Authors note: If you like my story please vote and comment. It lets me know that you enjoy the direction it is going in. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Enjoy!
Chapter 19
Since the disaster of the party, I purposely avoided Robbie. I didn't want to admit it, but his comment hurt. Whenever he entered a room, I made an excuse to leave. When he offered to take us somewhere, I made sure to have an uber scheduled. Nicole left for Miami two nights after the party. She was sad because, after their fabulous night of dancing, Cameron did not text her at all.
"I know I only knew him for two weeks, but I thought we had made a connection. I wonder if I said something—off?"
"You didn't say anything off in front of me. Maybe Cameron is just a snob. I mean, he is best friends with Robert," I knew it was petty to say, but I couldn't help taking a dig at Robert.
"Yeah, but Cameron was not snobby at all. He was so sweet and kind. We spent a whole night talking on the phone. He was so easy to talk to." She said the last part with a tone of yearning.
"You never know Nico," I shrugged for emphasis even though I knew she couldn't see me.
"Do you think you can ask Maria and Lana if they know anything?"
"Yeah, of course."
Keeping my promise, I asked Maria what happened, but she said that she had no idea. She mentioned she would see if she could corner him and fish something out. Unfortunately, it would be difficult as he'd been hanging out with Robbie pretty much every day.
Since Maria was busy with her family that had come to visit, I had more time to hang out with Liam. I have hung out with him twice since the museum. The first time we went to a movie. He was really into films like me, and there was a mini-movie festival that was showing classics. We decided to go on their Hitchcock night.
Liam was—nice. Sometimes a little abrasive but nice. He liked art and sports, and that was about it. It was enough for us to find things to do in common. We would go to art museums, and he would talk about all the paintings and sculptures. He would tell me the history behind each one.
It was nice; I was a good listener. Also, to be honest, these last few days, I was so tired and lethargic that I didn't have the energy to make conversation anyway. When I was not having a good day he knew to shift and become a good listener and that was good enough for me. We also ran together. He was decent and was able to keep up.
In return for running with him, I would help him with his lacrosse drills. I did not know much about the sport, it was not an option in public school at home, but he seemed to be really good. It made me wonder if Robert was as good.
Sometimes I would watch Liam practice with his private club. It was an alright sport to watch. The boys on the team were all pretty good-looking.
A lot of them were Trinity boys. I recognized them from the party Maria and Robbie had. Chris was also a member of the club. He would wink at me every time he did something impressive, and I would roll my eyes in response. He had also become a pretty good friend. Our triste was mentioned every so often as friendly teasing, but never anything more.
Other than practice with his Lacrosse team, Liam avoided anything to do with Trinity Prep —aside from parties, of course.
For that reason, I tried to avoid mentioning anything to do with school and especially anything to do with The Bennett's. Keyword: Tried.
This week with everything that had happened, It wasn't difficult.
"Is everything alright with you and Maria?" He asked me one day after a long run.
"Yeah, everything is fine."
"Okay," He said in a tone that made it seem I had not convinced him.
"Yeah, she just has her family over, so she hasn't had time to hang out." I don't know why I explained myself, but the look he had on his face made me feel like I had to.
"Yeah, I know their family well."
"Are they...a lot?"
He laughed.
"They can be," he said vaguely.
"She invited me for dinner, but I have to admit I am pretty intimidated."
He waved me off, "nah. Who cares what a bunch of old snobs think."
I smiled, "Yeah, that's what Chris told me."
"Hey, I've meant to ask." He said suddenly, fidgety.
"Yeah?"
"Is something going on with you and Chris?"
"No...Why do you ask?"
"You guys flirt a lot."
"I do not flirt with Chris. Chris flirts with me, and pretty much everyone with a pulse." I added the last part with a chuckle.
He laughed, "I'm surprised to hear you say that. There aren't many girls who see through his games."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, every girl at some point has a fling with Chris. That's what he does, finds new to hook up with like every week. I'm surprised he hasn't had a pregnancy scare."
I frowned. That's not very nice, I thought to myself.
"Hey, don't get upset. I don't dislike the guy. He's my teammate and a blast to be around. Plus, it's not like I was implying you are one of his flings. I know you're not. I can tell you have standards."
"I mean, it's none of your business, but I did kiss him," I said in a challenging tone while crossing my arms over my chest.
"Really?"
"Yeah, so what? We're friends."
He shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't peg you as a Chris hookup. Sorry if I struck a wrong chord." He put his hands up in a mocking truce.
"I didn't hook up with him. We just kissed. It's just not nice to judge or assume things about other people."
