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She rubs the wet tears from her cheeks and turns her chin up in stubbornness. “I told you. I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong.”
“Why are you lying to me?”
“Why are you impeding on my private time?”
“Because I’m concerned.”
“So you say—but are you really?” she huffs and crosses her damp arms over her chest. Which makes me look at her heaving breasts once more. This is a bad idea. Why did I come in here? Oh yeah, because sometimes I can be a freaking nice guy.
“Birdie…” My voice is tired. “I’m trying to be nice here. I may be an ass a lot of the time, but I’m not a complete dickhead.”
She scoffs. “Questionable.”
Sweat drips down my face. “I’m in a sauna, in a very expensive suit. I wouldn’t be here for just anyone.” I cringe. Birdie makes me say and do things I shouldn’t. I’m starting to realize that even though we stopped being friends all those years ago, I could never turn off the way I really feel about her. What exactly I feel, I can’t name it. It’s not love, but it’s something alright.
Birdie stares at me, her eyes dilated from the heat. “Ugh! Why are you so confusing?!” She throws up her hands.
I quirk a brow at her. “Why do you say that?”
“You’re nice, then you’re not, then you're nice, then you ignore me for weeks, then you make that comment about my robe in front of Sarah. Honestly Liam, you’re giving me whiplash.”
I wipe more sweat from my brow. I really need to get out of this hot box soon or I’m going to melt. “That makes two of us,” I grumble.
“See? Confusing! What doyoumean by that?” she points at me.
I groan. “Can we talk somewhere that maybe isn’t one hundred degrees? Also, nice diversion. Making this whole thing about me. I came in here because you were sobbing.”
“I wasn’t sobbing.”
“Ughhhh! You’re so stubborn. You were crying, Birdie. Not just a little cry, like a soul crushing cry. You’ve been worrying me the last few days; I want to make sure you’re okay.”
She goes quiet. “What makes you say that?”
“You think I don’t notice how quiet you’ve become? Or how you snap at Eric when he asks you simple questions? Kevin asked me what’s going on with you the other day.”
Her face crumples. “They shouldn’t worry about me. I’ll do better.”
Birdie stands up to leave, and I stop her by grabbing her clammy hand. “What does that even mean?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing.” Yanking her hand from mine, she opens the sauna. I gladly follow, but I’m not done talking to her yet. Sadly for my eyes, she grabs her robe, covering her scantily clad body. Once she’s secured the sash, I turn her back toward me.
“I’m not going to drop this, Birdie. Tell me what you meant when you said you’ll do better.”
She lets out a long breath. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Like hell you didn’t. You’re not some monkey that does tricks for treats. Your band, your people, they all care about you a lot. I see it every day.”
Anger creeps up in her features, but she keeps her voice tempered. “You don’t understand, Liam. You’ll never understand. Please, just drop it, okay? I just needed a good cry. It’s that time of the month.”
I stop myself from rolling my eyes. “Bullshit.”
“Like you would know my cycles.”
“I remember you have bad cramps; I would know if you had your period. You’re lying to get me off your back and it’s not going to work.”
Her ears turn pink. “You remember that?”
“It’s hard to forget something like that. I was a teenage boy with a best friend who happened to be a girl and a mom who’s a nurse. I used to bring you ice cream and pretzels when you stayed home from school.”
