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“Come on, Ava…”
“I already told you, for the gazillionth time, Julie. I don't have a crush on Liam!”
“But what if he has a crush on you?” I argued. “You two could work it out, fall in love, and make cute babies together.”
What could be better than my two favorite humans getting together?
“He could already have a girlfriend. You never know.”
“If that were true, I'd know, believe me. Liam's as single as a piece of thread. He's been hung up on that crackhead Witherspoon for years now. He and I… we tell each other everything.” A smile touched my lips.
Ava rolled her eyes and readjusted the cake box “You haven’t spoken to each other for a long time.”
I tightened the strap of my cheap cross-body bag and smoothened a crease on my blue Colorado T-shirt. “Look, just do this for me okay? If he makes a fuss about the yellow, it means he doesn't like you. If he accepts it and doesn't say a word. Then, there's hope!”
Ava faked an agonized groan. “I've never wanted to be so badly rejected before.”
My lips curled up to my cheeks and I led her down the curb. “Stop being a baby. We're almost there. Come on.”
On our way to Liam's house, Ava's statement about not knowing as much as I should about him stuck. It was true; we'd spent a long time apart and were not as tight as we used to be. He had moved out of town for work and only visited home like ten times in a century. But he was the only family I had, and nothing was going to change that.
We shared our secrets; and told each other things that no one else knew when we were growing up. If there were no Liam, I doubted that I’d ever been able to get through childhood or life in general. With no parents, he and I stuck together like paper Mache with a lot of glue.
After twenty more minutes of bickering and bantering about irrelevant topics, we arrived on the doorstep of the Fetcher’s craftsman house. The garden on the side — or what used to be Aunt Lilianna’s healthy garden — looked more like a dry pile of withered weeds, the trees were a rich shade of green, and the door with chipped white paint was still the same.
I knocked. Ava glanced over her shoulder, looking around.
No answer.
I knocked again, scooted to a corner, and pressed my face against the dusty windows. “Hello? Liam?” Another knock on the windowpane. “Is anybody—”
The door opened with a noisy uncomfortable creak and dark hair and grey eyes peeked through the threshold. “Liam!”. My hands went up in the air and without thinking, I threw myself into his muscular arms.
He gave me the biggest bear hug, and I smiled, pressing my head against his solid chest.
Home.
I missed him, more than words could express. Sometimes you didn't realize how lonely you were until you saw your one and only family member again.
“I'm glad I get to see you again, Julie. I missed you.” The warmth in his husky voice filled my heart. It might not have made sense to anyone else, but in that beautiful, intimate moment I felt complete. As if a buried part of me had come alive.
I pulled away with a cheeky grin, staring up at him. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
Ava cleared her throat behind us, and Liam raised his head, sidestepping to welcome us in.
“Hey, Ava.”
She mumbled a cold “Hey” back and I closed the door.
He looked over my shoulder and I might have sworn I saw a twinkle when his eyes met …
“You brought cake?”
The cake box?
“Yes, we did. We are always prepared. Happy belated birthday, L-Man.” I spread my arms, anticipating a hug, but apparently, having the cake was more important to him.
With a gentle sweep of his hand, he moved me aside and effortlessly lifted the transparent plastic box from Ava's grip, peering inside.
