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"What's on the agenda for tonight?" I ask Liam from the passenger seat of the car he had borrowed from Mason.
"I was thinking we could just drive around town for a while then maybe a picnic under the stars. Unless that's too cheesy, we can always do something else," Liam rambled on, stepping on the gas pedal as the red light turned to a glowing, fluorescent green.
"That sounds perfect," I responded, smiling at his nervous antics, to which he returned the smile with a wide grin. So we drove around the small town of Beacon Hills for what felt like an eternity but was actually only an hour and a half, melodious tunes filling our ears as we talked and laughed.
As the abrasive cords from Lewis Del Mar's 'Malt Liquor' filled the air, it brought back memories of the concert we had been to months ago.
"That concert was so much fun," Liam noted, pulling into the parking lot in front of the town's park.
"I know, it was crazy," I replied, laughing as I dragged out the 'y'.
"Ready to eat?" He asked me, opening the driver door.
"Is that even a question?" I quickly retorted, helping Liam grab the blanket and food out of the back seat of Mason's car before we settled on the woven blanket on the grass. "What's on the menu?"
"I got us Subway sandwiches, glazed donuts, and those frosted sugar cookies from the grocery store, you know the ones."
"You remembered my favorite foods?" I wondered looking down at the miniature buffet in front of me, mouth watering at the sight.
"Of course. Hopefully you don't mind that I got the idea from you. Our first date was pizza because you remembered it was my favorite food so I wanted our first date as a couple to be your favorite foods, which there happen to be a lot of. I know I forgot the steak but it was a little short notice," Liam explained, handing me a bottle of water.
"Don't worry about it, I love this. Thank you," I told him, unwrapping the green and yellow paper the kept the sandwich covered. After eating my sandwich and taking a few sips of water, I decided to eat one donut and one cookie, even though it was way too sweet at once, I felt bad not eating at least some of everything.
"Your first lacrosse game of the season is next week. Are you excited?" I questioned, laying down on the blanket next to the blue-eyed boy.
"Yeah, I'm excited. I'm super nervous though. I know I shouldn't be, I've been on the team since freshman year and I'm a co-captain with Nolan again this year, but I can't help it," Liam sighed, making eye contact with the millions of stars in the sky.
"I think it's perfectly normal for you to he nervous. Don't worry though, I'll be there at every game to cheer you on," I smiled, turning my head to look at Liam, taking in every delicate feature of his face. As I was looking at his side profile, the boy turned his head to look at me.
I could tell what was going to happen next. My eyelashes fluttered shut as Liam and I closed the distance between our faces. I felt my lips touch his surprisingly soft ones. In that moment, I was oblivious to everything around me. I didn't feel my body turn onto my side, his doing the same to make things less awkward. I didn't feel his hand resting on my hip and I don't even remember lifting my hand up to rest on Liam's cheek.
When the two of us pulled away from each other, I spoke up in a soft whisper, "It took you long enough."
"Hey, you know you make me nervous and I know you didn't want to rush anything," Liam explained, the breath of his laugh fanning my face.
"If it makes you feel any better, you make me nervous, too. I'm just better at hiding it than you are. As for the not rushing thing, thank you for understanding. I know it took me a while to realize how great you are, but I'm here now."
"What happened to being blunt all the time?" Liam teased, pushing a piece of my dark hair behind my ear.
Rolling my eyes, I responded, "Okay, maybe I was a little too scared to be one hundred percent straightforward this time."
"I still can't believe this is happening. Briar Thornhill; my girlfriend. I've had a crush on you since freshman year. Even when I had my first girlfriend, I was always daydreaming about you— which is horrible, I know," Liam said.
"That's why I couldn't rush things. If I had just jumped into a relationship with you, knowing you already liked me, and I ended up breaking your heart... I wouldn't have been able to live with myself," I explained to him, still speaking quietly.
"I understand," He replied, a silence overcoming us as we lie under the stars, gazing at each other with an infatuation neither of us could see in the other's eyes. Oh gods, how much more cliché could this be, I thought. However, in the moment, I was okay with being cliché.
Our peace was interrupted but an excessive amount of buzzing come from my phone which resided in the back pocket of my blue skinny jeans. Sighing, I reached for it, saying how I would just turn it off. When I looked at the glass screen, I saw at least fifteen text messages from Lucy. The last one read, "I know you're on a date right now, but you really need to see this," with a link attached. Furrowing my eyebrows and sitting up, I clicked on the link, it taking me to a news site.
"Tragedy has, once again, struck Beacon Hills. Earlier this morning, the bodies of nine missing persons were found in a small cave, right outside of the town's high school. The police are investigating the scene. Until more information is known, we recommend you stay cautious and aware of your surroundings. In other news, a dog was—" I clicked on my phone, pausing the video after the segment was over.
"That's awful, but what has that got to do with us?" Liam asked, sitting up next to me.
"Lucy probably sent it to me because it still has meaning. Even if the person we're dealing with isn't the one who killed those people, it means that something is happening."
