Hey Angel

Chapter 3

Thirty minutes later Susan, Krissy, and I were sitting around my room, laptops perched on our knees lying to ourselves about doing homework. The abnormal psychology textbook lay untouched next to me and my laptop displayed my twitter dashboard. Susan had quickly filled in Krissy about what happened at the gym before I could even open my mouth to greet her, which had led me to go over all the details of last night.
"Kris, I swear, he's beautiful." Susan said. "I didn't want to say anything while we were at the gym but damn."
"I know," I sulked. His impassiveness could only mean that he wasn't interested in me. I could have sworn there was a spark; something in the back of my mind was telling me I needed to know him. I ignored the feeling, telling myself it was just me being desperate to have a connection with anyone other than Liam.
"Don't pull that face," Krissy threw a pillow at my face. "I was watching you guys last night a little and he looked at you... I don't know there was just a look. He was definitely interested or something."
I pulled the plaid shirt had loaned me around me and rolled my eyes. "Or something," I said. If nothing else at least I had gotten a new flannel.
"Stop pouting and do your homework so we can go out tonight." Susan said.
"Krissy is the one that made the rule that homework had to be done on Saturdays. My grades are perfectly okay enough for me to do homework on Sundays."
"I need the moral support, I'm taking microeconomics this semester and it's only  two weeks in to spring semester and the prof is throwing tests and projects at us like it's finals week." Krissy shoved her syllabus in the air for emphasis. It was five pages front and back.
"Fine, but we're going to the Haus even if you don't finish."
"Music to my ears." Krissy said, satisfied.

