The One For Me

by Layla James

  “Hey,” he whispers. “Don’t worry about that jackass. It’s just Justin; he is a dickwad to everyone.”

  I nod, but I can’t help but to think about it. “Okay,” I whisper.

  The rest of the period goes by quickly. I’m glad we’re out of the spotlight. Liam laughs under his breath at everyone’s essays. They obviously just made up a bunch of random things.

  Mr. Fringe’s clap brings me back to the present. “Okay, everyone. Nicely done. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

  Everyone mumbles.

  He smirks. “Okay, so we will have our next test, this Friday. Be ready, it’s over chapter fifteen.” He turns around and writes down our homework on the board when the bell rings.

  I grab my books and step out into the aisle. Something hits my back and my books scatter along the floor. “Oops, sorry,” Justin says. I look up at him. It’s the first time I’ve glanced at him all period. His dark eyes are right on me. He has a letterman jacket on, a smirk on his face and his books in his hands. I want to cry, everyone passing by is staring at me, no one stops to help.

  He is laughing at me. Really laughing. He shakes his head, and then his books go flying toward the floor. He glances back at Liam. “Oops,” Liam says. “Better pick up your books.” Liam bends down and helps me gather my books.

  “You better watch yourself, asshole,” Justin says, kicking on of my books across the floor, before walking off.

  “You don’t have to--,”

  “Yeah, I do. You’re my girlfriend remember, gotta act the part.” It makes me think if he would help me if he wasn’t pretending to be my girlfriend. He helps me up and we walk out of class. Jen is waiting by the door.

  “Way to go, new boyfriend. I think I might need to hire me one,” she says.

  “What?” I yell out.

  Liam is frozen beside me, looking down at Jen.

  “Jeez,” Jen says, “I need protecting too. I don’t see any guys lined up to date me. I would have to hire one. Why are you guys so antsy,” she says, shaking her head.

  I smile. Wow. That was close. “Haha,” I blurt out as Jen walks away.

  Liam looks down at me, and then laughs. “We have got to relax,” he says. “I’ve had more drama today then my entire life put together.”

  “Welcome to the land of high school girls.”

  “Do you have to listen to that music?” I ask on the way home from school. I plug my fingers inside my ears.

  Liam smiles and turns up the music. “What’s wrong with Shinedown?”

  “It’s loud and rude.”

  “What do you listen to Taylor Swift?”

  Yes. “No!” I screech. I cross my arms over my chest and still when I see Dad’s SUV in the driveway.

  “You okay, over there?” Liam asks, pulling along the curb in front of my house. I hear the doors unlock but I’m still staring. Am I ready to see him after what he said Saturday night? He is packing his things to move. Move away from Mom and me. He is uprooting his family, like we’re nothing to him. Like an entire family and twenty years with someone is replaceable and garbage.

  “Hey, you okay?” Liam asks again. I feel him nudge my arm, I glance back at him and away from my house.

  “No, my dad is home.”

  He lifts an eyebrow. “You don’t want to see him, I’m guessing?”

  “No,” I say. “I don’t think I can.”

  “You want to go somewhere else?” he asks.

  “Yes,” I whisper.

  “Okay,” he says, putting his Jeep into gear, “to my house it is.” Liam doesn’t ask a bunch of questions on the way to his house. It’s a comfortable silence that helps me erase the situation with my dad away. At least for a little while.

  I didn’t know his house was so…big. I’d always thought Liam come from a single mother and they didn’t have a lot. That’s me and my ‘judging a book by its cover,’ mind set. Even though he dressed decent and had a car, he just had that bad boy lonely boy look. “So, this is the pad,” Liam says, throwing his backpack on a white leather couch, that looks like it cost as much as my house.

  “This is your house?” I glance around, it’s like a museum. It doesn’t look lived in at all.

  Liam walks into what I assume is the kitchen. “Nope, I snuck us in.” I roll my eyes. “Want a Coke, you can come in here,” he yells, disappearing behind the wall. I slip my shoes off; because I’m scared I’ll scuff up his floor. I slide by the perfect furniture into a completely red and black kitchen.

