Page 13 of Worth the Risk

“C’mon I’m parked right over there.” I point to my right. We walk together towards my Jeep and I open the passenger side door for Emilia to get in, climbing in she opens her mouth to say something but before she can I say “don’t” and quickly shut the door. I place our bags in the back and then hop into the driver's seat.

“Read-” I’m interrupted by a stomach rumbling and even though I’m hungry it’s not mine. I look over at Emilia, her eyes wide with horror.

“Oh my gosh, that’s so embarrassing.” She hides her face in her hands but I can still see the color hitting her cheeks. “I didn’t have time to eat at work today.”

“Actually that’s perfect. I’m hungry too. Let’s get something to eat. Have you been to that burger place in the center of town?”

She seems to contemplate this before answering. “No, I haven’t.”

“Perfect, we’re going there.”

We sit down at The Burger Palace and a server comes over introducing herself as Vanessa. I'm too busy staring at the ocean eyed girl in front of me, wondering how I got so lucky today to run into her, to notice that Vanessa is looking at me smiling.

“Oh hey, Liam.”

Finally looking over to my left and there’s a tall, slender girl with long dark hair and dark eyes. She angles her body to me, pushing out her chest. “Hey Vanessa.” I give her a soft smile. Vanessa is someone that has been to some of our parties before and I’ve seen her at other parties as well as games. From what I know about her, she’s a jersey chaser and has tried to hook up with Ryan and myself.

“What can I get you?” She fans her eyelashes at me. I look down at the menu trying to avoid as much eye contact with her as possible. The last thing I need is Emilia thinking something is going on between us. Not that she would care but if she did.

“Chocolate milkshake and a double burger with bacon, please. Emilia?” I turn my attention back to the girl I brought there. Vanessa looks a little shocked for a moment, like she forgot about the girl sitting in my booth, before plastering on the fakest smile I’ve ever seen. Actually it looks more like a grimace than a smile.

“Just a water and a single burger for me. Thank you.” Emilia hands her menu over to Vanessa who definitely rolls her eyes before walking away.

“Someone’s a little territorial.” Emilia mumbles the words but I hear them all the same

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she obviously likes you. Have you guys hooked up or something?” Exactly what I didn’t want her thinking. Realizing what she actually just asked Emilia covers her mouth. “Oh my gosh, pretend I didn’t ask that, that’s none of my business.”

I can’t help but laugh. “No, we didn't hook up. But yes, she’s tried to but she also tried to with my brother.”

“Oh gross.” She shudders. “Not that you or your brother are gross.” She quickly states. “I just can’t stop embarrassing myself in front of you huh?” She shakes her head at herself. “I just meant the fact she would do it with both of you. That’s a little creepy, no?”

“Yeah it definitely is.” I can’t help but laugh, this girl is something.

Vanessa comes back over, placing water in front of Emilia and a chocolate shake in front of me, giving me a wink and flirtatious smile before she goes. Across from me Emilia is trying to hide her giggles behind her hands. That noise has me smiling. I only got to hear her laugh briefly the night we met, it wasn’t the most laughable of nights but when I did hear that sweet sound it did something to me. It felt like something I could listen to forever.

Emilia’s phone buzzes, her face dropping when she looks at it. She unlocks her phone quickly, fingers flying across the screen to text someone.

“Everything alright?” I ask, sipping on my milkshake.

“Yeah, just forgot to text James.” My heart stops and jaw drops. James. Is James her boyfriend? If he is, why wouldn’t he drive her home and make sure she’s safe? She deserves better than someone like that. Wait, she didn’t have a boyfriend in May. Did she meet him over the summer? I catch myself spiraling and quickly snap my mouth shut, deciding to just nod my head. “He’s a server with me at Nico’s.” I breathe out an audible sigh of relief, though this James could still be someone to her. She would’ve said if he was, right?

After she puts her phone back in her pocket, she’s staring at my milkshake but pulls her water in front of her, scrunching up her nose as she sips it through the straw. I slide my milkshake across the booth to her, trying to hide my grin, a lot of girls won’t order what they really want on dates, to impress us I guess? What’s more impressive is being yourself on a date, in my opinion anyways. Not that this is a date, though I wouldn’t be complaining if it was.

“Isn’t sharing a milkshake something people do on dates?” She raises an eyebrow giving me a questioning look, maybe she’s a mind reader. I want to say yes, this is exactly what people do on dates, but if this was a date with her I would have taken her somewhere much nicer than this.

“Or if they’re friends.” I blurt out without thinking. I mentally slap myself for telling the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen that we’re just friends. Right as I’m about to elaborate, say we could go on an actual date, Vanessa interrupts, again, with our food. She puts down Emilia’s in front of her not sparing her a second glance, then puts mine down bending down purposefully to show off her cleavage. I keep my eyes on Emilia but glance towards Vanessa when she stands up, who winks at me with a sly smile.

“Yeah, friends. Friends is good.” There’s something in her expression that I can’t quite read. Disappointment? That’s probably wishful thinking.

Chapter 9

Emilia

I don’t know what I expected but I can’t lie, when Liam said we were friends my heart sank a little bit. I guess part of me hoped this could have been a date or lead to one but after seeing the way Vanessa and I’m sure countless other girls look at him, friends is probably the safest bet. We finish up our dinner, which Liam insists on paying for and as we head out the door to his car Vanessa stops him and thanks him for the tip all the while holding onto his arm. I can’t help the eye roll at her actions. Liam doesn’t notice the eye roll but Vanessa catches onto it and winks at me after he turns away to open the front door for us. Liam opens the passenger side door, because of course he’s a gentleman, letting me climb in and then shutting it behind me.

“I can direct you to my apartment.” He climbs behind the wheel, pushing the start button.

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