Page 122 of Awestruck at Dusk
“Cht, cht, cht.” Liam twirled me again and pulled me back in flush against him. “I figured that one out on my own, thank you very much—a proper snitch move. Are you proud?” He smiled.
I shook my head at him, but he just laughed and said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. If somehow you think that by doing this, you’ll get on William’s nerves … you’re wrong.”
“Yeah, well, he’s very well-tended to if you ask me,” he said, twisting his mouth to the side. “But I’m not one to shy away from a challenge.”
I rolled my hand into a fist and tapped his shoulder.
“Ow!” he yelled with a grin. “Aren’t you a wee bit heavy-boned for a petite girl like yourself?”
I was about to hit him again for the heavy-bone thing he just said, but I was more annoyed about the way he talked and the expressions he used. “Aren’t you Australian? Why do you sound just like Nathan?”
“My mum’s English, so I’m a fabulous mix of both.”
“I bet you’re a middle child.”
“How’d you figure that one out?” he asked with a silly face. “I am, of course.” He laughed. “Anyway. Now that you mentioned Nathan, that’s where the real experimentation begins—the game I’m proposing.”
I could see now where this was headed.
“We are going to keep pushing these guys’ buttons for a bit, and you and I are going to bet on who’s going to be the first to come kick my ass.” Herevealedwith a grin, bending me backward and pulling me back in with a thrust.
“Liam!” I complained, pulling my dress down. “My outfit is not made for that kind of move.”
“Nonsense. It’s all been sharply calculated.” He winked at me again. Ugh.
A part of me was curious about going through with this. It was a silly game that didn’t prove anything, but they were both very much entertained with someone else, so why shouldn’t I be allowed to do the same.
“So what racehorse are you betting on tonight?”
“None.”
“Oh, come on! Don’t be boring, now. Just pick one.”
“I’m not trying to be boring. I truly believe that neither of them will care that I’m with you right now. That’s my bet, and I’m sticking to it,” I said, lifting my chin and feeling convinced about my choice. “How about you?”
“Well … I’m torn. I was going to go with William because I’ve never seen him cook paella for one hundred plus people or set up a mini concert for a girl’s birthday before.But… Nathan’s looking at me like he could chew my head off any second now.” He snickered. “But now that I think about it, I wouldn’t want the universe to think I want Nathan launching at me. He’d surely send me flying off to the dodgiest side of Hunts Point on a single blow. The guy’s deadly, or so I’ve heard.”
I laughed.He is.
“That being said, William’s definitely my horse. Besides, didn’t you break up with Nathan because of him? I’m sure we can reel him back in for you in a jiffy,” he said looking in William’s direction again. I clutched Liam’s face in between my fingers and turned him away from William.
“Liam, please stop staring at him. You have no clue—” I shut my eyes and sighed. “This was a bad idea.” I dropped my hands off his face.
“I can assure you it’s not.” Liam stopped dancing, caught my hand, and pulled me toward the area that had been set up as a bar. “Let’s have one shot, and I’ll make sure the agony ends in less than thirty seconds for everyone involved. What do you say?” He kept making way for us to go through the small clusters of people here and there. Saying hi to people. “Two tequila shots, please.”
We were closer to Nathan now, and I couldn’t help but stare at him as we waited for our shots to be served. He was still talking to Lana, which was the mostannoyingthing in the world. It hurt, actually. I wasn’t ready to see Nathan with someone else, but that meant shit because he was free to do whatever the hell he wanted. I messed everything up, and now I had to deal with the aftermath.
“Poor thing. You’re so torn, aren’t you?” Liam laughed.
“Um—what? No!” I don’t think I was. I knew my relationship with Nathan was over. I just needed time to let that sink in. To mournus. It was hard to know that as long as I was friends with Lily, Nathan would always be in the picture. And I knew that with time I would probably stop feeling sick to my stomach whenever I saw him with someone else. But it was still too soon, and the feelings were raw.
And William … I couldn’t even put my thoughts into order when it came to him. He messed me up every time. I shoved the thought of him back to myShit I’ll Eventually Figure Outfolder.
“Here you go.” Liam placed my tequila shot in front of me, lifted his, and said, “Here’s to learning how to make good choices.”
“Sounds about right,” I said, pressing my lips into a line.
