Chapter Nine

The Night Shift

Please note: Parker’s name has officially been changed to Peter

I grasp Liam’s arm and tug him into the empty classroom, closing the door behind us.

“Are you gonna make a habit of this?” he asks. He slides his hands into the front pockets of his dark-washed jeans and looks at me from under his eyelashes.

I grin. “Only when I want to have my way with you.”

Liam laughs and perches on a desktop. I stand in front of his bent knees. We’re nearly eye-to-eye.

“It’s time for –wait, do you have a class right now?” I lose my trail of thought when the question bounces into my mind. I would hate for Liam to be missing valuable class time for me. Note the sarcasm.

He shrugs. “Nah, study hall.”

“Me too,” I say. “So you should get used to this.”

He flashes a smile full of straight, white teeth.

“Okay, so,” still standing, I rest my palms on his knees, my arms straight. “We need to get serious about this.”

Liam looks like he’s trying to hold back a laugh. “Alright.”

“I’m serious.” Now I’m holding back a giggle. Liam is so distracting. “We can’t get together as slow as I thought we could, because I realized that I want us to be officially together for at least three months, maybe four.”

“Why?” Liam scrunches up his eyebrows.

I roll my eyes. “So I don’t seem easy. If the student body is to believe you’ve actually fallen for me, we need to have a steady, solid relationship. Two months makes us seem like a fling. So if we play this right, we should be able to make it look like you’re falling for me since we’re spending so much time together.”

I purse my lips, thinking hard. Liam, I can tell, is absorbing this information is his usual strong, silent way. I decide to simply proceed in my monologue.

“Which means we need to up the antics. It’s time for stage one part two.”

Liam eyes me flatly. “Seriously?”

“Hey,” I point to myself, “evil genius at work here.”

“Get a day job.”

“You are my day job.”

“Take the night shift.”

“That would mean sleeping with you. Wait—” I can feel the blush working its way across my cheeks. “I definitely didn’t mean it that way.”

Liam laughs and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me between his bent knees. “Oh, really?” He looks at me, his silver blue eyes knowing. “I’ve been wondering what you got out of this deal. Is that it? You want me?”

“You wish,” I say, avoiding his gaze; my face still feels hot.

Liam pulls me closer. I can feel his body heat.

“Then what do you get out of this?” His voice has lost the joking tone and is simply curious.

I turn my face back towards his. I’m close enough to count his eyelashes. “Revenge.” The word tastes bitter on my tongue and I wish I could swallow it back. It just sounds so shallow.

“On…Melissa?” Liam says slowly, obviously working it out in his head.

“Yeah.” I nod. “She wants you and I can have you. Simple as that.”

“So I’m just a pawn in your scheme?” He half-smiles.

I return the gesture. “Pretty much.”

He suddenly turns serious. “Does she always torment you?”

I waffle between truth or lie. Then I decide I’m already too deep into this “fake” relationship with Liam and we need as few lies as possible. “Yeah, since I transferred here right before sophomore year.”

“Why’d you transfer?”

I rest my arms comfortably on his shoulders. “Because Mom wanted my little sister to go to this nice private school so she could get a ‘solid foundation’. Her words, not mine. So, you know, we moved across the city for the two year old’s education.” I smile fondly, not meaning my sarcastic bite.

Liam returns my gentle grin with one of his own. “What’s your sister’s name?”

“Half-sister, actually. And her name is Reese.” I don’t know why I revealed the former tidbit of information. Only Peter knows about my parents and Reese and my split genetics. But there’s something about Liam that made it slip.

“I’d like to meet her,” Liam says.

I’m surprised but secretly pleased. “I don’t know if you’re worthy to meet her,” I say dubiously.

Liam strokes my hips with his thumbs and laughs. “Fin, we’re gonna start dating. It would be weird if I never met your family.”

He has a point there. But would he fit in with stocky, tattooed Mike and zany Mom? “We’ll see,” I say finally.

“Wasn’t there a reason you pulled me into this classroom?” Liam asks.

His question causes me to remember my initial motive for this slight kidnapping. “Oh! Yes, yes there was.” I twist my fingers together behind his neck, keeping my arms securely on his shoulders. “We need to get people to start seeing us together, so us dating doesn’t seem to come out of nowhere.”

Liam digests the information. “So…dinner and a movie?”

My eyebrows rise. “Why, Liam, are you asking me out?” I ask, mock-aghast.

He turns pensive. “No, this is merely our first public outing. You’ll know when I fake ask you out.” He winks and I can’t help but chuckle.

“I bet. And keep in mind this little outing is ‘friends only’. We need to build up to our grand reveal.”

“Grand reveal?”

“Yes. I haven’t worked out the finer details yet, but it’s going to happen.” I promise.

