20

Liam

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I’m starting to feel exactly how Mariah sometimes feels about our relationship-setup, and I’m wondering how the hell she’s managed to deal with certain aspects for so long.

We’re currently sitting at Pamela’s for dinner, but we’re far from being alone. Zach and some girls he met at our last game are sitting across from me, two of our teammates are on my right, and some girl Zach called “hot enough for my best friend to have on his arm,” is at my left.  Yet, I can’t help but stare at Mariah, as she sips her water at the end of the booth. She’s been texting this entire time, refusing to make eye contact with me, and my last message to her has gone unanswered.

“So ...” The girl to my right rubs my arm. “Are you going to talk to me tonight or what?”

I gently grab her hand and move it away. “What was your name again?”

“Ciara. Ciara McGuire. And you’re Liam Carter.” She smiles. “I bet you never have to re-introduce yourself.”

“Right ...Well, Ciara we can talk about whatever you want, but I have a girlfriend and I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t appreciate you touching me. So, stop it.”

“You’re kidding, right?” She snorted. “Your girlfriend clearly isn’t here, so do you mind me touching you?” She attempts to rub my shoulder again, but I jerk back and glare at her.

“Yes, I  do mind.” I catch Mariah staring at me from her side of the table, but she quickly looks down at her phone again.

“You told me your best friend was single, Zach.” Ciara scoffs as she stands up from the table. “Thanks for making me waste my gas.” She storms off and Zach looks at me.

“You have a girlfriend?” he asks. “So that Facebook shit was real?”

I don’t answer immediately and he tilts his head to the side.

“Oh, I get it,” he says. “Ciara wasn’t your type? Sorry about that. I’ll do better next time.” He laughs and the girl on his arm laughs along with him.

Needing to change the subject, I ask him about his plans for the rest of the night and he gives me his usual discreet signal that he’ll be with numerous girls, so he’ll need me to take Mariah home. He asks me about my own plans and I don’t tell him that they all revolve around spending the rest of the night with Mariah. I glance over at her and catch her wiping her eyes.

“You alright, Ryah?” Zach catches it, too. “Something in your eye?”

“Just an eyelash,” she lies.

Zach keeps the conversation going — reeling in our teammates into retelling the many ways we defeated Central High in a another blowout game two hours ago.

I notice Mariah fixing her “eyelash” amidst the guys’ laughter minutes later, and I contemplate grabbing her hand in front of everyone and putting an end to us hiding this, but my phone suddenly buzzes with a text message.

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Mariah: Yeah ... You were right. :- (. I’m going to break up with him once we leave Pamela’s tonight. I can’t take this anymore, and I know he’s bound to break my heart again down the line anyway, so I might as well rip the Band-Aid off now.

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I stare at the message that was clearly meant for Kelsey in utter disbelief. I know tonight has been rough, especially since Zach went out of his way to insist that she tag along and join us on a “surprise double date,” and she had to witness some random girl I have no interest in take an interest in me, but a break up?

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Liam: Mariah ... This past month and a half that we’ve been together have been the best days of my senior year ... You do know that don’t you?

Mariah: Now he’s claiming that I’m the “best” thing that happened to him senior year. Eye roll. Too bad I’m also the most secret thing ... Can you come pick me up at my place in a few, so I can talk this out with you? I’m about to catch an Uber home, but I’ll just tell Zach it’s you.

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I clench my jaw as her latest message lands on my phone’s screen.

“Hey, Zach?”  She suddenly stands up. “Kelsey is on her way here for me. We’re going to go hang out at her place.”

“Wait,” he says. “Is this the same Kelsey that ran into a stop sign last week?”

“The stop sign hit her, Zach.” She crosses her arms. “It was loose.”

“Right ... You don’t want me to take you? She isn’t already on her way, is she?”

“She is.” She walks over to him and gives him a hug. “See you at Dawson’s tomorrow.”

“See you.”

“Bye, guys!” She smiles at everyone else and waves before walking away. She doesn’t even give me a second glance.

I wait all of ten seconds before excusing myself from the table and follow her outside. I grab her hand from behind and pull her to the side of the building.

Her face is red and tears are falling past her cheeks.

“Mariah ...” I attempt to wipe her tears away, but she steps back.

“Go away, Liam,” she says softly. “Didn’t you hear me say I was leaving?”

“I did hear that.” I step closer to her again and grab both of her hands. “I also got two text messages you intended to send to Kelsey.”

Her eyes widen and she opens her mouth to speak, but no words fall out.

“You’re breaking up with me?”

She nods.

“No, you’re not,” I say. “Let’s just tell Zach right now and get this over with. That would fix everything, wouldn’t it?”

“No ...” She shakes her head and sighs. “And I’m not ready to tell him yet.”

“So, you’d rather break up with me?” I wipe one of her stray tears away. “I’m sorry about tonight.”

“You should’ve told him no,” she says. “You should’ve said I have plans with someone. You could’ve even said girlfriend, but you always give in to his dumbass man-whore invites and you just ...” She tries to let go of my hands, but I don’t let her. “You’re going to hurt me anyway, so let’s just end this now, before it gets even worse.”

“Mariah, that’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard you say.” I look right into her eyes. “And trust me, you’ve said some really dumb shit over the years.” I circled her knuckles with my fingertips. “We’re going to tell Zach we’re together whether you’re ready or not, and we’re going to do it within the next four weeks at the latest because I’m trying to show you how much I care about you, but I don’t think it’ll ever be enough until everyone knows we’re together.”

She doesn’t say anything.

“That’s true, isn’t it?” I ask.

“Only somewhat ...” she says softly, then she looks up at me. “I just really wanted you to say no to this tonight. Like, I was standing right there when he invited you on a surprise double date and you just went along with it ... I know it’s out of habit, but —”

“It’s not an excuse.” I finish her sentence. “You’re right.”

We stand there in the darkness, staring at each other, the sound of cars coming and going from the parking lot are the only sounds between us.

“Are you still going to spend the rest of the night with me?” I finally say.

“No, but you can take me home and I’ll think about rescheduling another night with you.” She finally pulls her hands away from me. “I don’t think you would be too happy with me if I invited you on a double date with me and Kelsey and pretended you weren’t there.”

“I think I’d feel the same way as I did when you invited me to drive you to a date with some other guy ...”

“Right ...” Her cheeks turn red. “But it’s still a no.”

“Understandable.” I kiss her lips and she doesn’t pull away. “I’ll take you home.”

I walk her to my car and open the door for her, waiting for her to climb inside. Before driving away, I send Zach a quick text to let him know I’m taking her home and he responds with a “Thanks so much for preventing Kelsey from coming. She can barely drive in the daytime. SMH.”

Mariah grabs my hand and holds it behind the gearshift as I coast down the streets, and I stop at her favorite coffee shop’s drive-thru instead of heading straight home. Even after we have the coffee, I drive five miles below the speed limit to make use of those last minutes before we go our separate ways for the night.

When we make it to her house, I kiss her at the door and wait until she’s inside before walking to my house. I pull out my phone and immediately set an urgent and new “Tell Zach about me and Ryah” event for the day after the championship game.

I never want to end another night like this again ...