by R.S. Grey
A moment later, the latch slid across and she propped the stall door open enough for me to slide in behind her.
"Becca, what's wrong? Are you okay? Did Penn do something?" I asked as she leaned back against the wall and hid her face in her hands.
Becca tried to take a deep breath, but a small sniffle broke through.
"Penn's ex is here."
I sucked in a sharp breath.
"Okay… that's okay," I answered, stepping toward her and bending forward so I could try and see her face. "Did you see her? Did Penn point her out to you?"
I wasn’t connecting why she was crying yet. Was she just upset about the fact that his ex was here? I'd hate to see Liam's ex, but this seemed like more.
"She came right up to where he and I were talking and introduced herself. I knew it was her because he'd told me her name and he clearly looked distraught."
I nodded and bit my bottom lip.
"She asked to talk to him in private. He didn't follow her right away. I don't think he wanted to leave me, but then she latched onto him and practically dragged him away. I tried to stay positive. I thought maybe she just needed to talk to him, but when I came back from getting a drink, I saw them wrapped up together in the corner making out."
"Oh shit." I cupped my hands over my mouth and stood there silently. I couldn't believe it. Penn seemed really into Becca and to kiss his ex right in front of her was so blatantly disrespectful. I felt rage wash over me.
"I'm so sorry, Becca," I offered, reaching to touch her shoulder. She just shook her head and stepped toward the stall's door.
"Can we just leave? I don't want to be at this party anymore, and I definitely don't want to see Penn and his ex again."
I nodded continuously, pulling her out of the stall and out of the bathroom. There was no way to exit the party without heading back through the main ballroom, so I directed her through the crowd while she kept her head down. We were almost midway through the room when Tara blocked our path.
“Leaving so soon, ladies? Is Becca already plastered?” she asked, shooting Becca a pathetic glance.
I completely ignored her question and tried to shove past her. Unfortunately, she sidestepped again, and as I moved forward, my foot got caught on her leg. I tripped and tumbled forward, catching my upper body with my hands and banging my knees hard on the ballroom floor. I’d managed to catch myself as gracefully as possible, but I couldn’t help bringing Becca down with me and the small commotion was causing a scene.
“Oh my god, these two are completely plastered,” Tara oozed with a feigned concern. “Can someone call them a taxi? Or maybe we should notify security?”
“I’m fine. I just tripped,” I answered just as a random bystander reached down to help Becca and me to our feet. I shot Tara a death stare and was met with an identical one from her. The threat was clear: game on.
“Kinsley, you don’t have to get drunk at a party to get attention. I have a feeling you’ll be getting plenty of attention from the press in the next few days,” she promised with a glint in her eye.
I scowled, trying to determine if that was a direct threat or not. “What are you talking about?”
“Let’s just go, Kinsley,” Becca huffed, already moving through the crowd toward the entrance. I ran after her, trying to catch up before she saw Penn. I’d have to deal with Tara later.
I caught up to Becca and we were almost at the entrance of the ballroom when we saw Penn, Liam, and a woman I assumed was Penn's ex. They were a few feet away from the door and had already spotted us approaching. I wrapped a protective arm around Becca and tried to ignore the urge to yell at Penn.
That urge only multiplied when my eyes scanned over his ex. I wanted to stomp her beneath my heels. I didn't care what her story was. She symbolized Becca's sadness and for that, I hated her. She was pretty, of course she was, but she was the type of pretty that guys like, but that women can see right through. Fake, orange tan, false eyelashes, and a plastic surgery nose. She had long dark blonde hair that was piled up on her head and a skintight dress. Her eyes were focused dangerously on Becca and I felt my predatory side flare up even more.
Liam stepped forward and fell into step on my other side.
"I had your car brought around just in case," he whispered. "Were you just talking to Tara?"
I gave him an appreciative glance. "Yes, but it doesn’t matter right now. Thank you for bringing the car around. We're gonna go."
