Learning To Love (bxb) ✔️

Chapter 16

Liam's POV

I stare at the message in shock.

Why would he ask if I have a boyfr-

Oh.

My mum.

What if he's homophobic? Wait- that... no that's dumb. His best friend is Michael who is dating Theo, a guy.

Right, so he's not homophobic. That's good. Is he worried that I would make advances on him?

How do I reply to this message? Just tell him no? I suppose that's what I should do.

Me: No. Why?

Rowan: Oh, just curious, since your mum assumed I was your partner. Thought maybe you had one.

Me: Yeah nope. She just heard about you one day and thought we were dating for some reason. Sorry about that.

Rowan: No problem.

We continued to text about a few more random topics after that. Honestly, I'm so relieved that he wasn't freaking out about mum accidentally calling him my boyfriend. He's so nice.

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Everyone's meeting up today. We've decided to meet up at a park and have a picnic for lunch.

It's more of a huge friend party than just a meet up. Lots of people are coming supposedly. I'm nervous about that.

At least it's not something like a party. There's going to be very limited alcohol. It's mainly just to have fun and socialize.

Ethan's dance group is going to be there, and so are Brianna and Sean's friends, so I'm really apprehensive for this event.

Everyone's supposed to bring a dish for the picnic, so I'm bringing a lasagna dish! It's relatively easy to make, and I love making it.

It's kind of awkward carrying a huge dish of lasagna on the bus. I couldn't help but think everyone was staring. Were they staring? I hope not. I probably look really dumb carrying around this random dish of food-

My thoughts are cut off when I realize I'm almost at my stop. I take a deep breath to try and calm myself before I thank the bus driver and get off.

When I get there, I see Ethan waving me over. There are a bunch of people I don't know. They're all sitting under a huge willow tree on some picnic blankets.

"Hi Liam! Oh, you have food. Great, here we can put it here for now." Ethan takes the food from my hands and places it on a blanket seemingly reserved for the food.

"So Liam, these are the people from my dance group. This is Amora, Leah, Tanya, Samuel, Tyler, Penelope, Kaitlyn, Marshall, and Henry." Ethan lists off names of each person while gesturing to them. By the time he's done my head's reeling with the number of names.

"Hello." I say nervously.

"Hey, don't feel pressured about knowing everyone's names. A lot of people are supposed to be coming, so it's cool." One of the guys says. I nod gratefully, relieved I don't need to memorize everyone's names. I do remember Leah though. She's Ethan's ex-girlfriend. Thankfully one of his exes that is still friends with him. They're pretty close.

"Hi Liam. It's been a while." Leah smiles, coming to sit next to me.

"Yeah. How are you?" I ask. I don't know Leah terribly well, but we've talked a few times. She was Ethan's longest relationship.

"I'm alright. Work's keeping me busy." She responds, leaning back on her hands.

"Oh, what- what do you work as?"

"I'm a programmer. I develop apps and such. It's kind of recent. Been working there a few months now."

I nod, remembering that she's 3 years older than Ethan- oh, she's the same age as Rowan!

...I'm starting to realize that I think about Rowan a lot.

"So, got a boyfriend yet?"

"I- uh... what?" I stumble over my words at the question.

"Sorry, that was insensitive. I'm not the best conversationalist." She apologizes. I nod, swallowing nervously before responding.

"Um, no. Not yet."

"Shame. Anyway, I wish you best of luck on your life, since I'm probably not going to see you much." She nods before heading over to another group of people to converse with. I'm left pondering what just happened. Leah's definitely a little weird, but not necessarily in a bad way. I can see why her and Ethan are good friends.

"Hey Li." A voice sounds in my ear, catching my attention. I turn around to see Theo's face. Michael stands beside him, also giving me a hello.

"Hi Theo, Michael." I respond, pleased that I'm no longer alone with a bunch of strangers (apart from Ethan and Leah).

"Is Rowan here yet?" Michael asks, sitting down on the blanket. Theo mimics his actions.

"No, I haven't seen him at least." I inform. Michael nods before saying he'll send Rowan a text to ask where he is.

"What did you bring?" Theo asks curiously.

"Um, lasagna. You?"

"I brought mini cheesecakes. They're in the cooler over there." Theo gestures to the massive cooler reserved for holding drinks and desserts. "I just hope they're good."

"Of course they're good Theo. You're the master of baking." Michael sighs, a fond smile on his face. "It's ridiculous. Haven't tasted any of your baking that I didn't like, and I've eaten a lot."

"All those cafe visits, huh?" Ethan says suddenly, a smirk on his face as he joins our conversation.

Michael grinned, "you know it."

"Shit- sorry I'm late. Hi guys." Rowan apologizes as he heads over to us. "Traffic was actually terrible."

"Hey, don't worry about it. A bunch of people aren't here yet anyway." Ethan shrugs, taking Rowan's plate of food and setting it down.

He's wearing a simple white T-shirt and jeans, but it looks so good on him.

I feel my lips pull back in a smile at the sight of him.

"Do any of you guys want alcohol? We have beer, and I dunno, some wine if you're feeling sophisticated. No wine cups though, only solo cups." A girl asks us. All of us pause for a second before shaking our heads. None of us are big drinkers. Michael, Rowan, and Ethan will have some very occasionally. Theo's tried it twice and hated it. I've never tried it and I don't want to.

The girl shrugs and leaves, returning to her group of friends who are already opening and starting to drink the alcohol.

"I'm going to get a drink. Do you guys want something?" Michael asks, glancing at us.

"Just some water or something maybe." Theo responds. Ethan echoes his order. Rowan wants some juice.

"I'll come with you to get the drinks." I say, feeling a bit bad that Michael has to carry all the drinks by himself.