"I don't understand," He repeated for the fifth time, and if I had my eyes open, he would have surely seen my eye-roll. "How, what... did you know him before it... you know, before it happened?"

"No," I said loudly, so I was sure he heard me and wouldn't ask again. And again. "But when something like that happens, you don't just forget the person's face."

I shivered as I remembered that night; how the asshole was treating Liam's mum, and how he looked at me before he ran away, like the coward that he is. Well, was. I wasn't keen on genuinely wishing someone dead, but I actually thought he'd gotten what he deserved.

Liam sighed heavily, still probably looking at the page on the screen, and I knew he wasn't going to stop with the questions. Even if he didn't have new ones, he was going to repeat the ones he'd already asked. We'd been going in circles for the past ten minutes.

"I just..." I squeezed my eyes shut tighter as he started speaking again. "He was-he was driving last night, which meant he was free. Not arrested or anything."

I felt his hand on my forearm, which caused me to finally open my eyes and look at him. I could almost feel his worry radiating off him. "Didn't you talk to the police?"

"I did."

"Well why didn't they lock him up?" He said loudly, the anger in his voice making me cringe. "What the fuck? He... he tried to assault a woman in the middle of the street, then he almost fucking killed you... I... what the fuck is this?!" I jumped in my seat as he slammed his hands against the table, spilling a bit of my coffee on it.

To say the least, this is not the kind of reaction I was expecting from Liam. He almost seemed angry about the guy being dead.

"They didn't find him, I don't know what happened," I narrowed my eyes a little as I watched him, "Are you okay?" I asked slowly, which only seemed to add fuel to the fire, as he rubbed his face with both hands and shook his head as he chuckled - was what I'd said so absurd?

"I'm not fucking okay," He mumbled, "They could find him, he clearly wasn't that far away. I can't believe they did nothing about it. Nothing, Sally, fucking nothing."

I shifted in my seat, by now a little uncomfortable. I've never seen him angry and upset; genuinely angry and upset, before now. Usually both of us are pissed off in a way where making out could solve it, and then we'd continue our day as if nothing happened. A little dysfunctional, but it's all we've ever known.

Now though, now I was watching his knuckles become white from how hard he was clenching them, his lips pressed in a tight line and his heavy breathing, that he was obviously trying to control. I did understand him on some level, but then again, his reaction was a bit strange; I mean, it happened to me and he was the one bothered by it.

"Look, um..." I gulped nervously as I slowly moved closer to him, deciding against placing my hand atop of his. He looked like he could bite it off. "It's... it's over now. I mean, the guy, he..." I shrugged uneasily, "He's dead, Liam."

I knew he was angry, but I was still surprised when he shook his head. "No... last night he almost killed us- you, and that's the third time he got somebody I love in danger."

My stomach turned at his words, but I don't think he would have phrased it that way if he wasn't as pissed off as he was. So I decided to ignore it. "And then he just..." He looked at the screen again, and started reading the article. Great.

"'Landed off the road and died immediately'." Liam shook his head again, "No, that's not good enough. It was quick and painless, and he didn't deserve to die that way."

I widened my eyes as he abruptly stood up, and ran his hands through his hair before gripping the counter and leaning onto it. I actually couldn't believe what I was hearing; I couldn't believe that was Liam, my Liam, the guy who carried me through a park at three in the morning, and braided my hair out of fun at the festival less than 24 hours ago. I couldn't believe the vile thoughts that were going through his head.

I gulped again as I stood up, ready to try and calm him down for the fiftieth time; mostly because I was too tired and I had to go to work, so I definitely couldn't let him waste our time together on shit like this.

A little hesitantly, I reached for his arm and pulled him around so he was facing me. He was looking at my feet at first, but then his eyes slowly found mine. As soon as they did, I placed my hands on his cheeks and gave him a reassuring look.

"He's dead," I said loud and clear. "Painless or not, quick or not, he's gone. He won't be bothering any of us ever again. If I die young, it's going to be your fault, because you give me chest pains."

A small smile appeared on my face as he crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled; I know he was trying to hide it, but his smile could never go unnoticed by me. "Could you just let it go, please? Being upset about what happened a month or two ago will change nothing now. You're just making your face wrinkled."

I bit my lip as he furrowed his eyebrows even more, but then his expression softened when he sighed; bingo. "I just... alright."

"Yeah?" I smiled, needing to reassure myself, and my smile widened when he nodded curtly. "Great then. Can you drive me to work now?"

"What?" Liam frowned once again, though I was happy it was for another reason.

