Chlaughan

Unexpected...but, not Unwanted

VAUGHAN

Saturday, 7:30pm

I sit in the upstairs room with Liam as we watch random Youtube videos on the TV. Ella and Chiara are in her room, loud as always. I could have sworn I heard them crying, but Ella doesn't cry so they must have been watching something.

"I'm bored." I state outloud, standing up from the couch.

"Okay... want to go outside?" Liam says, standing next to me.

I nod and we head for the door.

"Actually I'll be down in a second; you go ahead." Liam steps back.

I nod again and start down the stairs. When I reach Ella's door, I become curious as to what they're doing in there. I step forward and place my ear against the door, trying to see if I can hear anything through the wood. I know I'm being nosy, but I want to know what goes on at a girl's sleepover. Is it like the movies where they paint each other's nails and gossip? Do they watch those horrible movies about highschool romance? Do they just sit around and... well I don't know.

I shift a bit to see if I can hear more. I hear nothing except footsteps. They sound like they are getting closer and closer to the door... shoot.

I pull my ear back and turn around quickly, but not fast enough to beat Chiara. She opens the bedroom door slowly. The creaking noise sounding almost like a horror movie. I turn around and make eye contact with her, squinting my eyes at the awkwardness of the situation.

"Eavesdropping much?" She starts, her hands cross over her chest and her posture is slanted.

"I-I was just um-I," I stutter, "I wasn't um..."

"I'm kidding." she laughs. Her tough expression falls and she steps around me.

"Were you guys crying in there?" I ask from behind her, watching her step slowly down the stairs. Her steps come to a halt and she turns around slowly to face me, similar to my motion when she caught me listening through the door.

"What makes you think that?" She questions me, her face flushed.

"Um... I heard it." I state quietly, not wanting to make her angry. In my defense, they aren't very quiet criers.

She pauses for a moment, freezing in what looks like her trying to think of an excuse. I don't care if they were, I was just wondering. I mean, I wouldn't want Chiara to be sad... or Ella I guess.

"Yeah, we were crying." She spits out, practically sprinting down the stairs before she even finished her sentence. She sucks at lying, so I expected her to tell the truth anyway.

Clearly, she didn't want to be asked about it, so I won't push it. I'll just force Ella to tell me later. She's a loser, so it'll be easy to get it out of her.

I go down through the kitchen to the yard and pick up the basketball. I dribble around a bit while waiting for Liam. I step back and shoot, but the ball isn't even close to going in. I practically laugh at myself until I remember a time when the four of us were playing basketball outside and Chiara tried to shoot from far away. Needless to say, it was a trainwreck. The ball completely missed the basket and flew over the fence, smashing the window of the building on the other side. We all stood there in shock for a minute. I had no idea how she even threw the ball that far in the first place, let alone throw it hard enough for it to smash a window.

We continued to stand there in silence, none of us sure of what to do. I made eye contact with Ella, who was about to open her mouth to speak, but before she could get a word out, my dad came running outside. I thought my life was literally about to end when he started screaming words that are considered curse words in England.

Everything ended up okay, Chiara took the blame because, well, it was her fault, and now, we all laugh about it, even my dad.

I shoot around for a few more minutes, losing patience. This is caca, I think to myself. Why is Liam taking eight years to come outside? I throw the ball to the side and go back in the house. I don't want to look miserable to people walking by my house playing basketball by myself.

I go to the kitchen and grab a glass of water before doing anything else. I gulp it down and put the cup in the sink. I am about to go upstairs to find Liam when I hear his voice from just around the corner. My brows furrow as I walk around the counter into the living room to see Chiara and Liam on the couch, laughing and talking like they're the only two people in the world. They are sitting close... too close, and they don't even notice me as I am standing here with my arms crossed, waiting for their attention.

I spit out a short, fake cough to get them to look over. Nothing. I go again, this time louder. Still nothing.

"Hello?" I say with an eye roll. Once again, I get no response.

"ANSWER ME YOU TWATS!" I yell. I stomp my foot on the ground like a child. Both of them shoot their heads over to me.

I give Liam crazy eyes signalling that I want an explanation from him. He gives me crazy eyes back as if he has no idea what he did wrong.

I look over at Chiara and see she has the same clueless expression on her face as Liam. He stands up.

I readjust my tone,"Um... Chiara, may I talk to Liam alone?" I ask in a proper voice.

"Y-yeah," she stutters, slowly lifting up from her seat and shifting away from us, "I'll be upstairs with Ella."

The second she's gone I give Liam a smack across the cheek; not a hard one; besides, I'm not trying to hurt him; I'm just slapping some sense into him.

"What the heck, man." I start.

"What's your deal? I didn't do anything wrong... and that hurt." He says, rubbing his slightly pink face.

"Are you blind? Flirting with Chiara?" I get louder.

"Bro, I wasn't really flirting with her, and besides why would it matter to you?"

"You're such a twit; not that I care, but ... ugh it's just... I-I don't.."

"Seems like you do care." Liam cuts off my stuttering, probably for the better.

"Seems like you should shut up." I blurt.

He scoffs and goes back at me. Soon enough we are arguing like our lives depend on it.

"You can't be in love with Chiara, you dipwad." I yell.

"BRO, I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH HER! WE WERE LITERALLY JUST TALKING," he shouts, probably loud enough for the girls to hear.

"THAT LOOKED LIKE A LOT MORE THAN TALKING TO ME," I persist.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SAY! I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH CHIARA," He persists too, making me more mad.

"YES, YOU ARE."

"NO, I'M NOT."

"YES, YOU ARE."

"NO! I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH CHIARA; I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU." Liam spits out. 

It's silent for a minute.

He slaps a hand over his mouth, and his eyes well up; except it's not out of sadness; it's out of pure rage and frustration. He spins around and runs for the door. I let him go as I think about what just happened. What does he mean he's in love with me? That makes no sense. I thought we were just best friends, nothing more. I mean, to me our relationship is nothing more than friendship. I guess I never thought about it any other way.

"W-wait," I plead, running up to catch up with him in the front yard, "I'm sorry. I-I didn't know. Y-you could have told me. I-I am okay with it I..." My words are cut off by the sudden grasp of Liam's hand on the back of my head and his lips pressed against mine. It was unexpected but not... unwanted. I kiss him back, but not for long. I pull back so I can try to see what he's thinking. He has a straight look on his face, almost as if he doesn't know what to say, but I don't either.
We stare at each other for a solid amount of time, enough for it to be awkward. Weirdly though, it isn't awkward. It feels like nothing changed. That's good, right? Except, I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to be feeling. That's okay though; I think, but if I could guess, I'd say he's thinking the same thing.