When I get back to the car, everyone else has already returned. Kennedy and Erin sip coffees and complain about the taste. Kennedy offers me a sip of her coffee, but I shake my head. Liam shares a packet of lollies with Bonnie, and despite the fiery expression on Liam's face minutes earlier, he laughs easily now.
As everyone gets back into the car, he says to Bonnie, "Hey, would it be okay if we swap seats? My legs get pretty cramped in the back."
Bonnie looks down at his long legs. "Oh, sure!"
Liam gives her a wide smile and offers her his bag. "Take more lollies as my thank you."
"You don't need to," Bonnie says, but Liam insists and she takes a handful.
We take our seats. Before, I was behind the passenger seat, but I move to the other side so I'm as far away from Liam as possible. Erin starts the car and soon we're back on the highway. After a couple of minutes, Liam leans over his chair to replenish Bonnie's supply of lollies. He catches me looking at him and gives me a look. A look to emphasise why he asked to move seats.
I narrow my eyes at him.
I get that Liam and Kennedy are best friends. In fact, when I first started dating Kennedy, I was looking forward to getting to know Liam better. Sure, I'd shared a few classes with him throughout the years, and there were things about him that irritated me. But I also thought there was something compelling about his reckless confidence, the way he said whatever he wanted whenever he felt like it. The way he was completely himself like he wasn't pretending.
At the beginning of Kennedy and my relationship, she invited Liam to hang out with us, and he was as warm and welcoming as the ocean in winter. I didn't understand why he was so mean, because I'd tried to be polite. But the answer was obvious.
He hates me for being Kennedy's boyfriend.
He hates me because he's secretly in love with her.
4
Liam: One Bed
I know I promised Kennedy, but I can't do it. Attempting to be halfway nice to Curtis in the car was one of the most difficult things I've experienced in my life. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it's hard to smile at someone when you want to punch them in the face. Curtis knows something's up. I don't want to deal with him trying to bite my head off because he thinks I've got some evil plan to mess with him.
Hours later, we stop at another service station, and Bonnie lets me stay in the passenger seat. I don't know what I'd do if I had to sit close to Curtis for the final hours of the drive.
It's dark by the time we get to the coast but I know we're here from the smell of salt in the air. The streetlights and headlights reveal hints of the beach town, with green vegetation and wooden fences that separate the road from the beach. We pass expensive beach houses and rustic restaurants. I spot two ice-cream stores and a surfing equipment store with bright blue bricks.
"Here we are," Erin says once she parks in the driveway of a tall house. I recognise the wooden building covered in white paint. There's an old-fashioned wrap-around porch and I remember there was a hammock in the back. The house has two stories and an attic room.
Tiredly, the five of us pull our luggage out of the car and into the house. Bonnie flicks the lights on, revealing rooms decorated with fake plants, glass jars full of pebbles and driftwood, and rope artwork.
We already had dinner from a fast-food chain on the way here — Curtis looked like he was in physical pain as he ate the unhealthy food, but he didn't complain — so everyone is happy to go straight to bed.
"There are three bedrooms," Erin explains as we gather nearby the staircase. "There's the master," — she points to a doorway down a hallway — "and it's big enough for all three of us girls to share. But there's another bedroom upstairs with two twin beds if two of us want to go there."
"Where am I sleeping?" I ask, wanting to change, brush my teeth, and collapse on the bed.
"You should take the attic room," Erin says. "It's the floor at the top of the staircase, and it has an ensuite. That way the boys can share a bathroom, and the girls can share the other two."
"Great. Goodnight," I say, already pulling my trunk up the stairs.
"You'll be there too, Curtis," Erin says.
I don't have to turn around to know that Curtis is hesitating and sharing looks with Kennedy.
Whatever. I don't care if Curtis convinces the girls to let him sleep with Kennedy. In fact, I'd prefer it, because then I'd get a whole bedroom to myself.
My eyes widen a minute later when I reach the top door. Actually, I would care if Curtis shares with Kennedy. Because that would give the slime-ball the opportunity to —
"Are you going to stand there all day, or open the door?"
I jump. Curtis stands on a few steps below me, which I know is a result of him keeping his distance from me, but it also means I'm even taller than him than usual.
"What?" Curtis snaps when I don't respond.