  “Ah!” I scream, jumping backwards. Liam turns around, cocks an eyebrow and his attention draws to the lady in the far corner.

  “Oh, sorry. Melinda this is Katy my… girlfriend.” He tries not to smile. “Katy this is Melinda, our house keeper.”

  Melinda waves, brushing her brown hair off her shoulder. She says something in Spanish but I’m not sure what. Liam says something back to her in Spanish and she leaves.

  “You speak Spanish?” I ask.

  “Don’t look so surprised,” Liam says.

  I laugh. I am surprised. “Well, you could have warned me,” I say and grab the Coke Liam if holding out for me.

  He shrugs. “I forget she is here. She is always here. Been here since I was little.”

  “Where are your parents?”

  “Dad is at work and my stepmom is probably out screwing around.”

  I choke on my Coke. Okay, I feel a little hostility. I cock an eyebrow and look up at him. He shrugs and takes a large drink of his Coke. “What? It’s the truth. She is old enough to be my big sister.”

  “Where is your biological Mom?”

  He shrugged. “Have no idea. She took off one day while I was at school.”

  What. The. Hell. What kind of mother leaves her son? I bite my lip and try to think of something to say that wouldn’t sound irritating like ‘are you okay,’ or ‘it will be okay.’

  “Her loss,” I say, and take another drink of my Coke. Liam is staring at me and the hurt that was in his eyes disappear. He smirks and shuts the fridge. He walks out of the kitchen toward a set of stairs.

  He turns around, cocking an eyebrow. “You coming?”

  “Where?” I ask, even though I know where he is going.

  “My room. Is that a problem?”

  I freeze and my stomach flips. “I--,”

  Liam sighs and rolls his eyes. “I’m not going to rape you, scouts honor.” He holds up two fingers to his forehead. “Come on, girlfriend.” He starts up the stairs and I wait until he has disappeared from my view to take a breath. It comes out heavy and ragged. It’s not that I think Liam will try anything with me; it’s just that he makes me…nervous.

  I walk up the stairs, and try to focus on my steps rather than being alone in his room with him. Get a grip, Katy. It’s just Liam. It’s just your…boyfriend…fake boyfriend. When I turn the corner Liam jumps out and I scream. When I realize it’s him I stop and narrow my eyes in irritation. Really?

  He is still laughing when I push him. “What were you doing down there, making sure your breath smells alright? Fixing your hair in the mirror?”

  I straighten my shoulders and tilt my head to the side. “No. I was just admiring your house,” I lie.

  “Whatever,” he whispers and rolls his eyes. “Come this way. I want to make you birth my children. You have great child birthing hips.”

  I roll my eyes and follow him down the long hallway. I can imagine a little Liam standing at the end, watching the empty hall after his mother left. What would a child think? My mom has disappeared without me? How would a kid deal with that?

  “You coming in or what?” Liam asks, waving his hand in front of my face. I gaze back at him and nod. His room is...not what I expected.

  First off, it’s clean. Secondly, there are no naked pictures of girls on the walls. Thirdly, it’s clean.

  “Pick up your jaw, Melinda cleans it for me.” He kicks off his shoes. “If it were up to me, I would have clothes everywhere, like you. Well,
I wouldn’t have the opened books but I would have the clothes.” He plops down on his bed and turns on his TV. He looks up at me. “You can sit down, I was just joking about the birthing hips.” He eyes my hips. “You are actually a little on the skinny side.”

  I ignore his comment. “Your parents won’t be home soon?” I ask, sitting on the edge of his bed. It’s soft. I’m pretty sure his comforter probably cost more than my entire room, with everything in it. I’ve never wanted to sink into material before.

  He shrugs and leans back against his pillow. “Don’t know. They come and go as they please. Their never home, really. They are adults, ya know.”

  I pick at a piece of fringe on my jeans. “They don’t tell you where their going or anything? They just leave?”

  He sighs. I know I’m asking a lot of questions, but sometimes, ya just gotta ask. “I don’t know, I don’t ask and I don’t care. Why are you so worried about when they are coming home, anyway? It’s not like we’re really doing anything, even though that can be arranged.” He wiggles his eyebrows.

