Contrary || l.p.

3. A Meaningful Connection

I was surprised. Liam and I were actually having a civilized conversation with each other without biting each other's heads off. However, every time I would get carried away with a story, there would be a few rude remarks here and there; because he seemed like he was actually trying, I let them slide. I figured that because he said he would be nice, did not mean he had to necessarily change his whole attitude for me.

He finally finished telling me about how in sync we were during the game and sighed. "Fuck, honestly, where did you learn how to dance like that? I've never in my life seen a girl dance like that," he told me.

I scoffed. "Never in your life...sure, Liam. Sure."

He chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. Damn. I've seen girls dance, but never as clean as you. I'm very impressed. You surprised me a little, tonight."

I scoffed. "Did you think I would dance like a sloppy ballerina?"

He shrugged. "Basically," he said jokingly. "Who taught you?"

Who taught me? My smile faded a little bit as the memory of performing countless dances with someone flashed within my mind. I remembered the endless nights of rehearsal and even the minor arguments that we would get into when it came to the commitment of the duo. I remember winning little competitions around the city and even making it to a professional competition, yet all those great memories hid behind a large dark cloud of regret and resentment. I bit my lip and leaned back to rest on my arms, bringing myself to even say his name.

"Well," I began, "that would be my ex boyfriend, Isaiah." I nodded slowly, feeling the cramp in my chest as I said his name. "He taught me how to dance like this."

He looked over at me, probably noticing my change in tone. "Ex?" he questioned as his eyebrows pulled together.

I cringed at the memory, knowing it was one of the worst years of my life. "Yeah, my ex...he uhh," I cleared my throat, "he kinda cheated on me with some other girl last year."

His mouth dropped open a bit. "Oh...," he then stayed quiet for a little while, swinging his legs over the water in the lake. After a couple of seconds, he spoke again. "How did you find out?"

I looked down at the water and scoffed. "I was playing a game on his cellphone one day, and I saw a text from a girl named Delia." I began nervously playing with my fingers as the memory kept hitting me in the head.

"She sounds like a slut," he muttered, earning a smack from me. He shut his mouth and allowed me to continue.

"It read Thanks for last night! Again sometime? xoxo," I rolled my eyes with a scoff and shook my head. "I would have left him right then and there, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, you know? So...I asked him politely who it was, because I didn't want to be that one overly jealous girlfriend that automatically assumed that he was cheating. I recalled him telling me that he couldn't hang out with me that night because he had," I used my fingers to make quotes, "'a lot of AP homework.'" 

"Harsh," he commented, then let me continue.

"He told me that his classmate came over for tutoring that night, and he had helped her. I let is slide the first time I saw it, but I began to notice that he was never available at night anymore. We stopped dancing together. We stopped making out. We stopped going on dates. It was always homework or always studying, and I, being the naïve idiot that I am, kept letting it slide." I shook my head and shrugged. "So one day I noticed that we were kind of drifting apart and I didn't want that to happen, of course, so I went to surprise him with his favorite smoothie for all the hard work he's been doing-"