Chapter Twelve #2
Liam shrugged, as if we were discussing something as casual as the weather. “You should try to learn how to relax. If everything falls apart from me being gone for five minutes, then that tells me I’ve got a way bigger problem on my hands.”
Liam had a point. If a few minutes of my absence was enough to derail the day, then I wasn’t truly doing a good enough job as a shop owner.
“I guess you’re right. Maybe I should take a little break and eat something then.” The words came out more easily than the decision felt. Some days, relinquishing control felt like an impossible concept.
“Want to come next door with me? Check out the competition? You can eat in the cafe. No one will bother you there.”
I thought about his offer for a moment. I wasn’t entirely confident about leaving The Prologue at a time like this. But ultimately, I nodded my head, then followed Liam as he led the way toward his own shop.
I sent a short text to The Prologue’s employee group chat, letting everyone know where I would be and when I would be back.
Then I shoved my phone into my back pocket just in time to miss whatever joke Lily was bound to make.
At some point over the months, she had convinced herself that Liam and I were ‘meant to be.’ Her teasing comments and jokes were relentless.
It would have been a lie to say that I hadn’t been the slightest bit curious about how Liam’s day was going. In truth, it seemed that on that particular day, my mind continued to drift to him far more often than it normally would—no doubt a direct result of the situation that occurred that morning.
Even without waking up together and a second almost-kiss, I still likely would have spent far too much time thinking about him that day. I couldn’t ignore the loud cheers that came from the other side of our shared wall if I tried.
The entire charity event relied on us hosting our events simultaneously.
It was the best way to pull in as many customers as possible and hopefully get them to double dip from one shop to the other.
I convinced myself that, with how busy the day was, I wouldn’t possibly be able to find a free moment to pop over to Liam’s.
Yet there I stood, in the very center of The Galaxy Gamer’s Cafe. I felt a little like a sardine packed into a tin. The place was crowded beyond belief. More full than The Prologue, even. That fact had the slightest hint of envy coursing through my veins.
The place was also incredibly loud. It was no wonder that Liam escaped over to my shop. An hour of the sheer level of noise that was bouncing off the walls, and anyone would be bound to have a splitting headache.
“Is it even legal to have this many people in here?” I asked Liam, having to shout just to stand a chance of him being able to hear me.
“Oh, yeah,” Liam replied coolly as he nodded his head.
He quickly threw an arm over my shoulder and pulled me crashing toward him. Three seconds later, two children came running past where I had just stood. “Walking, please,” Liam called after them to no avail, as they had already vanished somewhere around the racks of trading cards.
“Are you sure?” I asked even though my brain felt like it was turning to mush. Liam’s arm was still wrapped around me as he led me through the crowd, but it drifted down to rest on my hip.
He tsked. “Of course, I’m sure. Jace was outside this morning counting them all as they came in. We are just under capacity.”
“That thought is mildly reassuring.”
Liam’s thumb shifted upward a little, brushing the small expanse of skin that was revealed where my t-shirt lifted up slightly.
My brain short-circuited.
Goosebumps crept across every inch of my skin. There was a hot feeling crashing through me that had my mind feeling almost hazy.
I realized just how much trouble I was in at that very moment. I was not just attracted to Liam. The situation was far worse than that. I wanted him. So badly that my soul seemed to ache for him—falling apart at the slightest brush of his body against mine.
Liam, who continued to lead us toward the back of the shop, seemed none the wiser to my inner turmoil.
“You’re—” I tried to form the words. Any words. But I couldn’t.
He held that position until we parted in the cafe. My entire body still felt burning hot as I settled into the cold metal chair across the table from him.
When did this happen?
We spent years competing with one another, only to then follow it with several years of not speaking at all. And then, he was there, running the shop right beside mine. And in the span of just a few months, we had become friends.
And now? Now we had somehow become even more than that.
Suddenly, I had all sorts of feelings rushing through me. Feelings that felt warm and almost familiar, but also brand new and entirely unfathomable all at once.
When had I gone from hating Liam Ashford to feeling this?
Falling asleep on the couch together, him bringing me food and coffee, the countless inside jokes. It was almost too much. I spent more time with Liam than I did with anyone else.
I didn’t know what exactly it was that we had—what I felt.
I didn’t want to. More than anything, I wanted the feelings gone.
I wanted to relish the feeling of finally having him as my friend.
I didn’t want to crave more. I didn’t want to imagine what it would be like to finally feel his lips on mine.
But I couldn’t seem to help it.
“Jessa? Are you okay?”
Liam asked from across the table. He was carefully plucking out the contents of the paper bag and setting them on a napkin.
Two donuts. One made from chocolate batter, topped with a thick layer of chocolate frosting and a generous amount of rainbow sprinkles.
The other seemed to be a jelly-filled donut, a glittering of sugar dusted on top, and a stream of red jelly coming out from one side.
I picked up the chocolate donut.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied.