“I just don’t feel like talking about boys,” I said. And then, because I really wanted them to drop this line of conversation, I added, “I was in a relationship, okay? And if you must know, he cheated on me, and I’m just not really feeling like talking about it more than that or dating anyone new so soon.”
Truthfully, I barely missed Chris. I was still hurt that he didn’t break up with mebeforehe moved on to someone else. The betrayal of being cheated on stung more than losing him.
The looks of brief sympathy were almost worse than them pushing me to ask out Michael until Patty said, “Oh,screw him. Any man who would cheat on a woman like you is dumber than a box of rocks.”
“Well, now you absolutely have to go flirt your butt off with somebody. The best way to get over a man is to get under someone else.”
“Linda!” I was appalled, but I shouldn’t have been because these ladies had proved time and time again that they had zero filter.
We finally got underway with the class, but I couldn’t help thinking about what they said. That life was too short not to do the crazy thing. Except the crazy thing I couldn’t stop thinking about wasn’t going out and flirting with Michael or another guy. It was potentially checking off a very spicy bucket list with my brother’s best friend.
My crazy thing seemed legitimately too crazy to even consider.
Right?
But as the hours passed and Liam’s voice repeated nonstop in my brain, I started to wonder if maybe it wasn’tthatcrazy.
Later that night, I lay in bed staring at my ceiling, my phone in my hand as I nibbled my lip. The ladies were right. Life was too short, and I was tired of always settling for being in the background. I wanted to be adventurous. I wanted to take risks, maybe not to the level my brother did, and I maybe didn’t want to be quite the center of attention like he was notoriously known for. But I wanted to be the main character in my own frickin’ life.
So I pulled out my phone, and I texted Liam.
Me
Did you mean it?
He didn’t even hesitate.
Liam
Yes.
Me
What if it’s weird?
Liam
We can try it, and if it’s too weird, then we can laugh about it and never speak of it again.
He made it sound so simple and so easy when this felt like we were about to make a very complicated decision. I knew Liam could separate feelings from sex. He’d proven that with all the girls he’d fucked. But the question was,could I? Would this forever change how I saw him? Would I be able to put him back in the box I’d always kept him in if we crossed the line?
I wasn’t sure of the answers, but I was sure of one thing. Liam had been right that I needed to trust somebody if I was going to check off my list. And I did trust him. I also trusted him to keep it a secret.
Trusting him wasn’t the problem.
It was living with the consequences of what we were about to do that scared me.
NINE
I was going to wear a hole in the carpet if I kept pacing this way, but I couldn’t stop moving. Nervous energy thrummed through me as I waited for Liam’s knock. He’d wanted to talk more about the plan for my list at our next class, but I insisted it needed to be somewhere where we could not be overheard. And since Sydney was gone for the night, I figured talking about it at my place was the best call.
There was no way in hell I would have this conversation at the hockey house where my brother could overhear. If Drew got even the slightest hint of what we were about to do, he would lose his shit. He’d be like that angry character from the animated movieInside Outwhere fire comes out of his head.
A smile lifted my lips as I bit back a giggle at the visual.
Then three knocks at the door had my smile sliding right off my face and my nerves flaring up again. I opened the door before he’d even put his hand down. Liam’s eyebrows shot up, and he stared at me before a slow grin lifted his lips.
“Nervous?” he asked with a tone that implied he already knew the answer.