"Well, as fun as this is, I really need to go to work," I nodded at my own words, "You know, unless you want me to sit in front of a grocery store with a jar and ask random people for money when Dominick fires me."

He narrowed his eyes at me, "That's not funny. You sure you need to leave though? Like, right now?"

I smiled in relief; he was returning back to his normal self. Victory. "Yeah... I mean, it's best if I do. Nick's dad is the owner of the shop, I don't want to leave a bad impression."

Liam pressed his lips in a line and nodded, rather curtly. "Uh... well, did you finish your coffee?"

"Yeah, and, um, can you do me a favor?" I asked in a low tone. By the look on his face that occurred at my words, I knew we weren't thinking of the same thing. "Can you not mention this to your mum? I mean, I almost had a heart attack when I saw his face, imagine her reaction."

He started nodding immediately, "Sure. I wasn't planning to tell her anyway."

A satisfied smile appeared on my face at his words, but then I almost started laughing. Could it be? Liam and I, having a rational conversation? "Can we go now?"

He pressed his lips together and gave me a tight nod. "Yeah, just... don't forget anything."

I nodded as well, and looked around myself. Everything I brought with me was in my pockets and in my coat, so I had nothing to forget. I put the empty cup in the sink and left the room, to find Liam putting on his shoes in the hallway. I thought we'd ended the conversation, but it still seemed as if it was still on his mind. If only he was good at hiding what he was thinking about as well as I did.

"Ready?" He said through a sigh, looking around but for some reason, refusing to look me in the eyes. I didn't think his dumb mood would still be present, even though we just stopped talking about the reason for it two minutes ago.

"Um, yeah. Let's go," I mumbled as I pulled my boots on and put my coat on while walking out of the house. "Are you gonna stay with me for a few minutes?"

"What?" Liam said, slowing down so I'd catch up to him on our way to his car. "What do you mean?"

"When we get to Glacier, are you going to stay for a while? If not, that's okay too." I quickly added the sentence in the end, after only just realizing how incredibly clingy what I'd said sounded.

"Um, sure. I mean, do you want me to?" Wow, we were like a couple in a sitcom.

"Well yeah," I breathed out with a smile as I looked at him, trying to kill some of the tension between us. "I wouldn't be asking if I didn't."

"Okay then."

I pursed my lips and nodded to myself; so much for killing the tension. Although I still didn't understand why it was even there. Both of us obviously wanted to forget about what he'd read on the internet - even though it was good news for us, in a bizarre way - but it clearly just couldn't leave our heads.

The biggest surprise to me, was how big of an effect it had on Liam. Before that, he barely even acknowledged what I'd done for his mother and to myself. We just continued our twisted friendship like nothing ever happened. Now, it seemed as if it was just beginning to sink into his head.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked as we entered his car, and heard him sigh before giving me an answer.

"Yeah."

"Doesn't look like it."

I heard him breathe out a chuckle while starting the engine, "I'm just thinking about some stuff, don't worry about it."

I nodded, more to myself than him. "What kind of stuff?" I didn't want to nag him, but it was the only way I could be able to do something about his shitty mood. It's funny how my goal in life used to be wiping the smile off his face whenever I could, and now I just wanted to make it return on his lips.

"I said don't worry about it," He sighed as he tapped his fingers against the wheel, while I tried to find a more subtle way to get him to spit his thoughts out.

"You're frowning," I said in a louder tone, "You're not as pretty when you're frowning." So much for subtle.

Just as I'd hoped, his lips curved in the smallest of smiles at my words. "I like to think I'm more than a pretty face."

"You are," I assured him, "Your face is just a bonus."

"What are you doing, quoting stuff from Tumblr?" He chuckled, his words making me laugh. "That was cheesy, by the way."

"I like being cheesy," I beamed, staring at the side of his head while he didn't dare to look away from the road. I think I know what the reason for that might be. "I sound like you when I'm cheesy."

"Hey!" He laughed; bingo. "Don't call me cheesy, I'm not cheesy."

"You keep thinking that, pretty face." I smirked and sat up, though I didn't look away from him though. He still had a smile on his face, and I was happy that I'd finally gotten him to stop thinking about whatever the hell he was thinking about.

"Tell me," Liam started all of a sudden, scaring me a little. "What did your parents tell you this morning?"

I sighed as I remembered the slightly awkward conversation I had with my mum. "My dad was asleep, so I dodged a bullet there. Mum doesn't love you as much as before, by the way."

He chuckled again, "What? Why?"

