Everything Has Changed [LIAM DUNBAR] #2

As Good as Dead

Aspen skipped school the next day, mainly because of the fact that it wasn't the bad shrimp- it was some kind of bug, one that made her throw up anything she ate.

It was after school when Liam came, all ten seasons of Friends in his arms, along with a giant tub of orange sherbet and a bag of sour gummy worms.

He opened the door, quietly peeking his head in and grinning. Liam smiled down at his girlfriend, her body twisted into a weird shape under the covers. She groaned, flinging the blankets off of her face. "I said I was fine Mo-"

Aspen stopped, seeing Liam and she swallowed.

"Hey," Liam smiled, "You look better. Do you feel better?"

She gave him a look. "I'm contemplating whether or not I'm going to throw up on you, if that's what you mean by better."

Liam offered a sympathetic smile and showed her the DVDs. "So I know how much you like Friends, so I figured maybe-"

"Can you do me a favor?" she cut him off, reaching for his hand. He nodded, letting his fingers intwine with hers.

Aspen reached over to the nightstand, giving him a fifty dollar bill. "Can you go to Sinema and give this to Hayden? I accidentally spilled 200 dollars worth of drinks the other night, and I promised her I'd pay for them."

Liam's smile fell and he pressed his lips into a thin line. "Uh.. Yeah sure," he replied, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "But.. I need to tell you something I meant to say the other night.. It's about all the.. The chimeras.."

Aspen propped herself up on her elbows to look at him better. "What? You think you know one of the other eight?"

He studied her for a moment, blue eyes running carefully over her pale features and he swallowed. He really didn't want to tell her, didn't want her to get into it, didn't want her to get hurt.

Liam flashed a tiny, reassuring smile. "Uh, no.. No clue..."

Aspen squinted, tilting her head carefully at him. "Well then what is it?"

Liam suddenly looked away, his eyes lowering. "You know what? It was stupid.. N-nothing.."

But it was something. Something big. Something he knew he should have told her then, or he would regret it, but his mouth just wouldn't cooperate to form the word, the word that would change everything between them.

Hayden.

[•]

"I hate this," Hayden grumbled, shutting off her phone after texting Aspen a flat-faced lie about where she was, "Lying to her."

She turned away from the sink she was leaning against to look at Liam, who had his arms crossed over his chest, looking at his shoes.

"Yeah, well at least it's keeping her out of this," he replied, "That's all I want."

The corner's of Hayden's mouth twitched upwards. "You're a good guy Liam," she smiled, "Despite past experiences."

Liam laughed. "Does that mean sixth grade can be forgotten, and we can at least try to get along?"

Hayden narrowed her eyes playfully. "Get me through the night and we'll see.."

Scott and Lydia walked over. "You guys ready?"

"Ready for what?"

The door to the locker room quietly closed shut, all four teenagers turning around to see Aspen dressed in sweats, her hair falling in tiny ringlets around her face, blue eyes skimming over them carefully.