He closed his eyes and nodded as if that was for the best. "I'd leave with you, but I have a few last things to handle. Can I come to you after I leave?"
I glanced toward Becca. There was no telling what kind of mood she'd be in, but if she needed me, I didn't want to bail on her to be with Liam.
"Call me first and we'll figure it out," I explained as we brushed past Penn and his ex. Becca turned her head away from them and hurried out. I shot Liam an exasperated shrug and followed after her quickly.
That car ride home was hard to endure because 90% of me wanted to turn the car around and seriously lay into Penn. What was he thinking playing with Becca's feelings like that?
"I feel like an idiot. He never told me we were exclusive. Yes, we've been spending time together, but he hasn't asked me to be his girlfriend. I should have expected something like this."
"No!" I protested. "He asked you to be his date tonight, which means that he doesn't get to make out with another girl right in front of you. He's not a fool; he knew that he was playing with your feelings."
"I told myself not to get my hopes up, but I did anyway. I really like him Kinsley, but he's off-limits. He's not ready for a relationship. God, obviously he's not even over his ex."
I didn't know what to say, so I just kept muttering, “I’m so sorry.”
She didn't say anything after that. She stared out of her window the rest of the way home, and when we got there she went and washed her face and changed into her pajamas.
"Want to come in my room and we can watch something?"
She frowned. "I don't know. Maybe I should just sleep."
"C'mon. I seriously can't let you go to sleep like this. Come watch a Parks and Rec with me and we'll laugh and curse boys to the depths of hell."
She laughed pitifully, but followed me nonetheless.
I propped my laptop on my bed and kicked off my heels.
"Aren't you going to change?" she asked as I crawled onto the bed in my dress.
I shrugged. "It's oddly comfortable and I feel pretty in it."
She smiled and shook her head, and I leaned down to press play on the show. It felt good to make her smile after the day she'd had, but I couldn't concentrate on the show. I kept replaying our conversation and her tears in the bathroom. Becca deserved more than that, and I couldn't understand what Penn had been thinking. Why would he have done that to her? Maybe his ex-girlfriend was still an unfinished story. Did Liam have an ex like that? We hadn't even talked about it.
Becca interrupted my thoughts. "I don't think I'm going to give up on Penn," she murmured with her eyes still locked on my computer screen. She'd obviously not been really watching the show either.
I twisted toward her and nodded. "Not until you know the full story. I'd be the first to tell you to leave him and find someone better, but I honestly think you should hear Penn's side of it. That ex-girlfriend was staring daggers at you so she clearly feels threatened by his new interest in you. Maybe she kissed him and you saw it at the worst time?" I paused and reached to touch her arm. "But seriously, Becca, he has some groveling to do. He can't expect to treat you like that and get away with it."
She chewed on the side of her lip, thinking it over. "We'll see."
Just then I heard a small tapping on my door.
"Come in," I said, expecting to see one of our teammates pop their head through, but instead Liam pushed the door open and cautiously took a step inside. He looked nervous about being there and I instantly shot off the bed.
"Hey! What are y
ou doing here?" I asked, unable to mask my surprised grin as I scanned down his suit. He was holding a plastic bag in his left hand.
"You weren't answering your phone and I wanted to make sure you were okay." His eyes scanned to Becca, who was lying on the bed in her footed pajamas, and then back to me.
"Is this a guy-hating zone? Should I leave?" Liam asked with a timid smile. I wanted to kiss it right off him. He looked so handsome standing in his suit in my bedroom, even if he did look out of place.
"Depends on what you have in that bag, Wilder," Becca called out.
He laughed and held it up to look inside. "Ice cream, candy, and some alcohol. I wasn't sure what you guys would want." He shrugged and I leaned forward, kissing him on the cheek.
"Thank you so much," I murmured into his ear before pulling back and taking the bag out of his hands.
"Should I leave?" he asked as I took the bag over to Becca and let her peek inside.
"Well I'm assuming you bought these M&Ms for yourself, right?" Becca joked.
