The One For Me (8 page)

“Wowza,” I say.

Liam shrugs and motions for me to follow him. “My dad built it for me when I was young. I guess it was his way of buying me love. Just like the pool,” he says, tossing his head toward the pool to the left. Jeez. The backyard is huge. Liam opens the door to a small building and brings two tennis rackets out, with a packet of tennis balls. “Ready to get schooled?” he asks.

I grab a tennis racket. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Gotta warn ya hot stuff, I’m pretty good,” Liam shouts, while running to his side of the net.

He isn’t lying.
He hands me my ass the entire time. We play six games, six of that I lost utterly. I want to crawl into the pool and hide forever. Sweat is dripping off my forehead. “Stop, can’t….breathe.”

Liam smiles and run towards me, hopping over the net. He pats my back hard. “Oh, suck it up ya big baby. I warned you completely.”

“Water,” I croak out. “Dying of thirst. Tell my mom I love her.”

He laughs. “Get up, girlfriend.” He grabs my shoulder and pulls me back into the house. He hands me a glass of water from the fridge. I inhale it.

“Oh, that’s the best water I’ve ever tasted.”

Liam nods and finishes off his bottle. “It’s still early; you ready to go home yet?” I bite my lip.
Not really.
I look up at Liam. I try to tell myself I want to stay because he is alone, but I really just don’t want to leave at all.

“Well, my dad could still be home,” I twirl my finger along the kitchen cabinet.

“Okay,” Liam says. I can hear the smile in his voice. “You like Jackie Chan?”

We spend the next two hours lying on his bed, watching
Rush Hour.
When I said I’d never seen it, he almost had a heart attack. They movie was about over when someone barged into Liam’s room. I jumped up. I’m not sure why, it wasn’t like we were actually doing anything other than watching TV. It’s just a natural reaction.

“Can’t you knock?” Liam asks, sitting up on his elbows. I glance at the door where a tall, skinny, blonde haired woman stands.

Her hands are on her slender hip; her long perfectly painted nails are tapping along her waist. “I don’t have to, it’s my house.”

Ouch.
Must be step-mom young enough to be older sister.
More like last year she was a senior in high school young.

“Well, this is my room, so get the hell out. I am busy.”

She glances in my direction, her blue eyes narrows.
I want to evaporate, but as much as I will it, it never happens.
“And who must you be?”

“My name is Katy,” I whisper. I avert my eyes. I hear you’re not supposed to look at mean people too long in the face. You’ll turn to stone.

He cocks an eyebrow at me.
“She is my girlfriend.”

“
Very s
urprising,
I didn’t think you’d ever meet someone that would like you,
” she says, pushing her long blonde hair off her shoulder. “Your dad is going to be late tonight. He wanted me to tell you. You can order a pizza for dinner.” She smiles. It’s fake. Then walks out of the room.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

She didn’t even officia
l
l
y
introduce herself to me.
Not that I want to fake a ‘nice to meet you,’ because obviously it was anything but that. Although, it’s normally required for the parents to at least pretend they give a damn.

“Ugh,” he says, slamming his head into the pillow. “She never cooks like Mom used to.”

Something sad runs across his eyes before he closes them.
She never cooks? How awful.
  “Tell ya what. Get up.” I pat his knee.

“Why?” he asks, and barely opens one eye.

“To have a home-cooked meal, my mom always cooks.”

Twenty minutes later
, we’re at my house in the kitchen.
The smell of food is heavy. I wonder when the last time Liam smelled a home cooked meal in his kitchen.

“You’ve never had Oreo balls?” my mom asks, holding out a plate in front of Liam.
“That’s blasphemy.”

“It looks like dirt,” he says, smiling.

“And taste like Heaven,” I say, sprinkling some pepper over the mashed potatoes. “You should try one.
They’re great.
”

Mom waves the plate in his face and smiles.

He laughs. “Shouldn’t you be encouraging me to wait until after din
ner to eat desert, Mrs. Taylor? I’ll spoil my dinner.”

Mom snorts and rolls her eyes. “I’m not like most mothers. It’s just one, take one.”
She sounds like a drug pusher.

Liam glances over at me and smiles. My stomach flutters and I pretend to be interested in the potatoes
. Jeez, when did his smile get so pretty?
“Okay, here it goes.” He reac
hes
over and takes one. He puts it in his mouth and I hate that I watch his mouth when he does. His full lips devour the chocolate goodness.
Stop it, Katy.

“These are…” he pauses for effect, his eyes directing back and forth between my mother and me, “awesome.”

Mom hollers and thrusts her fist in the air, with a fist pump. “Another one converted, my dear.” She smiles.
“Call the others!”

I laugh. My mother is too embarrassing sometimes.

When dinner is ready I set the table and we all sit down to eat. It’s surprisingly normal. We chatted about our project and non-important things.

“So,” Mom says, clearing her throat, “are you two official now?”

I try not to cho
k
e
on my chicken. I didn’t even really think about how this would look to my mother. Everyone else knows, we have to try and pull it off, so I have to tell her right?

