His Sweet Lies

Chapter 8: One Last Rehearsal

Emma was walking side by side with Liam when they were approached by his two best friends. Well... more like Liam was approached by them. They seemed to not even notice Emma's presence. But she didn't mind, so she kept quiet.

"Liam! I feel like I haven't seen you in ages, bro!" the blonde boy said as he adjusted his glasses and scratched at the band aid on his cheek. Sam Holland. Known as the lovable joke of the school, always getting into trouble and ending up hurting himself after failed stunts on his skateboard.

"Yeah, where have you been? There's a party coming up and you probably would've missed it if we hadn't been here!" the other boy said. Bryson Pierce. He was taller than Liam so his size definitely intimidated someone of Emma's height whose head barely reached Liam's shoulders. Although when she looked up at his face, she had to admit he had a very dashing smile and friendly face.

"Oh, shit" Liam said, scratching the back of his neck. "When's the party? Sorry, I've been focused on the English project."

Sam's blue eyes widened as he ran his fingers through his fluffy blonde hair. "Really? Since when did you care so much about your schoolwork?"

Liam rolled his eyes. "Very funny. I happened to get paired with someone who's pretty good with this kinda thing."

Bryson and Sam exchanged a look before looking back at Liam. "Who?"

Emma was suddenly frozen and couldn't bring herself to step forward. Without realizing it, she had practically been hiding behind Liam this whole time. She felt the tips of her ears heat up when she felt Liam's hand on her back, gently nudging her forward.

She flinched when Bryson and Sam's eyes locked on her. Her eyes just stared down at their shoes as she felt their stares pierce through her.

"The chick with the weird eyes?" Sam finally asked to which Liam punched his shoulder.

"Her name is Emma" Liam replied giving him a pointed look.

Bryson was the next to speak. "Oh. Cool. Is she coming to the party?"

When Emma stayed silent, still a bit nervous, Sam leaned in to get a closer look. "Can she speak?"

Emma quickly took a step back, accidently bumping into Liam. She cleared her throat before responding. "Y-yeah." She felt her body relax a little when Liam put his hand on her shoulder.

Sam grinned, looking her up and down. "You're pretty cute up close."

"Shut up, Sam. You sound like a creep" Liam said before Emma could respond although she was having trouble hiding her blush.

"I am not a creep!" Sam said defensively.

"Creep" Bryson said with a smirk.

"Anyways" Sam sighed, returning his gaze to Emma. "You coming to the party, cutie?"

Emma felt Liam's hand tighten on her shoulder a little as if he was feeling uneasy or tense and was bracing himself. She didn't particularly know why but she didn't question it. "Um..." she murmured, biting her lip.

"You don't have to if you don't want to" Liam's gentle voice said in her ear.

"No, no" she said waving her hand. "I'll go."

Sam clasped his hands together, startling Emma. "Hell yeah! It's gonna be great. You won't regret it" he said giving Emma a wink before walking off.

"Catch you later, man" Bryson nodded at Liam before looking at Emma. "See you at the party." Then he was gone too along with Sam.

When they were out of sight, Emma fully relaxed and rolled her shoulders back.

Liam walked in front of her and gave her a worried look. "Are you sure about this? You were stiff as hell the whole time."