Catfish

It only took half an hour after Penelope’s text for him to come knocking on her apartment door. The second she heard his hand wrapping against the wood she began to feel nervous and couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. She just still hadn’t gotten used to him being there and being close enough for her to touch.

She grabbed onto the doorknob, her hand shaking, and gave it a quick twist, pulling the door open to find Liam standing there with a gentle smile on his face. She smiled back and nodded. “Come in.”

Liam did as she said and she slowly guided him to the sofa in the living room, both of them sitting down on opposite ends of it. They sat in silence for a moment, neither of them knowing what to say, before Liam finally spoke.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, attempting to mask his smile even though a small dimple was forming on his cheek.

Penelope couldn’t help but smile back.

“Still might be dying,” she said, rubbing her hand over the hem of her shirt. “I can’t stop sneezing.”

Liam chuckled, nodding his head. “Oh, that’s definitely cancer.”

Penelope couldn’t help but smile back at him because it was so obvious he wasn’t taking her serious. Not even a little bit. Of course, she wasn’t being serious, but he hardly even gave her a chance to fake it.

She couldn’t help but still feel a little nervous around Liam, just because everything was so new, but she tried her best to act like herself again. She didn’t want him to think she was completely different in person from who she was on the phone.

Looking into his eyes, she did a very unrealistic attempt at pouting, while batting her eyelashes at him. He chuckled at her, and it just felt so good to see him laugh instead of just hearing it on the phone.

He pouted back at her, the edges of his lips still turned up in a smile. “Do you want me to take a look?”

She nodded her head and he leaned forward on the sofa, so he was practically hovering over her lap. She had no idea he was going to get so close to her and she suddenly felt like the world was caving in. It was getting harder to breath and she was sure if she felt her hands they’d be a typhoon of sweat.

Liam’s fingers moved slowly to her neck and when they touched the skin just below her ear, she felt a spark shoot through her entire body. His fingers pushed gently into her skin at the place where her tonsils would be, and his eyes were closed as if he was actually concentrating on what he was doing and expecting to find something.

All Penelope could do was look at his perfectly shaped face, which was now so close to hers. He was just so unbelievably handsome and she really had no clue how she’d managed to be so lucky as to even speak to him. Even without his superstar quality, there was still something that was just so special about him. She couldn’t be sure if it was the fact that she’d spent what felt like forever falling in love with him, but it was a safe bet.

“I don’t feel anything,” Liam said, pulling his hands away with a soft shrug. He stayed directly in front of her, much closer than he had been when he was on the opposite end of the couch. Their knees were still brushing against one another and it made it hard for Penelope to think of much else.

When she didn’t say anything, Liam blinked his eyes, simply looking at her where she sat. She imagined it had to be weird for him too. He paused for a long moment, his eyes locked with hers, before speaking again. “I can check again if you’d like? Just to be sure.”

Penelope nodded her head, and this time, when Liam leaned forward, his hand brushed against her cheek, moving a piece of her hair behind her ear. His eyes still stared straight into hers, and she suddenly felt more connected to him than she ever had before.

All her nerves disappeared, because there was that boy that she’d spent hours talking to on the phone, who knew everything about her right down to the name of her first pet. If there was anyone she could trust, it was him, because there was no one who knew her better.

So when he leaned forward, this time with his lips instead of his hands, she felt the magic that she always knew that she would.