Everyone Knows How This Ends Except Liam

48 Liam

Liam muted Brett and turned off his post notifications before he carefully set his phone down on his night stand. Getting up out of bed, he headed down the stairs and then even further down to the basement where a punching bag hung above a few wrestling mats. He patiently bandaged his hands up even though he knew the skin would just heal over and wouldn't scar unless he wanted it to. Securing the last bandage in place, he circled the bag and landed his first punch. He punched the bag until there were tears running down his face and mixing with the sweat that was appearing on his bare chest. He punched the bag until he wasn't even in a proper stance anymore and the punches became tight and targeted. He punched the bag until he didn't want to punch anymore. Only then did he sink to the floor and tug at the bandages on his hands until he was free because it felt like they were choking him even though they couldn't and he couldn't breathe and so he sat, panting on the basement floor with healing bruised knuckles and a tear stained face that was becoming wetter and wetter. Eventually, he got up off the floor and went back upstairs to his room, taking another shower and crawling into his bed and staring at his wall all over again. After a minute, he grabbed his phone, just like before, and sent a text message.

Eight minutes later and Lydia, Mason and Corey were jogging up the steps and into his room with cartons of ice cream and a combination of their favorite romantic movies and violent video games.
"I don't know why it hurts so bad." Liam said as he licked the mint chocolate chip ice cream from his spoon. "I mean, he was right. We're not dating and we've never been friends."
"Oh, honey." Lydia said, stroking his hair with her non ice cream spoon holding hand where his head rested in her lap, legs crossed at the ankles and soft dress resting under his head. "You bonded with him; told him things you hadn't told anyone else. You were vulnerable and he took advantage of that. Probably unknowingly but you can never be sure with men." She scooped some more ice cream out of the carton resting on Liam's chest.
"But I didn't even like him."
"Mr. Oblivious," Corey mumbled as he lay on the floor, his own cartoon of coffee ice cream on his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles propped against the wall as he lay on a bean bag. Mason threw a stress ball from Liam's desk at his boyfriend from where he was sat at the end of Liam's bed, cookie dough ice cream in hand.
"Doesn't matter to your head. It sees everything in black and white and right now, Brett is the bad guy." Mason said as Liam looked at him with sad eyes, spoon in his mouth. He rolled his head back so he was staring at the ceiling.
"I don't wanna talk about it anymore. Let's watch a movie."
"Which one do you want?"
"I don't care. You pick." Liam told Lydia as he moved so he was sitting up with his back to his head board, ice cream in his lap as he waited for Lydia to put in one of the movies. The opening to Bridget Jones' Diary started on the TV and Lydia sat next to Liam, letting the younger male rest his head on her shoulder as they kept eating ice cream and watched the movie. Mason and Corey settled down together at the foot of Liam's bed on the floor, making a make shift couch out of the beanbags he had around the room and leaning on each other.

Liam was half way asleep, barely following The Wedding Singer as he laid with his head on Lydia's thigh and wouldn't have fit on the bed if he wasn't curled up in a ball, when Lydia's phone pinged on the night stand. She moved slowly so as not to disturb the boy and unlocked her phone to see a message from Mason containing Brett's latest post. After quickly looking at it and commenting, she messaged Scott to see if they had heard from him yet.

Liam was asleep on his bed, head resting on his pillow now and face turned towards the moonlight coming in from his window, with Lydia asleep next to him and Mason and Corey tangled together on the beanbags also asleep. There was no one awake to notice the shadow pass quickly over Liam's window and no one awake to see how it had hesitated, just for a second, back to the glass, before dropping to the grass and disappearing all together.

Friday morning brought school and Liam really didn't want to go.
"Come on, babe." Lydia tugged on his arm, trying uselessly to pull his body off of his bed. "You're going to school and if I have to go in the same outfit as yesterday, you're going bloody." Mason and Corey snickered until she turned and raised a terrifying eyebrow, making them fall silent as Liam moaned, the sound muffled by his pillow.
"I don't want to go to school." He whined.
"I know but it won't be that bad. And it's Friday. One day and then you have all weekend to wallow in self pity and pizza."
"One day and a lacrosse game."
"Maybe you need to hit a few guys." Mason offered. "Just get it all out of your system."
"I hit things yesterday."
"People things?" Mason questioned with slight worry.
"Punching bag things." Lydia gave another tug.
"Ugh. Fine!" She threw up her hands. "We can stop at that coffee place you like before school." Liam picked his head up from his pillow, looking at her.
"Really?"
"Only if you get up and get dressed now though." She told him. He groaned again, clearly thinking over his options, before letting himself slip off of the bed so he was laying on his back on the floor. "Come on, bub. You're half way there."
"25% of the way there." He corrected.