"You got me drunk," I shrugged as I reminded him of my lie, and he nodded. I was lucky she wasn't that angry; it was a good thing I'd told her I had stayed with Briana. That way she thought Liam 'didn't take advantage of my not-so-sober state'.

I could only imagine her reaction if I told her the truth, about Liam crashing the car. He would have probably gotten a restraining order.

"Don't you feel bad, though?" Liam's question surprised me.

"What? About what?"

"You know, about lying to them," He shrugged a bit uneasily, "I know it might sound dumb, but I can't really lie to my parents about anything. I'm lucky they don't ask a lot of questions."

I sighed as I thought about my reason. "You really are lucky," I agreed, "If my parents were anything like yours, I probably wouldn't be as bitter as I am."

"Yeah... but why are they like that? I mean, you're a grown up, why do they feel the need to know everything about whatever you do?"

My mouth went a little dry when I remembered the reason for that. "Um... they're just like that, you know, they're one of those parents. Overprotective. It's why I'm moving out, anyway."

Liam nodded and glanced at me, but by the time I looked back at him, he was already staring out the windshield again. "That's good for you, I guess. You remember my offer, right?"

A small smile - that I was desperately trying to hide - appeared on my face as I remembered his words from the night before. "Yeah, I'll keep it in mind whenever I need a punching bag."

He nodded again, in an I-should-have-expected-that manner. "Great. I'll make sure to find you some gloves too."

I breathed a laugh at his words, and looked out the window when I felt him slowing down the car. I'd gotten so caught up in our light conversation, I hadn't even noticed he'd already reached my working place.

"Here we are," I mumbled to myself as I unbuckled my seat belt and glanced at Liam, "You coming?"

I reached to open the door, but stopped my own hand when I took a good look at him. He still had his hands on the wheel, his lips pursed as he stared out the windshield at nothing in particular. He was thinking about it again; and here we go again.

"Liam?" I sighed, "What's wrong?"

He started shaking his head, looking as if he'd snapped out of it when he heard me talk. "Nothing, let's-"

"Liam," I said in a harsher tone, making him stop for a few seconds. "Just spit it out, okay? You're beginning to get on my nerves."

He let out a heavy sigh and slammed the door shut, causing me to jump a little; I hadn't even noticed when he'd opened them. "I just..." The irrelevant thoughts left my mind as he started talking; finally, we were going to get this over with.

"I never really thought about it," Was all he said. Great.

"Thought about what?"

"What... what you did that night," He gulped at his own words, and so did I. If only he didn't look dead serious about it. "I-I was in shock at first, but when I got over it, I sort of... forgot about it. I don't know how I could have forgotten about something like that, but, yeah, I guess I did. And I never even thanked you."

I swallowed hard again as I noticed his hand slowly - hesitantly even, reaching for mine. "I didn't realize- I actually still don't realize how huge what you did was. I mean, I probably wouldn't have a mother right now if it wasn't for you that night, and I..."

A wicked smile appeared on his face as he trailed off; the kind that freaked me out a little. "I still can't wrap my head around it, I still don't believe that something like that could happen to me, out of all people. And it really didn't happen, and it was... it was because of you."

I frowned at how tightly he was clutching my hand, but stayed concentrated on his words. If we weren't in public, I was sure he wouldn't be as calm; he would probably be yelling, throwing things, punching things, the usual stuff he does when he's angry, or anything similar. Now he was putting his feelings into his left hand, that was crushing my right one.

"And I never... never got to show you how much I appreciate what you did. I never showed you, or told you, hell, I never even said the words 'thank you' and you fucking saved my mother's life, what kind of a person-"

"Liam," I said loudly, shifting in my seat so I was completely turned to him. He took a deep breath, seemingly just realizing he'd gotten a teeny tiny bit out of control; I was glad I yanked him out of it before he could have actually started yelling and punching.

I placed my hand on his cheek and made him face me; for a second or two he kept looking around, but then our eyes finally met. "And you're saying you're not cheesy."

"Stop kidding about it!" He breathed out and looked away from me, but only because he wanted to laugh at what I'd said; it was clear by the look on his face. "For someone who did something like... that, you sure like to crack jokes about it."

"Oh, come on," I said with a wide smile. "What's the point of talking about it now? The guy got what he deserved, your mum's good, I'm good too and I don't want anything in return. You don't just show up at the door of the person whose life you saved and ask for something."

My smile widened when his expression softened. Finally, we were going to end this. "Besides, imagine our relationship if we weren't forced to spend time together. You'd still be teasing me, and I'd still be thinking of a way to kill you and not get in prison for it."

"But I still tease you, anyway."

