Change (Published under The Change For Her)

Forty

 "Why did you show up here so late?" My mother asks me while we do the dishes.

"It wasn't planned, a lot happened and I needed to get away to clear my head because I was so confused," I explain to her.

She sets her rag down on the counter and turns to look at me. "Sweetie, what's going on?"

I keep my eyes on the plate in my hand continuing to dry it. "It's nothing serious."

"It must be serious if you traveled here in the middle of the night." She takes the plate out of my hand and sets it on top of the other plates in the cabinet above me. "Talk to me."

I let out a breath and walked over to take a seat on the barstool by the island. "I went to dad's grave last night to rant because so much has gone down and I been so confused."

"Rant about what, sweetie?" She leans against the island.

"Mom, I'm so confused. I thought Conor was such an amazing guy but I recently learned that I was just a game for him. He cheated on me while trying to get me to fall for him. Conor only wanted me for one thing that doesn't belong to him. He was never there for me, he didn't care about me at all." I look up at mom with tears building up in my eyes. "Last night was the first time I learned that I only went out with him because he was the first guy to ever pay attention to me. I had no feelings for him."

I lowered my head and began fiddling with my fingers. "I slowly began to realize that I might have feelings for Liam. I get these weird feelings whenever I think or around him," My face begins to heat up and I know my mother's smiling at me. "He's always there for me. Liam actually listens to me, makes me happy. Never forces me to do something I don't want to do. I thought he was someone who was troubled but I was so wrong."

A soft smile forms on my face, "He's the most caring person I ever met. When he found out about my past, he didn't judge me. Instead, he took me on an adventure to cheer me up. He made sure I came here to go see dad with you." Slowly that smile turned upside down. "But the thing is I doubt he feels the same way."

Mom stretches her hand across the island until she's able to place it on top of mine, causing me to look up at her. I raise a brow at her, extremely confused about why she's still smiling. "Chloe, Liam does have feelings for you. Strong feelings, I'm shocked that you can't see it. The way he looks at you, how affection he is towards you."

"Mom-"

She cuts me off before I could say anything. "No, I know you're not used to guys swarming over you. You already were hurt once because you were so blind and assumed that this Conor boy was good just by his looks. A person's appearance doesn't define who they are on the inside. I knew Liam was so smitten by you from how he was looking at you in the kitchen, the weekend you came to visit. Yes, I'm not fond of his tattoos but I want you to be happy and have a man to protect you." She removes her hand from mine to walk around the island to stand in front of me.

She cups my face with her hands, "I promise you, that boy adores you. Listen to those feelings flying around inside you. Pay attention to the way he looks at you, the way he treats you. He wants you as much as you want him."

A smile reappears on my face as I wrap my arms around her to pull her into a hug. "Thank you, mom."

She runs her fingers through my hair, "You're welcome, sweetie."

After a few minutes, there was a knock by the kitchen entranceway. I turn my head to see Liam standing there watching us. "Am I interrupting?" He asks us.

My mother pulls away and wipes her hands on her jeans. "No dear, we just got done catching up." Liam nods his head and steps into the room.

"Um, Chlo, we need to get going if we want to make it back to campus before midnight."

I climb down off the stool, "Okay," I respond before giving my mom one more hug. "I'll see you in a few weeks for Thanksgiving," I whisper to her.

******

The drive back to campus didn't seem like a long drive. Mainly because I slept through half of the drive. Liam shook me awake when he pulled up to McDonald's drive-thru. "Hmm," I respond groggily.

I sat up in the passenger seat and took in my surroundings. It was already dark, Mcdonald's sign lit up and there were only three cars ahead of us. Music was playing softly through the speakers. "Sorry, I was getting hungry and I didn't want to order me something without getting you something as well," Liam tells me.

My stomach growls at the idea of eating my chicken nuggies, "It's okay, I'm getting hungry as well," I smile at him. Liam smiles softly back at me before turning his attention to the moving vehicles in front of us. I pull my legs onto Liam's leather seat, lay my head on the cold window listening to Liam hum along to the quiet song playing.

"Thank you for coming to Mcdonald's, what can I get you tonight?" The voice said through the speaker.

"Big Mac combo with a coke, and ten-piece chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce, and sweet tea." I can't help but smile when I hear him order my original.

"That will be $14.04 at the first window," They tell him.

"Okay, thank you." He reaches for his wallet in his back pocket to grab a hold of his credit card. "What?" Liam asks when he sees me looking at him.

"N-Nothing," I nervously look down at my lap, happy that it's dark which means he couldn't see my bright red face.

Liam chuckles as he pulls in front of the first drive-thru window. "Big Mac and ten-piece chicken nuggets?" The lady questions.

"Yes, ma'am," Liam answers.

"Okay, that would be $14.04," Liam hands over his card and waits patiently for her to return it. He glances over at me and plays with his lip ring while he fights back a smile. "Here you go, have a nice day," She tells us while handing over Liam's card along with the receipt.

"You too," He hands me his wallet and receipt, "Can you put that back in my wallet?" He asks me nicely. I take the items out of his hand, slide his card into one of the slots in his wallet.

"Big Mac meal with a coke to drink, along with 10 piece chicken nuggets and sweet tea?" The man asks, making sure he gives us the correct items.

"Yes, sir," The man nods his head and hands over our food along with our drinks.

"Have a nice day."

"Thank you, and you too." Liam places the food on my lap after I put our drinks in the cup holders.

I take the straws out of the bag, remove the wrappers before placing them in our drinks. "Burger or fries?" I ask while he leaves McDonald's parking lot.

"Burger," I take his Big Mac out of the bag, unwrap it a little before handing it to him. "Thanks, babe."

"How long till we arrive?"

"An hour," I nodded my head and began eating my nuggies.