I'd met Liam's cousin briefly at the hospital before he fell asleep just minutes later. He was a cute kid, only about ten years old and he looked much like Liam with his dark eyes and dark hair. He was sassy and had a big attitude like Liam.

Just as Liam said, his cousin's family was nowhere to be seen. It was just Liam and Sam.

It felt a lot like when I broke my arm, except I didn't even have a cousin there. My dad came once in the afternoon and that was it. I just stayed overnight alone until my dad's chauffeur picked me up the next morning.

His cousin was so lucky that he had Liam, and I respected Liam for being there for him.

Now, the weekend had come and gone. Avery and I stalked down the halls before classes began. We'd gone on Avery's usual morning coffee run at the food court before we began making our way to our classes.

"University is a joke," Avery huffed, taking a large gulp of her coffee. "I didn't even have time to study for my quiz today, too busy writing my stupid ten page essay."

"And when did you start this essay?" I raised an eyebrow, not bothering to hide my smile.

"Like yesterday night," she sighed. "I get it, I'm not  my good at this time management thing. I don't know how you do it."

"Start early, that's literally all there is to it," I told her. Time management was an important skill to have, and it was irritating that school had never taught us anything about it. Of course, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Liam had great time management skills.

"Yeah but when I have like a week to do something, it feels like a lot of time. I scroll through Tinder and Instagram, go to the mall then all of a sudden, I only have one day left," she explained with a sigh and I muffled my laughter. "Anyways, I'll be at the fundraiser your parents are holding. Just me though, my parents can't make it."

"That's fine," I shrugged. As long as Avery was there, I wouldn't have to be so bored. "I'll see you after classes," I told her, still smiling as we stopped in front of my class.

"Wish me luck on my quiz," Avery frowned before she walked on without me.

I walked into my class and immediately, the smile on my face dissipated when I saw Liam sitting on my seat. It wasn't my assigned seat, but it was the seat I'd sat on since the first day.

The class was still relatively empty since it was still a few minutes before the class started.

My lips curled down as I approached him. I stopped in front of him, gritting my teeth as I watched him take out his pen and textbook from his bag.

Liam glanced up at me, a smirk evident on his face, "Can I help you?"

Sam met my eyes from over Liam's shoulder. This time, he sat one seat away from Liam rather than next to him. He greeted me with a small smile and turned back to his textbook.

"No," I growled, taking the seat next to Liam. Now, I was sandwiched between Liam and Sam. I turned to Sam, plastering a bright smile on my face. "Hey, wanna switch spots with me?"

I didn't miss the way Liam's head snapped in mine and Sam's direction. Sam glanced behind me at Liam, his mouth opening and then closing.

"Um... no thanks?" Sam finally said and I let out a small groan.

"Looks like you're stuck with me Ophelia," Liam whispered from next to me. The crooked smile had returned on his face.

"You took my seat," I shot him a glare as I began getting my own supplies out.

"Does it have your name on it?" he teased, watching me as I dug around in my backpack. My pen was suddenly nowhere to be seen.

"It's implied," I hissed.

My anger only heightened when my hands couldn't find my pen. I picked up my backpack, placing it on my lap as I searched inside. Still, it was nowhere to be seen. I glanced over when Liam slid a pen across my desk.

"You can have mine," he offered. This time, the smile on his face wasn't a teasing one.

My eyes bounced between the pen and Liam. I didn't want his help, or his pen. But if I didn't take it, I'd have nothing to write with and no notes for this class.

"Just take it, Ophelia," he read my mind.

"Fine, I'll get you coffee after class so we're even," I took the pen, dumping my bag back down on the floor.

"You don't have to," he said quickly.

"I insist," I replied just as fast. "I don't want to owe you anything."

He watched me for a short moment, before sighing, turning back to his own desk as the lecture began.

For almost the whole class, he avoided my eyes, keeping his head facing the front. I didn't know why, but that irritated me.

I reached my foot over to his desk, giving him a light kick in the calf. He kept his gaze forward, his Adam's Apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed hard. I rolled my eyes, bringing my foot to his leg again.

Finally, he turned to me, an eyebrow raised as he smirked, "Caught your eye, have I?"

"For the first time in two hundred years, yes," I teased, nodding.

"W-what?" his face crinkled.

