"You can still be broken, even when nothing's wrong."
. . .
"I've taken care of myself for three years, I don't need someone to take care of me now. I'm eighteen in two years, mom." She believed her mom when she said that Liam was kind. But she did...
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They had decided to meet up, exactly four days after their first ever conversation. Since then, they had shared lots of messages, every day both easing Genevie's nerves because she was getting to know Liam more, but also increasing the number, now only ten days before she would move in.
Today was the day they were meeting in person. And Genevie was panicking. Mai had assured her that she would be there when the day came to meet up, but Mai had an important football game, and Genevie didn't have the heart to tell her to skip it just for some silly meeting with Liam. The silly meeting was though freaking her out, so she had called Mai immediately for help, not without apologizing for bothering her in the middle of preparations before the game.
Now, she had clothes on her body, skipped breakfast because she was nauseous and wouldn't keep anything down, and after locking the door she began the walk to a cute café in the middle of town. She really wanted to face Liam in a public place with lots of people around, to minimize the risk of something creepy happening.
Liam had agreed easily, suggesting the Beachwood café. It was a fifteen-minute walk from her house, but she started walking 30 minutes before they were supposed to greet each other. She liked being early, despised being late more than anything, so she made sure she never had to face it, like most of her problems.
It really was bad problem solving, never doing anything about it, just avoiding them until it didn't work anymore. But what was she supposed to do? Come twenty minutes late and scold herself in her mind for it the rest of forever? That would be impolite to Liam, who would have to spend time waiting for her, and embarrassing for the younger one.
-
Turns out Genevie wasn't the only one who like being early, so they met thirteen minutes before they should have, and twenty lifetimes before she was prepared to.
Liam ordered a carrot cake and coffee, Genevie claiming that she had already had breakfast. Secretly, Liam could see from miles away that their girl was lying. He didn't mention anything about it though, just took a fork and his meal before leading them to a table, Genevie trailing behind like a lost puppy.
She watched as Liam slowly ate his carrot cake with a fork. Who chooses a fork to eat cake with? She studied the object quizzically but subtly, at least she thought she wasn't obvious. Liam just observed, amused but made no move to comment on her behavior. Instead, they made small talk while he was eating.
They had gotten to know each other a bit the last few days. Not like they knew everything about the other but Genevie knew that the older man has two older sisters, his zodiac sign was Virgo (she had no idea what to do with the information, but she thought it was a normal question to ask) and also learned that the man could sing really well after catching him singing while they talked on the phone (it had happened one time, yesterday, and it was nerve wracking to say the least).
Liam seemed quite nice, Genevie not willing to decide just yet, but he hadn't done anything suspect. Okay, the fork was a bit weird, though maybe not cut-all-contact-and-flee worthy.
