Up In Smoke → Liam Dunbar [1]

Chapter Nine

"Is three enough?"

"Depends how many cameras they have. But I think so."

Yesterday, after the whole fiasco between Brayden and Addy, she had slept the whole afternoon and night. Liam stayed too, partly because every time he went to get up, Addy would start waking up and pull him back.

She was mentally exhausted. Nightmares filled her dreams: some with Garrett and some with her brother. Most, however, were about Liam. He would get hurt and there was nothing Addy could do to help him. She would be frozen in the spot, unable to move until he let out his final breath.

Addy didn't tell anybody about the nightmares, but they stayed in the back of her mind all day. Stiles called in the afternoon, telling them to meet at Scott's house. Addy made the mistake of telling him that Liam was already with her when he was going to call him next. She could hear the loud laughter on the other end of the phone and knew there was no getting out of the embarrassment.

Brayden wasn't in the house. He probably went over to Luke's. The Conway household had Brayden over nearly as much as Luke was at the Ryder's. Addy was over a few times too, mostly when there was a party being thrown. His mother loved her and her brother. Sometimes she felt like more of a mother than their own. 

She left a note on the table: 'I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it. I'll be out for the day. Don't worry, I'll stay safe.' She made sure to add extra little smiley face at the bottom.

Since Liam's house wasn't too far away, they stopped there so he could get a change of clothes. Addy apologized the whole way there that she was sorry. Neither one of them said anything about the almost kiss, but the tension was noticeable. There was an unspoken agreement that they would never talk about it again. 

They didn't exactly have a ride over to Scott's house, so after a very short, annoyed call from Stiles, he came to pick them up. He grumbled the whole way there, complaining about freshman and how they really needed to find a way of transportation. Addy rolled her eyes, she was not about to ride her bike everywhere. 

Addy sat in the back of the jeep, and when Stiles tried starting up a conversation, she immediately shut him down. It wasn't until they got to Scott's house did she started to talk. The girls were already there by the time that they arrived. 

"Are we really doing this?" Liam asked. The plan was stupid. Addy wanted to smack all of them until they finally agreed not to go through with it. Of course, it wasn't up to her, but it still didn't make her any less worried.

"We're doing it. Tonight," Scott assured. The five of them stood around the square table, three laptops sitting in front of them. Brayden would be severely mad if he found out their shared laptop was being used for criminal use, even if it had the potential to save tons of people.

"Have you guys done something like this before?" Addy asked. It was dangerous, reckless, and stupid – pretty much describing the group of people.

"Something dangerous? Or something idiotic?" Stiles questioned.

"I think it's a yes to both." Kira was fairly new to the group too. She still had a few months advantage on the freshmen, and from what she knew about the last year, Scott and Stiles definitely did stupid things. It was for the greater good, but it was still stupid.

"You don't have to be a part of it if you don't want to," Scott said. He looked between the two freshmen. They weren't holding hands like usual, and he could smell the tension. Scott picked up on their relationship the moment that he saw the two together. He knew that they would be good for each other, he just wasn't sure if they had seen it yet.