Bad Boy's Queen

23; Bad Boy's Party Trick

"How come you were wearing my sweatpants?"

I look at Liam, slowly chewing on the apple in my mouth. Elliot is also watching me from the other side of the couch.

"I just missed you and I liked the smell of your clothes so I wore it to sleep."

Liam scrunches his nose. "That's creepy. You seriously missed me that much?"

I nod, not wanting to speak about it. My brothers are pretty good at seeing through my lies. I try to act distracted by my apple, pretending like there's some stuck in my teeth. I watch Elliot from my peripheral vision as I continue eating the apple. The both of us are still in that uncomfortable phase of wanting to say something to each other, but afraid that the other might reject.

I almost call out to Liam when he gets up and exits the living room, leaving Elliot and me alone. Elliot doesn't turn to me as I look at him. His eyes are still glued to the TV, watching the documentary on cowboys, but his eyes are distant like he has something else on his mind.

Soon the silence is so uncomfortable that I get up and also leave the living room, leaving Elliot in there alone. He should be the one to speak up first. He was the one that slapped me. I shouldn't be the one begging for him to apologise just for the sake of returning to our old ways of constant teasing and laughing around.

"Hey, Leah! Someone's here to see you," Liam calls out from the front door. There's a part of me that's hoping that it's Hunter but it just seems very unlikely that Liam would allow me to even come near him.

As I reach the door Liam walks away. "Hey, Matt. I didn't see you at school today. How was your weekend?"

"We came back late yesterday and I felt really bad this morning. How was your birthday?"

I lean against the door frame, nodding. Hunter passes through my mind. I think about his words in the car about how he wanted to pull the car over and fuck me on the hood of his car. I shudder but don't mention anything about Hunter in case my brothers are eavesdropping in the living room. "It was good. Had a sleepover with Emily and two others. I wish you came."

"Sorry about that, but I'm throwing a party on Friday night if you want to come. Your brothers can come too. There's going to be plenty of alcohol and good music."

"You couldn't have just texted me?" I grin.

"Eh, I was passing by anyway."

"Cool. Parents aren't home on Friday?"

"No, they're going away until Monday. I have the house to myself all weekend."

"Lucky."

"I'll come." Liam butts into our conversation out of nowhere, throwing a grape into his mouth. Matthew also looks taken aback when Elliot joins in.

"I'll invite my girl too." Elliot smiles before returning back to the living room. Liam joins him too, and I smile sheepishly.

"You don't mind, do you?"

"No. The more the merrier. Hey, you're still wearing my bracelet." He points toward my wrist.

"I haven't taken it off since you gave it to me. So, I'll see you tomorrow at school?"

"Yeah. You want to hang out after school tomorrow?"

"I don't think I can. I have a chemistry test in two days."

"Sucks. I'll just be a loner for a day then."

"Shut up."

He laughs and then waves as he turns and makes his way to his car. It hasn't rained lately, but the clouds aren't clearing up either. It's like we have an unlimited amount of grey clouds here. I haven't seen the sun since I went to the beach with Matthew.