Under the Bridge

chapter fourteen-"exploiting the Chinese workforce"

I'M SOMEHOW OKAY with doing math right now. There's something about solving equations and graphing complicated functions that calms me down. The stroke of a pencil on graph paper is a soothing release. It's especially true when the problems aren't too difficult, but do require a second of thought. Those are the problems I like helping Liam with. 

"What do I do here?" Liam scoots over and shows me his work. He's already got four steps of the problem done, and from the looks of it, the math appears correct. I bite my lip and analyze the most recent line. 

"Use inverse of cosine, and then after a little rearranging, you should have your answer." I explain, circling the part of the problem that needed tweaking. 

He nods, returning to the problem, which lets me return to calculus. I spend the time he does problems doing my homework, since my brain is already in math mode. I twirl my pencil between my fingers as I concentrate on graphing the function in front of me. 

At this point, my eyes were no longer red and puffy, as nearly two hours had passed. I still felt like shit, but it was more of a mellow, melancholic feeling, leaving me quiet and stuck in a sleepy, dissociative, daze. 

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps and muffled voices erupted upstairs. 

"Liam? Are you home?" The sound of an older female voice echoed through the room in harmony with the squeak of the door. 

"Yeah, the library's flooded. Olivia's here." He shouted back, and I saw the pretty brunette who filled all the pictures in the hall. 

She widened her eyes at the sight of me, then looked skeptically at Liam. "It's nice to meet you." She said, raising her eyebrows slightly. 

"Mom, contrary to popular belief, I don't have sex with every girl I interact with. I'm not fucking my tutor." He says, his tone harsh, but also somehow coming out as a joke. 

I feel very, very, awkward. 

She looks at him in silence for a second, then spies the textbooks. A small, genuine smile stretches across her lips, and hen she glances over at me. "Dinner is in an hour, Olivia, would you like to stay?" She asks. 

I don't even have to think about my response. I can feel the discomfort of the table already forming internally. "I don't want to intrud--" 

"She would love to." Liam interrupts, and his mother escapes back upstairs. 

* * *

"I freaking hate you." I grumble as we walk towards the stairs. My heart is racing, my palms are shaking, and I feel an unending pit in my stomach begin to form, filling up with nervous butterflies. I hate talking to people I don't know, and he knows that. 

"I'm sorry, but my family is going to love you so they'll treat me better. Good influence and all that shit." He says, cheekily. 

I sigh. "You're using me?" I'm half-teasing, half serious. 

"My mom also makes amazing mac and cheese. So we're even." He replies, nonchalantly. 

Liam opens the door and we step through, and I'm greeted with a table surrounded by all the people I saw in photographs. His mother, with dark brown hair that matched the other two girls at the table. One, about seven, and the other, who I assumed was Elizabeth, I know to be thirteen. 

She's not making eye contact, with anyone. She's nervous, I'm not sure if it's around everyone, or just around me, but I understand. Elizabeth is wearing a loose tee shirt and jeans, accented with a jacket that's probably too big for her. I looked at it again, and realized I'd seen Liam wearing it a few weeks ago. It was his. That's actually really cute.