"What the fuck," I continued to cough, pushing all the juice back up and out of the wrong pipe.

"Language, Thalia," my mom scolded.

My dad and Robert turned to look at me for a split second before they returned to their conversation. Jackson watched me with a weird look, still stuffing his mouth full of lamb chops.

"Are you okay?" Liam's hands were on my back within a second, his brows furrowed in concern. I met his gaze and for a split second, the only thing I could feel was his hand on me. It sent a rush of tingles through my body.

"Sorry honey, I didn't think I'd get such a big reaction," Susan giggled apologetically.

"I-it's fine," I croaked, swallowing hard.

He moved his hand from my back and immediately I found myself missing his touch.

"Shit," I let out a groan when I glanced down at my clothes. The juice had stained my dress and my black bra peeped out from underneath. "I'll go freshen up."

I avoided my mom's irritated expression as I got up from my seat, and hurried out of the dining room. Of all colours I had to pick black.

"I'll go help Thalia," I heard Liam say. His chair scraped against the floor as he got up.

"You don't have to follow me," I said to Liam as we walked through the hall. "I can take care of myself."

He caught up to me within a few seconds, an amused eyebrow raised, "Do you know where the bathroom is?"

"N-no," I sighed, realizing that I'd barely even seen the house besides the foyer and the dining room.

"Come," he nodded towards the staircase and I followed him up. We walked silently up the stairs and down the hall. My eyes trailed over the mounds of family photos hanging, consisting of Liam and his parents throughout the years on vacation in different parts of the world. My eyebrows knitted together when he led me into his room.

It was a beautiful room, even larger than my own. Unlike the rest of the house, the walls were an enchanting shade of midnight blue while the bedsheets were grey. Random posters hung on the wall on one side and a desk leant on the other side of the room. Above the desk was a billboard, covered with ribbons and certificates.

"Is there not a bathroom downstairs?" I asked, shuffling on my feet awkwardly as I stood by the door of his room.

"Your dress," he said as he brushed past me into his room. I swallowed hard, following him inside. He stepped into his walk-in closet and dug around before he pulled out a black t-shirt.

I glanced down at the yellow stain on my white dress, and the black fabric of my bra that was still noticeable.

"I'm just going to go home," I told Liam with a sigh. "I don't need your shirt."

"You think your mom will let you leave?" he raised an eyebrow, a small, crooked smile spreading over his lips.

No, but I wasn't to going to ask. I thought to myself.

He tossed the shirt to me from where he was standing. I caught it in my hands smoothly as he approached me, shutting the closet door behind him.

"Thanks, but I don't need this," I tossed it back to him and within a second, his shirt was thrown back, smacking me in the face.

"Put on the damn shirt, Ophelia," he said. "I'm just trying to help you. Your mom will be furious if she sees that stain on you."

I stared at him for a few moments, and he returned it with a hard stare. Finally, I gave in, sighing. I didn't want help from anyone, but Liam was right. My mom would be angry at me if I went back out without covering the stain. If I washed it off, I'd have to wait another ten minutes for my dress to dry.

I threw his shirt over my head and slipped my arms through the arm holes. The smell of his cologne was prominent, drifting up my nose. The shirt was huge on me, not that I was surprised. It covered a great deal of my dress, until only the hem peeked out from the bottom of the shirt.

"Thank you," I said quietly, then I let out a laugh. "I look like a nerd."

"No different than usual," he cackled.

"Take that back," I shoved him lightly, finding myself laughing along with him. I glanced up at him briefly only to see his eyes moving up from my toes to my eyes as they scanned me.

Immediately, he diverted his gaze elsewhere as he glanced around the room. Two bright pink dots were visible on his cheeks. I shifted awkwardly, feeling my cheeks heat up as I took a sudden interest in the carpeted floor below me.

I didn't realize until that moment how close we were standing to each other and I'd never noticed either of us walking closer to one another.

When I looked up again a moment later, I was surprised to see his dark eyes already on mine.

I sucked in a deep breath when he brought his hand up to my head, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

My heart pounded against my chest from his touch, and a weird feeling of warmth emanated through me. The butterflies were wild in my stomach — and not in a bad way. Like always, the ocean of stars in his eyes pulled me in.

And then it hit me.

Liam and I simultaneously took a step back from each other. My heart was still racing from his touch, and I couldn't bring myself to look at him with my burning cheeks. We remained silent for a few agonizing moments. In the heat of the moment, I'd forgotten what he'd done.

I focused my attention elsewhere in the room, when my eyes landed on a picture that sat on his bedside table.

"Is that you?" I finally cut through the silence between us as I made my way over to his bed.

