Total pages in book: 14
Estimated words: 12485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 62(@200wpm)___ 50(@250wpm)___ 42(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 12485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 62(@200wpm)___ 50(@250wpm)___ 42(@300wpm)
I get into my car and drive to the campus cafe, hoping Liam won't look for me there.
I order a coffee and take a table in the corner, pulling out my laptop. I might as well work on my English assignment while I'm here.
My mind keeps wandering, though. I can't stop thinking about Liam and the way he made me feel. I can't forget the way it felt to have his arms around me, to feel his lips on mine. I sigh and close my eyes. I know I'm being stupid, but I can't help it. I'm falling for him, like really falling for him. This isn't the years-long crush I've had on him. This is so much more than that.
I want to be with him.
I start typing, words pouring out of me onto the page. It's like a dam has been broken, and now everything is flooding out. I write about the feelings of falling in love, about the fear of rejection, about the pain of losing someone you love. I pour my heart out into the story, letting all of my emotions flow through my fingertips.
It feels good to get it all out. I've been holding in these feelings for so long, and now they're finally free. It feels liberating.
I finish the story and read it over, a smile on my face. It's good. It's really good. It's not something I would have written before meeting Liam, but it's honest and raw and real, and I'm proud of it.
I send it to my professor, closing my laptop and leaning back in my chair with a sigh. I feel lighter now, like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I still have no idea what to do about Liam, but at least now I know how I feel about him. And that's a start.
When I get back to the apartment, Brody is nowhere to be found, and neither is Liam. I consider texting both of them but decide that it will be better to let them reach out first. Brody is probably still pissed with me, and Liam is surely still trying to figure out where to go from here with his lifelong best friend and his little sister, who has complicated everything a million times over.
I sit in my room for a while, staring at my phone and waiting for Liam to text me. I don't want to push anything, but I want to talk to him so badly. I need to know what he's thinking.
After an hour with no response, I give up and call him.
It goes straight to voicemail.
I sigh and throw my phone on the bed, flopping down next to it. I'm being ridiculous. I know I am. But I can't help it. I need to talk to Liam, to see if what he said to Brody was real, or if he was just trying to placate him.
I close my eyes and try to imagine what it would be like to be with Liam, really with him. I can picture us going on dates, holding hands, kissing in public. I can picture us laughing and joking together, spending long nights talking about everything and nothing.
But then there's reality. We're hours away from each other. We have totally different lives. How would we ever make it work?
I know I'm being stupid. I know I should just let it go. But I can't. I want Liam, and I don't want to lose him. I'm starting to drift off when my phone buzzes, startling me awake. I grab it, hoping it's Liam, but it's Brody.
Brody: Where are you?
Me: Home.
Brody: Good. Stay there. We need to talk.
Me: Okay.
I sigh and set my phone aside. Great, now I have to deal with my brother. Just what I needed. I hear Brody come home a few minutes later. He walks into my room without knocking.
"Hey," I say, sitting up.
"Hey." He sits on the end of my bed, his expression unreadable. "So … Liam, huh?"
"Yeah." I feel myself blushing, but I force myself to look him in the eye. "Yeah, Liam."
He sighs. "Look, Anna, I don't want to be the overprotective big brother here, but you know he's not going to stay around. He's going to move away after school and never come back. You're going to get hurt."
I take a deep breath. "I know that’s a possibility, Brody. But I also know that if I don't take this chance, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."
Brody looks at me for a long moment, then sighs again. "Okay. Well. I'm going to be a total dick here, but I don't want to see it. I'm still pissed at him. Like, really fucking pissed. If he had at least asked me first, it would be one thing, but damn it, Anna. I just think you need to go home early, is what I'm trying to say. So we can all have some space."