Perfect For Me

CHAPTER 12 (Ryan Lander)

It had been a bit more than a week since Liam and I had started to work at his place instead of school. I was glad that he didn't ask to work at my place. I definitely would NEVER show him my room, it equally meant to tell him about my love for music. I would hear no end of it.

Right now, I was laying wide awake in my bed and thought about him. Wow, when you say it this way I sound like a lovesick teenage girl.

No, I just always had liked to think about things if I couldn't sleep. And it's not the first time that I think of Liam. But it was the first time I didn't think of him to make up new ways to harass him. I just thought about him. Nothing more or less. I had a feeling that his parents weren't home that often. Or at least that Liam very regularly had to look after Ethan. They had a really tight relationship with each other, something I could only dream of. I didn't hate my brother, but I didn't particularly love him either. We weren't more than two people who lived in the same house by coincidence. Heck, I couldn't even tell you what he was studying.

But back to Liam: I, well EVERYONE could see that he would give everything for his brother. He probably did. I sometimes noticed him not buying lunch, supposedly because he was on some soccer diet, but I didn't really believe him anymore. Their flat wasn't a bad one, but you nevertheless could tell that money didn't come easy to them. I bet Liam went without lunch on more than one occasion just so his brother would have one.

In a way I admired him. No, that was the wrong word. I had respect for him. He didn't seem to be as bad as I thought he was. Rather the opposite. We got along quite well. We definitely still had our arguments, but we sometimes even laughed together! Crazy, I know.

Maybe I had always known how similar we were. That was probably the reason for our rivalry in the first place. Just now I was willing to admit it to myself that maybe, one day we could be friends. -Not that I would ever tell him that.

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I left the house in rush. Because of the earlier mentioned problem with my car, I had to walk to school. And because of Liam I went to bad so late last night, I slept in this morning. Well, it hadn't really been his fault but yeah....it's easier to blame him. The only good thing on this day so far was the text from Andy saying we didn't have to work for the ball today and if I wanted to hang out after practise and have a sleepover with him and Jeremy. Of course, I didn't hesitate to say yes!

"Hey, you're coming over tonight, right? Jeremy comes to mine right after coach lets us go. You're coming too?", Andy whispered to me while coach was explaining some kind of strategy. I mean, it's not like we had done this many times before, right? "Sure", I gave back. "But can I ride with you? You know, my car isn't fixed yet." Andy nodded his head and laughed quietly. Not quietly enough it seemed, because coach looked in our direction and gestured us to start running laps. I guess we got ourselves into this, everyone knew about coach's no-talking-rule during training.

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I looked at Andy as he tapped my shoulder. We were both sitting in his red jeep in the school's parking lot. Only a few cars still stood here, mostly one's that belonged to soccer guys. "We really should wait for Jeremy, shouldn't we?", Andy asked, sounding as if he hoped I would say no. I would love to say no but "You know we have to. He is our friend. And I don't want to watch frozen on repeat tonight. Even if that means waiting for what feels like eternity!" Jeremy always took showers that lasted HOURS after training. And he hated driving home alone. AND he made us watch frozen every time he was disappointed in us. He got disappointed very easily. Not a good combination. I swear I know the songs better than every five-years-old girl. Sometimes I believed he only pretended to be angry so he could force us to watch the movie with him.

While I was deep in thought Jeremy had finished his shower and Andy obviously started driving because the next time I looked out of the window we stood in front of his house. His parents were both doctors. That meant a lot of money and a lot of alone time. When we had been younger, I had been sleeping at his place like three times a week. When we got to know Jeremy, we had to stop this because we got too little sleep, because we talked too much, being three boys in one room. So, now he had the giant mansion mostly to himself. And despite having at least ten guestrooms we all slept in Andy's bed. I slept there because as I said before, I couldn't sleep without cuddling and Jeremy slept there because he didn't want to feel left out.

As always, we immediately went up to Andy's room after making a giant bowl of mac 'n cheese. I was the first one on the bed took the remote of my friend's large flatscreen TV in my hand. Today I would decide on what to watch. I knew the other boys didn't like my taste in movies but hey, you can't deny it. Musical films are the best!

When we finished Les Misérables -it had been my twelfth time watching it- we decided to go to sleep. Well, I had but Andy and Jeremy had no choice but to do so as well. "Hey, Ry. Why are you even so tired that we have to go to bed at..." Andy took a look at his phone. "Eleven-thirty?" "Oh, just thinking." I casually replied. "Really? About whom?", Jeremy got involved in our conversation as well. "Nobody" I quickly said. "Ooohhhh! He's blushing! So, tell us, who is "nobody"?" God damn it! Andy always had to be so nosy! "Nobody is nobody" I stubbornly answered. "And I'm NOT blushing!" "Sure you aren't! So, there is Lisa, from biology class. Or Mary, the one who always asks to sit with you during lunch. Or..... You spend awfully much of your time with Liam Williams lately. It's him isn't it?"

I knew Jeremy was kidding but nonetheless his voice held some serious curiosity towards the end of his assumption. Did he really think I was gay?! "One: You know I only spend time with him because of our principal. Two: He is Liam Williams! My arch enemy. Why would I fall for HIM? And three: I AM NOT GAY!" I didn't have anything against members of the LGBTQ+ community, I just didn't see myself as one.

With a "humpf" I turned away from both of my friends, trying to ignore their snickering and knowing damn well I wouldn't even last ten minutes before I would turn around to cuddle. But what can I say? A man can dream. Or pretend at least.