Childhood best friends to enemies to lovers.
Alina wants nothing to do with the rebellious bad boy, Liam Somner.
Which is difficult, because he goes to her school. And lives on her street. And keeps showing up at her apartment, and sitting in her ki...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Liam falls asleep, but I don't.
I watch him for a while, wondering if he'll have more nightmares, or whether he'll sleep peacefully after telling Max's story. Sometimes telling our stories is enough to set ourselves free.
But I can't sleep, and I end up easing out of Liam's arms and out of his bed. I have this overhanging feeling of guilt, and I can't put my finger on the reason, until I remember the text message.
Liam loves me. I know. But I don't know if he knows that I know.
And I feel guilty to have this knowledge over him. It feels unfair, to know that this sleeping boy is in love with me. Sleeping in his bed, while knowing that he loves me, seems wrong to me. It feels like I'm leading him on. I don't want to give him the wrong impression before I know what I want.
So in the middle of the night I slip out of his room, quiet as a mouse, and out of his apartment, and back across the street to my own.
It's silent here now, but I see a light coming out of Oscar's room, and I know he must be watching something. I almost join him, but decide against it. Instead I sit out on the fire escape, in the cold, and look over the road to the apartment above the bakery. Liam's apartment. His room is dark, and I know that he's just inside, sound asleep. I wonder what he'll think when he wakes up.
For the rest of the weekend, Liam avoids me. On Friday night I go over to hang out with him, but it's only Sonja, watching cheesy romantic movies and baking. On Saturday I send him a text message asking if he wants to chill, and he ignores it.
Sonja, Mom and I brave the sales crowds in Manhattan on Sunday, which ends up being a train wreck because it's too busy and we don't have the patience to buy anything. So instead we find a coffee shop and drink coffees and I listen to my mom and Sonja tell their stories, which is ten times more fun than shopping could ever be.
"I'm so glad our Little Mouse still wants to hang out with us," Sonja says, beaming at me. "Unlike my terror child. He's been out all weekend. I think he's drinking too much. Alina, do you think he's drinking too much?"
I stiffen at the mention of Liam. "I'm not sure," I say. "I haven't seen him since Thursday night."
Sonja sighs and sips her coffee.
My mom puts an arm out onto Sonja's shoulder. "He's in a rough patch, but he'll get through this, Sonja. He's got such a supportive network. We're all here for him. He's a teenager. He's got to go out and do his rebellious act, but he'll come back to you soon."
"Little Mouse has never had to do a rebellious act," Sonja says, nudging me. "You don't go out partying every night."
"Because I don't have any friends," I say flatly.
"Whatever happened to Gracie?" Sonja asks.
"Oh, don't mention Gracie," Mom says. "Gracie is bad news in our house."