I narrowed my eyes at his words; someone was in a lighter mood, already. "Yes," I said slowly, "But I stopped thinking about how to kill you. I mean, don't get me wrong, it still crosses my mind from time to time, but..."

I trailed off as he chuckled, and finally looked at me too. "Good to know."

The smile on his face rapidly disappeared, and I almost started panicking at the thought of having yet another deep conversation with this chimp. "Come here," I said through a sigh as I leaned forward.

"What?" He frowned at me, "What are you-"

"If you feel bad about not showing your gratitude, the most you can do right now is kiss me," I stated boldly, "And we'll figure out the rest another time."

I almost didn't have time to finish my sentence, when Liam placed his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me toward him the rest of the way. My hands flew up to his cheeks as soon as our lips met; after a sleepless night and a restless day that still hadn't come to an end, I felt like this is exactly what I needed. This, and another five cups of coffee.

Liam kept leaning into me so at one point, I felt my back press against the door on my side. However, when he felt that he couldn't keep leaning forward anymore, he grasped my ankles and pulled me toward him so I was in a lying position. It felt a little uncomfortable since we were in the front seat, but it was seriously something I couldn't have cared less.

"You know," Liam mumbled as his hand slowly went from my leg to my hip, "Whenever you feel comfortable with doing something else besides kissing... you should keep your boots on."

"What?" I muttered, and pushed him away from my neck so I could look at him. "What do you- oh, no," I cut myself off and quickly but clumsily crawled from underneath him, while he kept laughing at my reaction. "You keep your kinks for someone else."

"Unless you're up for a threesome, there's not gonna be anyone else." I knew he had that smug smirk of his on his face, but for some reason, I couldn't look at him after he'd said those words. Whether it was because I was blushing or was going to snap at him, I don't know.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up about that either, if I were you," I mumbled, loud enough for him to hear me, and finally stepped out of the car, holding my backpack in my hand. Without waiting for him, I sprinted across the street and finally entered Glacier, and was relieved when I saw Nick there and not his dad. It took Liam about two seconds to catch up to me; probably because nothing I'd said didn't affect him as much as his last few words affected me.

"Hi, Nick," I said in a rushed tone and placed my backpack on the counter, before walking around it.

"Hey Sal," He said, only glancing at me when I walked past him. "Liam."

I caught Liam giving him a tight nod as I took my coat off, and found my shirt. I wasn't even bothered by his reaction whenever he saw Dominick anymore.

"Hey, you know what?" Liam licked his lips as I pulled my shirt over the blouse I was wearing.

"Yeah?"

"I should go home and start working on my presentation, so... come over here."

I grinned at his words, "Why?" I don't remember asking a more stupid question recently. I only saw Liam roll his eyes and didn't wait for his response, as I jogged around the counter to him. He opened his mouth to say something, but I interrupted him when I placed my hands on his neck and pulled him toward me in one last kiss. One of his arms went around my waist, and I felt a smile forming on my lips; good thing there were no people in the store at the moment.

If someone had told me that I'd be kissing the guy who got on my nerves like no one ever has, in front of my year-long crush two months ago, I wouldn't have believed them even if my life depended on it. So I guess I'd be dead right now.

"I'll see you next week," I mumbled against his lips before he pulled away, a smile on his face as well.

"Yeah, you're coming to that party with me on Wednesday, don't forget about it," He said just as quietly, and I nodded firmly. I was actually excited about going to the party; we were almost like a normal couple - except we weren't one - so nothing bad could happen.

"He's great," I heard Dominick say as soon as Liam closed the door of the shop. I'd turned around and was about to tell him something, but he beat me to it. "Could you not bring him here anymore?"

I blinked a few times at his words; didn't he just say he was great? Or was I getting bad at recognizing sarcasm? "What, why?"

"I don't like the way he looks at me while you two... you know, make out."

I couldn't really do anything except stare at him, "What are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? Have you seriously not noticed?" Nick chuckled, "The whole time, we were basically having a staring contest. If he wasn't looking at me like I've killed his whole family, it would have been better."

Dominick's smile disappeared when he noticed the look on my face. I didn't know if I was showing every emotion that I was feeling; anger, disappointment, hurt.

"I probably shouldn't have told you that," He muttered and scattered off to one of the shelves, pretending to be busy. I slowly walked over to the counter and placed my elbows on it, running my hands through my hair as I sighed.

He definitely shouldn't have told me that.

*******

~A/N~

≡unedited≡

Here we can see how awkward Liam and Sally are when they're not fighting or making out :)) vote and comment? x