Deputy Hutton

38

Brady Hutton

I was still wearing the same boxing shorts with a black sleeveless shirt on and somehow got a small bruise on my face from the fight. It took me a few hours but I finally stood in front of Liam's house and hesitated on ringing the bell.

I looked through my phone and realized that I never sent the video recording of me saying I love him. My fingers must have slipped or something.

Before I could do anything, someone opened the door and the sheriff's face got all tense when he saw me.

"What are you doing here?"He asked seriously, "Nobody's heard from you in weeks."

"I'm just here to see Liam, "I mentioned.

He just stared at me with a disappointed face and didn't say anything.

"Is he around?"I added.

"He's out with his friends."He pointed out and I couldn't help but frown. His expression then changed to something more sympathetic as he let out a sigh, "But he might be back soon."He cringes as if he was offering me to stay but at the same time didn't enjoy the idea.

"Would you mind if I wait here?"I asked.

"Yeah, sure."He shrugged, "I'm just heading out but you can make yourself comfortable."He said and passed me by, "Do one more thing that makes my son cry for three nights straight and I'll kill you."He whispered and went to his car.

I went inside the house and sat on the couch. It was dumb but I couldn't help but think about how I marked the exact spot that I was sitting as mine because Liam and I spent way too much time on the couch that we decided that it'd be best if we split it in two.

Not long later, someone unlocked the door and the darkness and emptiness that I had been feeling for the last few weeks disappeared as I saw Liam coming inside the house while laughing with his friend, Tess.

His smile fades when he saw me and just like that the whole room got awkward as Liam looked at me like he saw a ghost.

"I should get home," Tess mumbled to Liam and went straight to the front door. Liam was still in shock and couldn't even reply to her.

"Hi," I said softly.

"What happened to your face?"He asked worriedly, "And what are you wearing?"

"I was boxing, "I said casually.

"What?Why?"He asked seriously and sat next to me on the couch, "I thought you left all of that behind you?"

"It's complicated, Liam," I said and his face immediately turned bitter.

"Of course it is."He muttered, "Everything is complicated with you."

"I didn't come here to fight with you."I pointed out, "Just let me make this right."

He nodded with his face still being all red and I decided to continue, "Let me just start with I forgive you."

"Forgive me?"He raised his eyebrows and if he was not mad before, he was mad now as he stood up and crossed his arms above his chest, "Forgive me for what? For being worried about your whereabouts?For being worried that you'd get yourself into something stupid? I used to blame myself for everything that happened but you were the one that ended things, Brady. You were the one that went away to express your feeling by boxing with your pal, Ryan but me, I was here all alone, crying about everything that you said and the worst part is, you made me hate myself for something that you ruined."

"Liam, "I said softly and stood up, "I'm sorry okay. I really need you right now."

He took a deep breath and I could see that he tried his hardest to not cry, "I don't know what you expect by coming here but I'm sorry, Brady. I can't just forgive you and we cannot just pick up from where we left off."

The tears came running down his cheeks quickly and that made my heart ache even more.

"I have no one, Liam."My voice cracked a little but I cleared my throat to regain whatever masculinity I had left, "It's easy for you to say that I left you all alone here even though you had your friends and your father that loves you very much. Do you think I have that? The only friend I have backstabbed me and my siblings don't even realize who I am to them."

"Your siblings?"He raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I've been seeing them a lot lately, " I confessed.

"Is that why you have been so secretive lately?"He asked softly.

I just nodded and struggled to make eye contact with him because looking at his watery eyes just made me felt even more crappier than I already was.

"Why haven't you told me any of this?"He asked.

"It's not easy for me, okay."I sighed, "I'm not used to all of this relationship thing, and every time I go through something, I go through it alone. I just felt like I had to do that on my own too."

"Oh my god."The tears fell down his cheeks even faster now, "I'm such an idiot. I'm so sorry, Brady. I shouldn't have been so nosy and-"

"Hey, "I calmed him down and cupped his face, "It's not your fault. You didn't know and I should have told you."

"But-"

"Liam, let's just agree that it's both of our faults."I suggested with a small smile growing on my face as I wiped the tears away from under his eyes, "Can we please just put this behind us?"

He was silent.

"Liam?"I asked.

"It's not that easy, Brady."He said calmly.

"So, what? Are you giving up on?"I asked seriously, "After everything?"

"I'm not giving up on us."He assured, "But I'm also not saying that we should get back together."

"Then what is do you want?"I asked frustratedly.

"Can't we just go back to where we first started?"He asked.

"I would love that."I let out a small smile.

"I mean the part when we were friends, before everything, before us."He added.

As much as I didn't want that, I thought that maybe I still had a chance if we were friends again.

"If that's what you want, "I said.