The Rebound Agreement ✔

twenty-two

[unedited;
please vote and leave some comments as you read]

Liam loosely throws his arm over my shoulder as we walk back to his truck, and I want to lean my head against his shoulder, but I don't.

He's talking about something, but I'm so zoned out that I don't catch much of what he says. If I'm being honest with myself, I haven't heard much of what he has said all day. My mind has just been somewhere else.

Today, I tell myself. If I wait, it will just be harder.

But the thing is, it's hard to do what's best for you when your heart's not into it.

Liam opens the door of truck door for me, and I grasp his warm hand as I climb in. Stop overthinking, I tell myself. You know this is right.

But my internal scolding doesn't reduce the nerves I have. I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it, and more than anything, I just want to bolt and never come back.

But I don't. I stay seated as Liam comes around the front of the truck and climbs in, and I put my hands under my thighs so I don't start picking at my cuticles again.

After some protesting from his truck, Liam gets it started and pulls out of the parking lot. I reach over and turn the heater up at the same time Liam reaches over to switch the radio station. Our hands bump and I close my eyes, desperately wishing that I wasn't hard wired to overthink small things like this.

I fiddle with the bracelet on my wrist and tap my foot anxiously. Just do it, I tell myself. But I put it off longer.

Finally, as Liam turns down the street that I live on, I muster up the courage.

I swallow and reach up to turn the radio down. "We need to talk," I tell him, my voice surprisingly sounding much stronger than my trembling hands appear to be.

Liam flashes a lazy grin in my direction. "The dreaded words," he jokes.

But I don't laugh. Instead, I frown, turning away to look back out the window.

After I take too long forming the words in my head that I'm going to say, he speaks again. "So what's up?"

We pull up in front of my dorm and Liam kills the engine, turning to face me.

I take a deep breath. And then another. And then I take a sip of the drink in my hands to put off what I'm going to say even longer. "I don't think we should do this anymore," I finally say.

"Do what? Eat lunch at Wendy's?" he jokes, the corners of his lips turning up.

I attempt a weak smile before my lips turn down again. "No." I cross and uncross my legs. "This thing between us."

Liam's smile drops some. "What do you mean?" he asks, his eyebrows furrowing.

I take a deep breath and force myself to look at him. "I think we should break up," I announce.

Liam's eyebrows raise in surprise as he registers what I'm saying. "Well, I think we shouldn't, Princess." He grabs my hand and raises it to his lips where he presses a lingering kiss to it.

I yank it away as if I had been stung. "No, you don't get to pull the dumb Prince Charming thing right now," I tell him sourly. "I'm serious. I don't think we should do this anymore."