Monday mornings. Great. Even with Liam wrapped around me, nothing was good about this. His tan, mountainous biceps were clung on to me like a wet t-shirt. I looked at my phone. It was 11 o clock. I turned to Liam. "Did you turn off my alarm?" He grinned.
"Maybe."
"Liam! Are you serious? I have a GPA to keep you know."
"You hate school. Besides I just wanted to lay here more."
"Yeah that's sweet and all but I have better things to do." So I rolled out of bed and got dressed throwing Liam the clothes he packed. They wouldn't have fit me. He's 6'2 and fit, I'm 5'10 and skinny. I put on a hoodie. Liam smiled at me.
"I packed one, wear it."
"Thats what relationships do."
"Isn't that what we are?"
"Is this your way of asking me out?"
"What else do you want me to do? Beg?"
"Drop the sarcasm Liam." He irritated me, but I couldn't help that he also made me happy.
"So is that a yes?" He looked like an anxious kid wanting to know if his mom would let him get a candy bar.
"Yes, but remember what I said. I will not be anyone's dirty little secret." His smile grew, then faded. "If you're worried about people judging us or making fun of us, I don't care what people think of me."
"I know you don't. I'll just tell the people I know will accept it."
"Got it. So no PDA. Understood." I barged away from him, my face showing it upset me. Liam looked like he wanted to say more and comment on that, but I grabbed my backpack and got in his truck.
"Fuck it, fuck what people think." Liam stated as he climbed into his truck and turned the key.
"I see you have the Dustin approach."
"Of not giving a fuck?"
"Precisely."
We arrived right as lunch started. Went into the office and told them why we were late. Then went to lunch. Normally I would sit with Arabella and her crew. But Liam insisted that I sit with him and the rest of the guys. Thank god he separated himself. Elliot and Carlos sat down across from us. It was a circle table with 8 seats. Isabelle plopped down next to Elliot, and some other guys just filled the rest. Carlos was talking.
"Did you guys see Jake or Arabella anywhere?" I froze. Elliot, Isabelle and Liam all stared at me. Carlos and the other guys caught on. "Dustin? They're your friends, where are they?"
"How am I supposed to know?" That came out a lot more defensive and aggressive than I thought.
"I think I heard the secretary talking to Arabella's parents when I came in late." Liam stated. He knew how to cover my tracks.
"Why were you late anyways?"
"They were both late." Elliot seemed suspicious, I'd tell him later. Maybe.
"We slept in, he came over last night." Isabelle looked shocked when that came out of my mouth. But she kept quiet.
"Yeah, I wanted to ditch but Dustin had to come." Liam continued.
"Enough about that, what did I miss?" I interrupted.
"Not much." Elliot responded.
"Jake got into an accident." I blurted, everyone turned to me and stared. "He got hit by a drunk driver, he's in the hospital, he might not make it. That's all I know." Elliot clapped my shoulder.
"I'm sorry." That was Elliot's instinct, to be the nice guy. Liam and Carlos were like that too. Then there's me, the asshole. Whatever though. I smiled back at Elliot. The lunch bell rang. Time for chemistry, hooray.
I walked into the lab, sat down at my lab table and realized Arabella was my lab partner. I wasn't the only one to realize Arabella's absence apparently, because Adam plopped down next to me.
"Hey, so I was thinking," Then I cut him off.
"Thinking about what? How you faked a car accident, wasted police and paramedic time, put Jake's parents and everyone else in distress? All because you were afraid of Arabella telling people you made out with me when you were drunk? Nice try. You know Adam, I've done a lot of fucked up things in my life, but I don't think people get much worse than you." With that, I stood up and settled myself elsewhere, I forgot it was Katie's lab table so when she came into the room, late of course. She gave me a glare and sat down, she wanted to avoid a tardy. She looked like a mess. I compared her to a washed up prostitute, which was definitely new for her, she's normally so prim and proper.
"What are you doing at my lab table?"
"Turn around sunshine, you'll see exactly why." She followed the directions and turned to see Adam. He waved, she glared.
"You made out with him and you can't sit at the same table as him? Stone cold." I didn't know if she was joking or not.
"Katie what happened to you?"
"What?" She seemed caught off guard when I asked that. "Nothing's happened to me."
"You used to be the nice, quiet, and smart girl. Now you're a total bitch, I mean I know you, it's always been there. I love it." I winked at her and smiled. That made her crack. She started laughing, then crying.
"I'm sorry, I just I've been so, broken about it. You were my first love. Even if you didn't feel the same. You were really good at pretending." And that broke me. I didn't know what to say.
"We'll talk about this, I promise. But we have chemistry to do right now." I chuckled, and that made her smile. She was still beautiful, even when she cried, even when she looked like a hooker. I smiled as I looked at her. Then my phone buzzed.
'Better watch it, you can't fall for her too.' - Adam
'I never fell for you. Ever.' I responded.
Then my phone buzzed again, god Adam. I don't like you, lay off. I'm seriously going to block his number.
"Better watch it Dust, you have Liam and now Katie too. Surprising isn't it? You always said you'd be alone. Now you have too much to handle. How are you gonna work your way out of this one?" - Arabella.
I had never responded to Arabella's texts like these before. There's a first time for everything.
"Where are you?"
"You know exactly where, think. I'll give you a clue. I spy."
I knew what she meant, what we used to do. I think I knew where she was too. But the question was.
Was I right?
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Authors Note~
Katie & Dustin
Or
Dustin & Liam
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x
