Linked

Chapter 4

Still looking at the cold, hard, ground, I gathered myself and slowly rose to meet the person I never thought I'd come face-to-face with.

"You- you're... L," I sputtered out, with hazy vision from the fall.

"You're C," He seemed to have had the same experience when I tripped and collapsed onto him.

I wanted to respond; I wanted my eyesight to start working again so I could see his face, but instead of carefully forming words, my knees started to buckle underneath me.

"Whoa there," L caught me before I reached the ground. I could feel his strength, and the ease he had with helping me stand, "Is it really you? C, we gotta go somewhere we can work this out. I can't believe this is happening."

I nodded in agreement, still in his arms for support. Apparently the spill affected me more than I thought.

"Okay, I'll come with you, but I should say bye to my friend first. She might get worried if I leave her without warning," I pointed to Ellie with my free hand, and started to look in her direction.

I think Ellie will be just fine.  L reassured me in my head, and I remembered that he knew who she is from the conversations we'd had.

Still, my eyes craned to see her face before I took off, and realized L was totally right. Ellie put her hand in James' as they continued to talk. She was having a good time without me and would barely notice I'm gone.

"Okay, L. Let's go."

~~~

"So you're Casey, right?" L asked as we walked down the road away from the school.

"Yeah. And you're Liam Walker," My eyesight started working a couple blocks back, but I still couldn't believe who he turned out to be.

"Yeah, I am," He smiled sweetly at me as we walked past the shops in town.

"Wow. I can't believe you are L. I mean, I feel like they are two separate people: I know L really well, but Liam is almost a stranger to me. Plus, you are the most popular guy in school! We're total opposites!"

"Well first of all, we actually do know a lot about each other; years of conversations can start to add up. And also, I never asked to become popular. I hope you don't see me like that. I've never thought of you as a nerd or anything; mind discussions or real life."

For some reason I found myself touched by that comment. I know Liam is supposed to be my crush, but that was a silly high school girl fantasy. I don't really know how I feel about him know.

"Well, I'll think about giving you another chance, Mr. doesn't-want-to-be-popular," I responded with a little bit of sarcasm. Ellie usually uses this tactic to end the topic... or to make someone smile.

As soon as he did smile, I felt myself melting under his gaze. He could light up a room.

"Alright Ms. sarcastic," He kept the playful banter going. Yes! I silently did a victory cry in my head, but quickly remembered that he can read my thoughts, and stopped.

"Um, how are we gonna work out this mind-reading thing? Now that we're together in person, we can view them; and I think that could be a privacy invasion of sorts."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that. We should probably refrain from doing that too much; although it's kinda hard to help sometimes," His eyes pierced through my own, implying that he struggled with this by shrugging his shoulders slightly. I'm kinda getting the hang of this body-language and conversation thing.

"True, it can be hard, but I'm sure we can have some restraints on ourselves. And let's definitely try not to look through the more... private thoughts," My gaze shifted down to the ground.

"Definitely. Agreed," He put out his hand for me to shake, and I took it. The hand shake lingered for a moment, but we pulled away after the realization. This is not the Liam Walker I know. He's... different, a good different.

"Whoa. What time is it?" I asked, looking up at the sun-setting over the buildings. Can it be this late already?

"I think it's around 5:45 or 6:00," He stopped in his tracks to stare at the sky. There was a pause as he put his thoughts together. "Come with me."

Liam pulled on my arm, refusing to let go. We weaved between the store-fronts while he towed me behind him like an eager child leading his parents through a crowd.

"Where are you taking me?" I called up to him, laughing with delight.

"You'll see, Casey Thomas," I liked the way he added my name at the end, like we've known each other forever; which we kind of have.

Finally, we reached where he planned to bring me, giving me a moment to stop to catch my breath before looking up.

I was surrounded by a beautiful array of colors and majesty. The heavens stared down at me through the eyes of the sunset that was before the both of us.

"Wow. Oh wow, Liam. It's beautiful."

"I thought you might like it. This is one of the only spots that is separate from the other shops. The only place you can see this."

He surveyed the wonder of the earth that I couldn't look away from. We both took in the scene for mere minutes; but it felt like a dazzling eternity to me.

As the last lights of the sun disappeared over the hill, I looked back at Liam and found him staring at me as well. My heart fluttered from the whole experience and we both gazed into each other's eyes. His hand extended towards mine and they folded into each other. My hands were sweaty and warm, but it didn't seem to matter.

"Hello, Casey Thomas. I'm glad I finally met you."

"Me too Liam Walker," Goodness. It's only been a day. So why do I feel so close to this guy?

After another minute or so, I started to get cold from the loss of sunlight and involuntarily shivered.

"Here," Liam gave me his jacket and started to get up, breaking the hand-holding.

"But won't you be cold?" I questioned; although grateful for the jacket.

"Nah," He shrugged off the inquiry, "I'll be fine. But if you want to get back before the game's over, we better hurry."

"Oh. I forgot! Ellie is my ride home!" I stood up and started walking.

"Then let's get going," Liam added with a playful tone, "Move it or lose it, Casey!" He grinned smoothly, invoking a laugh from me.

"Alright Liam. Let's go," I stepped into stride with him, and we jogged the whole way back to school.