The Numbers We Defy

Chapter 13

"Go out with me," Liam said after a few minutes of us sitting in silence. 

"I can't."

"I want to do this right. Please, let me take you out."

"Don't you have a girlfriend already?" I said sarcastically, glaring him down. He did have a girlfriend, and I had kissed him. 

Silence again. This was a reoccurring theme between us, apparently. 

"Eight years," he said out of nowhere.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You're sixteen, I'm twenty four. You said I was ten years older, but I'm eight."

"That doesn't fix everything."

"I know," he whispered. 

"Okay," I said.

"'Okay' what?"

"Okay, I'll go out with you tomorrow." I will definitely regret this, but since we're already making bad decisions... 

"Okay," he said. 

"Where is everyone?" I asked, the realization that the apartment was empty hitting me. 

"They went shopping," he explained. 

I nodded. "How did you get in here?" 

"Megan asked me to grab her sweater from this apartment, so she gave me a key. She apparently left it here a few days ago." 

The mention of Megan made me want to dig a hole in the ground and climb into it. How could I do something like this to her? How could I... oh God, I'm a horrible person. 

"I'm sorry," he said. "For kissing you, I mean."

"It takes two to kiss," I replied. 

"What are we going to do?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"I could break up with her."

"What?"

"I could break up with Megan."

I kept staring at the ground. "Choose," I said after a while.

"Choose what?"

"Choose between me and her. It's not fair to her. You have to choose. But, if you choose me, it will be different. I mean, there's the age difference, and the fact that you live in a different state, and..."

"You," he said, cutting me off. "I choose you."

"We couldn't be together for a while, though. Apart from the fact that it's not legal, we wouldn't want her to know that you left her for me. It would be years before..."

"I choose you," he repeated again. 

I finally looked up at him. 

"Okay."