30|confrontation gone wrong
R I L E Y
"That Liam boy...he's lying to you."
I stare at my father as he breaks the news, unable to comprehend what he just said.
"I...what? I'm going to go now, thanks for telling me that. Bye!" I blurt out in a string of word vomit and run out of the room, ignoring the string of protests behind me. I run so fast that by the time I reach my car, I could hardly breathe.
It couldn't wait. I grabbed my phone and called Liam.
"Hello? Ahem, hello? Sorry for sounding weird, I just woke up from a nap." His voice came out husky and he cleared his throat.
"Uhh hey. Are you free right now? I want to talk to you. It's kind of important" I asked, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans.
"Yeah? I guess. Be in front of my house in 10?"
"I might take longer than that. I'm kind of far away right now." I looked around at my surroundings.
"Oh, ok. Call me when you get here."
"Bye."
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Keep calm. Keep calm. Keep calm. Keep calm. Keep calm. My fingers went to dial Liam's number again.Keep calm. Keep calm. Keep ducking CALM!! "Hello? I'm here." My voice comes out high and breathy. What happened to keeping calm? Luckily, Liam doesn't seem to notice.
"I see you. I'm coming down now." He says. I give a squeak of acknowledgement before hanging up. Taking several deep breaths, I stepped out of my car. Just. Keep. Calm! I'm still repeating the mantra in my head when I see Liam come out of the house. I smiled and waved at him.
"Hey." He said.
"Hi." I reached out to lean my elbow on the hood of the car but ended up missing and almost smashed my chin onto the car.
"Elegant. How elegant." He chuckled, waving me over to the entrance of his house.
"Elegant. How elegant." I mocked behind his back in a nasally high-pitched voice. I walk into the house to be greeted by the sound of children giggling. Liam's younger siblings, Lily and James ran up to greet me, scuffling with each other as they wanted to stand closer to me.
"RILEY! You're back! You didn't die!" Lily beams happily, trying to inconspicuously shove her brother to the side.
"Umm yeah, I didn't." I say awkwardly, smiling back at her.
"Woah....you look prettier than you were last time." James widened his eyes as he peered up at me.
"Awww thanks." I smiled back at him.
"But you would look prettier if you were Liam's girlfriend..." he continued cheekily. I almost choked on my saliva. I turned around to look at Liam who was just as shocked as I am.
"James...where did you learn to say that?" He questioned incredulously.
"I dunno, I think I heard someone say it at school." James shrugged nonchalantly.
"Kids these days." Liam shook his head in disapproval, but I could see him biting his lip to keep himself from laughing, "Anyways, come upstairs." He gestured as he headed for the stairs.
"Where are your parents?" I asked as I followed him upstairs.
"They went to the shop real quick to buy more milk. Those two drank it all when they had Oreos this morning." he replied. I gave a vague nod of acknowledgement. Liam's bedroom was a little larger than I had expected to be, and more boring as well. But I guess it suited him. The walls were painted a light shade of grey. A double bed was in the corner of the room next to a window. A simple white desk and chair was against the wall and a bookshelf with a minimal amount of items on it completed the look.
"How....fascinating...." I commented awkwardly, after being unable to find a more suitable adjective.
"I like keeping these simple, I can think clearer when there's minimal distractions." Liam grinned.
"Well, with this set-up of yours, you could be a VSCO girl who's trying the minimalism aesthetic for her Pinterest.." I teased.
"Funny.... Anyways, why did you come here?"
"Uhh...." I looked around awkwardly, "are you by any chance....."
"Yes?" Liam waited expectantly.
"Uhmm.....interested in filling out this survery that I am doing for my social sciences class?" I blurt.
BLOODY HELL RILEY!!! Seriously? This is what you think of? WOW what a chicken you are! What happened to confronting him about the gang mafia bull crap?
"Uh... You came all the way here....just so I could fill out a survey?" he looked at me awkwardly.
"Well, I'm just dedicated to the cause." I mumbled.
"Uh huh." Liam's eyes twinkled in amusement.
"What?! I care about my grades, sue me!" I threw my hands up in defeat, but on the inside my heart was beating like a drum. Do I just say it? Would it be awkward? Oh god, I can't do this. "Um actually I came here to ask you if you would want to grab coffee with me sometime? I have something to tell you." I sigh, running my hand through my messy hair. There was silence for a moment, and I looked up to see if Liam was quietly dying from asphyxiation or something. But instead, I see him chuckling quietly.
"God Riley. If you wanted to go to a cafe together or something, you literally could have just told me. You didn't need to-" more laughter bubbled from Liam's throat, "Oh geez, Riley. Ok, ok. I'm calm now. How about that Starbucks around the corner from the school? 4 o'clock tomorrow?"
"Haha yeah, silly me, being the introvert I am everything" I laughed awkwardly, playing along, "sure 4 sounds great I'll see you there."
"It's a date." Liam smiled. Wait what? A date? Did he mean like an actual date or did he just say it because that's just what people say when they arrange to meet each other? Am I overthinking this? Yeah, I am overthinking this. When have I ever not overthought something? Like that time in 5th grade when my hamster Geronimo suddenly became really fat and I thought he got cancer or something but then it turned out to be a 'she' and Geronimo was actually pregnant, which meant that she was a female. So then I had to name Geronimo Gina instead. But yeah, that was that. Oh yeah, another time I overthought was in 7th grade when—
"Are you ok, Riley? You look so out of it." Liam waved a hand in front of my face, shaking me out of my daze.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I should go now, my mum is waiting for me at home. See ya tomorrow!" I smiled cheerily before heading towards the door.
"I'll walk you to your car. And before you say that I don't need to: I insist." He stated, leaving no room for negotiation. I smiled awkwardly at him as we headed out.
As soon I got into the car and closed the door behind me, I let out a scream, slamming my hand onto the edge of my steering wheel. "RILEY HENZEL WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SO CRINGEY I SWEAR TO GO-"
And then I saw that Lily and James were looking at me through the curtains in their living room, giggling at what seemed to be me having a maniac fit. My face turned beet red, and I hurriedly turned on the engine and backed out of the driveway.
Oh god, they're definitely going to tell Liam about this.
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A/N: THE LONG AWAITED UPDATE IS HERE! So sorry for the delay guys but I hope you like it! I've been focusing on my studies lately and haven't really been prioritising Wattpad ;-; (but I got straight A's this term pls be proud lol)
Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Please comment your thoughts/ships/opinions/complaints here!
Byeeee, till next time on 'When the Hell will Hope ever Update?'
Hope xx
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