He rubbed his hand along the back of his hairline, flashing us a sheepish grin. "There's another bag for you guys."
We laughed and Becca waved her hand. "C'mon. We're pretending to watch TV while we actually consider how I should slowly murder Penn."
Liam kicked his shoes off and then placed his suit jacket on the back of my desk chair. I watched him, completely enamored by his movements. He rolled the sleeves of his shirt up and then finally came over to the bed. It was a perfect sandwich in my opinion. Becca on one side of me, Liam on the other, and candy spread across my lap. What more could a girl want?
"Am I allowed to ask you about Penn and his ex?" Becca asked cautiously as she tossed him his bag of M&Ms.
"I don't like her," he muttered, tearing the package open.
"Well that's good. You're on our team then." I smiled toward him and bumped his shoulder playfully.
"I forget how they met, but they dated for a year and she messed with his head the entire time. She'd string him along and tell him how much she loved him and then treat him like shit. I told him to leave her countless times, but eventually she left him and I thought he finally could see her for the bitch that she was.
“He hasn't seen her since the split, but I'm not surprised that she showed up tonight. She probably heard that he'd moved on and felt like she needed to sink her claws back into him. That’s the kind of manipulative cow she is."
Becca spooned a bite of ice cream into her mouth as she muttered, "Wow."
"But you shouldn't write him off, Becca. I've known the guy for years and he's not a cheater. He's a good friend and a good teammate. Give him time to get his shit figured out."
Becca narrowed her eyes. "She's like a grown-up version of me. His ex, I mean. Seriously, I look like Barbie's little sister compared to her."
"No!" I protested just as Liam sat forward.
"Fuck no. She has those duck lips."
I eyed him with an appreciative smile. For a 6'3'' soccer player that exuded testosterone and control at every moment, he was doing pretty well at girl's night. It was almost comical thinking of him beating up Josh the week before as he sat on my bed eating M&Ms and discussing relationship woes with us.
We all leaned back onto my pillows, talking about Penn and helping Becca feel better about the situation. Liam gave her some advice on how to best deal with Penn. It was similar to what I'd been thinking. He told her that Penn needed to come to her and she needed to back off for a few days and let him realize what an idiot he'd been. We kept talking until the three of us were starting to nod off. I'm not sure who eventually fell asleep first, but we ended up sleeping like that: Becca rolled to the side in her footed pajamas and me, still in my slinky dress, with Liam's arms wrapped around me. His cologne swirled through my dreams.
It’s strange how the little things end up illuminating your feelings for someone. Seeing Liam walk into my room with a bag of candy and alcohol for my best friend made me fall just a little more off the deep end for him.
Hopefully I was equipped with some floaties.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Liam was gone by the time Becca and I finally got out of bed the next morning, but I knew he had an early start. Apparently there was a press conference and some team photos before his game later. I was excited about the prospect of seeing him play.
I was in my bathroom brushing my teeth when Becca came in, eyed me wearily in the mirror, and handed me her phone.
“I don’t know how I feel about it yet, but here,” she warned. The image that greeted me felt like a punch to the gut. I leaned forward and spit out my toothpaste, wiped my mouth, and dried my hands with stoic precision, before turning and grabbing the phone out of her hand.
Sadly, in those few seconds the photo hadn’t disappeared. I zoomed in and tried to quell the anger threatening to surface.
The photo was from last night. Depicted in a tight frame there was Liam and Penn with Penn’s ex girlfriend and another girl that looked like an exotic-looking model. Penn was by his ex-girlfriend and Liam was standing beside the model. The caption below mentioned something about two LA Stars with “their dates” for the evening.
"I've already seen that photo on a few other sites," Becca explained, pulling the phone back from me and ducking out of my room without another word. I had no clue how she felt about it. For all I knew, it was the final nail in Penn’s coffin.