“Yes,” I say, taking a sip of my drink.

She smirks and I see she is trying to hide it. Heat rises to my cheeks and I pretend to really enjoy my mashed potatoes.

“You’re blushing,” Liam blurts out. I glance up at him and give him the
death
glare.

Mom smiles. “She is a blusher, she always has been.”

“I caught that quickly,” Liam winks.

Kill me now.

After dinner Mom
basically pushes us out and says she can handle the dishes.
That’s a firs
t. She normally asks me to help while she ‘pretends’ to wash the stove. It
’s
never as dirty as she says it is.

Liam walks to our swing in the back yard and sits down. I follow him and sit down next to him.

He wraps his arms over the back of the swing.
“Thanks, Katy,” he says.

“For what?” I ask.

“For inviting me over. It was nice. My family hasn’t been like this in a long, long time. I miss it.
This was…nice.
”

I bite my lip.
How freaking sad.
I’m determined not to think about a small child watching the empty house and wondering what he done wrong.
I never think about having dinner with Dad or Mom. It is always just normal. Now that Dad’s gone it’s gonna sting, but Mom will never stop having dinner with me.
I hope
.
“Well, you have a Jeep. You know where I live. You can come over anytime you want for dinner.”

Liam looks down at me and I watch the confusion dance in his eyes. Uncomfortable, I push my shoulder into his. “You are my boyfriend now, remember?”

He shakes his head and smiles. “How could I forget? You’ve totally altered my reputation. I actually had a teacher give me a half smile today.”

“Things are really looking up. I’m sure that never happens.” I smile.

Chapter Five

“What is up with you?” Jennifer asks, waving her hand in front of my face.

I jolt out of my daze, shaking my head.
“What are you talking about?”

Jennifer throws down her half eaten chicken nuggets
,
narrowing her eyes. “Something isn’t right with the two of you. Something is weird.
I can feel it.
”

I take a sip of my drink to distract myself from her glare. “What do you mean, Jennifer? What are you like a Private Investigator or something?”

“Call it my incredible Asian instincts.”
She cocks an eyebrow.

I roll my eyes. “Okay, well give it to me. What’s wrong with us?”

“You two don’t touch,” she says so matter of fact.

“Hey!
” I lift my hand.
“
We hold hands all the time--,”

“No,” she cuts me off, waving her finger in my face, “you don’t kiss. You just hug or hold hands. And correct me if I’m wrong but Liam is always lip locked with some girl. He isn’t ashamed of P.D.A. And neither are you, you and Hayden missed class all the time to go get it on in the back hallway.
So, it’s rather fishy to me.
”

I blushed,
and bite on my straw
. “We’ve only b
een together a few days, Nancy D
rew.
Is it okay for to move slowly into this?”
Slowly into our imaginary relationship?
“
Give us a break, damn.”

“Give who a break?” Liam says, placing his tray beside mine.

“Nothing,” I blurt out.

“I think something is up with the two of you,” Jennifer
says, crossing her arms over her
heinous sweater.

Liam cocks an eyebrow, and takes a bite of his pizza.
“Good investigating there, Ms. Chang. I would say you figured out we’re dating after everyone else in the school.”

She narrows her eyes. “No. I mean you two don’t touch or kiss. You barely
hug
each ot
her; it’s just a lot of talking and flirting.”
She thinks we flirt?
I smile to myself.
“
Which by your reputation I wouldn’t think you would mind giving your girlfriend a big smooch. Not to mention, but neither one of you have said anything about th
e Homecoming D
ance this weekend. It’s all every couple have been talking about. Why haven’t you two?” She leans forward, watching our every move.
“I’m waiting for an answer.”

Liam is quiet for a minute. He glances over at me, grey eyes
serious. “We’ll give you a show
M
is
s.
Chang.
L
et me eat my food first, and
then
freshen my breath. I wouldn’t want my girlfriend to have to taste my nasty
pizza
breath.” He smiles. “And if Katy wants to go to the
dance, we can go. I don’t mind. It’s up to her all the way.”

Jennifer smiles and lifts her eyebrow. She loves this.

“Um…sure,” I say, digging my fork around in my corn.
I hate dances.
She knows that.
I’m going to kill Jennifer.
I grab my fork; I want to stab her in her Asian eyes.

I eat my food in silence. I’m not sure what to say. I feel totally uncomfortable. Not that I haven’t kissed him before, but it was once and out of spite. We’re pretending, this wasn’t in the deal.
Damn you, Jennifer
. When the bell rings, Jennifer gets up to throw away her food.

Liam grabs my elbow and looks down at me. “We don’t have to kiss if you don’t want to. You can fake sick or something.
Maybe pretend to throw up some pizza?
I know we’re pretending and everything.”

I sigh. I feel the heat rushing to my face. “I mean…” I scratch my neck, “what will it hurt, I guess it would be okay…if you wanted to…”

Liam is smiling when I glance up at him. I had been staring down at his combat boots and how scruffy they looked but he was too quiet so I glanced back up at him. “What are you smiling at, Liam?”