A Cheat Among Liars

Chapter 2

"Okay, are we ready?" Liam asks as I finish applying my lipstick.

I put my lips together, making sure it's all on my lips.

"We sure are, kiddo." I turn off my bedroom light and grab my handbag.

Liam locks the door behind us and we walk into town to find the nicest restaurant. None of them are filled up much, so going out on a weekday was definitely a smart choice.

"See that one over there?" I point to a restaurant over the street. "That's the one."

"Oh, definitely." We cross the street and walk into the restaurant. A tiny lady in a little foyer area takes our coats and hangs them up, and then gives us a token for later. When we walk into the dining room, another quite small woman smiles at us and shows us to a table, giving us menus.

I take a long glance at the menu before zoning out and thinking about Stephanie again.

Luckily I'm only there for a few seconds so I'm not in deep when Liam asks what I fancy.

"Uh, probably the pasta," I say. "I love fettuccini."

Christ. That was a close call.

We then order drinks and cheers each other for things we've done over the couple of years we've been together.

I get a lot happier when the food comes because it gives me an excuse to think about Stephanie while I'm eating so I don't necessarily have to talk to Liam.

After our main, we share a dessert. It was chocolate lava cake with raspberry sorbet and whipped cream. It was delicious.

As we walk home, we talk. I don't really enjoy talking to him as much as I used to. We don't have a lot of the same interests so it's sometimes hard to keep a conversation with him.

We also have sex that night. I'm pretty sure one of the only reasons we're together still is that I'm basically his sex slave. He's mine as well. He keeps me satisfied, but it's mostly just until I can put the strength together to split up with him.

This time I don't feel satisfied, though. I did play along with the whole 'moaning' thing but I knew I wanted something different. Something more.

I knew exactly what I wanted, but I had to wait until Sunday.

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The next morning I wake up and decide to just go for a walk. I put on some trainers, leggings and a black tee shirt that says 'fuck' in really tiny letters. I take my phone and headphones and just walk around the town, thinking about stuff.

But tomorrow is the day, I think. It's currently Saturday. I am going to a small party with a girl I have overthought about and is far out of my league. She is going to be there. She might even talk to me.

I freak myself out and realise that I'm breathing quite heavily and quite fast. I shut my thoughts down as soon as I realise and continue to walk along the road.

By this point I'm almost back at my house and it's almost been an hour since I left.

Liam might be getting worried. Pfft, who am I kidding? He doesn't really worry about me. It's okay though. I worry about myself instead.

As I walk through the door of my apartment, Liam rushes to the door and asks where I've been.

"I've been worried sick! You tell me where you've been right now!"

He's the mom friend, obviously.

"I've just been on a walk, okay? You need to calm down, kid."

"Calm down? Kate, you had me thinking you got kidnapped, or taken to prison, or something crazy like that!"

"Liam, Liam, please don't get mad at me. I just forgot to put a note on the worktop to say I was gone. I'm sorry."

He sighs. "At least you're home safe." He walks towards me and wraps his arms around me.

"Yeah. And that's what matters," I mumble into his chest.

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Afterwards I have work, so I prepare for that and then leave for it. I have a checkout job at a local supermarket, so I see people I know on the regular.

It's good, sometimes if they have lots of groceries then I can speak to them for a while.

But today I was shocked to see something. I almost fainted when I saw her walk up to the checkout.

It was Stephanie.

I met eyes with her for a moment and started to scan her items.

"Hey, aren't you going to the little party tomorrow night?" she asks. "I think I saw you on the list."

"Oh, yeah, that's me." I try to play it cool, and fail. "I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to wear!"

"Oh, same." She begins to ramble on about her wardrobe and her makeup situation but I just enjoyed listening to the sound of her voice so much I didn't even take anything in.

After I bag her last item she puts her card into the eftpos machine and pays. I put the receipt in the last bag and say "have a nice day!" as she walks off.

I'm left on a high mood for the rest of the day.