  Because, I feel sad for you. I shrug. “Just asking, Liam.” Liam rolls over onto his back. “So, what do you do for fun?”

  Liam props himself up on his elbow. “You ever play tennis?”

  “I have before, why?”

  Liam stands up. “Well, that’s what I do. We’re gonna play tennis, come on.” Liam gets up, grabs my arm and pulls me downstairs.

  “Are we going up town to the courts?”

  Liam opens the back door for me. I stop in my tracks. What. The. Hell. “No, we have our own.” My jaw is open.

  “Wowza,” I say.

  Liam shrugs and motions for me to follow him. “My dad built it for me when I was young. I guess it was his way of buying me love. Just like the pool,” he says, tossing his head toward the pool to the left. Jeez. The backyard is huge. Liam opens the door to a small building and brings two tennis rackets out, with a packet of tennis balls. “Ready to get schooled?” he asks.

  I grab a tennis racket. “I’d like to see you try.”

  “Gotta warn ya hot stuff, I’m pretty good,” Liam shouts, while running to his side of the net.

  He isn’t lying. He hands me my ass the entire time. We play six games, six of that I lost utterly. I want to crawl into the pool and hide forever. Sweat is dripping off my forehead. “Stop, can’t….breathe.”

  Liam smiles and run towards me, hopping over the net. He pats my back hard. “Oh, suck it up ya big baby. I warned you completely.”

  “Water,” I croak out. “Dying of thirst. Tell my mom I love her.”

  He laughs. “Get up, girlfriend.” He grabs my shoulder and pulls me back into the house. He hands me a glass of water from the fridge. I inhale it.

  “Oh, that’s the best water I’ve ever tasted.”

  Liam nods and finishes off his bottle. “It’s still early; you ready to go home yet?” I bite my lip. Not really. I look up at Liam. I try to tell myself I want to stay because he is alone, but I really just don’t want to leave at all.

  “Well, my dad could still be home,” I twirl my finger along the kitchen cabinet.

  “Okay,” Liam says. I can hear the smile in his voice. “You like Jackie Chan?”

  We spend the next two hours lying on his bed, watching Rush Hour. When I said I’d never seen it, he almost had a heart attack. They movie was about over when someone barged into Liam’s room. I jumped up. I’m not sure why, it wasn’t like we were actually doing anything other than watching TV. It’s just a natural reaction.

  “Can’t you knock?” Liam asks, sitting up on his elbows. I glance at the door where a tall, skinny, blonde haired woman stands.

  Her hands are on her slender hip; her long perfectly painted nails are tapping along her waist. “I don’t have to, it’s my house.”

  Ouch. Must be step-mom young enough to be older sister. More like last year she was a senior in high school young.

  “Well, this is my room, so get the hell out. I am busy.”

  She glances in my direction, her blue eyes narrows. I want to evaporate, but as much as I will it, it never happens. “And who must you be?”

  “My name is Katy,” I whisper. I avert my eyes. I hear you’re not supposed to look at mean people too long in the face. You’ll turn to stone.

  He cocks an eyebrow at me. “She is my girlfriend.”

  “Very surprising, I didn’t think you’d ever meet someone that would like you,” she says, pushing her long blonde hair off her shoulder. “Your dad is going to be late tonight. He wanted me to tell you. You can order a pizza for dinner.” She smiles. It’s fake. Then walks out of the room. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

  She didn’t even officially introduce herself to me. Not that I want to fake a ‘nice to meet you,’ because obviously it was anything but that. Although, it’s normally required for the parents to at least pretend they give a damn.

  “Ugh,” he says, slamming his head into the pillow. “She never cooks like Mom used to.”

  Something sad runs across his eyes before he closes them. She never cooks? How awful. “Tell ya what. Get up.” I pat his knee.

  “Why?” he asks, and barely opens one eye.

  “To have a home-cooked meal, my mom always cooks.”

  Twenty minutes later, we’re at my house in the kitchen. The smell of food is heavy. I wonder when the last time Liam smelled a home cooked meal in his kitchen.

  “You’ve never had Oreo balls?” my mom asks, holding out a plate in front of Liam. “That’s blasphemy.”

  “It looks like dirt,” he says, smiling.

