Safety 》Liam Dunbar

17; Comfort

This chapter Caroline vents to Nina.

        "You definitely look better in that shirt," I tugged at the hem of the dark blue shirt that covered Liam's chest. "Than Stiles ever did."

        With ruffled hair and puffy lips, Liam leaned in to kiss me again but I pulled away so I could look at him again.  I like how whenever I observe Liam's features my heart skips a beat and my lungs start to tickle, it felt like I couldn't breathe.  I'm so happy that I'm falling for him.

        Liam's phone dinged far away from us but I was too tangled up with Liam's legs and lips to care.  Liam reacted rapidly, removing my hands from his neck, untangling our legs, and unlocking our lips with a smack.  I frowned and leaned back on my bed, practically melting against the pillows.  Liam's face dropped and he shoved his phone into his back pocket. "I'm so sorry, Care." He ran his hands through his teased hair and licked his puffy lips.  "My mom texted me, said something about needing me urgently."

        "Oh," I frowned and bit my cheek.  I could either act like clingy girlfriend or nonchalant.  "It's fine, tell Paula I said hi and that I'm dating her son."  I knelt on my bed to be the same height as Liam.

        He embraced me quickly and pressed an urgent kiss to my temple.  "She'll be glad to hear it."  He left and I felt the door shut behind him even though I was in my room.  I remembered why I felt so safe in Liam's presence and looked down at my hands.  Little scars from the glass at the hospital remained, and so did the images of his white eyes. 

        I quickly leaned over to my bed and called Mason to see if he was busy.  "Girl, I'm kind of busy." He then hung up after she heard someone moan then yelp in the background.

        Before I could cry into my pillow my phone started to ring.  I thought it was Mason going to send me an apology text but it was a text from Nina.

From: Nina

This is Nina's mom.  Would you please come over, she could use a friend.

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        "This isn't what I want," Nina sniffled as she held her stuffed animal close to her chest.  My heart ached when I saw that Nina was beginning to rock slightly.  "But my mom just can't take care of me anymore, not after my dad leaving with that prostitute."

        With her mom being paralyzed and unstable, a missing father, and being blind, Nina's only option was to move to her Aunt June's in Nebraska.  It shocked me that her Aunt June didn't bother to fly here and see her own sister, but I was more upset by the fact that she was demanding for Nina to move in with her.

        Nina sniffles and huffs, smiling apologetically at the wall ahead of her.  "I'm sorry, I'm being a horrible friend.  You told me you spent the night at Liam's but I didn't even bother asking what happened." She smirked a bit and I wouldn't have ever thought she was crying a second ago.  "Did things get a little steamy?"

        Everything in me just wanted to pour out all of the details, from him calling me at three in the morning, falling asleep together, to his weird nightmare, how happy he made me feel, how his breath tickles my neck whenever he hugged me, and altogether, how perfect everything seemed.  All I wanted to do was tell Nina, but I knew it wasn't the right time or place.  This is one of our last moments together and I need to be their for her.  "Nina," I started softly, scooting closer to her on her bed.  I placed my hand delicately on hers and she tapped around to interlock our hands, not squeezing but holding on.  "Liam is just a silly boy compared to what's happening now.  I care about how you're dealing and what you're going to do."

        Nina interlocks our hands and turns her head towards me, her gaze over my shoulder and I couldn't help but look at how tired her face looks.  Even with her block and dark glasses that covered her eyes and part of her eyebrows, her mouth is in a permanent frown and looks droopy.  She sniffles but it sounded forced. "I rather know what happened between the two of you."  I wanted to protest but she beat me to it. "It'll take my mind off of it."

        "Well, gosh, Liam's like a boy you would read out of a book." I gushed uncontrollably, glad to have this moment to vent. "Or maybe that's what really liking someone feels like.  Anyways, it all feels like a blur now."

        "It feels like time doesn't exist when he's around?" Nina questioned, pursing her frowny-lips.

        I frowned, "That doesn't sound right, time just speeds up, I suppose." I shrugged and sighed.  "But then when he's gone I remember why I'm staying up so late or the fact that I'm afraid to sleep in the dark almost every night."

        "You're still having nightmares about that Sean kid?" She asked me and I felt like groaning into a pillow at the sound of his name.  Nina tried to tell me it was just my mind making up the white eyes or blood, that he had just attacked me cause he was a 'fucking weirdo'.

        "I don't have nightmares about him, I just get scared." I remember when I had a terrible nightmare when I was eleven.  The whole experience is a blur now, but I remember seeing images of puppets hiding in patches of grass as tall as the sky.  Crying and shivering when I woke up, my first instinct was to run to Stiles' room.  I had forgotten that Scott stayed over that night and they were both passed out on Stiles' bed.  Stiles was huddled under his blanket, curled in a ball with his arm hanging out, and Scott had a red blanket and was facing the wall.  I jumped on the bed and kicked the laptop inbetween them off of the bed, waking them up efficiently. 

        Nina ignored what I said. "It doesn't matter, Care. You're safe, I mean, your dad is the sheriff."

        "That didn't stop Sean from attacking me from the hospital." I sat up straighter, ready to defend myself. "Nina, he turned into-"

        "Into what?" Nina interrupted me, her upper lip twitching.  I just wish she would listen to me.  Just like how I wish my dad would spend some time with me, or just to have my family together again.  Just like how I prayed at night sometimes for my mother to come back. 

        "Into something!" I snapped, standing up.  "You'll never understand what I saw!  I can't describe it, there's no information, there's nothing!  I'm the only one here who knows!"  I corrected the arrangement of pillows on her bed then stood back up, sighing as I looked at Nina.  She didn't look unsettled by my outburst.  In fact, she looked like she was tanning in the Bahamas.  "I think it's time I left."

        "I'll see you later, Caroline."

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        "It was crazy! It was something right out of Monsters Inc, I swear it.  You know what I'm talking about? The guys in yellow hazmat suits running around? Anyways, yeah, and they wouldn't even let me on my phone!  How ridiculous!" Stiles spazzed on the phone.  Sounds like he had an eventful day compared to mine.  It felt nice at first to have Stiles calling me, but now after talking for thirty minutes about the same thing is kind of tiring.  I guess I should be happy that he thought of me.

This is not the last from Nina, yikes.