“I’ll be right back. I’m going to gather my things from the lockers and I’ll meet you there,” he says pointing toward the parking lot, “and we’ll be on our way.”
“Okay.” I smile. “Which car?”
“The black one there, on the end,” he answers, pointing once more.
My eyes wander the sparsely populated lot and then rest on a small black car that seems to sit lower than the others. It’s all shiny and sleek. It has four exhaust tips – two on each side – that are smooth shiny silver, looking like they could be somewhat loud. The windows are darkly tinted and there are two small stickers placed in the bottom corners of the back windshield naming unknown brands of something I've never heard of. The four wheels have pitch-black rims that look powdery in color with hardly any rubber showing for tires.
He tosses the keys to me and I catch them with the small remote that hangs from the key ring.
“Go ahead and unlock it. I’ll be out shortly,” he promises.
There are so many buttons on the small black gadget that I feel slightly intimidated. Whatever happened to lock and unlock? My old rusty Bronco only has a key to unlock her and the same key starts the ignition. Liam laughs at my confused face and reaches over to point out the right button.
“It’s this blue one here,” he gestures.
I study the little black box. “Blue one. Got it.”
Liam runs ahead of me, disappearing toward the school. As I approach the car, I trail my hand along the smooth paint and I notice the words Skyline GT-R scrawled in typical gray decal by the right brake lights. Wow, this car sits low. I push the button when I reach the passenger door and suddenly the horn is blaring noisily and the lights are flashing frantically. I drop the keys in my shock and then reach down to retrieve them, hoping no one is around to notice the racket. I don’t look to check. I push what I hope to be the same button as before and the noise deceases. Hesitantly, I put my thumb on the other blue button and press against the small circle gently. I hear a tiny chirping sound and then the doors unlock.
I open the door to find that instead of the passenger seat awaiting me, is the driver’s seat I stand in front of. That throws me for a loop. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion and shake my head while I shut the door and head around to the other side to crawl in. As I sit in the black leather seat I can’t help but wonder how Liam wouldn’t know anything about cars when he owns such a fancy one himself. There really is no other word for it. There is obviously a lot of time invested into this one. Maybe he bought it this way.
The inside smells of clean leather and the dash contains a fairly good sized monitor that looks like a flat screen TV with lots of knobs and buttons underneath. Then to the right of the steering wheel is another, smaller TV accompanied with three round gauges spaced evenly beneath. They don't look like normal car gauges to me; they’re something else. And is that a tiny laptop sitting on the counsel? The steering wheel even has lots of buttons on it. The seats are low to the floor and I notice that the car is a stick shift. I suddenly wished that I’d never learned how to drive a manual myself and wander in thought as I imagine Liam teaching me how to maneuver through the gears on a deserted dirt road somewhere.
I can see it in my head so perfectly. The sun is shining and we are parked in the middle of a dusty lane lined with tall, thick trees. The sunlight makes the green leaves of the trees glow in a brilliant emerald above us and birds chirp as they fly overhead in the blue sky. I’m in the driver’s seat, feeling odd because I’m in what feels like the passenger seat trying to drive. Liam is pointing to the clutch and stick shift, showing me with his hands how to operate through the gears. I’m giggling and he’s patient with me as I stall the car over and over again. He never gets frustrated or wants to give up on me. The windows are down and the breeze is blowing my hair into my face. Liam very sweetly reaches over to tuck the lock behind my ear and I reach up to stroke his beautiful face…. My daydream is interrupted with the sound of the driver’s side door opening.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so long.” Liam says as he folds himself into the seat.
“That’s okay. You weren’t long at all.” I reply while fidgeting with the strap of my bag, feeling embarrassed for my thoughts even though there is no way he’d know what I was thinking. And I’m having a hard time sitting still with him so close to me. Damn those magnets.
“So, which way to your house?” he asks.
“Oh, um… you need to take a right when you get to the road out of the lot.”
He silently starts the car and it hummmms sounding like it has the potential to go very fast. The exhaust vrooms, making a noise that reminds me of a big overgrown bee when he puts his foot on the gas to accelerate.
“I wonder what’s wrong with your car?” he muses.
“I wouldn’t have the slightest idea. She’s kinda old,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “Maybe she had a stroke.”
He laughs at my bad joke. “Well, we’ll have to find out how to revive… her? Why a her?”
“I don’t know,” I shrug. “She’s always just seemed like a girl to me. A totally kick-ass girl.”
Liam laughs again. “Which way now?”
I point to the left when we reach the four corners of Main Street. We’re both quiet for a moment and I try not to focus on the on-coming traffic as it feels odd sitting on the opposite side of the car while not driving. All that makes noise is the soft hum of his car.
“That looks like quite the nifty contraption,” I say, eyeballing the big screen in the center of the dash.
He follows my gaze and answers, “You could say that. It’s very handy, though. It has a GPS, the radio is centered there and it’s a touch screen. It has internet and I can control all the settings to the radio, iPod player, Blu-Ray player –”
“You have a Blu-Ray player in your car?” I ask, cutting him off.