“Oh, I don’t doubt you, don’t worry.” His lips are smiling but there’s something in his eyes that reminds me I’m blackmailing him. I’m the one forcing him to do this. None of this is real.

And that’s why I draw myself from his embrace, the feeling of his hands at my waist lingering in a ghostly caress. “I’ll text you the details.” I grab a pen on the floor and hand it to him, waiting patiently as he scribbles his digits across my forearm. Then I enter the hall, closing the door behind me and leaving the hottest guy in school in a classroom, alone.

__________________________________

My eyes scan the parking lot scrupulously, focusing on the loitering students and doing a double-take at any girl with blonde hair. 

Clear.

Muscles tense, I scurry to the green truck and tug urgently at the passenger door handle. Locked! My heart beats in my ears, blocking out any nearby conversations. I crouch and make my way to the driver’s side, trying that door as well. It’s locked too.

I cast darting eyes around, searching for a new game plan.

Well. Drastic times call for drastic measures.

I throw my backpack into the bed of the truck, heaving myself in after it. We both land in a slightly crumbled heap. Fixing my lopsided glasses, I stare at the back window. It’s open a few inches, eleven at the most, a craftily placed piece of wood on the inside frame prohibiting it from being open any further. And those eleven inches are the only thing between me and safety.

I manage to squeeze my backpack through the limited space, where it slides unceremoniously onto the truck’s narrow backseat. Then I sit back and reevaluate my plan, comparing those eleven inches to my body. I decide to take the chance.

Feeling much like entering a straw, I position my body at an angle and wedge myself through the empty square. Once my shoulders are through the rest of me follows easily. Thank goodness I have the curves of a twelve-year-old boy.

Again, I land in a heap on the floor, but at least this time it’s in the secure vehicle. I’ve escaped. For now.

But I know Melissa will just seek me out tomorrow, possibly to inflict twofold the proposed pain to make up for this flight. I’ll worry about it later.

I’m still like that, crouched in the backseat, when I hear the telltale jingle that informs me someone is unlocking the driver’s door. They hum softly, slightly off-key, and –to my surprise –chuck their backpack into the back beside me, narrowly missing my head.

“Hey!” I sit up, affronted, though I’m unsure why since I should’ve known he would put his bag back here. I’ve been his friend for years.

Peter gives a startled shriek and visibly jumps, clutching a hand to his heart. I snort and climb over the seat, settling myself in the passenger’s.

“You’re such a girl.”

“You scared me!” He defends, his voice a slight octave higher than normal. He quickly clears his throat and says, in a much deeper, dramatically manlier tone, “Why did you sneak into my truck?”

I prop my frayed converse on the dashboard and examine my nails. “The usual. Escaping torture by the hands of a plastic blonde and all that jazz.”

Peter climbs into the car and starts the engine. “Are you excited for that to stop?”

He pulls out of the parking lot and I can’t help but cast a last glance out the window for Melissa.

“Yes, I am.” A small twinge of guilt jumps in my chest but I ignore it. I may be coercing Liam into doing this for me, but I’m not a cruel manipulator by any means. I’m very fair and take into account the feelings of others. Like, for instance, Melissa’s when her pretty little face catches sight of Liam and me holding hands. Or, goodness forbid, kissing.

Yes, I am a perfectly reasonable evil genius.

“And how are you and your boy toy?” Peter asks politely.

“Wonderful,” I say cheerfully, “we’ve planned a date.”

“Yee gads!” Peter exclaims. “Really truly really?”

“Really truly really,” I say. I take out my phone and enter the number Liam wrote on my arm, saving his contact as ‘boy toy’. “You need to get yourself a girl and then we can double.”

“Hm, let me think of a girl who would date me.” Peter purses his lips, his expression contemplative. After a few seconds, he shrugs. “Nope. Can’t think of anyone.”

“Come on,” I say, shoving my phone into my front pocket. “You’re smart and funny and cute. Any girl would be lucky to date you.”

“I could say the same for you,” Peter says. “And yet, who is doing the blackmailing, again?”

“Ahem, anyways,” I struggle to think of someone who would be attracted to Peter’s puppy-dog brown eyes and nerdish-ness. “What about Candy? She’s cute and in computer club.”

“I thought you didn’t like Candy?” Peter asks. “You said she was named after a stripper.”

I wave away this information. “That was in the past. Now I’m dating a jock and you can feel free to date a stripper. I won’t judge.”

Peter rolls his eyes. “Well, if I have your blessing…”

“Don’t get smart, mister.” I point a finger at my best friend. “I am trying to hook you up here.”

“You aren’t exactly a matchmaker, Fin,” Peter says with amusement. He pulls into his driveway and turns off the car. We sit in silence, both staring straight ahead.

“You never actually asked me if I wanted to come over,” I say.

“Oh, I forgot. Fin, want to come over?”

I shrug. “If you insist.”

I follow him into his house.