33 - liam

                                    

                                          
september 2018 : 2 years ago
                          
"Can I walk you to class?" Lily asked him, peering over the rim of her travel mug as they got up from their table at Starbucks. They were back in their routine of meeting up there in the mornings now that school had started again. "I wanna say hi to Izzy."
                          
Although Liam wasn't obligated to stay in this music ensemble class this semester, he didn't see any real reason not to. It was enjoyable, gave him a chance to see the friends he'd made, and didn't actually require much more piano practice outside of school than he was already doing.
                          
Lils probably thought that she was being sneakier than she was, but he knew her well. He was attuned to all her various tones by now, so it didn't slip past him that she was purposefully keeping her voice neutral. On top of all of this, he was aware of what kinds of things Izzy liked to chat about. She wasn't the most well-versed in the art of subtlety.
                          
"Are you sure you don't have any ulterior motives?" he teased.
                          
Lily admitted defeat with a small yet overly dramatic huff. "Fine. It is possible that I'm curious to see if the so-called hot professor is as easy on the eyes as his Instagram would make him out to be. Sue me."
                          
Liam took the last sip of his overpriced coffee and wrinkled his nose. "...His Instagram?"
                          
"It's not my fault he's not on private," Lily defended herself but was already starting to grin at her own ridiculousness. "Blame Izzy, she showed me."
                          
They were met by unseasonably cool air when they stepped outside to walk to the music building. That wasn't to say it was anywhere near cold – sometimes it stayed consistently warm all the way through October – but summer was flirting with the idea of fall today. Low-hanging clouds blanketed the sky like a smoke sheen, hovering menacingly and taunting the earth with the possibility of downpour later, but for now it was that pleasant variety of breezy weather that made you want to stay outside instead of going to class. 
                          
He looked over at her when she reached for his hand and tangled her fingers between his. Lily had an infectious vibrancy to her when in a cheery mood and well-caffeinated (the former not usually achievable without the latter) and seeing her happy made him happy, too. Engulfed in an oversized cocoa-colored cardigan that matched her eyes, she looked so comfy that he was almost jealous. A section of her hair was pinned back with a little diamond barrette he had never seen before. She claimed she didn't like how her hair looked pulled up, but ever since he attempted to braid it for her he watched her slowly find the confidence to at least clip it out of her face if it was being an inconvenience so that she wasn't constantly reaching to tuck it behind her ear.
                          
"Maybe I would stare at your Instagram pictures if you would get one," she smiled at him, her eyes twinkling with a playful spark, and then giggled. "Actually, I feel like you would act like a middle-aged dad on there. Post something once a year with no caption and the rest of the time be commenting stuff like 'great picture' on photos of people you met once. No offense."
                          
Liam refused to believe he was that cringy. "Offense taken."
                          
She squeezed his hand. "I'm so truly, very, deeply sorry," she said somberly.
                          
The corner of his mouth twitched up into the first trace of a grin. "I can tell you feel really bad."
                          
"I can tell you feel really offended."
                          
She lifted her coffee cup to her lips and when his eyes briefly drifted off onto the people passing by, he almost stopped right there in the middle of the sidewalk. An icy core of dread formed in his chest and tensed all the muscles around it as he spotted none other than Jessica, his ex-friend and Caroline's equally-demonic sidekick, only fifty feet or so away and walking this direction.