Project Fat Suit

Thirty-Five: The Soup Pot

Chapter Thirty-Five: Soup Pot

Usually, I hate Mondays. Who doesn’t? You’re enjoying your two days off and BAM the government comes and makes you wake up at six just to sit in classrooms all day.

But today, I was a bit excited for Monday because it’s the day my plan for getting Holly and Uranus back together would commence. I spent the majority of my Sunday night thinking about it.

And usually I’d be upset that Liam is standing in front of my locker, but today it was convenient.

“Hey, can I—” Liam started to say, but I cut him off.

“Meet me in the library,” I told him, as I walked by. Hey, I may need to talk to him, but I have a reputation to uphold.

Liam looked a bit confused, but followed a little ways behind me nevertheless.

The library was pathetic. It was originally the guys’ locker room, but the principal moved it closer to the gym. Despite the change in function, the room still smelled of sweat and dirt. But that wasn’t what made it pathetic. It was pathetic because it had around thirty books and they were just shoved into some of the remaining lockers. There was no librarian and there was one computer stuffed in the corner…it was broken.

Barely anyone knew we had a library, so that’s why I chose it.

“I didn’t even know we had a library,” Liam commented as he walked through the door and looked around. “…If this is even considered one.”

I shrugged. “At least it’s quiet most of the time.”

Liam nodded at that and came closer to me. “Rena, I’m so sorry about my mom. She just gets really worried about me, but she took it way out of line,” Liam apologized on his mother’s behalf.

I remembered his dizzy spells from Saturday. Who wouldn’t be worried about him?

“I don’t blame her,” I mumbled under my breath.

“What?”

“I said it’s okay. I just got really mad because she brought my family into it,” I said instead. “I shouldn’t have yelled at her—she is your mother after all.”

“I explained everything to her and after a bit of arguing, she told me to tell you that she’s sorry,” Liam told me. “She wants you to come over for dinner so she can tell you herself too.”

“That’s nice, but I really don’t want to be a hassle. I would be fine with a hallmark card,” I tried to get out of it. I didn’t really want another awkward run-in with his parents and sister. And honestly, after what Liam’s mother said to me, I wanted to avoid her at all costs.

“I don’t think they make ‘Oh, I’m sorry for going ballistic on you’ cards,” Liam laughed. “And I kind of want to hang out with you again.”

“Then you have the perfect chance,” I told him, trying to transition to the topic of why I needed to talk to him. “Do you want to go volunteer with me at a soup kitchen while simultaneously trying to get Holly and Uranus back together again?” I asked him pleadingly.

Liam blanked for a second. “Like a date?”

Was that all he got out of that?

“Yeah, Liam, like a normal date in which we’ll force two mutual friends into a storage closet and hope for the best,” I said sarcastically.

“So it’s going to be a double date?” He asked, totally disregarding my sarcasm.

“Liam, it’s not a—” I got cut off by the bell.