Last Seen Alive

Chapter Thirty

Song: Arcade by Duncan Laurence ft. Fletcher

"I can't believe you disrespected my wishes and went to Michael."

Kelsey sighed as she went through the door Liam was holding open for her and sat on one of the chairs in the kitchen area. "I didn't go to Michael, I went to a funeral. He just happened to be there too."

"You say that like it was a coincidence and not an absolute certainty that he'd be attending his cousin's funeral," Liam scoffed, standing next to her with his arms folded across his chest.

"Pam was my friend. I wanted to say goodbye and pay my respects. The woman died in my arms, for goodness sake! I'm sorry you're unhappy about my decision to go there but I'm not sorry I went. It was unfair of you to order me not to anyway."

He stared at her dumbstruck, arms falling to his sides. "I ordered you not to go?"

"Your opening sentence to me when you let me in just now was 'I can't believe you disrespected my wishes.' That doesn't sound like an aggrieved tyrant to you?"

Liam looked crestfallen as he sank into the chair next to hers. "I'm sorry if I came off as a tyrant. This Michael thing is freaking me out and I'm worried about you spending more time around him and what could happen if you do."

"You don't trust me," she whispered, almost as if the words were too taboo to say out loud.

He looked at her hesitantly and to his surprise, she laughed -- a humorless, dark chuckle that perfectly matched the defeated look on her face.

"If you can't trust me anymore, then what are we even still doing in a relationship?" she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

His eyes widened in panic. "You want to break up?"

"That's not what I said."

"Then what are you saying?"

"That you deserve to be in a relationship where you're not looking over your shoulder wondering if your girlfriend is going to choose someone else over you. And I deserve to have the person I love trust me enough to know I wouldn't hurt them."

"That sounds like you're saying we should break up."

Kelsey sighed again and buried her head in her hands. "I'm just so tired. Since that article came out, I've been walking around on eggshells trying to convince you that it's you that I love, not Michael. I haven't even been to work since then because any mention of being in Michael's vicinity drives you up a wall."

"The article came out 4 days ago."

"And yet it feels like a month. I can't keep checking in with you every half hour so you can be sure I'm not with Michael or that I didn't slip and fall into his bed or something. It's exhausting and mentally and emotionally straining." She took a deep breath. "Maybe we need a little break to help us..."

"Marry me!" Liam blurted out, cutting her off mid-sentence.

She blinked at him. "Wh--what?"

"Marry me," he said again, taking her hands in his. "I love you and you love me. We've been together forever and we've been headed on the path to marriage for a while now so why wait any longer?"

"Liam, I..." His proposal kept repeating in her mind, clouding her thoughts and leaving her speechless. She shook her head to clear it. "Wait a minute," she said pulling her hands away from his. "Are you only proposing to me so that we don't break up?"

"You just suggested a break from our relationship!"

"Nooo, you didn't let me finish. I was going to say a little break from everything here would help us reconnect again, like a vacation or a road trip or something other than a rushed, half-hearted trip down the aisle!"

"Oh," Liam flushed.

"I've been waiting for you to propose for years and the first time you do it, it's a half-arsed proposal of convenience without a ring," she said, her voice rising higher. "Wow."

"I'm sorry, Kels," he pleaded. "I was just desperate to keep you."

"I'm not some possesion you get to claim and marriage is not a bandaid you slap on to hold a broken relationship together. Maybe we really should take an actual break from each other."

She got up and went into the bedroom to pick up her bag and stuff in a few of her belongings that were lying around in his room. The irony that she did the exact same thing a few days ago in Michael's apartment didn't escape her and she started shoving things in her bag with more aggression.

When she went out, she found him with his head in his hands. He lifted it when he heard her enter the room and the crestfallen look on his face almost melted away her fury.

"How long?" he asked in a heartbreaking, solemn tone.

"I don't know."

He nodded with a resigned look on his face and approached her slowly. She held her position until he was standing in front of her with barely an inch of space between their bodies.

As he stared down at her, he ran his fingers through her curls and cupped the back of her neck, tilting her head slightly upward, then he bent down and kissed her. A slow, firm kiss that made her breath catch and her heart race.

She kissed him back, putting every emotion she was feeling into the movement of her lips and the soft carress of her hands on his arms, up his back, and on the nape of his neck softly digging into his hair until he groaned with pleasure and pulled her closer against him.

A few moments later, he pulled back, leaving only their foreheads touching, and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I just didn't want the last thing you remember about me while we're apart to be an insincere proposal." He pulled back again and looked her in the eye. "I love you. Always."

He stepped away from her without waiting for her to respond to his declaration and disappeared into the bedroom, leaving her to walk out on her own.

She looked around the apartment, smiling ruefully at the memories brought on by every single thing she saw before walking out with a sigh and a heavy heart.

***

Short and (bitter)sweet?