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“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” I narrowed my eyes at him, “Y’know, three months isn’t a very long time… maybe you have some residual bad boy left?”
His eyes shot up to mine as a slow smirk unpeeled across his lips.
Leave while he still thinks you’re somewhat-charming.
“I gotta get back to practice,” I said as I saw the girls running back onto the field from our water break. As I ran toward them, I tried to tell myself the adrenaline coursing through my system was from practice and not from our little exchange.
The next day passed quickly with no sign of Liam at practice and no more attempts at hazing. I was more worried about the absence of Liam than the potential hazing. That is until Becca barged into my room Thursday night.
"Guess why Liam, I'm sorry, Coach Wilder, wasn't at practice today," she said, shutting the door and locking it behind her. Her blonde hair was piled in a messy bun and she was wearing some kind of onesie pajama set.
I put my book down. "What? Why?"
She smiled cheekily and plopped her laptop down on my bed.
"Because our dream-of-a-coach was on the Tonight Show just now," she explained with a proud grin. "He's been doing press for the LA Stars."
"That's so awesome! Can we watch it?"
"You’re like fifty steps behind me. I’m already streaming it. Scoot over," she said, crawling up next me.
“Should we get Emily?” I asked.
“I just checked. She’s on the phone with her lover boy.”
"Ah, all right. This is so awesome," I squealed, excited at the idea of watching Liam for twenty minutes without having to worry that he'd catch me staring. "Also, should we talk about the footed pajamas or are we just going to ignore it?" I laughed, eyeing her clothes.
Becca shot me a playful glare. "Don't knock it till you try it. Seriously, I'd wear them everywhere if I could."
"And you wonder why you're still a virgin," I joked, fully prepared for the punch that was about to happen.
Right on cue, she smacked me in the arm. "That is so not cool! If I didn't know I was pretty and awesome, I'd have a major complex about still being a virgin."
"But you're only nineteen. That's still really young."
She narrowed her eyes and then tilted her head away from me so that her next words came out as a jumbled mess.
"Ihaven'toendnehaout."
"What? I can't hear you. Speak up."
"Ihaven'tdoneanythingpashedmaeurh—"
I laughed and cupped my hand around my ear. "Am I freaking deaf or are you mumbling?"
"I haven't done anything past making out, okay!" she shouted, and then threw a pillow at me.
I caught it and tossed it aside, and was about to laugh, but then I realized that she was being way more serious than usual. This freaking gorgeous girl shouldn't feel self-conscious about her experience level. What did it matter if I had a sloppy kiss at fifteen? And horrible, awkward sex at seventeen? I didn't regret it, but it was nothing to write home about.
"Seriously, don't worry about it. It's not like my experiences have been all that great."
She nodded and flipped open her laptop, effectively closing the subject.
Just as she promised, Liam popped up on the screen sitting next to the Tonight Show host. He looked devastatingly handsome in a black suit with styled hair and a cleanly-shaven face. He'd skipped a tie and kept the top buttons of his shirt undone so that every female member of the audience was screaming bloody murder.
"Jeez, I can't believe we actually get to be coached by that guy. How crazy is that?" Becca asked. I couldn't pull my attention away long enough to answer her.
The Tonight Show host was trying to start the interview, but the girls in the crowd wouldn't stop screaming. It was quite funny, and Liam played it off well, looking humble and charming. Finally the girls settled down and the host and Liam laughed and shrugged as if to say, what are you going to do?
"His hair looks good like that, usually it's not styled that wa—"
"Shh!" I cut her off just as the host asked his first question.
"So Liam, I was going to ask what it was like being one of the sexiest men alive, but I think our audience answered that question for me," the host began, and everyone laughed.
Liam looked down and rubbed his chin between his thumb and pointer finger. I'd seen him do the same move a few times before, but seeing it on national television felt strangely surreal. This was the guy that had saved me from Tara on the soccer field. Underneath that body and face, there might be a big heart, and I couldn't figure out how that could be possible.
"It's not usually like this, I assure you. In LA I live a pretty private life," Liam answered with a small smile.