  “And taste like Heaven,” I say, sprinkling some pepper over the mashed potatoes. “You should try one. They’re great.”

  Mom waves the plate in his face and smiles.

  He laughs. “Shouldn’t you be encouraging me to wait until after dinner to eat desert, Mrs. Taylor? I’ll spoil my dinner.”

  Mom snorts and rolls her eyes. “I’m not like most mothers. It’s just one, take one.” She sounds like a drug pusher.

  Liam glances over at me and smiles. My stomach flutters and I pretend to be interested in the potatoes. Jeez, when did his smile get so pretty? “Okay, here it goes.” He reaches over and takes one. He puts it in his mouth and I hate that I watch his mouth when he does. His full lips devour the chocolate goodness. Stop it, Katy.

  “These are…” he pauses for effect, his eyes directing back and forth between my mother and me, “awesome.”

  Mom hollers and thrusts her fist in the air, with a fist pump. “Another one converted, my dear.” She smiles. “Call the others!”

  I laugh. My mother is too embarrassing sometimes.

  When dinner is ready I set the table and we all sit down to eat. It’s surprisingly normal. We chatted about our project and non-important things.

  “So,” Mom says, clearing her throat, “are you two official now?”

  I try not to choke on my chicken. I didn’t even really think about how this would look to my mother. Everyone else knows, we have to try and pull it off, so I have to tell her right?

  “Yes,” I say, taking a sip of my drink.

  She smirks and I see she is trying to hide it. Heat rises to my cheeks and I pretend to really enjoy my mashed potatoes.

  “You’re blushing,” Liam blurts out. I glance up at him and give him the death glare.

  Mom smiles. “She is a blusher, she always has been.”

  “I caught that quickly,” Liam winks.

  Kill me now.

  After dinner Mom basically pushes us out and says she can handle the dishes. That’s a first. She normally asks me to help while she ‘pretends’ to wash the stove. It’s never as dirty as she says it is.

  Liam walks to our swing in the back yard and sits down. I follow him and sit down next to him.

  He wraps his arms over the back of the swing. “Thanks, Katy,” he says.

  “For what?” I ask.

  “For inviting me ov
er. It was nice. My family hasn’t been like this in a long, long time. I miss it. This was…nice.”

  I bite my lip. How freaking sad. I’m determined not to think about a small child watching the empty house and wondering what he done wrong. I never think about having dinner with Dad or Mom. It is always just normal. Now that Dad’s gone it’s gonna sting, but Mom will never stop having dinner with me. I hope. “Well, you have a Jeep. You know where I live. You can come over anytime you want for dinner.”

  Liam looks down at me and I watch the confusion dance in his eyes. Uncomfortable, I push my shoulder into his. “You are my boyfriend now, remember?”

  He shakes his head and smiles. “How could I forget? You’ve totally altered my reputation. I actually had a teacher give me a half smile today.”

  “Things are really looking up. I’m sure that never happens.” I smile.

  Chapter Five

  “What is up with you?” Jennifer asks, waving her hand in front of my face.

  I jolt out of my daze, shaking my head. “What are you talking about?”

  Jennifer throws down her half eaten chicken nuggets, narrowing her eyes. “Something isn’t right with the two of you. Something is weird. I can feel it.”

  I take a sip of my drink to distract myself from her glare. “What do you mean, Jennifer? What are you like a Private Investigator or something?”

  “Call it my incredible Asian instincts.” She cocks an eyebrow.

  I roll my eyes. “Okay, well give it to me. What’s wrong with us?”

  “You two don’t touch,” she says so matter of fact.

  “Hey!” I lift my hand. “We hold hands all the time--,”

  “No,” she cuts me off, waving her finger in my face, “you don’t kiss. You just hug or hold hands. And correct me if I’m wrong but Liam is always lip locked with some girl. He isn’t ashamed of P.D.A. And neither are you, you and Hayden missed class all the time to go get it on in the back hallway. So, it’s rather fishy to me.”

  I blushed, and bite on my straw. “We’ve only been together a few days, Nancy Drew. Is it okay for to move slowly into this?” Slowly into our imaginary relationship? “Give us a break, damn.”