Page 52 of Liar
I set down my phone, moving my bag and skateboard off the chair beside me. The library had dozens of work stations on all of its floors; students very rarely sat directly beside each other, unless they knew one another. And I definitely knew Will.
“I didn’t know you were coming to the library today,” I whispered, giving him a smile as I leaned over and kissed him.
Three big books rested beside the computer in front of him, and Will gave me a grin. “Had to do some research for one of my psych papers. You?”
“Same, only I’m at the writing stage, and for a sociology class.”
“Maybe we could work together?” Will asked in a bare whisper, lifting his light brown eyebrows. His hazel eyes bored into me, practically peeling back all of my layers and peering directly into my soul. I both loved and hated how he could do that.
“Sure, as long as you’re not too distracting,” I teased.
Will had been distant for a long while, but lately he’d been making a comeback. He was really trying to play nice with Sawyer—for me—and I appreciated it so much. I loved how he could swallow down his animosity towards Sawyer and everything in the past because he cared so much for me.
It really said a lot about our relationship, I think.
We got to work, both of us acting like good students. Will had to get up every few moments to make copies of articles in the books he’d pulled out, and I whipped out that midterm paper like my life depended on it.
It was never difficult for me to write papers. Regardless of the subject, I was always able to talk about them. It just came naturally to me, I guess. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to not be able to write papers or take tests with ease.
Now, that statistics midterm? That one might get me, but the new professor had said we’d still be able to use a cheat sheet, like we did for our weekly quizzes. If that was the case, I was golden.
Multiple-choice exams and essay exams? I had those down pat. Hell, I practically memorized my entire notebook before the exams. It was just a habit—although the habits I’d gotten last semester were a bit tougher to continue this semester, mostly because I now had four boyfriends.
Yeah. Four. Sawyer was included in their number, although he and I hadn’t gone past first base yet. The guys said they were okay with it, and when we were all together, they got along, but…I didn’t know. A part of me was still nervous, I guess. Letting Sawyer in completely could mean I’d only get hurt in the long run.
But I supposed that could be said about all of these guys, huh? I wasn’t the kind of girl they’d ever normally bring home to their families.
I was done with my paper first, had it printed and saved onto my flash drive, but I didn’t mind waiting for Will. It allowed me to watch him concentrate, watch the muscles in his jaw clench when he found something confusing in one of the books. Will was devastatingly cute, and I honestly didn’t know where I’d be without him. He grounded me, grounded Declan. Hell, he’d almost died because of me. If that didn’t put a new perspective on things, I didn’t know what would.
I happened to check my phone, seeing I had a missed message from two people. The first was Kelsey, and I was quick to respond to her. She was talking about doing something over the summer with her and Levi. I wanted to meet the boy who had nailed down my wandering best friend, but a part of me was hesitant because she wanted me to bring along my gaggle of boys, too.
Which included Sawyer.
I mentioned him only in passing to her, because it was too awkward. I knew they hadn’t known when it happened, but that didn’t really lessen the pain I felt. Still, after all this time. It’d been months, and yet some days I still felt like that Halloween party was yesterday.
Totally stupid, because what did I go off and do? Ray.
Yeah, I couldn’t afford to talk there.
The other message was from Travis. He, Declan, and Sawyer were at the dorm room—his, specifically—and he wanted to know when I’d be done at the library. There was something he wanted to talk about.
I leaned over to Will, “You about done? The guys are waiting.” Travis’s text didn’t mention Will outright, but he knew better than to try to separate me from the people I cared about again. It wouldn’t happen. It’d only end up bad for him, for me, for all of us.
“Yeah,” Will said, “just need to find one more article.” He was nose-deep in the third book he’d picked out, and I waited patiently.
Okay, maybe not-so-patiently.
Once Will was done, I helped him return the books he’d been using, gathered my stuff, and left the library. Will had his backpack thrown over his right shoulder, using only one strap; his other hand found mine. I held onto my skateboard and let him do it. It wasn’t like I could skate away and beat him there, anyways.
I could, technically, but I wouldn’t.
The weather had become nicer. We got a few snowfalls, but now we were at the end of February, spring was right around the corner. You could get away with a hoodie most days, and I was back to being best friends with my skateboard.
It was nice. I didn’t miss the cold and all of the snow we got back at home, up north.
It was quiet today, being a Saturday. The sidewalks were pretty empty, and I let myself relax. Here, now, I wouldn’t change anything. We were all happy, and I was happy. Hard to think where we were a few months back, but I was glad we made it through.
Not only that, but we were together. There was literally nothing better than that.
