Fearless » Liam Dunbar

Perishable

I woke up the next morning, my eyelids heavy. I had literally got no sleep at all. Thoughts about me being Liam's anchor had been racing through my head all through the night.

When we got home, Scott explained the anchor thing in more detail to me. Of course, I realised that I had completely overreacted. I knew Liam liked me but the fact that I was his anchor; I was the one who could bring him back to his human form. Honestly, it scared me that I could actually mean that much to someone.

Saying that, I did kinda have my suspicions that I might be his anchor. There's been numerous occasions where I've been the one to calm him down.

I suppose I reacted like I did because I remembered Scott and Allison. She was his anchor but when they broke up, he was distraught. He tried so hard to get over her but the truth is, I don't think he ever did. I care about Liam too much to let that happen to him.

I climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for school. I planned to talk to Liam today and explain why I reacted like that. I had no idea what I was going to say.

~

As I walked through the school corridor, I noticed Liam and Mason talking. I quickly stood at a locker nearby and waited until they had finished their conversation. Liam finally turned around and I ran over to him.

"Liam!" I called out. He turned his head to look at me and then turned back around and started walking again.

Mason looked at me, crossing his arms over his chest.

I groaned. "What?"

"Did you have an argument?" Mason asked.

"Kind of" I said. "I may have overreacted slightly to something and now he wont talk to me"

"You see, this is exactly why I'm gay. Girls create drama. Guys don't" Mason said. I rolled my eyes. "So are you going to the bonfire tonight?" he asked.

"Probably not"

"Why? I'm sure Liam wants to see you there" he winked.

"I'm pretty sure Liam never wants to see me again. And this social anxiety thing, I'm not good with big crowds of people" I shrugged.

"Please come" he gave me the puppy eyes. The goddamn puppy eyes.

"I'd rather sit at home and eat ice cream whilst watching the notebook and crying about my life"

"Great, I'll see you there" he clapped a hand on my shoulder and left me in the middle of the almost deserted hallway.

"Great" I muttered sarcastically.

~

Sometimes you don't realise you're actually drowning when you're trying to be everyone else's anchor.

My english teacher wrote that quote on the board today. I didn't realise how relevant it actually is to me, right now, until I'd been stood outside the boys locker rooms for twenty minutes, waiting for my brother.

I was trying so hard to be strong for everyone else that I didn't realise I was the one drowning. And once the pressure in my head became unbearable, I would let go, stop breathing, just to be released.

The door to the lockers suddenly opened, shaking the thoughts from my head. Liam came out looking uneasy. I don't quite know if he saw me but he continued to walk past. I picked my bag up from the floor and followed him.

I found him sat on the steps, twirling his lacrosse stick in his hands.

"Hey" I said, sitting down next to him. He shifted uncomfortably. "I know you're upset but avoiding me isn't going to make this go away" I said.