We arrived at Liam's house and immediately collapsed on his bed. We both sat there. He leaned over and kissed me. He looked sad.
"You know it's not your fault right?"
"Thats not it." He kissed me again. "You're not going to want to be here after I tell you everything."
"Liam? What are you talking about?"
"It all started when Madison told me she had a crush on me for the past couple years. Arabella knew and when I rejected Madison she knew immediately to yell at me. She's a lot like you you know." He looked at me, then looked back downs and his lap, he was playing around with his hands, nervously. "Anyways, she told me how much Madison liked me and how mean it was of me do reject her and not let her down softly and shit, but I didn't feel the same so I couldn't lie to myself like that. You know?" I understood what he meant. "I can't help it, she fell for me because I was nice, but I'm just a nice guy." I nodded, it was true, he was a unintentional heartbreaker. "Turns out Zoe dumped her boyfriend for Madison after she found out I rejected her. Arabella didn't know I knew until I told her. I didn't mean to, I asked her if she was a lesbian like her friends. She got offended and slapped me."
"No offense Liam, but what does this have to do with Arabella running off with Adam?"
"I'm not the only person who knew. Adam knew so much, Arabella knew so much, I knew so much. All three of us knew the others would know something as soon as we knew. Combined, the three of us probably knew every secret told in Broadway Hills. "
"I didn't know you three were close."
"We aren't. I know you know just as much as we do Dustin." It was true, he was right, I did know plenty of peoples secrets, just like they did.
"How do you all know so much about everyone?"
"I don't know how Adam does, he just does. He's creepy like that. But Arabella and I are listeners. People tell us things." I looked at my hands, realizing I was a talker, and that I only knew as much as I did because I shared other peoples secrets.
"Seriously what does this have to do with Arabella leaving again?"
"She knew that Adam knew too much."
"So she went with him for information?"
"Dustin she had a gun." I was shocked. My jaw dropped and I froze. Liam shook.
"Liam, there's something I have to tell you too."
-
" It wasn't at all what we wanted to happen. It was Arabella, Jake, and I. We were walking home from the mall because Jake's car got towed and we didn't live that far away. A criminal attacked the three of us. He knocked Jake down to the ground. Pulled out a gun, and grabbed Arabella's bags and tried to get away. Arabella fought back with everything she had and I grabbed his gun while he was distracted. I pointed it at him, he knew what I was doing. He grabbed Arabella and held her hostage style. "If you call the cops you and both of your friends will die." He said to me. "Hand me the gun you little asshole." He raised his voice, and I raised my arm. Suddenly I stopped shaking, all of my fear turned into anger. I looked down and saw Jake's head bleeding from where the criminal hit him with the gun. Arabella looked terrified, but she was short enough to be below him. I could make a shot without hurting her. The question was, should I? My instinct took over.
And that was it.
His body plunged to the ground. Arabella stood shaking and crying. She ran into my arms and hugged me. Crying into my chest. I looked straight forward and saw Adam standing there. Then he disappeared into the night as an ambulance came up behind us. We placed the gun next to the guy, picked up Jake and got out of there. We knew that we couldn't deal with that.
It ended up categorized as an unsolved gang crime. But Jake, Arabella, Adam, and I knew. "
-
"Dustin that's probably why she went with Adam. To talk to him about that. Everything's starting to surface, she probably knows that he knows so much about it all. She probably wants to make sure he won't tell."
"Yeah, by killing him."
"Dustin that's fucking crazy she wouldn't do it."
"It's what I would do, Arabella and I don't think the same. But we both know that we swore to protect each other."
"Don't take this the wrong way, but Arabella's been doing a lot of things that aren't like her. She hasn't really been herself and you know that."
"Liam I can't do this anymore. Just let's sleep. Please." I used sadness in my voice to try to guilt trip him into either changing the subject or just dropping it completely.
"Let's just do what normal guys do." He handed me a controller. We were going to play video games? How cliche. Did I mind though? No.
"I'm gonna kick your ass at whatever we play, I hope you know that."
He laughed. "In your dreams Dusty."
"Don't you ever call me Dusty again."
"Why not, its so cute. Just like you." I rolled my eyes and set myself up so my feet were where our heads were supposed to go on his bed. He must've been able to tell I was angry. He kissed my cheek and didn't take his lips off and wrapped his arm around me. It made me smile but I couldn't let him think that.
Okay maybe I could.
-
Authors Note:
Liam and Dustin
AWHHHHH
I miss Jake.
Kinda, not really.
-
x