"Oh no," I heard Liam say behind me, but I ignored his panic.

It was a photo of Liam as a kid — maybe in the seventh grade. He stood in front of a stage with a sticker stuck on the front of his shirt. Next to it was a ribbon labelled "PARTICIPATION". The best part must have been the oversized glasses on his face that have slid halfway down the bridge of his nose. Oh, and don't forget the braces.

"I was in the Spelling Bee," he gushed proudly behind me. "And I won."

"Yes, that's why your ribbon says participation," I snickered, turning back to face him. "The only thing you won was your parents' heart."

"Hey at least I made it through two whole rounds!" Liam shot back defensively, though there was a hint of a smile on his lips.

"Well, I gotta say, your spelling hasn't improved after all these years," I chortled, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I have improved a bit," his hand flew to his chest, his mouth slightly agape as he feigned hurt. "I was just a freshman."

"Freshman?" I turned to him, incredulously. Then, I bursted out laughing, to which Liam returned with a flat expression. "You looked like you were in middle school." I said through laughs.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want. I was a late bloomer," he said through my laughter. "I glowed up."

And that he did. I silently agreed. Liam was no longer the boy in the picture.

I assume he must've replaced his glasses with contacts, since his glasses were sitting on his desk. He was much taller than me and his body way more toned than what it looked like in the picture. Even his biceps were prominent through his dress shirt. I'd never noticed Liam like this two hundred years ago.

I tore my gaze away from him when I realized that I'd been staring for too long. I was not going to fall for it again like I had before.

Liam didn't say anything as he watched me with an amused expression, "Do you need something?"

I shook my head quickly, "Let's go back to dinner."

I brushed past him and hurried back down the stairs. Liam was hot on my trail as we entered the dining room again.

My mom eyed Liam's shirt as we sat down on our seats. Even though she didn't say anything, I could tell I'd be getting an earful tonight from how amused she looked.

The rest of the dinner went smoothly with no more mishaps. By the time my family and I were leaving, I was out of it and completely exhausted.

We stood by the foyer while our parents continued to talk. Jackson had already gone off to the car while I stayed back. Parents usually said it was time to leave, but would still take half an hour to get out the door.

Without realizing it, I ended up next to Liam. His eyes flickered over to me repeatedly as our parents chatted away. Once again, to my dismay, my cheeks warmed.

"I... I should get to the car," I started, awkwardly. "Oh, your shirt."

I began to take it off when Liam shook his head, "Keep it for now, you need it."

"Thanks," I found myself smiling again before I realized what was happening. The smile dissipated from my face and I gave Liam one last look before I hurried out of the house, ignoring his disappointed expression.

____________________________

Avery sat at my desk, her textbooks and papers spread out all over the table. We were supposed to be studying, but it seemed like we had been doing everything but that. I was sprawled on my bed with my own binder tucked below the bed. I was in no mood to grab it.

"How many midterms do you have left?" Avery asked, groaning.

"Just one," I answered with a sigh. The past week had been exhausting, with one exam and then another. I'd done nothing but study. At least I just had one left, but my motivation levels were none.

"Lucky, I still have three," Avery's nose crinkled. "Also, the other day, I just realized that I've been single for a year now."

"And being single is fine," I told her, raising an eyebrow.

"It just feels weird, and I feel incomplete," she bit down on her lip.

I understood where she was coming from, but I'd never experienced it. I felt relieved that Hunter was gone.

"Avery, you shouldn't feel that way. You should feel complete with yourself before you go into a relationship," I said as I fished out my binder, plopping it onto my bed.

"Yeah, whatever. We'll see," she shrugged. Then, she turned to me. "So like, I don't mean to pry but..." Avery started, trailing off.

"But you'll pry anyway," I smirked, dropping the subject we were on. One day, Avery would know what I meant by that. One day soon. "Just say it, I know you want to."

"What is with you and Liam?" she wriggled her eyebrows and I let out a groan. "You don't even hate him anymore. It's weird, you guys just... argue — very immaturely might I add."

"Nothing is with us, we just have a truce," I told her vaguely. She stared at me for a long moment, scrutinizing me, before she shrugged and turned back to her textbook.

I hadn't spoken to Liam since the dinner, which made sense since we were both busy with exams. But also, maybe a small part of me had been avoiding him. I had a feeling he was doing the same.

I didn't know what was going on. Every time I was with Liam my heart would race and my face would flush. I hated how he could still do that to me after all these years. And I hated that I still felt that way after what he did.

I didn't know what to feel anymore.

★★★

𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜! 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐷𝑜 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑒, 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑡.

~ 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝐼𝑛𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑡