Change (Published under The Change For Her)

Twenty-Nine

Tears flow down my face while I'm attempting to do school work on my laptop. Since I'll be out of school for a week, I want to make sure I don't fall behind. So each day this week I have to put time aside to focus on my schooling.

    It was hard to focus on what I'm working on since I can't shake the fact that Conor called me naive. I'm far from naive, Liam hangs out with me more than he does. So I would know that Liam a decent guy and of course Conor would think otherwise since they despise each other.

    I was sitting on the bed in the guest room, during the house tour Kindra showed me where the room was located and helped me bring my things in here.

    My phone starts ringing on the nightstand, I immediately knew it was Maria because her ringtone was set as Vapor by 5 Seconds of Summer, her favorite song.

    "Hey Maria," I say after accepting her call.

    "Hey boo, how have you been? I miss you." She said on the other side of the call when she heard that I answered.

    "I've been good," I tell her while doodling in my notebook.

    "Chloe," I hear her sign, I already knew that she knows I'm the opposite. "What's wrong?"

    "It's nothing," I wiped my face with the sleeve of my sweater, knowing she rolling her eyes.

    I can hear her sign again through the phone before she speaks, "You and I both know that's a lie," She states.

    I removed the notebook off my lap, closed my laptop and put them to the side so I can lay against the headboard. I let out a small groan using my free hand to rub my temple.

    "Chloe, I can't be your therapist if you don't tell me what's bugging you."

    A smile forms on my face, amused at the memories of how Maria has always been there for me and basically took place as my own personal therapist. When I started getting bullied, I never went to my mother because I didn't want her to worry. As the years went by and I got older I realized my mother knew all along.

    "I'm not used to this," I begin to say. "I've never had guys give me the time of day. Let alone two guys, well I guess it's two guys. One of them my boyfriend and the other my friend but not anymore because my boyfriend forbids me not to be the guy's friend anymore. And I'm apparently too naive to see that he's a bad guy to be friends with. I'm not naive! I think I would know if Liam a bad guy! He hangs out with me a lot more than my actual boyfriend. Liam even met mom and she even likes him, she doesn't even care that Liam has tattoos and piercings. Sorry, I'm rambling." I say as I let out a breath.

    "Okay, that's a lot," Maria said. "Give me a minute to process everything you just told me."

    I stayed quiet and fiddle with the end of my sweater, listening to Maria shuffling around on the other end of the call. 

    "Okay, first thing first. Liam is supposedly your friend, so what's your boyfriend's name?"

    "His name Conor," I answer her.

    "How long have you two been together?"

    "I don't know," I run my fingers through my hair. "A month, I think."

    "You think?!' She questions.

    "Ugh, I don't know. Part of me feels like we're not together, especially since he ignored me for almost a week. I think we're together since he has called me his girlfriend. I started dating him on my first day, so it has to be a month."

    "You started dating him on your first day? Chloe, do you even know him?"

    "Yes," I say in a small voice. "He sat next to me in Writing workshop, we talked for a little bit. He asked me to grab something to eat with him, I told him yes. Which turns into a date. I know that his father is a veteran, he has a little sister, he plays a little bit of baseball and that Liam is his cousin."

    "That's it? That's all you know about him? Why are you with this guy?"

    "He's nice to me," I whisper.

    Maria groans, she takes a few minutes before speaking again. "Let's move onto guy two, Liam. How long have you known him?"

"I knew Liam a day longer than Conor, we didn't get close until I had dinner with Conor's family."

"Okay, why weren't you close before the family dinner?"

Another groan escapes my lip, "Why are you asking so many questions?"  

"Do you want my help?"

"Yes, but I wish you were here in person to help me," I say.

"Me too boo, that doesn't mean I can't help you this way. So answer the question."

I got off the bed and walked over towards the window, Liam was still out there but there was no sign of Selena. He was sitting at the docks with a guitar on his lap. "I assumed Liam was trouble since he's covered in ink and dresses in band tees. At Conor's dinner they discussed this trip I'm on with them, father's passing date came up. I excused myself from the table and Liam was the one that came to check on me."

"Conor didn't check on you?" She questions.

"No."

"But Liam did? Even though you two weren't friends yet?"

"Yes."

"Interesting, okay. What all do you know about Liam?"

"Liam's friends with my roommate Ava, which is how I met him. I don't know anything about his family, only that Conor is his cousin and Conor's father is his uncle. I recently learned that Liam's hometown is also Maple Hill. His favorite color blue and his favorite animal is Koala. He can also play the guitar." I told her.

"Okay, that's a lot more detail you know about him than your own boyfriend," She states.

I lean my back against the wall, she's right. I know more about Liam but that's only because Liam hangs around me more than Conor does.

"You mentioned earlier that Liam met your mom, so that's how I'm assuming you discover he's from there. Why did you let him meet her? Especially since I know that you don't want to know at your school about your history."

"He took me home Friday because he knew that Sunday was, you know. I also open up to him about my past while we were there." I told her.

"YOU WHAT?!" Maria shouts causing me to pull my phone away from my ear. "How did he react? And does Conor know?"

"Liam comfort me then took me to stay overnight in Target," I told her. "And Conor doesn't know about my past nor the day he passed."

"Why does your guy friend know and not your own boyfriend?"

"I feel I can trust Liam."

"And not your own boyfriend?"

I stayed silent because I already knew that Maria didn't need to ask that question since she knows the answer.

"Chloe, I'm going to say something that you probably know deep down already." She tells me.

"Okay," I bite my bottom lip anxious about what she going to say.

"You don't like Conor, you're only with him because you felt that you were supposed to. You never had a guy pay attention to you." She begins. "Chloe, Conor isn't the guy you're supposed to be with." What she said next caused my eyes to go wide and look back at Liam. "Boo Bear, you like Liam and I have a feeling he's smitten by you as well." With that, my phone falls to my feet.