Deception

Chapter 26

50 days before

The wind whipped my hair around my face, annoying me beyond measure. I cursed the thirteen year old girl I used to be that dreamed of long hair that blew in the wind. I changed my mind; it sucked. Every time I opened my mouth it was either to spit hair out of it or curse at the wind for blowing in my direction. Long story short, I got many dirty looks from parents with little kids and quite a few laughs from Liam.

"Hold my hand." Liam held out his hand to me. I stared at it for a while, still walking a little bit behind him.

"Why? You already dragged me outside on my day off." I leaned against a fence, trying to figure out how to get home from here.

He shook his head, taking my hand in his, lacing our fingers together. He pulled me along. I could've sworn the sun was already going down and we were walking in interlocking circles, our path probably looking something like the Olympic logo.

The wind was starting to get to me even more, blowing my skirt up, making me thank God that I decided to wear leggings. I was hit with a number of leaves in the past hour and it was getting too humid for my hair to not puff up. There were no words for how much I wanted to kill Liam.

He squeezed my hand, pulling me into a restaurant. The cool air inside almost calmed me, the smell of spaghetti sauce invading my senses. "How's Niall?" he smiled over to me, holding up two fingers to the man standing at the front desk.

I narrowed my eyes at him, still looking down at our interlocked fingers. "What does that mean?"

"You know, how the relationship? The romance? Sex life?" he laughed, pulling me to a table in the center of the restaurant.

I used my free hand to lightly hit him, rolling my eyes for what was probably the tenth time today. It was starting to hurt. "As a matter of fact, fine." I sat down adjacent from him, leaning back in the padded chair.

He studied me for a few seconds, not bothering with his menu. I knew that he frequented here and had probably decided what he wanted before he came. He'd only been living here for a month, opposed to me spending most of my life here, and he knew more about my own neighborhood than I cared to know. "Perks of having no friends" I frequently called it, annoying him every time.

"You know, it's awkward talking to you about this now. It used to be fun but it's just weird." he crinkled his nose.

I crossed my arms, mildly disappointed that I wouldn't be bombarded with his invasive questions. "And why is that?"

He shrugged, turning his attention to the laminated dessert menu atop the fake flowers set on the table. "It's like you're my sister and you're...doing things that brothers aren't supposed to let their little sisters do."

"I'm seventeen not seven. This is a committed relationship with consensual sex and I never told you to ask me about it." I could tell he was holding back a quip about the three month thing but I didn't say anything.

"But it's fun to ask you about it." He replied, smiling. "So do you want the cannolis or have you had enough white stuff in your mouth lately?" My eyes widened, his comment rendering me speechless. The smile on his face grew with each passing second. "Is that a no?"

"What happened to the guy I met a month ago that said I looked good in sweats and no makeup?" I pouted, leaning back into my chair.

"You still look good but maybe it's just when you're covered in white." he threw his head back, his laughter filling the room. "Your walls are so thin, I can hear everything."

"Did you drag me out here to make fun of me?" I raised an eyebrow, settling on one of the pasta dishes.

"I needed a lunch partner." he shrugged, signaling for a waiter.