“Yes,” he replies scrutinizing my face, “You seem to find that a bit balmy.”
I raise my eyebrows at the fact that he has a Blu-Ray player in his car, and then furrow them together at the word balmy. I think of the chapstick hidden in my shorts pocket and can’t imagine that’s what he means. Or that he means that it’s warm and moist like the summer heat at night.
“Would you care to clarify?” I ask.
He seems confused for a split second and then chuckles softly. “You find my having a Blu-Ray player in my car a little crazy?”
“Oh. I guess I just don’t understand the point. It’s not like you can watch a movie while you drive.” I say while shrugging my shoulders. “It'd be dangerous.”
“I can’t, but those riding along can. It makes long trips a little easier to suffer through. I assure you that if you were riding in a car for any extended length of time, you would probably find a movie to be pretty nifty. But it’s also a nice thing to have if you’re parked or… er…” He shifts in his seat slightly, as if becoming uncomfortable.
“That’s true. I hadn’t thought of that.” This makes me wonder how many long trips he’s taken that requires a distraction for any passengers. And furthermore, who those passengers might be. And then, parking! I feel my cheeks heat to the thought. “You know what this car reminds me of?” I ask quickly, distracting myself.
“What's that?”
“It reminds me of one of those cars in those movies about racing with storylines about crooked cops and the bad guys really turning out to be the good guys. If that makes sense. They drive cars like this and make all kinds of money by being naughty and driving them fast and stupid. Have you watched any of those movies?” I am babbling and need to stop.
His eyes tighten just a little. “I think so,” he says distractedly. “Am I still going the right way?” he wonders aloud.
I hadn’t been paying attention really to the road. I look around my surroundings and discover that we’ve missed the turn off to the next road in our short journey.
“Oops, we missed the road. If you keep going straight we’ll come to M
arble Drive and it will eventually lead to my road. Sorry, it’s a little out of the way.” I mumble apologetically. “You should just turn around.”
“I don’t mind,” he says as he gazes out the windshield. I think I see his lips twitch as though he might be trying to hide a smile.
I mash my lips into a line trying to fight the huge grin that is now struggling to surface. Secretly I’m delighted that I’d missed the turn off. I will now have a few more minutes with him.
Out of the corner of my eye (not wanting to full on stare at him because he’d surely think it was weird, even though I want to) I take in his features for a hundredth time. He has his left hand on the gear shift and his arm resting on the middle counsel. His arms are very muscular in a lean way and the veins protrude from his forearm all the way down to the tops of his hands – but not in a scary muscle builder kind of way. Just enough to extenuate the muscle and tendons lying underneath. The radio is on and he lightly taps his fingers to the beat of the music on the steering wheel. Liam’s seat is all the way back as far as it will go, but his knees still bend slightly upward as if his legs are too long for the space. He doesn’t seem uncomfortable though. And he’s wheeled the windows down allowing his sandy brown hair to blow in the wind, bringing me back to my daydream.
“How long have you been on the swimming team?” he asks, bringing me out of my ogling.
I blink trying to focus. “Only through high school, although I’ve been swimming since I was three.”
“Do you enjoy it?” He seems intrigued for some odd reason.
“Absolutely. It’s something I find very comforting and peaceful. There’s just something about being in the water that makes me feel at ease. Like the entire world is on the outside, as if I'm inside a snow globe - a snow globe no once can access - only without the snow. Sort of like I’m the only one in existence.” Holy crapola, why can’t I talk straight around him?
He contemplates that for a minute. “What events do you swim?”
I raise my hand and point for him to turn right onto the next road. “I swim in the four-hundred meter relay and the two-hundred meter freestyle, individual.”
We’re on a dirt road now and I suddenly feel bad. I recall my daydream and secretly think that he probably doesn’t want to get his glossy car dirty. We are going slower than the speed limit requires and my shoulders slump, realizing the reason for his slow pace.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think about the dirt road. It’s not something I usually have to worry about. My gal isn’t as… pretty as yours.”
Liam laughs. “The car will wash. I’m only going slow because the road is a bit bumpy. It really doesn’t bother me. I promise,” he assures as he lets his water-colored eyes intensely bore into mine.
He looks at me longer than is probably necessary, but we are going extremely slow, so it doesn’t seem to hinder his driving. It doesn’t feel at all awkward, although it most likely should. I can’t decide what he’s looking for as he stares at me. But whatever his reasons, I myself could stare at him for hours if time allowed. I wonder if it had started to feel strange to him as he looks away. Then I convince myself that it’s probably because he needs to watch the road.
“Um,” I mutter, trying again to focus. “How long have you played soccer?”
“Quite a long time. I, too, have played since I was just a little ankle-biter. One of my first memories is kicking around a football.”
I am going to try and get used to Liam’s terminology. I keep forgetting that football is soccer in the UK. No matter what he says though, it comes out beautifully. With his accent, I’m sure even the ugliest of curse words would sound delightfully exquisite.
“And do you enjoy it?” I ask, mirroring his question.
He smiles and nods. “I enjoy it, however not as much as I used to. It’s not something I plan to continue when I finish school, although if my father had his way I’d strive to play professionally,” he adds with a sigh.
