Chapter Five #2
“I believe it.” He was standing far too close. One step closer, and we’d be almost touching. I took a wide step back, putting distance between us. “I have your poster upstairs. Wait here while I go grab it.”
“Can’t I come up with you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do I need a reason to not want you in my apartment?”
Liam followed behind me anyway as I made my way toward the back of the shop, where the staircase up to my apartment was.
“Come on, neighbor. I want to see if yours is bigger than mine,” he explained as I unlocked the door to the stairwell.
“Do you ever take no for an answer?”
Liam paused for a brief moment. “I believe consent is very important,” he said with an obnoxious smirk tugging at his lips.
My face flushed at the implication of his words—at the thoughts those words sent racing through my mind.
I groaned. “Fine, but don’t touch anything. I don’t feel like sanitizing the place later.”
As we made our way up the staircase, I tried not to linger on the thought that even a week ago, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with Liam in my shop, let alone stepping foot in my apartment.
He hadn’t changed. Liam was still the same boy that I had always known, but like an earthquake, the solid ground beneath my feet was unsteady—shifting. Where he and I stood with each other seemed to change by the day. I wasn’t sure how that made me feel.
However, our paths were bound to continue crossing as long as his shop stood beside mine. I figured that, as challenging as it may be, it only made sense to learn how to tolerate him.
I wasn’t exactly as proud of my apartment as I was of the shop beneath it. In truth, between The Prologue’s grand opening and my competition with Liam, decorating my apartment had been put on the back burner.
I had put some effort into it. The place was decorated with the few bits of furniture I was able to snag from my bedroom back home, as well as a couple of things Mom had gifted me when I first moved in.
I also did one big shopping trip after moving in and splurged on a few necessities like pots and pans.
But aside from all that, the place was a little… sparse.
Liam snickered from behind me as we stepped into the apartment. “Wow, nice place.” His voice was dripping with a teasing sort of sarcasm. “Do you actually live here?”
“Shut up. Yes, I actually live here. Take off your shoes if you plan on coming in any further.”
I kicked off my own shoes near the front door as Liam cracked a smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay right here.”
“Good,” I said as I picked up the poster I had made for him.
It had been lying on top of my cardboard box, which served the role of a makeshift coffee table.
The living room was easily the worst room in the apartment.
I was practically asking to be made fun of by allowing Liam to see it.
It was a mostly empty room, with little more than a desk chair pushed in front of the tall cardboard box and some worn paint on the walls.
It was clean. I could at least say that much. I had spent hours upon hours cleaning the place with Mom before I moved all my things in, but it certainly didn’t feel like home yet.
“Is that plant dead?” Liam asked, pointing to the sad, slumped-over basil plant that sat on the windowsill above my kitchen sink.
“No,” I replied defensively, pulling my shoes back on. “Just overdramatic. If I forget to water it for one day, it gets all wilted and pathetic looking.”
“Sure,” Liam said, a hint of amusement glittering in his eyes.
I handed him the poster board and watched his expression closely as he looked it over.
Liam hadn’t given me much instruction. All he told me was that he wanted something to advertise the family game nights his shop held on Friday evenings. That, and that he wanted it to be colorful.
With little to go on, I wasn’t exactly confident that I would be able to bring whatever he was envisioning to life, but as his features brightened and he whispered out a quiet “Wow,” I felt all of my insecurities wash away.
“This is incredible, Jessa. I can’t believe you made this.
I never knew you were such a good artist.”
Jessa.
Never in the lifetime I had known him had Liam Ashford ever called me Jessa. Not once. And yet, the name had fallen past his lips without so much as an acknowledgment of that fact. I wondered if he had even realized it.
“Thanks,” I replied quietly as my cheeks flushed from his praise.
Liam’s face still had a look of wonder as he gazed at the poster some more.
It wasn’t anything special, I told myself.
Just some bold, colorful letters and a few little drawings of characters from the games that were played in his shop.
Still, deny it as I may, I knew how much time and careful effort I had put into it. And I knew how much I craved his praise.
“Really, this is amazing,” Liam said, sending another rush of pride coursing through my veins.
“I’m glad you like it,” I confessed. “But I’d better go check on Lily and see how she’s doing. Come on.”
I corralled him out of my apartment and locked the door behind us before beginning the descent down the stairs.
“Do you hate the stairs too?” Liam asked.
“The stairs?”
“Yeah. Our old place had an elevator at least.”
I smiled fondly at the memory of our old apartment building. Both our families had moved out to nicer places around freshman year, but that old, rickety brick building would always have a special place in my memories. “That thing only worked about half the time.”
Liam let out a longing sigh. “Better than none of the time. The worst day of the week is grocery day. Up and down. Up and down. Up and—”
“I get it,” I said with a laugh, holding the stairwell door open for him.
Since when could Liam so casually make me laugh?
“So, how have these events been going for you?” Liam asked, his gaze drifting over to the cafe. Lily was currently hovering over the shoulder of a customer, saying something to them as she pointed at their latte.
“Good,” I said with a proud smile. “And they’ve been great for sales. Get ready to lose, Ashford.”
Liam smiled in that smug way of his, but he didn’t reply.
We walked in silence until we reached the front doors of The Prologue.
I turned to him and asked, “Why are you being so quiet?” It had barely been one minute of silence, and yet it felt so uneasy.
Liam was the sort of person who always had something to say.
When he was quiet, it usually meant something.
He hummed in response, as though he hadn’t heard what I said.
I kicked his shin lightly. “You don’t have some obnoxious comment to make before I kick you out?”
In an instant, Liam replaced that unreadable look on his face with something far more familiar. “If you get violent like that with all your customers, I won’t even have to try to beat you.”
“Please,” I scoffed. “Try all you want. You’re not even going to come close.”
“Whatever you say, Jessie, but don’t worry, I read you loud and clear.”
“Loud and clear about what?”
“Your informal request,” he insisted.
I stared at him like he had two heads. “My informal—what are you talking about?”
“You can’t stand me being quiet for even a second,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll start coming by more often to bug you.”
“Please don’t.”
“No need to act all timid now,” Liam chuckled.
“Get out of my store, Ashford.”
“Whatever you say, Jessa.”
Jessa. He had called me Jessa again, and I had no idea how to respond.
Liam glanced toward the door. “I should go,” he said. “Thanks for the poster. It’s great.”
“Yeah,” I replied quietly, searching his eyes for some sort of explanation, only to come up empty.
“See you,” he said before pushing the door open.
“Bye.”
After Liam had left, I stood there for a moment, my gaze still fixed on the spot where he had just stood. One moment, and then I got back to work.