I just caught you about this fuck this shithead." He points his finger at Shelby, who takes a step back. She looked scared, terrified even.
"Well, it's the truth." She shakes her head. "Was it her? Is that the reason why you never wanted to do anything with me? Because of her?"
Shelby points in my direction, just as Andrew turns over his shoulder to find me standing in the same room as he is. In his darkest moments. I make no moves and say nothing, Andrew's eyes soften at my presence, but turn cold as ice as he turns back to Shelby.
At least he can find some type of anchor towards his anger. I wouldn't want him to take it too far and end up being arrested for his actions.
"This has nothing to do with her. This is between me, you, and the guy you were about to fuck while we were dating." He eyes Sammy, who backs up into the corner.
"This has everything to do with her!" She screams, my blood boils when she pushes him and he stumbles a bit. "If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be so closed off to me and harsh. You would love me."
"And you think I love her? I don't love anyone, Shelby. Get that through your head."
"Well, then if you don't feel anything for Liar over here," She gestured to me. "Then why haven't you had sex with me?"
"What are you talking about?" He begins to pace around the room, his knuckles cracking as he tightens them more. If that was even possible.
"You have refused to have sex with me, Andrew. You know it and even I know it. So, why? Why haven't we had sex yet?"
"Maybe because I didn't want to have sex with you?" He utters a bit louder.
"No, it's because you and Lia have something suspicious going on. I don't know what it is, but I'm putting an end to it."
"You know what I'm putting an end to? This relationship. We're done, Shelby. Have a nice time fucking Sammy's little dick." He walks over to Sammy, glaring into the scared teenaged boy's eyes.
He walks away, gripping the trim of the door harshly, cracking it, as he turns to corner. He disappears down the hallway, not wanting to be stopped.
I look at Shelby, who was stomping her feet against the hardwood floors of the bedroom.
"What we have, Shelby, is a friendship. And that's something you could never understand." I stand closer, taking a final step as I say my final words.
"Who's the Liar now?"
I smirk, leaving her flabbergasted as I used her own nickname of me against her. She harshly takes her wig off and throws it onto the bed, sitting down. I leave Sammy and Shelby alone to recover from the horrific situation, and I go searching for Andrew.
I look around the foyer, amongst the sea of people before me...nothing. No sign of a broody, brown haired bad boy. I looked in the kitchen, to see if maybe he had gotten hungry after all that fighting. Nothing.
He could've just gone home, that would've been the smart choice. But then again, he's Andrew Price. He may not be the most intelligent, but he's very intuitive and has the ability to detect a person's emotions from just looking at them.
I go with the conclusion that he left and went home. That's what I would've done too.
I go into the kitchen to grab some snacks from the island counter, but stopped in my tracks. There wasn't even food on the counter, the bowl was sitting face up on the floor, and the remnants of finger food laid in crumbs all over the counter. A girl was half naked, wearing a bra and spandex dancing on the counter like a stripper. Everyone, especially guys, were gawking over her moves, but she was too drunk to care.
It was starting to get a little crowded, ironically, in this gigantic mansion. I needed some air and to clear my thoughts from what happened a few minutes before. So, I went out the kitchen door.
I wasn't sure what was in the backyard, but what I found wasn't scary at all. It was actually quite beautiful. It was a lake, and to my right was a dark wooden dock with strings of lights hanging from it. They weren't turned on, but a light was provided by the fireflies dancing across the pond, almost as if they were attracted to it.
They looked like little lanterns floating in the sky, occasionally dipping into the water. The ripple of their touch radiated across the lengths of the water. They buzzed happily, not having a care in the world.
I wish I was more like them, not afraid to fly anywhere and shine bright. But, unfortunately, I'm stuck with what God gave me: myself. One who gets caught up in other people's drama, that may actually end up being your fault to begin with. But I put that past me.
I walked over to the wooden dock, taking each step one by one. The sound of my sandals making contact with the bottom of the dock was the only sound that could be audible, despite the buzzing made by the bugs by the lake.
I noticed someone, sitting at the edge. Their feet were hanging off the dock carelessly. They swayed underneath the person occasionally. They skipped rocks that were along the corners of the deck, and threw them into the lake. They all bounced two or three times before sinking to the bottom.
I noticed a black leather jacket tossed to the side, a sticker about to be peeled off that said "T-Bird". That gave me the only indication I needed.
I walked up to Andrew, and sat down along side of him, hanging my feet over the dock, feeling the breeze of the night.
"This is what you do when you're mad?" I start the conversation, taking a rock on my side of the dock and throwing it.
"No. This is what I'm doing now when I'm mad." He placed her palms on his lower thighs, sighing.
"Why didn't you just go home?"
"Because Eli drove me here, and I couldn't just walk home. Even if I wanted to so badly." He hugs his legs to his chest, the white shirt that was under his leather jacket was rippling as the wind got stronger.
"Oh." Was all I said, not really sure how to continue such an awkward topic.
"Look, what you saw in there-"
"No, it's cool. Really. You deserve to be mad at the situation." I play with my fingers, resting them on my lap.
"I usually don't get that mad, at least I try not too. I tried so hard not to loose control."
"You should've, Andrew. Shelby was your girlfriend. It's okay to loose control when you know she didn't have any to begin with." I made a fair point, and he exhaled.
