“What can I say? I’m a good tutor,” I said awkwardly. Nobody corrected me.
“Where are you from?” Tyler asked.
He had dark brown hair combed to the side, expressive brown eyes, and a soft smile. His eyes were bright as he regarded me, and if he were not standing so close to Liam, I would say he was attractive. I frowned at Liam; he shouldn’t have that effect on me. He was just my friend.
“Texas. And a small town, so don’t ask,” I said, and he grinned.
“I’m from here. You two are on the baseball team, right?” Gabby piped in.
“We are,” Tyler said, smiling.
“What do you play?” she asked, intrigued. It was apparent that I was going to be ditched again tonight.
“I took Liam’s place,” Brandon piped in. My eyes moved to Liam, studying him. His lips were pressed together, but he didn’t say anything to correct Brandon, and I wondered if it was a touchy subject. Gabby mentioned that he didn’t play anymore because he was hurt, but I didn’t ask for more details. A person should have their own secrets, and they could share them when they were ready.
“I’m on third,” Tyler said, ignoring Brandon altogether. Obviously, that was what everyone did with him.
“Liam, are you still on the team?” Gabby asked. I wanted to elbow her. I stood, eyes wide, waiting for him to respond to her intrusive question. She was kind and quiet, but she was also fierce and curious.
“I guess you could say that,” he answered honestly. The mood instantly soured. Everyone with cups took a drink, looking away.
Not intentionally, Gabby and Tyler stepped into their own conversation, leaving us out. “Want a drink?” Tyler asked her.
“I would love one,” she gushed. I watched her walk off, brow cocked. I didn’t know her well, but she didn’t strike me as the type to gush over guys. I hoped this dude was nice to her.
“There’s something over there that needs my attention,” Brandon said, probably feeling like a fifth wheel. He disappeared into the crowd, which was growing by the minute. When we first arrived, there were only a dozen people here. Now I was being pushed each time a new group walked in.
“Do you want to go somewhere quieter?” Liam asked, holding his hand across his chest. “No funny business.”
I looked around for Gabby, who had completely disappeared with Tyler. Feeling helpless and awkward, I rolled my eyes. For some reason, I trusted him.
“Sure.”
He grabbed my hand, looking at me as if I he wanted to ask but thought better of it. He weaved through the crowd with me in tow. When we got to the stairs, I hesitated but followed him. There was no surprise that he led me to the last room in the hall. Once inside, he locked the door and sat on the chair that was by his desk.
Letting out a sigh I didn’t know I was holding on to, I looked around the room. It was bare. The room was home to a large dresser, king-sized bed filled with pillows, a desk, side tables, and one picture. Feeling ballsy, I walked to the side table. Bending over, I inspected the boy and woman. She was beautiful. The boy in the picture was her mini-me.
“She died when I was ten,” he said.
“Mine died last year,” I said, not knowing what else to say. I faced him. His eyes were full of sorrow. That was why I avoided these kinds of things. The past only brought us pain. We could do nothing to rewrite it, so why did we live there?
“How?”
“A car crash…I’m told,” I said honestly. He pursed his lips, nodding. For someone who never shut up, he didn’t ask questions about what I said.
“Heart attack,” he said. He stood up and sat on the end of the bed, closer to me. “I hope your dad was better than mine.”
I laughed without humor. “I hope he wasn’t,” I said.
Without saying a word, everything between us was understood. His past, my attitude, our issues; it was all out in the open. We both tried to hide it, but there was always that one person as broken as you who understood.
The sins of a father were passed down from every generation. The reminder of his life slammed into me like barbed wire, cutting open wounds I thought I’d closed. Each time I forgot; it was triggered; the festering wounds ripped open again. The sins of my father never went away. I was torn from my thoughts when I realized Liam was watching me intently, like he was trying to see inside my mind.
“I guess the mystery is solved,” he said, staring at me like he’d solved a Rubik’s Cube.
“What mystery?”
“Why I’m so attached to you. I make up reasons to be around you, I bug the shit out of you just to get your attention,” he said, chuckling. Then he looked away from me. I was thankful for the dim lights. My face was redder than my hair.
“What’s your conclusion?”
He shook his head in disbelief. “Fucked-up people need each other.”
I pushed all thoughts to the back burner, letting that statement simmer front and center. I had never been blunt, but in times like these I wished I was. I wished I could ask him what the hell he meant by that, and what he planned to do with it. But I didn’t say anything. I accepted it for what it is; a cloud of smoke above me, fogging my thoughts even more.
We sat beside each other, not speaking. He grabbed a remote and turned on a large flat screen in front of us mounted to the wall.
“What’s your favorite show?” he asked, leaving our conversation floating in the air above us.
“I don’t really watch a lot of TV. We didn’t have cable…I like movies though.”
“And reading,” he said, smirking at me.
“And Netflix, recently.”
“What are you watching on there?”
I bit my lip, chewing anxiously. I hadn’t told
