The Guilt Consumes

Chapter 05

Lunch time arrives and I couldn't be more happy.

I make my way towards the front of the school to exit when I'm stopped by Liam. Gosh, please leave me alone.

"Oh, hi" I give him a tight lipped smile. He smirks back at me.

"Hey, mind if I walk out with you?" no, please god no.

"Errr, no sure. Go ahead" I gesture for him to leave through the doors and I follow after internally scowling at myself. I could have just said no. Why did I not just say no? We walk side by side in silence. His arms swings by his side and accidentally brushes mine. Without looking at his side, I retract my arms closer to my side and sidestep subtly so there's more distance between us. The feeling, it gave me a sense of warmth, a little bit of... how do you call it... a tingle? Lord, I'm sounding like some sappy teenage girl fan girling over a boyband. But, no ones ever made me feel that except Jackson. Strange.

"So, why are you going off site?" I decide to make conversation. Why? you ask, well I'd also like to know the answer to that question. I guess he's rubbing off on me.

"My erm, my mum is in hospital so I need to go home and keep an eye on my two younger siblings. They don't have school today, Inset day apparently" he chuckles to himself and like I said before, it's attractive.

"I'm sorry about your mum" I sincerely tell him feeling sympathy. He waves me off.

"It's fine, nothing troubling. She just burnt her hand and went into A&E. It was a really bad burn. All over the back of her hand." I grimace and try to get the image out of my head.

"What did she burn it with?" I ask him.

"Hot oil" he simply replies back. I nod my head and we go back to silence. "You... erm... don't suppose you could babysitting with me? It's just that my siblings are hard to look after and well I'm not an expert with them" he rushes out. I'm taken by surprise.

"And what makes you think that I'm anywhere close to handling kids?" I playfully ask back smiling a little. He nervously rubs the back of his neck.

"Cause... you're a girl?" He questions back. I give him a blunt look while showing him the finger. He laughs at my reaction and I can't help but admire his facial features when he laughs. His eyes tightly close as the creases show themselves as he laughs. His white straight teeth also on display. "I'm joking. I just wanted to see your expression and it was worth it. But anyways, back to the topic, so will you?" I think about this. What's the harm?

"Fine, sure I guess I could help you out. But you better have good food for lunch because I'm super hungry" I pat my stomach while mentioning food and right on cue it grumbles. My cheeks start to heat up and I avert my gaze to the floor. Gosh, that's embarrassing. He chuckles while mumbling something that sounded like "you're cute". Am I mistaken? Did I hear correctly?

•••••¥•••••

We reach his house and I found out that he's not too far from my house, but I didn't tell him that. He unlocks his door and we enter. We're immediately attacked by two small beings.

"Alright alright, enough" the girl and boy let go of Liam and their eyes zone in on my direction.

"Liam, is this your girlfriend? If she is, she's really pretty" his brother asks and my eyes go wide.

"Yeah, she is" the girl pipes in. "Really pretty. Hi, I like your eyes" she walks up to me and hugs me. I awkwardly pat her head not knowing how to respond to such affection from someone I don't even know.

"Yeah, guys she's just a friend. Not my girlfriend" Liam replies back awkwardly and I shyly smile. The girl pulls away and frowns.

"Bummer" she mumbles and walks back next to the little boy.