Um, hey. Coming back at you with this three years later. I feel like I'm doing that, "Hey... hey... how y'all doin?" Tiktok sound. You know it? If you don't, just know that's fucking funny. Anyway, as the kids say, I'm back on my bullshit. Do they still say that? Let the record show that they once did. Geography is not my thing, FYI, so I'm keeping it vague. There will be three more chapters after this.
Chapter Two: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dicking
"You're being mega quiet."
I glanced up at Alexis and then quickly looked away, afraid she would be able to see everything in my eyes. "No, I'm not. I'm just tired."
She pursed her lips and picked up her coffee mug, eyeing me with suspicion. We were having breakfast in a rundown diner before getting on the road. Thankfully, Tyler was paying up at the register and Liam was gassing up the car, so neither were present for the investigation that was about to begin.
"Are you mad at me because you had to share a room with Liam? I said I was sorry."
"No, of course not." I poked at my eggs and tried to act normally, but all I could think of was his eyes scanning me from head to toe when we both woke up that morning.
I hadn't given him my answer yet. When I came out of the shower the night before, he was already asleep in his bed, breathing softly and looking almost cute in the muted motel lights. When we woke up to Alexis banging on our door the next morning, we didn't say a word to each otherβnot with our mouths, anyway. Every movement he made, every look he gave me, was... charged, to say the least. I thought about shoving him against the wall and kissing him but we didn't have time and I still wasn't sure what to do.
"There is something definitely up with you," Alexis said, drawing me out of my fantasies. "Tell me or I'll do something really embarrassing right now." She smirked when she saw my look of horror.
Alexis had a really high tolerance for embarrassment. She was the complete opposite of me, and she knew it.
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, I definitely would," she said smugly.
"Fine," I sighed. "Liam kind of, uh, propositioned me last night."
She frowned. "Propositioned? Like, sex?"
"Yes. No strings attached sex."
I'd expected her to be shocked, or maybe even a little angry. I did not expect Alexis to burst into riotous laughter.
"It's really not funny," I said, knowing I was completely red.
She rubbed a tear away. "Claire, it's probably one of the funniest things I've ever heard. He's such a douche."
"He's a douche because he wants to have sex with me?"
She smacked my arm. "No, of course not. He's simply a douche. It's just that you're the last girl who would do something like that."
"What are you trying to say?" I asked, feeling strangely offended.
Alexis rolled her eyes. "Calm down, I just mean you don't do casual sex. He has to know that."
"Well, since you apparently told him not to get in the way of me and "dicking", he must think I'm sex-starved or something. So, thanks for that."
"Ha!" She finished her coffee. "Look, Tyler is coming back right now, but I want you to tell me you're not considering it."
"You just told me you wanted me to hook up with someone on this trip. At least I kind of know Liam."
"I certainly didn't mean you should hook up with Liam! He has "heartbreak" all over him." Alexis sighed. "Just trust me on this, okay? Sex with him would be devastating."
"Devastating?" Tyler asked, sidling up to the table and grabbing Alexis's unfinished toast. "What's devastating?"
Alexis smiled up at him. "Don't worry your pretty head about it, dear."
Tyler's eyes swung between us and then he shrugged. "I probably don't know what to know, anyway. Liam is parked outside."
"K, we'll just be a sec," Alexis said. She waited for him to walk away before turning back to me. "So, what are you going to tell him?"
I studied Alexis's face; it was obvious she wanted me to say I was going to turn him down, and I knew she was just looking out for me. But the truth was I was tired of being Claire, the girl who was easily embarrassed and went with the flow. That Claire had just gotten dumped spectacularly, and truth be told, she wasn't that happy in general.
And then I realized I was thinking about myself in third person and shook my head.
"No," I lied.
Alexis beamed at me. "Excellent."
*****
"Um."
Liam looked up from his phone and squinted his eyes to look at me in the afternoon sunlight. Alexis and Tyler had begged him to stop at a gas station so they could use the bathroom. I waited for them both to disappear before approaching Liam, who had been leaning against his car, looking like every bad boy fantasy I'd ever had. He hadn't looked or spoken to me since we got in the car from the diner and I found myself desperate for a little interaction with him, but now that I'd begun, I didn't quite know what to say, and his offer from the night before lingered between us.
"Yeah?" he prompted when I stood there like a moron for a couple of minutes.
"Your proposition. I wanted to talk about it."
"My proposition?" He looked too amused for my taste and I started worrying that it had all been a joke.
"Uh, yeah. You know."
His eyes swept over me. "I know."
"So, yeah. Yes. I mean... yes."
He smiled and it was as breathtaking as it had been the night before. "Is that a yes to my proposition, then?" And he'd said "proposition" like it was a dirty word. It was difficult to not show the effect he was having on me, and honestly he probably could tell, anyway. So I leaned into it and just let myself embrace it.
"Yes."
"Hmm." He straightened up and looked down at me, all amusement gone from his expression. "Are you sure that's something you're interested in?"
I struggled keeping eye contact because it was intense and weirdly intimate, considering we were in front of a rather busy gas station, but I forced myself not to look away. "Yes. I think it would be good for me."
He rubbed at his lips and I couldn't quite look away from this mouth after. He had soft lips. I wondered if they'd feel soft when we kissed.
"It's going to be very good for you," he promised in a low tone that had me feeling rather pathetically weak. I'd never experienced anything like it.
"We can't be obvious about it, though. Alexis doesn't really approve." I could feel myself blushing. "I hope you don't mind that I told her about it but she kind of knew I was, um, distracted."
"Distracted, huh? Were you thinking about what you were going to say to me or were you already fantasizing about what we were going to do?"
I smiled. "A bit of both."
He lifted his eyebrows and looked me up and down again. "A bit? I've been thinking about it way more than a bit." He leaned back on the car. "Are you sure you want to keep it a secret from Alexis? I know how close you are."
I looked over my shoulder to see if they were coming back yet. "I'm sure."