I leaned forward onto the sink and let my head fall. I'd been so concerned with the media pestering Liam and I that I hadn't considered how crappy it would feel if Liam was actually reported to be with another girl. I shouldn't have cared. What did it matter if people thought that Liam was dating this girl? But I did care. I was angry that he was with another girl after I'd left. Did they dance? What made the media think they were together? Or was it just this one photo misconstrued to sell magazines?
My initial instinct was to imagine the worst: he was cheating on me. I was just as foolish as Becca, and Liam was playing me. After all, experience had proved that when it came to relationships, my worst fears were usually correct.
I sat on the edge of my bed and I let myself scroll through the photos of him from the event on all of the tabloid websites. That one picture was the only one where he was standing with the girl. But, there were surprisingly quite a few of him and me. We were standing on the side of the red carpet, chatting in the ballroom, and wrapped around one another on the dance floor. All of the feelings from last night rushed back in like a crashing wave, and I knew I wouldn't hold that one photo against him.
I could either assume the worst or assume that Liam was watching out for me, that he was better than Trey and Josh. He'd done nothing but prove his trustworthiness, and I wasn't going to punish him for something he had no control over. I knew firsthand how quickly the media could spin a story, so I closed the web page and shutdown my laptop. When I glanced down at my phone, I saw a text from Liam.
Liam: My agent just alerted me to a photo circulating that has me posing with Penn and some random girl. It's bullshit. That girl came up to our group when I was laying into Penn and the photographer came around to snap a picture. I was not with her. I can't talk now, I'm at a press thing, but I'll call you when I'm done.
Kinsley: No, Liam it's fine. You came to my house last night. I trust you.
Liam: This kind of thing will happen, but I'll always be honest with you. That shit with Penn is not how I operate.
I sighed as I read his text. I knew I did the right thing by ignoring the gossip. Liam had a big day ahead of him and he didn't need drama from our relationship adding stress.
Kinsley: I know what I signed up for, Wilder.
Liam: No regrets?
Kinsley: Not when I think about how you looked in that suit last night... ;)
Liam: Don't start. I'm about to have to speak in a few minutes.
Kinsley: So I shouldn't tell you that I'm about to hop in the shower? Oops, there go my panties.
Liam: ... you're coming home with me after the game tonight.
Kinsley: Maybe I have plans with the team after?
Liam: Had. Cancel.
I smiled at his smug confidence as I threw my phone onto my bed. I'd lied about showering. I was going on a run and then I'd shower and get ready for the game later. I dragged Becca out with me knowing the exercise would make her feel better. I had no clue where her head was at. She'd told me that Penn had called her several times since last night, and she'd ignored them all.
"I'm just not ready to talk to him yet. I keep going back and forth between being angry and sad, and I don't want to cry when I finally face him," she explained as we started our cool down after our run.
"That makes sense. Give yourself a little time."
She sighed and propped her hands on her head so she could take deeper breaths. "I just wish I wasn't going to see him at the game tonight."
"Maybe it'll be good," I pointed out. "You'll see him, but you won't be able to talk to him since he'll be on the field. You can prepare yourself for when you do actually come face to face with him again."
After that, I decided to keep my mouth shut. Becca was torn; she'd have to figure out what she wanted to do on her own and I'd support her decision no matter what. Unless, of course, she wanted to swear off men and join a convent. Nun robes were just a short slippery slope away from her current onesies.
…
"What's with the oversized purse?" Becca asked as we got out of her car at the soccer stadium.
I blushed. "Um, Liam wanted me to come home with him after the game. I'm not 100% sure that I am, but I figured I should be prepared just in case." I hadn't packed much, just a change of clothes. It all fit discreetly in my bag so that it hopefully didn't appear too desperate.
"He's a good one, Kinsley," Becca offered with a timid smile.
The rest of our team was waiting in the designated spot outside the stadium, and once everyone had arrived, Coach Davis led us down to our seats in our matching black shirts. The stadium was huge and already packed with crazed fans, but we were given priority seating just behind the player's friends and families.