"I don't know, I think the purple one. It accentuates the curves." Krissy was standing behind me in the mirror. She was holding one of her body suits in front of me in the mirror, one of my more modest tops in her other hand. The body suit Krissy was referring to was a light purple, low plunge, pretty much all lace number. It was cute and I'd worn it before but it was pretty much see through, leaving little to the imagination. "Come on with your black skirt and thigh high boots? You'll look so good."
I grinned at Krissy's reflection. She was that supported expressing your sensuality at every possible moment. God forbid a man tell her to cover up or use a sexist slur, and she'd rip his head off. "Only for you."
We all got ready, blasting the Weeknd. Krissy was wearing a sparkly gold top that plunged to her bellybutton and had no back with tight black jeans and Susan was rocking a skin tight black dress and leather jacket. We looked at ourselves in the mirror, fixing our hair one last time before heading out.
"I'd smash," Susan said. We exited in a fit of giggles, stumbling into the back of the uber. We were already one Four Loko into the night
The Haus was a way to small bar hidden in the city. It was way too tiny for all the people that showed up there every Saturday for sink or swim. Saturday nights girls paid $5 and boys paid $10 at the door for unlimited drinks the entire night. College kids swarmed in for the cheap alcohol, grinding on each other on the grimy, over crowded dance floor or smoking hookah out back. It was absolutely disgusting, and we all loved it. Dive bars have character, right?
We handed the bouncer our money and headed immediately to the bar.
"Three double vodka crans" I said to Troy, the bartender. Troy went to our school and was quite the looker. I flirted with him as much as I possibly could but it never progressed into anything more than flirty texting occasionally. He brought back the drinks, red liquid spilling over the edges as he handed all three to me. Thank god I worked part time as a waitress and could carry three cups at once. Handing Susan and Krissy their cups we walked out back. There was more breathing room and the little deck with tables was up high and we could scope out who was here. The makeshift dance floor in the center of the back was thriving, bodies bouncing off one another. I immediately spotted Liam, his broad shoulders and shaggy brown hair were hard to miss. As if he could feel my eyes on him, his eyes snapped up, locking with mine. His brown eyes were slightly bloodshot and his gaze was sliding over my body lazily. He'd definitely had more alcohol than he needed. Liam pushed bodies away and headed up the wooden steps to the deck. Krissy realized what was happening and stood up, blocking him from sitting on the bench next to me.
"No." she said flatly. If looks could kill, Liam would be dead ten times over, the looks that Susan and Krissy were throwing him.
"I just wanna talk to Lanes." he slurred, looking over Krissy's shoulder at me. "Just wanna talk."
"Absolutely not." Susan said, her hand clutched tightly around her drink. Any wrong move and Liam's white shirt would be red.
I appreciated my friends' protectiveness, but I knew he wouldn't let this go. If he wanted something, he didn't give up until he got it. Or if he was drunk, he didn't give up until he got it or passed out. Hoping to get it out of the way early so I could enjoy the rest of my night, I stood. I was going to tell him I didn't want anything to do with him anymore. And hopefully, this time, it stuck.
"Girls, I love you, but I got this."
"Lanie, no." Susan growled. I giggled, her brown curls were flying around her in the wind, giving her the impression of an actual tiger to match her tone. I hoped my laughter assured her I was fine and able to handle it.
"Give me two minutes to finish this, and I'll be back so we can enjoy the night." I stepped around Krissy. Her lips were pursed so tight, holding in everything she wanted to throw Liam's way. She knew I liked to handle things on my own, and she usually encouraged me to do so, but with Liam I couldn't always be trusted. He would somehow sweet talk me into thinking that he was different, for the fifteenth time.
"Two minutes." Krissy agreed reluctantly. "If you're not back by the end of the song, I'm coming to find you."
Liam went to grab my hand and lead me down the stairs but I yanked my hand away. If anyone needed leading it was him; I watched as he stumbled down the stairs, clinging to the railing. I followed him into one of the secluded corners and leaned against the fence, waiting for him to speak first.
"Lanes," He was close to me, his alcohol saturated breath blowing on my face. I wrinkled my nose.
"What Liam?" I asked without a hint of kindness. The boy had been playing games with me for two and a half years and I finally realized I was worth more than this. 
"Ouch, you don't sound like you want to talk to me... What did I do, hun?" I cringed at the use of his pet name. At first I'd thought it was cute, endearing. But now it just sounded degrading, like he thought calling me hun could make me swoon.
I barked a laugh. "What didn't you do? I'm tired of playing games, I'm done." I turned to walk away but a strong hand gripped me. I turned back, shocked. Liam was a jerk, for sure, but he'd never laid a hand on me. I turned back to him, his sappy face had turned into one of anger.
"No. You're not done. We're not done." He dropped his hand but red marks remained on my arm where his hands had pinched me.
I look over my shoulder, no one had seen. Maybe he hadn't meant to grab me so hard. "Liam, look." I said, my tone softening so as not to upset him again. "We had a good run, we had some fun, but we're just not meant for each other. I think we can both be happier if we justt stay away from each other for now."
"No," Liam yelled. He continued in the same raised voice "We might fall apart sometimes but we always come back to each other. You're not done Delanie. No. I love you and we're going to finally be happy. That's what I wanted to tell you tonight. It's time to finally be serious."
My eyes widened in surprise. He'd never said he'd loved me before. We'd been on and off, but never that on. I can't believe he thought that after everything we could "be serious". I'd wanted to be serious for the past two years. Now I was done. My anger boiled over and I felt the heat creeping up to my face. He was only saying these things to get me back into his pocket, where he could keep me like a little toy and use as he pleased. That, and because he was plastered.
Just as I opened my mouth to yell back, a smaller hand grabbed mine. "I've heard enough. Goodbye Liam, stay away from us." And with that Krissy swept me away.
"Are you okay?" Susan asked, rushing to help me back down onto the bench as I wasn't paying much attention to anything and couldn't be bothered to focus on sitting. Liam had grabbed me, hard, and then told me he loved me. What if he meant it. Yeah, he was trashed, but that's when the truth comes out isnt't it? Maybe he does care about me, he just doesn't know how to show it. I brushed my fingers over my arm where he'd grabbed me. There were still red marks in the shape of his hand. I heard two gasps which brought me back to the present.
"Delanie Rose please tell me that boy did not lay a hand on you. Please tell me I do not have to kick some ass tonight." Susan's glare was ice, her tone heated with passion. Krissy stood in stunned silence.
"He just... was trying to get my attention." I didn't know why I was defending him. He had grabbed me. But it wasn't that big of a deal, right?
"Oh HELL NO!" Krissy screamed. Both she and Susan began turn to the area we had just left. I could tell from here that Liam had disappeared back into the crowd, but that wouldn't stop them from finding him.
"Stop." I said calmly, despite my racing mind. Did he really love me? "It's over. Just drop it, I just wanna be done with it." I could practically see the steam rising off of Krissy and Susan in anger, but they locked eyes with me and nodded. I don't know what they saw on my face that convinced them to back down, but I was glad they did. "Let's just dance." I downed the rest of my drink and pulled my best friends onto the dance floor, ready to blend into the sweaty bodies and forget everything that had happened.
Many hours and drinks later the bar was clearing out. Krissy was going home with a Pike she'd been eyeing all night and Susan had long ago disappeared with a local, promising she'd get an Uber home and text me every 30 minutes. I called an Uber and said goodbye to the group I had been playing darts with. I stumbled a little, but was coherent enough as I reached out front. Uber told me that my driver, Lisa, was still five minutes away. I leaned against the doorframe and breathed in the cool night air. I was able to throw myself into a fun night out with my friends and forget about all the drama with Liam. Almost.
I was pulling my sweaty hair up into a messy bun when I felt my phone leave my back pocket. Startled I whipped around to find Liam standing behind me, a messy grin on his face.
"Uber? You don't need that." Liam unlocked my phone and cancelled the uber with a simple tap. I cursed myself for never changing my passcode.
"Give me my phone." I said tersely. Yet another game I was not in the mood to play.
"I don't think so. I have my car. We can talk on the drive home." He looked as if he'd sobered up some, but certainly not enough to drive a car.
"I'm not getting in the car with you." I made a grab for my phone but he easily held it over my head and out of reach. He grabbed my outstretched arm and yanked me through the parking lot. "Get off." I yelled, pulling against his grip. He was strong and had a firm grip on my wrist, his other hand holding my phone above his head. Everyone was either still inside or already in cars, blasting music. Even if they had heard, most people knew me and Liam had a thing, they'd probably assume we were joking around.
I'd given up on my phone and stopped struggling against his grip, hoping once we were in his car I could somehow convince him not to drive it. I could see Liam's Honda Civic at the edge of the parking lot.
Suddenly I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist. I was pulled backward and, not expecting it, Liam broke his grasp on my wrist.
"What the..." he turned around.
"I'll take that." the arm not around my waist reached up and plucked my phone out of Liam's hand. It was then I noticed the tattoos trailing up the arm around my waist and the tingling sensation on my skin of where his body touched mine. Harry.
Outraged shock colored Liam's face. "I don't know who you think you are" he began fuming, but Harry cut him off.
"I don't know who you think you are, but you're not going to drag a girl into your car against their will, especially when you're far too intoxicated to drive. Do yourself a favor, and call a cab."
Liam spluttered furiously but I guess he saw something in Harry's face, because he turned on his heel and stalked away. He threw a look over his shoulder at me, telling me that this wasn't over.
I finally glanced up to Harry. Whatever look he'd been giving Liam was gone, a crooked smile replacing it as he met eyes. He greeted me softly. "Hey, Angel."