How To Play the Player (COMPLETED)

Ask Again Later

It was safe to say the barrier that had still been between Liam and I was long gone the next day.

When I caught sight of him in the hallway on my way to second period, he was apologizing to another one of his exes, his usual smile and twinkling eyes melting her where she stood, but when he walked away from her, his face twisted into an emotionless mask. He saw me, but didn't say anything and looked to the ground between his shoes instead. He was likely sticking true to his word of stopping the flirtatious comments and steering clear of me unless Jay was around. Or he was possibly upset that he'd allowed me to see him in such a vulnerable state last night that he didn't know what to say. Either way, I was glad to not have to try and conversate with him.

By the end of the day I was beyond exhausted and would have loved to just walk out of the school and go home and curl up in bed. But I knew, especially with the reopened wound so fresh, that all I would be able to think about is Raya. Raya my beautiful, bright eyed sister. Raya, as the blood pooled around her head as she died.

"Are you busy?" I barely looked in Liam's direction as I scanned the parking lot for Bryan.

"Reese, I'm talking to you." Liam grasped my forearm and turned me so I was forced to look at him. "Are you busy this afternoon?"

I scratched at my neck with a sigh. "No, not really."

"Then text Bryan and come on."

I looked to the football field where most of the team was running laps, then back to Liam. "Shouldn't you be at practice?"

"Coach wants me to sit it out until Friday. He wants me to be a hundred percent for the game."

That made sense.

"Where are you planning on taking me?" I asked, following him the moment he stepped from the concrete on to the asphalt. "I need to tell Bryan in case-"

In case of what? If Liam wanted to hurt me in any way he would have by now. The worst he'd done is have me witness him cry.

"We're going to the hospital." Liam said through a yawn. "We're going to see my sister."

We managed to get up to the pediatric floor of the hospital without running into my mother. I knew she'd be happy to see me doing something other than hanging off my bed reading or locking myself in my room to watch movies by myself after school. I just couldn't pick up on how she felt about Liam, she didn't really seem to be against the idea when she saw him outside, but didn't seem for the idea of us being friends either.

By the time we had a Vistor sticker slapped against our shirts, I could feel my stomach furling into a tight knot. When I finally peered through the glass and at Liam's little sister, no amount of preparation could have stopped my lunch from nearly coming back up and all over the disinfected tile beside me.

All that was visible was the girl's mess of brown curls, but when I turned my head a little and stood on my tippy toes I could see the way her perfect long lashes fanned her ashen cheeks the way her brother's did, the perfect curve of the tip of her nose, another feature she shared with Liam. She didn't even appear to be in a coma, but sleeping peacefully. What made it sickening was the monitors and IVs on every side of her, the nurse who continuously went in and out to change the bed pan. Liam's sister had been here so long that she had pretty much become part of a daily routine for the nurses.

"You're Margo's daughter." A quiet voice brought me back to reality. I turned to find a petite blonde woman with large, prompting brown eyes beside me. "What are you doing here? I don't think she mentioned anything about you coming by."