He put his arm around my shoulder. "Aww, come on, Lia, you know I'm just playing. I didn't mean anything rude or offensive."
I bit my cheek and narrowed my eyes "fine."
"Come on; I'll buy you a coffee to make up for my rude assumptions."
"And a croissant."
"Fine, and a croissant," he added.
I nodded my head in agreement, and we walked together to the coffee shop.
We hung out until it looked the city shrugged off the last bit of daylight, and then I insisted I had to take my bus back home.
I sat on the bus and put on some slow jazz. Summer was coming to an end, and school was starting the following week. I had a lot of things I needed to do. Usually, I was always on top of my schoolwork, even over the summer. I always finished my summer reading by mid-summer; I bought my supplies even earlier.
I hung out with Liam again the next day. He came over to watch a movie. We sat on my floor, our heads resting on the side of my bed, watching it on his large laptop he placed on a milk crate in front of us.
"Uhh, I hate gore; it makes me anxious," I said, covering my face with my eyes. He had been trying to get me to watch classic horror movies. 'They're art, Lia. You have to at least be familiar with the classics,' he had said.
"This is so fake looking, though," he said, laughing and throwing popcorn at my hands.
"Not fake enough," I muttered into my hands.
He paused the movie.
"Do you want to stop?"
"No, I'll just close my eyes during all the bad parts."
"That's half the movie," He said, squinting at me.
"Half of this garbage is all gore?!" I asked, my mouth gaping.
He laughed, "We can watch something else," he said, pulling out a flash drive full of movies he had in his pocket.
"Nah, it's getting late,"
"Oh, okay. I'm sorry you didn't like any of the movies," Liam said.
"I liked The Shining, and I liked The Sixth Sense," I said, shrugging.
"I can't believe you didn't know the ending to the Sixth Sense. It's kind of a miracle you went your entire life spoiler-free; that's so awesome."
"I like that you thought I totally knew and then didn't spoil it for me because you thought it was a given," I said, laughing. "Otherwise, I feel like people get excited and then hint at it even if they don't mean to."
He nodded, "I'm going to miss you when you start Trinity," he said.
"Why? we can still hang out,"
"Wait till you see the workload," he said.
"I'm sure it will be fine,"
He gave me an incredulous look. "So why are you actually not hanging out with Maria?"
"Robbie was an ass."
"He always is. What did he do?" He asked, rolling his eyes.
"I don't want to say. It shouldn't bother me as much as it does, and it's embarrassing."
"Okay," he said, getting up, "well whatever he said, if it was mean about you, it's probably not true. He's very judgy."
I smiled, "Thanks. I'll see you later, one last time before school?" I asked as I walked him to the door.
"Definitely," he said, giving me a hug before leaving.
The next day I forced myself to read all morning. I had read only one of the five books required. It was nice to have time to catch up. I had grown a liking to slipping out of my window and sitting on my fire escape. I had decorated it with plants and cushions.
My father said that probably wasn't allowed, but I had decided to wait until they told me I couldn't, to bring them in. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
One particular day I was sitting outside when I got a text from Maria.
"Lia, I miss you. Don't forget about me, <3."
"Lol. Of course, I won't goose; I'll see you next week." I texted back.
"My family is driving me insane, but thankfully they leave the day after tomorrow."
"^.^"
"Want to go get our uniforms on Saturday?"
"I already have some; we bought them before coming to New York."
"Well, come anyway, we can get lunch with Lana."
"Okay, sounds good."
"Hey, actually, no chance you would want to come to my family's dinner tonight?"
"I don't know. I fell behind on summer reading. I still have two books left to read."
"For what classes?"
"One for my history class and the second one for English."
"Who's your history teacher?"
"I think it said Mr. Dresmond."
"Okay, I had him last year; he's young and not that pushy. He gives everyone until the end of the week."
"Oh, sweet."
"Exactly, so you only have to read one more book, and you can just do that over the weekend. Come over!"
"I have nothing to wear," I said both out of honesty and as an excuse.
"I can lend you something."
"You are much taller than I am."
"So? I can hem anything, and I might have something we wouldn't even have to hem."
"I don't know, Maria."
"Please, I can't handle another night of them on my own, and Lana already said no."
"Lana, said no?"
"She said it's boring and she already did her time during our ten years of friendship and that now it's your turn. "
Wow, Lana, way to throw me under that bus.
"Fine."
"!!!!!!. I'll send a cab for you. It will be there in an hour. You can just get ready here."
Authors note: If you like my story please vote, comment, and follow. It lets me know that you enjoy the direction it is going in. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Enjoy!