Change (Published under The Change For Her)

Thirty-One

"The first week Selena came home, it was in the middle of the week. I don't remember what day it was, I just remembered that she was crying in the middle of the night. I was practicing playing the guitar in my room. I decided to check in on here and I brought it the guitar with me. I tried everything to make her stop, so I finally tried singing to her and she fell asleep to the song. That's how it became her song." Lami explain to me when Selena went inside.

I just stay silent as I swing my feet against the cold lake water. "Chlo," He says to get my attention. "What's on your mind?"

Raising my head to look up, just to see Liam's eyes on me filled with concern. I direct my attention back towards the lake, "It's nothing."

"It's obviously something, Chlo. You're extremely quiet and you hardly looked at me since you came out here." My mouth stays closed while my eyes watch the water undulation being made by my feet. "Does it involve Conor? I know you guys got into something earlier."

"Talk to me," I feel Liam place his fingers under my chin to direct my attention to him. "You know that you can tell me anything," Liam looks into my eyes as he runs his thumb along my jawline.

I turn my head away from Liam, "Where is he?" I ask him.

"He left after you went inside." I nod my head, so Liam knew I heard him. Now I know why Conor didn't come after me. Instead of trying to work things out and check on me, he just leaves. "Chlo, are you gonna tell me what happen?"

This moment seems familiar to me, it's like that night I had dinner with Conor's family. I got upset that night when my father's anniversary came up. Who was there for me? Liam. Who wasn't? Conor. Who noticed I was hurting and came after me? Liam. Who didn't notice a thing and stayed back? Conor.

That night is sorta like this current moment that's happening. The only thing that's different is the fact that this time I'm hurt over what Conor is making me do. And that Liam didn't come after me. But who's here? Liam. Who's not? Conor. Who's the one that's concern about me and wants to help comfort me? Liam. Who's the one that took off as soon as I went inside to let my tears fall? Conor.

Liam was there for me that night and he's here for me right now. Liam always there to comfort me and help me. Where's Conor? Where is he when I'm a mess? He's either ignoring me and nowhere to be found.

So how can Conor call me naive? It's clear that Liam is a good man. If Liam wasn't a noble person he wouldn't be sitting next to me, trying to be here for me. Liam wouldn't be trying to get me to open up and tell him what's troubling me.

"Liam," I looked up at him, "Do you think I'm naive?" I ask him.

His eyes went from readable to unreadable as the words left my mouth. The beautiful blue grew darker as I keep looking into them. "Where did that come from?" As the words flow out, it's like a switch flipped and his eyes got darker. "Did Conor say that? Did he tell you that you're naive?"

I'm afraid to answer him, there's no way the outcome will be good if I say yes. The outcome will be worse if I lie and say no. His eyes stay on mine, waiting for words to leave my lips. I start nibbling on my lower lip, as my mind begins to race and ponder between lying or telling the truth.

"I thought I told you to stay away from him!" My eyes widen and breath stops in my lungs. Liam's head shoots to Conor's direction. His jaw is clench from hearing the words Conor yelled.

"What?!" Liam turns to look at me, "He told you to stay away from me?!" He points towards Conor, his voice was dark and deep. I was scared, I wanted to hide under a rock or dive into the lake and swim away.

When I don't speak, Liam stands up from beside me and makes his way towards Conor. I bite down on my bottom lip, watching every step Liam takes as he gets closer to Conor. "You told her to stay away from me?" Liam asks through the grit of his teeth. My eyes went down to his hands, watching them form into a fist.

Reality hits me that this could end badly, so I rushed over to grab ahold on Liam's arm. Hoping that it'll stop him from doing something he'll regret. When Conor opens his mouth, I feel my hope slowly slip away.

"Yes, since she too naive to see how messed up you are."

Liam shakes his head while letting out a laugh, that sent shivers down my spine and causes goosebumps to appear on my skin. I slowly back away from them, nervous about what's going to happen next. Liam raised his hand to scratch the back of his, while Conor stands there with a mischief smile on his face.

"That's funny," Liam laughs out. "Me the messed up one," he points to himself. Liam lowers his head as he walks towards Conor more, "You know, you are right. Chloe is naive but not because I'm the messed up one. Because you are." My heart sank, a bundle of emotions slowly start to surface as nervous jitters begin to party at the pit of my stomach.

"Tell me Conor, does Chloe know why you vanish on her for a week? Does she know what you been doing behind her back?" Liam was now standing directly in front of Conor, there was barely any space between them. Liam raises his hand and presses a finger against Conor's neck. "What about this mark? Does she know about this hickey on your neck? I know she didn't do it because it's fresh."

My eyes start to fill with tears, I bite down hard on my bottom lip. My heart stopped and dropped into my stomach. Is what Liam saying true? From what I can see by the look on Conor's face, it must be true. Conor looks like he got caught by the police.

Conor grabs Liam's arm, yanks it away then pushes him away. "Shut up, you have no clue what you're talking about."

"I believe I do, I'm not stupid. You always do this, you find an innocent girl and toy with them. I kept my mouth shut, I let you have your fun but this time I'm done." Conor bundles his hands into a fist as he listens to every word Liam spills.

"Shut up," Conor growls.

"Why? You don't want Chloe to know that she just another game to you? You don't want her to know that you're just toying with her emotions to get something that doesn't belong to you?"

"I said shut up!" Conor lunges towards Liam and lands on top of him.

"Nooo!" I scream out when Conor starts throwing punches.

Tears start falling down my cheek as Liam catches Conor's fist in his hand. Liam turns his head to the side and spits blood out onto the dock. I covered my mouth with my hands that were covered up with the sleeves of my sweater.

Liam shoves Conor off of him, which causes Conor to fall to his back. Whimpers leave my lips but they were muffled. Liam climbs on top of Conor and punches him square in the face. He gets off him and starts walking towards my shivering body that's now sitting on my knees.

"Liam," I choked out when I see Conor getting up making his way towards us with blood running down his face from his nose. Liam turns around to see Conor raising a fist about to swing at him.

He dunks before Conor's fist comes in contact with him. Liam raises back up, grabs ahold of Conor and pulls him closer. "I don't want to fight you because you're salty that I expose you." With that Liam shoves him into the lake.

Liam finally makes his way towards me, kneels down to check on me. "Are you okay?" He asks me, knowing that I wasn't.

I shake my head no, wiping my nose with my sleeve. "Can you take me back to my dorm?" He doesn't say a word, he justs take a hold of my hands and pull me up onto my feet.

All I wanted to be was in my own bed, away from this place. Most importantly, away from Conor.