Gone

Liam looked over at me and smirked almost unnoticeably as my team got onto their sides of the field. I’d purposely put the two of us on opposite teams so no one would know what was going on, but that didn’t stop him from dropping hints like there was no tomorrow. If anyone was even remotely perceptive, they’d pick up our secret in an instant.

Thankfully, he kept himself in control for the game. He played like normal, keeping up the average amount of competitive attitude, trying his hardest to steal the ball from me and actually failing. It took everything I had inside of me not to tease him on the fact, and I was somehow successful.

Once I ended practice and headed over to get my water bottle, I felt a pair of arms slip around my waist from behind and a soft, heart-fluttering kiss pressed against my neck.

I let out a small sigh and turned to face Liam, who was grinning at me like there was no tomorrow. He smelled vaguely like sweat, his skin glittering and glistening in the sunlight, but it was attractive instead of disgusting.

“What do you think about meeting my parents this weekend?” The question escaped my mouth without any kind of censoring, and I felt my face burn with embarrassment.

“Meeting your parents?” he repeated, his eyes widening. “Don’t you think that’s a little…fast?”

“Says the boy who tried to have sex the first time we met each other outside of a school-organized event,” I reminded him. “And then again on our first date.”

“I feel like there’s a difference between physical fastness and emotional fastness.”

“Are you scared?” My lips quirked up in the corners, and my smile grew wider when I saw Liam roll his eyes and run a hand through his hair.

“Of course I’m not scared,” he argued. “I’m wonderfully charming. I’m just…” His voice trailed off obviously, his mind not filling in the blanks of what he wanted to say to cover his ass.

“So it’s settled,” I declared with finality. “You’re coming over my house Friday night to meet my parents. Trust me, they’re really awesome people. And I’m sure they’ll think you’re fine enough.” With that, I plucked up my water bottle and started heading back to the locker room.

Liam let out a fake gasp of shock as he hurried to catch up to me. “Fine enough?” he repeated, injecting a cocky tone that hadn’t been present in my voice when I had said the words. “If your parents just think that I’m fine enough, then they need to reevaluate their abilities to judge character.”

“Insulting my parents before you even know them.” I gave him a joking side-glare. “I’ll be sure to tell them that.”

He ignored me, acting like I’d never spoken. “So if I meet your parents on Friday, does that mean that you’ll have sex with me?”

I stopped in my tracks, crossing my arms in front of my chest and staring after him in disbelief. It took him a minute to realize that he was leaving me behind, but he eventually turned and said in a bland voice, “What?”

“Is that why you’re talking with me?” I questioned, starting to sound a little angry. “To get in my pants?”

For a second, I thought my first impression of Liam Payne had been right. He was just a cocky bastard who cared nothing about me or whoever else he hurt in order to get what he wanted. He saw me, decided that he lusted after me, and wanted to go for it. If it meant that he had to date me and pretend to like me for my personality and soccer skills, then he’d make the sacrifice. As long as he got to have sex with me in the end.

But then he shook his head, acting horrified at the accusation. “No, Frankie. I’m just giving you a hard time. I thought teasing you was a part of my charm.”

I felt my entire body relax as I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe you need to censor your jokes before you say them. Someone who doesn’t know you as well could take your constant sexual references as a sign of a psychological illness.”

He laughed out loud, shaking his head. “Well, I’d hope not. Maybe they’d just know I’m a little sex-crazed because I’m a teenage boy.”

“Excuses.” I turned and gave him a small smile. “Okay, I’m going to change out of my practice clothes now. And no, you can’t help.”

“I wasn’t even going to offer,” he defended, although the twitch in the corner of his full lips told me otherwise. “Have fun.”

“Oh, I will.” As I walked away, going toward the stairwell that led to the ladies’ locker room, I rolled my eyes. I had no idea why I thought his corny jokes were funny, but something told me it had nothing to do with his sharp wit.

I quickly shed my slightly-sweaty practice clothes and exchanged them for a pair of yoga pants and a tank top I had waiting in my locker. After fixing my ponytail so it was a little neater, none of the shorter hairs sticking up like I stuck my finger in a light socket, I ventured back to the outside world to head to my car.

On my way to the parking lot, I felt my phone going off in my bag, the vibration strong against my leg where the pocket hit against it.

“Hi, Manny,” I answered conversationally. “What’s going on?”

“You’re done with practice, right?”

I had no idea why she was asking, since practice ended around the same time every single day and had followed the same schedule for years. “Um, yeah. Are you okay?”

“I just have to talk to you, okay? You’re free to talk? Do you have homework?” Her voice sounded more panicked than I’d ever heard her, and my heart immediately started to race in response.

“Any homework I have can wait,” I started to explain, but my phone made a loud beeping noise in my ear, signaling that Manny had ended the call without giving me any time to ask her what was going on.

Suddenly incredibly scared, I ran to my car, my gym bag smacking against my leg powerfully each time I landed a step. I didn’t take the time to open my trunk and place it in, instead tossing it into my passenger’s side and jamming my key into the ignition without glancing to see how it landed.

Driving the distance between the school and my house was the most dangerous I’d ever driven, but as luck would have it, the streets were practically deserted. So the red light and two stop signs I ran hadn’t affected anyone.

When I finally pulled into my driveway, I found Manny sitting on the porch, her mother’s car keys dangling off her fingers, the palms of her hands digging into her eye sockets, like she was desperately trying to keep herself from sobbing right there.

“Manny?” My voice sounded small and weak to my own ears, like I was a young girl who had just found her mother on those front steps after her father left.

She looked up at me with red, bloodshot eyes, though she wasn’t crying just then, and let out a shaky breath.

“Let’s go inside, get you some milk, and talk.”