Thirty-Seven

“I like him a lot.” Rose said the next morning.

“That’s good.. he is a good guy.”

“So what happened last night?”

“Sidney came over”

“What happened there?”

“He walked me home and we talked.”

“And..”

“We are figuring things out.”

“Who is figuring things out?” Liam asked walking into the living room.

“Her and Sidney.”

“What?”

“We are just talking..”

“What does that even mean?” Liam asked me.

“I don’t know, Liam. I don’t know why it really matters or why either of you care so much.” I said getting up and walking into my room.

“What?” I said irritated when I heard someone knock on my door.

“Talk to me..” Liam said.

“What? I don’t get why it matter, Liam. I really don’t get it.”

“It doesn’t matter. I just want to know.”

“You are with Maggie..”

“Yeah, I am. It doesn’t mean I stopped loving you. It doesn’t mean I still don’t want to know whats going on in your life.”

“We can’t keep having this conversation.”

“What conversation?”

“The conversation of you loving me and me loving you. You are with Maggie. We aren’t together. That’s just how it is.” I said.

“I know. So what happened with Sidney?”

“We just talked.”

“And?”

“We decided to talk. We are figuring out what is going to happen.”

“Liam!” I heard Maggie yell.

“Seriously?! Seriously, she is just here right now? She seriously just walked into my house?” I asked. Then I saw Maggie walking down the hallway.

“Ever hear of knocking?” I asked.

“Ever think to not hit on someone elses boyfriend?”

“Really? You want to go there?” Rose said. Apparently she heard what was going down from her room.

“Yeah, do you, Maggie?” I asked.

“Obviously.” She said.

“Stop it, Grace.” Liam said.

“Me? Really? What about Maggie?! What about Maggie and her thinking like she lives here.”

“What about you wanting my boyfriend?”

“IF I FUCKING WANTED LIAM! I WOULD HAVE HIM!! I HAVE SOMEONE ELSE. I WANT SOMEONE ELSE. I DON’T WANT LIAM! OKAY, BITCH!” I screamed.

“If you wanted him, you def couldn’t get him?”

“Really? What Liam and I had.. you two will never have. He is the love of my life.”

“But yet you two aren’t together right now.”

“Yeah, we aren’t. That doesn’t change the past.”

“Seriously, Maggie.. just leave. Knock when you come to my house.”

“Liam lives here too.”

“Who owns the fucking house, Maggie? Oh right! My family does!” I said.

“You are a bitch.”

“No, no, no.. you are a bitch and I really don’t see what Liam sees in you. He deserves so much better.” I said.

“Okay, Grace.. we get it. We will leave.” Liam said.

“I don’t want you to leave.. I want her to leave.”

“The only reason you don’t like me is because Liam picked me over you.”

“The only reason I don’t like you is because you are a fucking bitch!” I said and slammed my door shut.

Can we meet? I need to see you.

“Whats wrong?” He said calling me.

“Just had a blow out with Maggie.”

“What did Liam do?”

“Nothing. I just don’t want to be here.”

“Come to Sewickley. I’ll meet you at the café.”

I’m sorry.

Don’t be sorry.

I just didn’t know what to do.

Its fine.. I’ll see you in a few minutes.

Liam kept calling me.

“Liam, stop calling me.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m meeting Sidney.”

“We need to talk.”

“You have Maggie. How dare I be mean to Maggie? I don’t give a shit anymore, Liam.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“I think maybe you should.”

“Just come back.”

“Right now, I want to talk to Sidney, not you.” I simply said and hung up.

Thirty-Six.

“So what happened this summer?” Sidney asked me while we were sitting on my bed.

“I volunteered and went to class.”

“Fun.”

“You really want to know about James, don’t you?”

“Kind of.” He said.

“He is a doctor at the hospital.”

“How did you guys meet?”

“He is friends with Mollie. I met him randomly and then he was with Mollie. Then he just hung out with me and would help me with my classes.”

“Then it just started?”

“It was just casual, Sidney.”

“It didn’t seem casual.”

“It just happened.”

“Why did you guys break up?”

“Like to you right now it seems like I was with James. But you could ask anyone and it wasn’t like I forgot you. Liam basically asked me flat out why I wasn’t with you and if I kept thinking about you. It was never black and white. I was with James but it didn’t mean I stopped liking you or caring.”

“Then why were you with him at all?”

“exactly. We broke up for a reason, Sidney.”

“I’m sorry about everything this summer.”

“Me too, Sid. I didn’t think it would turn out like this, I mean like three months ago, I thought we would make it all summer.”

“I should have talked to you more. I should have talked to you about James and I should have told you about the Bahamas as soon as it happened. I just didn’t want to lose you.”

“We both should have done things differently. I shouldn’t have ever dated James. I should have stood up to my parents. I just don’t think I was strong enough. I should have been stronger. I should have just told them, but they just are worried. Everything that has happened, its just hard for them. They don’t want me to get attached to someone and then be disappointed.”

“I should have understood better. And I know that you have had an unique situation, but I don’t want to disappoint you. I want to be there for you.”

“I know. I just don’t really want this to happen again. I don’t want to walk in a room and not be able to talk to you.”

“I don’t want that either. I want to be with you.”

“We just need to start over. Start slow.”

“No more secrets.”

“No more secrets. I want to be your best friend.” He said.

“That’s what this summer was all about. Too bad its not summer anymore.”

“It doesn’t matter, Grace.” He said and I kissed him.

“I missed being able to do that.” I said smiling.

“I missed everything about you. Trust me.” He said kissing me again.

“Rose and Kris seem to like eachother.”

“He likes her a lot.” Sidney said.

“She deserves it. She was dating a guy for like five years and he broke up her for no reason a few weeks ago.”

“Kris just broke up with his girlfriend too.”

“I like him. He seems really nice.”

“He is. Rose would be good for him.”

“Rose deserves a good guy.”

“Who was that girl with Liam?”

“Maggie.” I said rolling my eyes.

“You don’t like her?”

“She is Liam’s girlfriend. She is so annoying. She won’t let Liam out of her site. She basically lives here. She hates me for no reason.”

“Wow, you really don’t like her.”

“She thinks that like if she isn’t around, I’m going to like hop into his bed or something. That ship has sailed.”

“She just must not be as understanding as me.” Sidney said.

“What?! You wanted to kill Liam before.”

“Not anymore. He is a good guy.” He said.

“I forgot how cute you are.” I said smiling. Then we kissed. And kissed. Then kissed some more.

“You should probably go.” I said breaking away from his kiss.

“You are probably right.” He said. I got up from my bed.

“Call me tomorrow or something.” I said and then he kissed me and left.

Is this really happening? Am I really back with Sidney? I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that he was just in my room and we talked. We talked about everything. Everything seems okay now. It was a weird night, but a night where everything seemed to fall into place.