Page 48 of The Wrong Prom Date

“Thanks for doing that,” I said, as I entered the living room after leaving Topher asleep in his bed.

Liam smiled up at me. “It was no problem. You were right. Topher’s cool.”

“He is,” I agreed.

I sat on the couch at Liam’s side and let out a long breath as I gathered myself to start the interview. I needed a moment’s break though before we delved into it. Liam seemed to sense this and sat patiently at my side.

He’d been acting so different today, and it was hard to remember why he irritated me so much when he went to such an effort to entertain Topher. His usual arrogant behavior acted like a filter that veiled his good looks, leaving me completely unaffected by how attractive he was. But the sweeter side of his personality made me feel like I was seeing him for the first time and I was finding it hard not to feel a little overwhelmed by how gorgeous he was as I sat next to him. He’d focused his full attention on Topher for hours, and the way he’d made the boy giggle wasn’t something I would easily forget.

I took in some deep breaths, trying to remind myself that a few hours playing with Topher didn’t make Liam a different person. It was almost impossible to do though because I was starting to realize that I might have judged Liam all wrong. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, feeling a sudden onslaught of nerves. They erupted in my stomach and seemed to flutter against my ribs. I could handle Liam Black the movie star, butthisLiam Black had me all tied up in knots.

I had to tamper down the urge to jump from the couch and sit on the other side of the room. I wasn’t sure what I’d been thinking sitting next to him, but he felt all too close right now.

Liam caught me glancing at him and started to smile. “You think I’m a loser now, don’t you?”

I returned his smile, all too relieved he hadn’t guessed what I’d really been thinking about him. “It’s easy to forget you’re Liam Black the bad boy of Hollywood when you spend a couple of hours with dorky Dino,” I replied.

Liam laughed. “I’ve actually kind of missed dorky Dino.”

“He ismucheasier to get along with.” I slowly shook my head as I looked at him. The boy I’d spent all morning with seemed so much more natural than the guy I’d seen spread across magazine covers. The infliction in his words might have been fake, but the goofy personality I’d seen shining through Dino seemed very real to me.

“Liam, are you really as bad as the magazines say you are?” Now that I’d seen another side to him, I just couldn’t picture it. I knew he was a talented actor, but I found it difficult to believe that what I’d just witnessed was all for show.

His eyes sobered somewhat and he started to frown. “Is this a part of the interview assignment?”

“No, this is just me asking.”

He sighed and looked away, as if he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to answer. I didn’t press him though, and I sat in silence as I waited to see what he had to say.

“The Dinos of the world don’t get serious, grown-up acting jobs,” he started. “And that’s how everyone saw me. I was a fun, goofy kid, and the only way forward was to behave so badly that people forgot I was ever anything else.”

He glanced up at me to gauge my reaction.

“It’s all a lie?” I whispered.

Liam shrugged. “It’s a perception.”

“Is that really so different?”

He slowly blew out a breath and stared down at the picture Topher had drawn that still lay across the coffee table. “My whole life has revolved around perceptions, so I wouldn’t know.”

My heart broke for him at his admission. He might have been living the life I desperately wanted, but I knew firsthand how high the cost of living a lie was. Knowing I sometimes had to wear fake smiles at school and in front of my friends didn’t seem so bad compared to the lengths Liam had to go to though. The constant act he performed must be taking a toll, and I had to wonder if he was losing pieces of himself along the way.

“You want to write about my successes and failures in life for the assignment,” he said. “But they aren’t the movies I’ve been in or the parts I’ve missed out on. My greatest failure in life is that I’m stuck living a lie, and I’m still waiting on my greatest success. That will come when everyone sees the true me and accepts it as enough.”

His face was raw and vulnerable, and I reached out to grasp his hand, giving it a small squeeze. “If the real you is anything like the guy I’ve spent today with, then everyone else won’t be able to help but love you.”

A smile started at the corner of his lips and the rest of his face seemed to light up from within. “So, you love dorky Dino, do you?”

I laughed and sat back from him, releasing his hand. “I’m not sure I’d go that far. But dorky Dino has a lot going for him.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, still smiling.

He couldn’t seem to wipe the grin from his face, but then again, I couldn’t either. There was something undeniably attractive about this new side of Liam Black, and if I kept seeing more of it, I knew I was going to be in trouble.

17

Liam

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