l i a m *
"What are you doing here?" I ask when I see my brother's best friend, Brook walk into the school office.
"That is not the important question here. The important question here is, what did you do?" Brook asks me.
"I didn't do anything."
"Well, you seem to be in the principal's office, so you must have done something."
"You never answered my question," I point out. "Why are you here, and not my brother?"
"Your brother was in class and has to work after class, sir," Brook tells me. "Where's the receptionist.
"If Logan--"
"I'm taking you to my house,"
I've lived with my brother since I was fifteen and he was seventeen, so for two years. I'm a senior in high school and Brook and my brother, Logan, are nineteen. I live with Logan because, well, our parents don't really care, to say the least.
"Hi!" Nancy, the receptionist says when she comes back from talking to whoever she was talking to.
"Hi!" Brook greets her.
"You must be here for Liam?"
"Yes, ma'am,"
"Alright, we took his temperature earlier and it was 100.1, he said he felt a little nauseated but felt okay, but we can't keep them in school with a fever,"
"Okay, thank you,"
"Why didn't you tell me you were sick?" Brook asks me as we walk out to his truck.
"I figured Logan had told you," I say.
"No, he just said, 'Liam needs to be picked up, can you go get him? I have class and work,' and that was the end of the conversation,"
"I'm not sure how long you'll have to be with me,"
"Logan doesn't get off until eight on Wednesdays," I tell him. "You wouldn't have had to pick me up if he would let me get my license."
"Liam, we've had this conversation before. Logan and I both have."
"Yeah, but I'm seventeen,"
"I know, but we're just worried...you know how your parents are."
I sigh. "You sound like Logan,"
He laughs. "Let's go,"
❦
Logan and I live in the same apartment building (and floor--third) as Brook does, which is kind of nice I guess. Or it would be if Logan didn't think that I had to have a 'babysitter'.
When we get inside of Brook's apartment, he looks at me. He puts a hand on my forehead.
"You do feel kind of warm," he says.
"I feel fine, though," I say.
"Okay, well, even if you feel 'fine' you still feel warm. Sit and I'll be right back,"
He goes down the hall and comes back a few minutes later with a thermometer.
"99.7," he announces. "It's gone down, which is good... do you want anything?"
"No, I'm okay," I tell him.
"Let's work on homework then, Logan said to help you with math,"
I groan.
"What are you learning about right now?" he asks me.
"Pi," I tell him. "And finding the distance and stuff like that, and I'm so confused."
❦
We've been working on my math homework for like an hour at this point.
"Are you understanding any of this?" Brook asks me, looking up at me.
I shake my head, staring at him. In this moment, all I want to do is lean in and kiss him. I've been pushing down feelings for years, at this point.
"What?" Brook asks me with a small laugh.
I shrug and shake myself out of it. "Nothing," I say softly. "I'm going to the bathroom,"
I close the door of the bathroom and lean against the door.
What just happened? I've been around Brook for so many years, suppressing the fact that I liked him and have never had such a strong urge to kiss him...
I turn the cold water on and splash my face, wiping my face off and turning off the water.
I open the bathroom door and walk back down the hall.
"Everything okay?" he asks me as I come down the hall.
I nod. "Yeah, everything's fine," I tell him.
He looks at me. "You sure? You look like something is bothering you."
"It's nothing, I swear, I'm fine,"
He scoots closer to me. "I don't think that you're telling me the whole truth, Liam,"
How do I tell my brother's best friend that I want to kiss him?
"I promise to tell you, if you promise not to get mad at me," I whisper.
"I promise," he says softly, looking at me and smiling.
"I like you," I say, finally, after years of holding it in.
He smiles at me. "I know," he whispers.
I look at him, confused. "How—?"
"I've seen the way you look at me when you think that I'm not looking, Liam,"
I feel my cheeks start to heat up; he laughs.
"It's okay," he whispers, grabbing my waist and pulling me on top of him. He puts his hand on my neck, pulling my face down to his and pressing our lips together.
"Was that okay?" he asks me.
I nod.
