Chapter 3 Becoming Us #3
Eventually Eli pointed toward me.
"You're next."
Five pairs of eyes turned in my direction.
I shifted slightly in my seat.
"I've always liked computers."
Eli immediately frowned.
"That's the boring version."
"I haven't finished."
He gestured dramatically.
"Continue."
I smiled despite myself.
"When I was thirteen, our computer stopped working."
"My mother couldn't afford to replace it."
"So..."
I shrugged.
"I started taking it apart."
Kai laughed.
"That sounds dangerous."
"It probably was."
"I had no idea what I was doing."
"But eventually I figured it out."
I looked toward the rain outside.
"Then neighbors started bringing me broken laptops."
"Teachers asked if I could fix printers."
"My high school library needed a new catalog system."
I smiled.
"I realized technology could solve problems that people accepted as normal."
"So I kept learning."
Liam nodded quietly.
"That's exactly what you still do."
I looked at him.
"You don't just write code."
He smiled.
"You look for ways to make people's lives easier."
The compliment caught me off guard.
Before I could respond, Eli leaned back.
"Okay."
He looked at Liam.
"Your turn."
Liam laughed softly.
"I suppose that's only fair."
He rested his elbows on his knees.
"My father owned a hardware store."
"We weren't poor."
"But we weren't comfortable either."
He smiled faintly.
"I watched him work every day."
"He treated customers like neighbors."
"He trusted people."
His expression grew more thoughtful.
"Sometimes too much."
"We lost the business."
"I spent years wondering how something built with so much love could disappear."
He looked around the room.
"I chose business because I wanted to understand why companies succeed."
"But somewhere along the way..."
He smiled.
"I realized I liked teaching even more."
Kai pointed toward him.
"I knew it."
"You explain things like a professor."
"I've heard that before."
"So what's the dream?"
Owen asked.
Liam looked out the window for several seconds before answering.
"I want to teach."
The answer came without hesitation.
"I'd like to help students who don't think they belong."
His eyes drifted toward me for only a brief moment.
"I've met enough people who underestimate themselves."
"I'd like to change that."
Something tightened quietly inside my chest.
The room remained silent until Eli suddenly spoke again.
"I've got another question."
Mason groaned.
"Of course you do."
"It's a good one."
"I doubt that."
Eli ignored him.
"What's the hardest thing you've ever had to overcome?"
Nobody answered immediately.
The atmosphere shifted.
This question felt heavier.
More personal.
Kai looked toward Liam.
"You go first."
Liam let out a quiet breath.
"I don't mind."
He turned the paper coffee cup slowly between his hands.
"I came out when I was eighteen."
The room became completely still.
"My mother cried."
He smiled sadly.
"Not because she stopped loving me."
"She cried because she knew the world wouldn't always be kind."
He looked toward the rain outside.
"My father..."
He paused.
"He didn't speak to me for almost six months."
Nobody interrupted.
"I kept wondering if I'd done something wrong."
"If maybe I should've stayed quiet."
He shook his head.
"But eventually..."
He smiled again.
"He called."
"I still remember exactly what he said."
Liam's voice softened.
"'You're still my son.'"
He laughed quietly.
"It wasn't some dramatic movie speech."
"It wasn't perfect."
"But it was enough."
"What changed?"
Kai asked gently.
"My father realized he was afraid."
Liam answered.
"Not of me."
"Of losing me."
"He didn't understand everything."
"But he loved me enough to learn."
A comfortable silence settled over the room.
Nobody rushed to fill it.
Nobody made a joke.
Everyone simply let the moment exist.
I stared down into my untouched coffee.
Liam had shared something deeply personal without embarrassment.
Without apology.
Without pretending it had been easy.
Until that moment, I hadn't realized how tightly I had been holding my own secrets.
Everyone around me had spoken honestly about family, fear, and dreams.
Meanwhile, I had carefully avoided saying the one truth that mattered most.
I told myself I was hiding because of school.
Because scholarships were fragile.
Because I couldn't afford distractions.
Because I needed to focus.
But listening to Liam, another realization quietly settled inside me.
Academic pressure wasn't the only thing I had been carrying.
For years, I had hidden every question I'd ever asked myself.
Every lingering glance.
Every confusing feeling.
Every moment that made me wonder why I noticed certain boys more than anyone else.
I had buried those thoughts so deeply that I almost convinced myself they didn't exist.
Except they did.
And lately...
Whenever Liam smiled at me...
Whenever he remembered my coffee order...
Whenever we walked across campus together...
Those buried feelings became a little harder to ignore.
I wasn't only afraid of failing the fellowship.
I was afraid of what it might mean if I finally stopped hiding from myself.
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