Paper Flowers (Pretty Plastic People) ★

013. At Least I Tried

013. At Least I Tried

At Aquino High, every Monday night's a party.

Liam calls me just as I shove both notes back in my nightstand, this time tucked inside an old both where Allison will never find them. When I answer, the first thing he says in place of a greeting is, "Meet at the Cold Front in twenty?"

"Hello to you, too," I say, straightening my sheets from where they had gotten previously rumpled. "It's almost dinnertime."

"Who says some frozen yogurt can't be considered dessert?"

I can tell by the light tone of his voice that he's only teasing, and I'm about to tell him this when he says gravely, "I'm serious. Let's meet up."

I think about everything that's happened today. It'll be nice to talk about it to someone who's impartial—even though he's friends with Taylor and Spencer, I'd like to think that he's just as close to me now. And even though I can't tell him about the situation with Allison and Taylor, he can help me with just about everything else.

"Fine," I say. "I'll be there."

As I grab my purse and brush through my hair quickly, I realize that I'm actually excited to talk to Liam. The stress of wondering what I am to someone is eased away when it's just me and Liam: it's simple.

Fifteen minutes later, I find myself seated at the Cold Front by myself, at a two-top facing the front door. I've already ordered some watermelon yogurt and am taking a delicious first bite when the door opens and Celia walks inside. Instead of going to place her order at the counter, she catches my eye and heads over to where I'm sitting.

"Getting stood up?" she asks concernedly, her eyes searching my table for any signs of a guy's presence.

I smile through another bite of yogurt. "You wish. I actually came a little early and am just waiting for Liam to get here."

Something flashes through her eyes that I might classify as jealousy if I didn't know better, but it fades in the blink of an eye. "How cute," she says, sliding in the chair that's supposed to be Liam's. "You sure know how to get around."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm getting my daily dose of dessert before I go home to study," she says solemnly, as if this is the most commonplace thing in the world. "Don't act like you own this place. I come here every day, Erika!"

The door swings open and Liam enters. When she turns around to see him, she stands up quickly and says, "That's my cue! Have fun on your little date!"

As she walks away, swaying her hips slightly more than necessary, Liam comes to take her place.

"What was she doing here?" he asks once he's seated and has taken his necessary bite of my yogurt.

I shrug. "Antagonizing me as usual. Why'd you want to meet up?"

"We're fake dating. It would only make sense that we should go on fake dates."

Opening my arms as if to embrace the shop, I say, "This doesn't seem like a fake date." When he doesn't say anything for a few seconds, I add, "Don't you think this is sort of counterproductive?"

"How so?" he asks, furrowing his light eyebrows together.

I consider taking a bite of my yogurt and then, remembering he's touched it, hold back at the last minute. "I feel like since Spencer and Celia assume we're dating, they're not making moves on us," I say. I remember the letter in my nightstand from Spencer, and that urges me to keep talking. "What if we stop with the lies and deceit and just go about it the normal way? Honestly? I don't want to keep doing something like this. I've lied enough, and this added burden is killing me."