How To Play the Player (COMPLETED)

Sober

I nearly threw myself out of Bryan's moving car as soon as he turned into Liam's neighborhood. He had promised to take me out for dinner, not to drive me to be part of the party I had very much purposefully avoided going too.

"Take me back to your house, Bry." I said through my teeth, refusing to meet his eyes. "You're going to pay for this."

He sighed but didn't respond. Instead he parallel parked and shifted his body in my direction.

"Take me back, Bryan. I don't want to be here."

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on with you, Reese. It's been two weeks. I've given you time. I've given you space. Talk to me."

I looked out the window. "I was dumb for not listening to you. Liam and I are too different. I'm only going to end up hurting him."

"That's not what I see." Bryan said, narrowing his eyes. "I see that you two have a strong connection and have a lot in common."

"Well, you see wrong." Was my very immature response.

Bryan stretched his arms behind his head and his expression slowly shifted from serious to his usual passive-aggressiveness. "I love you, Reese. I know you better than you know yourself, I know the littlest things about you that I'm sure nobody else sees. And you need to understand not everyone is out to hurt you, that you grieving Raya doesn't mean that you're hurting Liam by allowing yourself to feel. You can't sit here and play matchmaker for everyone else and be miserable the rest of your life."

"I don't want to end up like my parents." I whispered. "I don't want to get my heart broken."

Bryan reached across the console and touched the top of my hand. "You said your mother let Liam's dad go, right? And then she ended up with your father, who she never truly loved as she had Mr. Scott. Outside of you and Raya, that relationship was doomed from the start. Because she let the love of her life go. Do you want to make the same mistake with Liam?"

I glared at my best friend. "I hate you."

"Oh hush. You love me. You just hate I'm right."

**

Bryan didn't wander off until he had thrusted me into Liam's arms. I glared at the back of his head and made a mental note to smack him as soon as I found him again.

Liam shifted awkwardly, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, blue eyes softening when he saw how miserable I looked. "I didn't think you'd come after what you said."

"I'm sorry for saying that." I avoided his eyes, afraid I'd immediately give in to my urge to hug him. I missed the comfort of his arms around me. "I was just. . . just. . ."

"Scared?" he took my chin between his fingers and forced it up so I was staring into his eyes. "I am too, Reese. I am too."

*

I spent a majority of the party in Liam's bedroom upstairs, relieved to be undisturbed and to not have to try and conversate with Brianna, who I had all but been ignoring for the last couple weeks. I just couldn't handle her badgering and constant bombardment of questions. She seemed to take the hint and didn't look to be too upset, I was sure that had something to do with her brother explaining a little of what was going on.

Sadly for me, nothing ever seemed to want to go my way. It was like taking two steps forward and three steps back. As soon as Liam popped into the room to check on me, any thought of allowing the spark between us to ignite further was snuffed out entirely. He was still in his white shirt and shorts, but his hair was a disheveled mess, as if someone had run their hands through it repeatedly. I would have assumed it was his own fingers that had raked through it if it weren't for the smeared lipstick on the corner of his mouth.

Very childishly I rose to my feet and laughed in his face. "Having fun down there?"

He frowned. "What the hell is up with the attitude?"

I reached up and wiped the lipstick with my thumb and shook my head in disgust, "Next time you want to kiss and not tell, you might want to clean up the evidence."

Realization dawned in his eyes and he caught my arm as I tried to pass him. "Reese, let me explain."

"It's fine, Liam." I responded. "We're not together, it shouldn't matter, right?"

His expression crumbled further but the drop in his guard was enough for me to tear my arm from his grip and hurry down the stairs. I found Bryan leaning against the wall at the foot of them, talking to Shay with a small smile. He immediately pushed himself from the wall and grabbed my shoulders at the same time Liam shot down and caught my hand. "Reese, let me explain, please."

"Explain what?" Bryan snapped, growing rigid. "What the hell did you do, Scott?"

It wasn't the jock before me that answered, but Nicola. "I just showed him what a real woman tastes like."

Shay shoved the red head beside her so hard that Nicola nearly lost her footing and had to grasp the wall to keep from face planting. "What the hell, Nic? Why do you have to be such a cruel bitch?"

Bryan ripped my hand from Liam's grasp and shoved the taller boy. "I should have just listened to my gut about you, Scott. I thought maybe there was a chance that you did change, that you loved Reese."

"I do." Liam didn't even try to push Bryan, but looked to me. "Reese, please just sit down and let me explain."

"What is there to explain?" I asked with a cold laugh. "You kissed Nicola. And it's fine, Liam. You don't have to explain yourself, you have the right to make the decisions you have."

He tried for my hand again, but Bryan stepped between us with a pointed look in his direction and said, "Leave it alone, Scott. Try to touch her again and you'll be dealing with me."

**

Bryan didn't say a word. Not in the car. Not after I took a shower, slipped into one of his old shirts, and curled up against him with a giant tub of ice cream on the couch. He just held me against him as we watched 10 Things I Hate About You in complete silence. It was about halfway through that my choked sob filled the room. "There are a hundred things I hate about Liam Scott."

Bryan tightened his arm around my shoulder. "Reese—"

"But there are twice as many things that I love about him."

I could feel him slump into the couch behind me, but he didn't speak for a while. He just kept his eyes trained on Heath Ledger on the flat screen. Clearly having thoroughly thought his answer through, he finally responded. "Don't hate me or slap me or anything, but hear me out. Why would Liam hook up with Nicola? He had over four years to try and get with her and now that he's with you, he suddenly decided to get with her? Come on, you're smart, Reese."

"Regardless if she initiated it or not, he kissed her back. You saw his face."

"Nicola has been trying to break you guys up for months, Reese. What a better way then to get in your head and make you think Liam got with her?"

I shrugged a shoulder. "It's for the best anyway. Liam has football and his scholarship to focus on. I have my own scholarships to worry about. It'll be okay. I'll be okay."

"Reese—"

"I'll be okay, Bryan."