He somehow manages to spin around and push me on the couch within like twenty seconds. He crawls onto me, his hands caressing every part of me. His hands brush the bare skin of my stomach where my shirt has rolled up. His lips meet my neck as he pulls the collar of my shirt down to kiss more skin.
"Is this okay?" He asks me, looking up at me through his eyelashes.
I nod, putting my hands behind his head and pulling him up to me. He crashes his lips down onto mine, sliding a hand underneath me and stroking my back.
❦
"Do you want to order something to eat?" Brook asks me a couple of hours later.
"Yeah, I'm hungry," I say.
He laughs and kisses me. "Of course you are,"
We end up ordering pizza. While we wait for it to get here, we both go into the kitchen. Brook grabs me from behind, spinning me around, putting me on the counter and pressing his lips against mine. I (accidentally) let a small moan escape my lips. He pulls back and looks at me.
"Gosh, you're cute," he says with a laugh.
After we've eaten, we cuddle up underneath a blanket on his couch and watch Disney+.
A few hours later, a knock sounds on the door.
Brook throws his side of the blanket aside and jumps up to answer the door. Logan comes in.
"Comfy?" he asks once he sees me.
"You got off early," I say.
"Only like twenty minutes," he says.
"Can you give Liam and I a minute? I'll walk him down in a few, alright?" Brook speaks up.
"...Sure," Logan says, walking out of the apartment and closing the door behind him.
Brook turns to me, pulling me close to him and settling his lips on mine.
"We don't have to tell him if you don't want too," he whispers, holding my chin.
"I want to," I say. "I don't want to sneak around,"
"I don't want him to get mad at you. I don't care if he gets mad at me, but--"
"He won't get mad, I promise, and if he does, I'll come live with you,"
"I wish you would come live with me, it gets lonely,"
"I'll stay the night with you. Skip school," I tell him, wrapping my arms around him.
"You can't skip school, bud," he whispers, smiling and kissing me softly.
"It's okay, you're not supposed to go back within twenty-four hours of having a fever,"
"That is true, we can talk to him, but we should probably go, he'll think that you got kidnapped.
❦
Brook and I walk down the concrete walkway of our apartment floor to Logan and I's apartment.
I knock on the door and Logan opens it.
"I'm not supposed to go to school within twenty-four hours of having a fever," I say immediately.
"He did have a 100.1 fever," Brook backs me up.
"Can I stay with him tonight?"
"Uh--sure?" Logan says. "What's goin' on with you two?"
I shrug. "I'm going to go get some clothes,"
I hear their voices as I go down the hallway.
"Brook?" Logan's voice says; it has a warning tone. "What's going on?"
"I think we should wait until Liam comes back," Brook says.
"What happened?"
"Nothing happened! I swear, I would never hurt him!"
"I know--"
"I love him, okay?"
I've just swung my bag over my shoulder when I hear that. I immediately start back down the hallway.
"You love me?" I ask him once I'm back in the living area. Both him and Logan look up as I walk in the living room.
"You heard me?" Brook asks at the same time Logan says, "I think he means like a brother--"
"He doesn't," I say, looking at Logan. I look back to Brook. "I love you too,"
"WHAT is going on?" Logan asks, obviously very confused.
I smile at Brook as I wrap my arms around him. He hugs me back, tightly. Brook kisses my cheek softly.
"Brook?" Logan says in a warningly, slightly angry voice.
"It's okay," I tell him. I grab Brook's hand and slide my fingers in between his.
He smiles at me.
❦
I turn to Brook as soon as we're back inside of his apartment, throwing my arms around his neck and pulling him down to kiss me. I kiss him hard, but he kisses me back just as hard. Before Logan let us leave, he made us explain what was going on, which we did. We told him that we kissed, we liked each other, and that we want to be together. At first, I didn't know how he felt about us, but I think he's okay with the idea now. Brook holds me by the waist close to his body--close to him.
"Come on," he whispers in my ear.
I scoot close, as close as I can be, to Brook in bed. I grab his arm and pull it around me, turning around to rest my head on his chest.
"I love you, Brookie," I whisper softly, looking up at him.
"I love you too, Liam," he whispers back, leaning down to press our lips together.
I cuddle up closes to him, and both of us fall asleep pretty quickly.
3/30/2020
