Page 82 of Anything But Lonely

“Hey, Liam.”

It’s like a bucket of cold water over my head.

Why does she sound so happy to see him?

And why do I care so much?

“Hi, hot stuff,” I hear Liam say just before he pulls her in for a hug, and my jaw ticks.

I can only make out bits and pieces of their conversation. Something about if Emerson is bringing Crew for Sugarcoated Lies setlist and what she’s doing once Crew goes to bed.

With her facing towards the door, her answers are harder for me to hear. I lean towards the door from where I’m sitting next to Crew at the dining table, hoping to figure out what exactly she’s saying.

I think I hear her starting to answer his question when suddenly I’m falling. The chair legs give out beneath me, sending me straight toward the floor. My arms shoot out just in time to catch myself before my face meets the ground.

Crew immediately bursts into laughter, asking me to do it again as if my near face-plant was a planned performance just for him, and Emerson and Liam rush over to me.

“Are you okay?” Liam asks, reaching out to help me up.

“I’m fine,” I mutter, ignoring his efforts and getting up myself.

“What were you doing down there?” Emerson asks, crossing her arms. Her hair is tied up into two buns on the top of her head, her bangs swooping to each side of her forehead just enough for her eyes to peek out from underneath them.

“I dropped something.” I run my hands down over my shirt, looking at the ground as if I didn’t find what I supposedly needed to pick up.

“Sure you did,” Emerson whispers before turning to Liam. “As I was saying, I didn’t get the best sleep on the bus these last two nights, so I’m just going to crash early tonight.”

He reaches a hand towards her, looping his finger through the belt loop of her jeans, and I have the urge to swat his hand away.

She lets him pull her in, just enough to make me feel like a third wheel. “Maybe next time.” She reaches up to pat his cheek twice, and he takes it as her dismissal.

“Always breaking my heart these days,” he says as he heads to the door, turning over his shoulder to give her a smile. “Get some sleep.”

“Will do,” she concedes, giving him a small wave before sitting back down with Crew as the door closes.

A few moments pass, and I find myself stewing in my thoughts as Emerson and Crew finish their desserts and start cleaning up the table.

“What’s the deal with you and Liam?” The words are out in the open, and I regret them instantly. Emerson turns my way as Crew hops off his chair, heading towards the kitchen sink to wash his hands.

Emerson huffs out a dry laugh. “Um, nothing?” She shakes her head, following Crew into the kitchen.

“That didn’t look like nothing,” I rush out, rounding the table to follow her.

She lifts Crew onto the counter so he can reach the water, turning it on and pumping soap into his hand.

She looks at him before turning her gaze to me, lifting a brow. “And what is it that you think you saw, rockstar?” she asks, her voice a little more measured than her usual teasing tone.

I open and close my fist at my sides before shoving them in the back pocket of my pants. “Nothing,” I answer too quickly. “You two just seem,” I pause for a moment, looking at Crew, who is too concerned with the soap bubbling up in his hands to really be paying attention to Emerson and me, “close.”

“Close,” Emerson repeats.

I nod.

“Well, not that it’s any of your business,” she begins to explain, grabbing Crew’s soapy hands and moving them under the running water, “but he’s a good friend of mine. Has been for years. So, yeah, I guess we are close.”

“I see,” I reply, and I should just leave it at that. I shouldn’t even have started this conversation to begin with.

Her relationship with Liam shouldn’t matter to me.