“Oooooo, the next David Beckham.” I joke.
“Yeah, something like that.” His voice isn't as light hearted as mine had been.
“Wouldn’t he rather you do something you want to do?”
“He tells me that he does,” he answers while slightly shaking his head. “Have you ever heard the phrase ‘actions speak louder than words’?”
“Sure.”
“He says that he wants me to be happy in the future I choose. However, when I’m on the field I can always hear him on the sidelines yelling. Yelling at me, yelling at the ref, yelling at the coach… and that’s only if he decides to come to a game. Then he has the audacity to tell me that no recruiter is ever going to offer me a scholarship or career if I don’t commit.” Liam’s jaw is tight now and his stare hard. He sighs again and rolls his gorgeous eyes.
I can see that this is upsetting him to think about and I desperately want to reach out to offer some comfort. Maybe hold his hand in mine, or to embrace him in my arms, to place my hand to his cheek. I don’t care which one. I wonder if crawling over onto his lap would be too much. Get a hold of yourself!
“So did you move here with your family?” I ask, trying to lighten the subject a little. And because I’d promised myself I would find out this information.
“No. I’m only here for the year. I’m staying with the Dawson’s”.
Suddenly the last few days make a little more sense. Why he had been sitting with Chad Dawson at the pizza parlor. Why Coach Dawson had opened the pool to the soccer team. I do find it odd that I didn’t know the Dawson’s had acquired an exchange student, though. I was at their house a few times over the summer and can’t believe I wouldn’t have seen Liam there. He’s hard to miss.
“Oh, that’s nice. They’re a nice family.” I say as I internally count the time I’ll have left with him.
For some reason this new information has made it all that much more important for me to have him in my life. Nine months, maybe ten if I’m lucky. Not even a year. I only have so much time. Knowing that if I do get close to him, that if I somehow let myself – dare I say it – fall in love with him, it will be that much harder to let him go. My heart squeezes at the thought but I won’t let the probability of heartbreak stop me from having Liam in my life. It’s a need that is getting impossible to ignore.
“So, who’s car is this?” I ask then, trying to figure out more about him.
“It’s mine. My mum graciously agreed to have it shipped overseas for me.”
My eyes bug. “Wow! That is very gracious of her. Nothing like sending your favorite little keepsake from home along with you.”
“Is it strange for you to sit on the opposite side of the car?” he muses with a smirk.
“Yeah. I automatically went to the other side of the car to get in. I think I stood there for a minute before I realized I needed the opposite side. Although, it's probably a bit stranger for you to drive on the wrong side of the road.”
He laughs and I memorize the sound.
“Kind of, but I'm getting used to it. You see, I’m the baby of the family,” he begins, bringing me back to my previous comment. “And I do admit that I get most anything I want. I’m a bit spoiled. Well, by my mother at least.”
“Oh.”
He laughs again.
“Is it hard to be away from them – your family?” I ask then.
“Not overly difficult being I attend boarding school back home. Though, I do think it was hard for my mother. She didn’t want me to apply to the exchange program but she saw how strongly I wanted to do it. And both my brother and sister are away at college, so now all her babies are gone. She’s feeling a little abandoned I think.”
“I can’t imagine being away from my mom. Well, not on another continent anyway,” I say as a little feeling of sadness overtakes. Going away to college is something I want to do, but I am going to have a hard time with the separation from her.
“Are you close with your mum?” He noticed that I didn’t mention my father.
> “Very. She’s my best friend.”
We’re ending the dirt road and with a sudden gloom I realize that my house is only a short distance away.
“Turn left here and my house is just up over the hill on the right,” I instruct.
Liam doesn’t say a word the rest of the short drive. It looks as though he’s deep in thought over something. He pulls into my drive and brings the car to a stop. I see him shift the gear and lightly move it around in a loose circle as he pulls the emergency brake up, making it so that he can take his foot off the brake. He looks out the windshield with a very pensive yet skeptical look to his beautiful face.
“Exactly who is this Ben character everyone says is courting you?” he finally says.
His question causes the air to whoosh out of my chest as if I've been punched. What does he mean by everyone? Has he been asking people about me? About him? I swallow and slowly shake my head from side to side while I answer – almost as if I am trying to deny what I’m about to say.
“He’s my boyfriend.” The word boyfriend sounds like a curse. The rest of my explanation comes out in a rush. “Ben and I have been together for a while. He’s away at college now. Axel, my little brother – half-brother, adores Ben. I think he feels a little protective of our relationship.”
“So, you’re pretty serious then?”
“Not too serious.” I say quickly. “Things haven’t been going so well.” Why am I telling him this?
Liam only nods while I reach for the door handle and his eyebrows are wrinkled together looking as if he’s concentrating very hard once more. I have the door open and am stepping out when he speaks again.
“This Ben, he’s not attending college close to home?”
“Not really. It’s a two hour drive.” I reply while turning toward him. He doesn’t say anything more so I take that as a hint. “Well, thank you for the ride. It was really nice of you. I’ll see you at school.”
Hollow Sight Page 9
