Shadows of Yesterday

Chapter 26: Boys, Ballgowns, and Muffins from Heaven

The next day, Liam met me at the front doors of the school with a coffee and a raspberry streusel muffin. It wasn't something we had discussed, so it caught me completely off guard when he pushed them gently into my hands and asked, "Hey. How are you feeling?"

The familiar, defensive part of me bristled at his show of concern and fought the urge to shove the food right back at him, but a newer, weirder part melted a little bit and dug into the food without complaint. I wasn't sure how to feel about that new part, so I chose to ignore it like the mature seventeen-year-old I was. It was a glitch. Probably. "Fine. What's this for?" I held up the muffin and coffee in question.

He rubbed the back of his neck. When he answered, his voice was casual, but he wouldn't meet my eyes. "Eh, I made muffins late last night when I couldn't sleep. Figured you could use the fuel." He shrugged and led me to the school doors, which he beat me at opening by a millisecond. He grinned triumphantly and waved me inside. 

I rolled my eyes and hid my matching smile by taking a sip of the coffee and stepping past him into the school lobby. The coffee was heavenly, just like the muffin. Liam was a whiz in the kitchen.

I started to walk towards my first class, but then I realized that Liam had gotten caught up holding the door for everyone behind me. He, being Liam Brown, was warmly chatting with everyone and joking around, but I could tell by his darting gaze that he was anxious to continue whatever conversation he'd looked ready for when I first saw him this morning. I stopped and waited for him, because apparently, I did have some manners in me, after all. It was the least I could do.

After a minute or two, he finally caught up with me, an apologetic smile on his face. "Sorry about that. I wasn't expecting the whole school to arrive with you."

He fell into step beside me as I resumed walking. We passed the pathetically empty school trophy cases and half the lockers before either of us spoke again. I was too absorbed in Liam's heaven-sent baked goods to break the silence. "So." Liam eventually said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "What happened after I left last night?"

My good mood immediately dampened.

I shrugged and tried to fake nonchalance. My answer wasn't immediate, both because I didn't want to think about yesterday and because I hated admitting that anything was wrong. "Nothing."

He didn't look convinced in the slightest. He raised an eyebrow at me that screamed, "really?"

"It's true!" I said defensively. "Nothing happened. As soon as you left, everyone retreated to their rooms to cool off and nobody ever emerged." After a second of thought and another bite of muffin, I amended my statement. "Okay, well, Declan did come out to argue with my parents some more, and Ben brought me dinner, but whatever. That's still nothing as far as I'm concerned."

"Did they... say anything about me? Your parents didn't seem that happy with me when I left."

There it was, that same nervous edge in his voice that had appeared when he asked me to Homecoming. I turned to look at him, just in time for him to rub the back of his neck and avert his gaze for the second time in our conversation. Wow, this boy is more of an open book than I am, I realized.

"They didn't mention you," I said, watching his reaction closely.

He sighed, but I couldn't tell whether it was in relief or disappointment. "Don't take it personally," I tried to reassure him, "they don't mention anything important."

I regretted my words immediately, both because they sounded way more depressing out loud than they had in my head and because of the concern that flickered across Liam's face. "I see," was all he said.