Change (Published under The Change For Her)

Twelve

"What's your poison?" Liam asks me as he pours himself something to drink.

    "My poison?" I raise a brow at him.

"Yes, your poison. You know, your party drink." He explains to me. I forgot for a second, that he thinks this scenery normal to me.

"Oh, um," I say as I rub my arm. "I don't really drink. So I don't really have a poison." I tell him, shyly.

"I knew you weren't a party girl." I hear him laugh as he fixes another drink.

"What makes you think, I'm not a party girl?" I raise my brow at him, while I cross my arms over my chest. He hands me the red cup that he pours liquids in before he took a sip of his own.

    "You just have that vibe." He finally answers. "Plus the way you're acting, screams that this is your first party." He adds. I don't bother saying a word, I just stare into the plastic cup. Debating to drink it or not. If Ava was the one who made this drink for me, I wouldn't hesitate to let the liquid go down my throat. Do I trust Liam enough that he wouldn't mix dangerous drugs into this mysterious drink?

    "Drink it." Liam laughs. "It's not poisonous. I'm not the type of guy who drugs girls, Chlo." He added, it's like he can read my thoughts. I look up at him then back down at my drink. Licking my lips, debating if I should believe him or not.

    I glance at Liam one more time, just to see his eyes were already looking at me. I stare into them, Liam doesn't turn his head nor does he move his eyes to a different location. Liam fiddles with his lip ring. I can tell he was in deep thoughts. A weird feeling goes through my body.

    I remove my eyes and decided to taste the unknown mixed creation he gave me. The burning delicious drink pours down my throat. It was different from the one Ava made me. It wasn't so sweet or fruity. You can taste the alcohol burning sensation.

"You like it?" Liam asks me, his eyes still on me.

I wipe my mouth with my sleeve. "Yeah," I answer him. "It's good," I add.

He doesn't say anything, but I can see him turn his head away from me as he takes another sip. We're just standing there listening to Josh's band continue to play covers of other artists' music.

"Are you going on the trip?" He randomly asks me, after standing in silence for a song or two.

"Honestly." I look down at my feet. "I haven't been thinking about it," I tell him.

"It's three days away, you know." He reminds me.

I nibble on my lip, trying to control my emotions. Three days until the trip. Which means three days until the anniversary of my father passing. "It's not an easy decision," I say to him.

I feel Liam place his arm around me. Rubbing his hand up and down my arm. I lay my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes. Enjoying the warm feeling, he sent through my body. "I know it's not, Chlo." He whispers to me.

We stayed in that position for a while. I felt comfortable and safe. Even though the dark memory circling around my mind, being here with Liam made me not want to be alone.

When I felt a tear escaped my closed eyes, I push away from him. "Can we just ignore this conversation and go back to the party?" I asked him as I look down to wipe the tears with my sleeves.

I feel him place his hands around my wrists, to pull my hands away from the face. He takes one of his hands off my wrists, so he can lift my head up. I opened my eyes, just meet his that's not far from mine. He moves his hand from my chin to my cheekbone. So his thumb can wipe a stray tear away.

Liam pulls me into a hug. I was shocked at first but eventually, wrap my arms around him. "Of course we can, you know I would never force you to talk about it, Chlo." He whispers to me.

We remove ourselves from each other embrace. He laced our fingers together before walking us towards the stage.

"Chloe!" We hear yelled behind us, causing us to stop in our tracks. I groan, knowing who it was. By the tightness of Liam's grip, I knew he knew who it was as well.