"I'm gonna get you some ice for your eye." I announce after I settled in.
"It's ok, I'm fine." He protests.
"It wasn't a question." I say using his own line against him.
He stared and chuckled at me. I go into the kitchen with him following. I put some crushed ice into a ziplock bag and turn around to see him leaning against the counter looking at the pictures on the refrigerator.
"You were a cute kid." He concludes as he laughs at the picture of my 5 year old self with chocolate frosting all over my face.
"I was alright." I smile at the picture. The good days. The innocent days.
I turn to him and hold the homemade ice pack against his eye. Liam kept his looked down at his lap as he moved his hand to replace mine.
He looks up at me with his one good eye, the other being shut from the ice pack. I stare back into them.
I never really knew what it meant to "get lost in someone's eyes." Now I do. It was as if I was swimming in them searching for something. Something that brings me back into reality because he's too good to be true.
The opening of the front door breaks me from my trance. I look over and see my grandma walk in with a bag of groceries at hand.
"Oh," she exclaimed. "Hello," She then said to Liam.
He got up and introduced himself after she put the groceries down.
"Are you Andi's boyfriend?" She then asks in a sly voice.
"No," I say quickly, answering for him. "We're just friends." I tell her. I was reassuring myself more than anyone else.
Grandma looked at us suspiciously. "You get into a fight?" She I inquired looking at his eye.
Liam clears his throat before saying,"No. I actually ran into a pole." He added an awkward chuckle to make it more realistic.
"A pole?" My grandma asks not believing it. "Well What was a pole doing in your way?" She then asks sarcastically. She laughed at her own words and started unloading the groceries.
I look at Liam with my eyes telling him that she didn't believe him. In response he shrugged his shoulders.
"Don't lie to me, boy." My grandma Had interrupted our silent conversation. "That eye's from a fight, I'm not stupid. But the question isn't where you got it from it's why."
Liam looks at me and I mock him by shrugging my shoulders.
"Um." He paused not sure what path to choose. He could lie, but she already knows he's lying. "Some guy was picking on Andi, so I stepped in." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "And from there it kinda got out of hand."
My grandma looks at him and I could see her forming an answer. "Good. But violence is never the answer. Remember that." She then said as she finished unloading the groceries.
"I will." He then said softly. My grandma then goes off to her room as Liam and I go to sit on the couch.
An awkward silence fills the room until he breaks it. "So where you from in Ohio?" He asks.
"Canton." I tell him starting to relax a little bit.
"Me too." He said scrunching his eyebrows. "That's crazy how we never ran into each other."
"What elementary school did you-" I was unable to finish that sentence as my dad walked in through the front door.
He had bags under his eyes, his shirt was wrinkled and half untucked, and his hair looked almost as if he had attempted to use water as gel.
He was taken aback when he saw Liam sitting on the couch. Liam stands up awkwardly, and holds his hand out to shake and introduce himself.
"I'm Liam." He said as if it were rehearsed.
"Dan." He said shortly as he was looking over Liam. "So you guys have a project or something together?" He then asked.
"No, he's just needed a place to stay until his dad could pick him up." I tell him. The first words I spoke to him.
"Where'd you get the eye?" My Dad then asked as he sat down.
"Not of concern," I say with gritted teeth.
We then sat there in silence. My dad staring at Liam, Liam staring at the floor and me, staring back at Dad.
"Um...my dad says that he's right down the street." Liam says breaking the silence. "It was nice to meet you Mr. Lowry." He concluded.
"I'll show you out," I offer quickly getting up.
Liam's Dad wasn't there. I knew he wasn't, but I couldn't stand how awkward things had gotten.
"My dad's not really here." He then said as we sat on the curb at the corner of my house.
"I know." I say staring off into the road. Did I cause this? My dad hasn't looked like that since Mom died. The guilt starts to eat me alive.
"It's not your fault, Andi," Liam states as if he read my mind.
"Yes, it is." I say sighing. "It is my fault." I say quietly. However I was conflicting. Never, did I ever want to see my dad like this again, but I also never wanted to see him with another women.
"I just have to accept it." I then tell him. "But if I do then...she's really gone. For good." I add swallowing the lump in my throat.
Liam wraps his arm around my shoulders. He doesn't say anything in return. There was really nothing left to say.
"Go back inside." He told me after a couple moments went by. "Your Dad needs you just as much as you need him. I'll just start walking and meet my dad," he says, starting to stand up.
"You sure?" I ask not really wanting to leave his side. He nods his head in response, before turning around to start walking. I watch as he starts walking into the sunset.
"Liam." I then suddenly call out to him. He abruptly turns around. "Thank you." I say in a quieter voice.
He smiles towards my direction and says, "Anytime."