"I'm not angry about Shelby cheating, that was practically inevitable."
"True. But don't you at least feel hurt that she did that?" Does this guy have any emotion at all?
"I'm hurt that I led her on this far and didn't break things off before. I never liked her, Lia. So, in a way, I deserved this."
"No, you don't. Why would you think that?" I spoke as he stops slouching, and sits up straight.
"Because I'm a horrible person." He replied, bowing his head in shame.
"Andrew, you're not. You're really not. Sure, we've only known each other for a few months, but you're not a horrible person. I've seen you do some bad things, but you're still a decent person." I tried reasoning with his guarded mind, but he wouldn't let me past.
"Decent?" He was on his feet in seconds. "You think I'm decent?"
He erupts into laughter, his echo traveling across the mountains in the distance. Without warning, he pulls me to my feet, grabbing my forearms and forcing me to look at him.
"I'm not decent, Lia. I'm bad. I'm a very bad person. You may not think so, but that is just because you've only seen the average parts of me. You don't know the full story."
"Don't we all?" I roll my eyes.
"Lia, look at me." I give up, and stare into his chocolate brown eyes. The ones that have been through what seems like hell and back.
He points to his eyes. "These eyes, Lia, have to live with all the stupid things I've done. They've witnessed the worst parts of myself, and the shady things I've done."
"I have to live with my demons everyday inside me. I'm always at a constant battle with them, desperately trying to break free from their trap, but they are always there to remind me of who I am: A Monster."
"That's a little extreme, don't you think?" I break free of his grasp, creating distance between us.
"No, not at all."
"I still don't believe you."
He groans, throwing his head back in annoyance. "God! You don't get it, do you?"
"I'm a very dangerous person, Lia. I'm known for being the bad one, causing fights, starting wars, anything. You name it. So, why even bother?"
"Why even bother?" I repeat his question back to him. "Because you're my friend, and that's not something I take lightly."
"Why? Why be friends with me when you know I'm like this?"
"Because friends don't give up on each other, that's why. Maybe if you knew, you wouldn't have done such a shitty job!" I yell at him, and he storms off.
Me being my stupid ass, I follow him down through the dock, and down the steps. We go onto the grass, my feet making contact with the wet dew in the weeds of the ground.
"You know what? I'm glad Shelby broke up with me. Not only have I never liked her in the first place, but now it's like the universe's way of telling me that I'm screwed up."
"What?"
"I'm a screw up, I always will be. And sometimes I don't even need the universe's reminder of it. I have my past actions to remember, and the dark places that I brought myself into."
"You know what? Fuck you universe!" He yells, looking up toward the sky, shouting at the stars.
"Stop, Andrew! Just stop!"
"And you want to know what the best part is? For my whole life, I've been able to predict what people are thinking and feeling, in the exact moment that they think or feel. But, when you came along, you messed my mind up. You were the very first person to ever walk into my life and create some sort of shield. I couldn't see past you, and I still can't see past you. I don't know what you're thinking at this very moment, or how you're feeling. And that's shitty when your used to that."
I take a step closer to him, decreasing the distance between us.
"You want to know what I'm thinking?" I spoke softly, my voice caressing his ears with curiosity.
"I would."
"I'm thinking that you should slow down. You're trying to process everything that just happened in the last hour in a matter of seconds. Just stop, take a deep breath." I rubbed my palms along the exposed part of his arms, his skin creating bumps along the way.
"But most importantly, don't be regretful of your actions. Don't think that you should've went over there and beat the shit out of Sammy because you know that only causes more damage to the two of you."
"Think about how courageous you were when you walked away from the people that hurt you the most. How you decided to be the bigger person and not make the situation worse, but made it better. I envy that part inside you."
"You do?"
"Yeah." I nod my head, meaning every word I said. "It's hard to do that."
"I guess I needed the reminder of you being there, and that calmed me down. You know, thinking that you were standing behind me."
"Well, I'm glad I could be your anchor for channeling your calmness." I smile, wrapping my arms around this brooding boy before me.
He gives in, sliding his arms around me, holding me closely. This wasn't meant to be intimate, but meant for two friends figuring out their way in the world. How they can benefit from one another.
Andrew and I bring out the best in each other.
I pull away from him, a thought creeping in the back of my mind about how badly I want to be in his arms again.
"How about we go back into that party and have a damn good time? Don't let what happened to you determine the mood for the rest of the night." I offer, smiling widely so he would give in.
"Sure. Why the fuck not."
I clap my hands together in victory, taking his hand and leading him to the back door we both came through. As I got inside, I checked my phone to see what time it was, and it said it was 1:30 AM.
And the one thing on my mind was: I have softball practice in the morning tomorrow.
~*~
Don't forget to tap the star at the bottom of the screen to vote for this chapter!
This chapter was also one of my favorites to write! I feel like it really demonstrates the important relationship between the two main characters, and how they are both finding their true selves through one another.
Just some thoughts going through my mind ;)...i also wrote this chapter with a semi-heartbroken heart so bear with me if it wasn't the best.
Boy problems, am I right? No need to clarify LOL.
Well, see you all in the next chapter, which will also be a very good one. I've already got it planned.
Much love.
XOXO