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16
Exiting the taxi, I rubbed my hand across my face. I was back to square one with Liam again. After he’d told me to forget what had happened between us, he’d disappeared, presumably to get a cab home. I’d thrown myself into drinking and dancing with Elliot and his friends, but everything with Liam had kept replaying itself in my mind, and I’d struggled to focus on having a good time.
The way he’d kissed me—I’d never been kissed like that in my life. This inconvenient crush was in danger of turning into a full-blown obsession. I couldn’t let it. Falling for a straight boy had heartbreak written all over it. Even if, based on the way he’d kissed me, I could almost convince myself he was into me, the shattered look on his face and the way he’d insisted that we forget what had happened told me the truth.
After he’d said those words to me, I was hurt, both for myself and for him, and yeah, I was a little angry too. The bottom line was—he didn’t want me. He’d made that clear, and I knew it was for the best.
I needed to forget about Liam Holmes.
“Is everything okay?” Elliot gripped my arm, stopping me from walking up the path to my house. I stared at him. Did I tell him what had happened? Fuck, my life would be so much simpler if I was into him rather than Liam.
The sound of the black cab starting up behind us broke the silence that had fallen, and I sighed. I was drunk, tired, and I just wanted a friend to talk to.
“Not really.”
He moved closer, pushing at my shoulder. “Come on. Inside. I’ve been told I’m a good listener, and you look like you could use it.”
We ended up in the lounge, which was empty. Not really a surprise since it was almost four in the morning. Elliot sprawled out next to me, downing one of the pints of water I’d poured for us.
“Better,” he murmured, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth. “Okay. Talk. This is about Liam, I take it?”
“Yeah.” Kicking up my feet on the coffee table, I rolled my head to face him. “This needs to stay between us. I probably shouldn’t even be telling you, but it’s fucking killing me to keep it all inside.” I couldn’t out Liam, or whatever, and I wouldn’t tell him about us kissing, but Elliot wasn’t stupid. It was blatantly obvious he knew that something was going on between me and Liam based on his actions in the club.
“I wouldn’t betray your trust like that,” he assured me. “I’d like to think we’re friends now.”
“Yeah, we’re friends.” Shifting into a more comfortable position on the sofa, I closed my eyes, lowering my voice. “Okay. I’m into Liam, as much as I wish I wasn’t. I wondered for a minute if he was into me too…but then tonight, he made it clear that he wanted to forget about us, uh, dancing together. Why do I have to be interested in him when I know it could never go anywhere? He’s obsessed with football, which I hate, he’s mostly into one-night stands, based on my observations and what other people have said about him, and there’s also the fact that he’s straight. No getting around that one.”
“Being in love with a straight boy is the worst.”
I raised a brow, taken aback by the vehemence in Elliot’s tone. “Something you wanna tell me?”
He shook his head. “This is about you. Believe me, you don’t want to hear about my fucked-up problems.”
“I think I do.” Intrigued, I leaned closer. “Maybe talking about it would help.”
“It won’t.” Rubbing his hand across his face, he groaned. “But if we’re confessing being into someone we really shouldn’t be into, I’ll admit to having a long-time obsession with my very gorgeous, very, very straight best friend. The best friend I now live with and have to see parade around in just his underwear and bringing home girl after girl right in front of me.”
“Wait!” I shot upright as it hit me. “You’re in love withAnder?”
“Fucking hopeless, aren’t I? I do my best to forget about it. Flirt with cute boys like you, hoping that I’ll finally get over him, but so far, nothing.”
“Does he know?”
“Nope. Not a clue. He’s completely oblivious, and I just hope it stays that way. I’m used to suppressing how I feel for him—most days, I can compartmentalise and just be a friend to him, but every now and then, it just gets too much, and I have to avoid him. He’s good at giving me space, but I know it upsets him when I disappear. And it’s hard to get space from someone when you live in the same house as them.”
Liam seemed to manage it just fine.
I pushed that thought away. “Why are we drinking water? This conversation is way too depressing. Shots?”
“Shots.”
When I returned with the bottle I’d been drinking from before the club and two shot glasses, Elliot climbed to his feet. “To getting over straight guys.” We clinked glasses and downed the shots.
Then we had another, and another, and another, until the bottle was empty, and we passed out in blissful oblivion.
