"You don't need to apologise. We don't have to do this." She tries a smile, but she still looks concerned. "Did something happen?"
She must think I'm insane. "Not really, but last night… Liam saw the condoms." The words spill out. "It freaked me out a bit." I rub my temple.
"I see," Kennedy says. "Are you worried we'll be caught?"
"I mean, I'm always paranoid," I say. "The others might come back early, or the supermarket might be closed, or maybe they forgot something and need to come back…"
"Or Liam will snitch on us?"
My head recoils. "What?" I ask. "No, I didn't think that he'd do that…" And besides, what would even happen if he told the cousins? Bonnie wouldn't care. As for Erin… would she come back to the house to stop us?
"Liam won't say anything. He made me a promise." Kennedy takes my hand to emphasise her words. "And he's kept it so far. Just look at you two. He's been nice to you, right?"
I stare at her, my hand limp in hers. My mind goes back. It's strange, remembering how hostile I was towards him at the start of the holiday. He would have hated me just as much. And yet he was polite to me in the car on the trip down. Like he was being forced to. "Like he made a promise," I murmur to myself, then look at Kennedy. "You made him be nice to me?"
Kennedy flinches at my tone. "I just asked him to be civil," she says in a defensive tone, her face confused, and if she doesn't understand why I'm upset.
If you want to get into technicalities, it's Kennedy who should have remembered, Liam had said with a wink. I won't meddle with your relationship anymore. I've promised, he said on the sailboat. The green tea he's brought me every night.
I rip my hand from Kennedy's and bury my head in my hands. Oh, god. I'm such a fucking idiot. Here I was, thinking that Liam and I were friends, but this entire time Kennedy had put him up to it. She'd made him play nice with me like she was a parent and we were two kids in kindergarten, and I was the one with no friends.
"Fuck," I say. "You forced him to be my friend. I feel so…"
"I didn't force him," Kennedy snaps. "And can you blame me for not wanting this holiday to be two weeks of you two fighting? Is it so wrong for me to want you two to get along?"
I hear her shift and look up from my hands. Kennedy's off the bed and is pulling on her clothes. I forgot we were naked, and now feel cold. I grab my closest piece of clothing — my boxer briefs — and pull them on.
"But you made him pretend," I say.
"Look, I knew if you two managed not to argue every five seconds, you'd be friends. And now you are."
No, we're not. I like Liam, but he doesn't like me. Why would he? No, he's just completing his duty as Kennedy's friend, fulfilling the promise.
"Why are you dating me?" I ask as I put my shirt on.
Only when I hear the silence, do I realise how harsh my voice was, and I turn to look at Kennedy, who's staring at me with an open mouth. She sits on the edge of the bed, all of her clothes on, except for her socks. Her top is wrinkled.
"I didn't mean to say that —" I begin.
She closes her mouth and shakes her head wearily. "Yes, you did, Curtis. Just tell me what you really think. You don't have to worry about upsetting me."
I take a moment to gather the courage to speak. Why is the prospect of telling Kennedy what I think so scary? "It's what Liam said. That we're only dating because we're horny."
"I thought we already discussed this," Kennedy says.
"Yeah, for about thirty seconds, before you dismissed it," I say. I finish putting my clothes on and look for somewhere to sit before sitting down on the edge of the bed, albeit a good distance from Kennedy.
"Yeah, I dismissed it, because it was a stupid comment. Why do you even care about what Liam thinks?"
"Because I think it's the truth!" I say, waving my hands about. "Do we even like each other?"
Kennedy stares at me, eyes burning.
"Shit, sorry," I say, then get mad at myself for how many times I'm apologising. Then I get annoyed because most of the time I genuinely need to apologise because I'm being a dick. Why can't I express myself honestly without pissing her off. "Kennedy, of course, I like you."
"Really?" she drawls, crossing her arms.
"It's more that we don't have anything in common."