"Sike," I laughed in his face and his smile dissipated into a thin line as he gave me a blank look.

The rest of the class began packing their books back into their bags as the professor wrapped up the lecture. I followed suit, still cackling under my breath.

I zipped up my bag after stuffing my textbook and Liam's pen inside. I got up the same moment Liam did.

"I gotta run to my next class, see you guys later," Sam gave us a wave as he jogged off, out of the class.

"So, I'm waiting for my coffee," he raised an eyebrow at me, leaning against his desk with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Come on, let's go," I rolled my eyes, a small smile sneaking onto my face, nodding over to the door of the now empty classroom. I followed him out of the room as we began making our way to the food court.

Avery's class would be going on for longer since they were completing their quiz, so I had some free time to kill.

I stayed behind Liam as we walked. My eyes drifted over to his backside, which his jeans hugged perfectly. My mind acted without my consent and it drifted to the picture I saw from Avery's Instagram. The one of Liam... without pants on.

I almost grimaced when I realized what I'd been doing and I tore my eyes away from Liam.
To my relief, he didn't notice.

A slow smirk spread over my face when a bright idea lit up in my mind. I took two strides faster than usual, bringing my foot down on the back of Liam's sneaker.

His shoe popped off halfway and he grunted, turning back to look at me, eyes narrowed.

"I didn't do that," I stared back at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"I'm sure," he said, with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

The food court was bustling as we stepped in. It was almost noon and everyone was grabbing their food. Usually, I would have gone home.

I caught up to Liam, glancing up at him, "How does Starbucks sound?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I like the sound of that."

Luckily, there wasn't a line and we headed right to the counter to order. I tuned out Liam's voice while he ordered as I dug around in my bag for my wallet.

My hands closed around the leather fabric of my wallet and I pulled it out. But before I could pull my card out, my eyes landed on Liam tapping his own card on the machine.

"Hey, I was supposed to pay for that!" I glared at him.

"I'm not going to make you buy me a drink because you borrowed my pen. That doesn't mean you owe me anything," he said, as if it meant nothing at all.

"B-but..." I trailed off, sighing.

"So, guess who will be attending the fundraiser your family is hosting?" Liam changed the subject as we walked towards the pick-up counter.

"You?" I deadpanned.

"Bingo. You'll be seeing me this weekend," he smirked. "Let me guess, it was your idea to host it?"

"How did you know that?" I stared at him, my mouth hanging open.

"Because I know you," he answered simply. "What was the catch for your mom?"

I sighed, remembering the conversation I had with her to arrange it. She was annoyed she'd have to entertain guests for "no reason" even though I told her it would be for a good cause.

The money we'd raise from all our rich associates would be donated either to the hospitals, or to the Ronald McDonald House.

"I have to meet the guys she invites over," I rolled my eyes just from the thought of it.

"Oh," was all Liam said, frowning. He grabbed his drink from the counter.

Not going to lie, I was disappointed to see that all he ordered was a regular coffee. I was expecting something fancier, like everyone else who went to Starbucks.

"I'm not going to entertain them," I told Liam. "Her choice in men suck, if I wanted to choose, I'd pick one myself."

Liam smiled at my comment. A small, genuine one that sent butterflies into my stomach. He held out his cup of coffee to me and my brows furrowed.

"Take it, I bought it for you," his voice was soft as he spoke. My eyes flickered from the coffee and back to him, meeting his eyes. His smile morphed into a sheepish one. "I picked a regular coffee because I didn't know what you'd want."

My cheeks heated up and the corners of my mouth curved upwards without my permission.

"Really?" my voice came out quiet as I tried to ignore the backflips my stomach was performing.

"Yeah, really," he nodded over to the cup, which I finally took in my own hands.

"T-thanks," I managed to say, swallowing hard. His dark eyes were on mine when I glanced up at him.

"I gotta go, my mom's expecting me at home for lunch," he finally said, breaking the silence between us. He shot me one last smile before he walked off, leaving me standing at the counter, smiling like an idiot.

Like I said, I didn't understand Liam one bit. Being mad at him for what he'd done was the hardest thing I could ever do — and I really, really hoped not to fail at it.

★★★

𝐻𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠!! 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑒, 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑖𝑑!

𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟??!

~ 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝐼𝑛𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑡