chapter three: faking
Scott's mom and I helped Liam onto a hospital bed and she paged the doctor. "Zoe," she said, her voice slightly higher, "can I talk to you privately for a minute?" I nodded, already knowing what was coming, but I let her pull me out of the room, away from Liam's curious eyes.
Mrs. McCall folded her arms, an amused smile on her lips. "What was that all about?" And before I could give a dumb response, the woman shook her head. "How do you know Liam? And happened to him?"
So I told her about going to Grandma Stilinski's and meeting Liam. Also, despite Scott maybe wanting me to withheld the information about him injuring Liam, I told his mom about it anyway. She would probably find out eventually, even if I hadn't said a word.
"Do you like him?" she asked, and I had to be honest. I hadn't seen this part of the conversation occurring. I underestimated Melissa McCall too much.
I shook my head. "We're best friends, Mrs. McCall."
She gave me a knowing look, and I could feel my cheeks burning. There was something promiscuous about the glint in her eyes. "That doesn't mean there can't be something more, Zoe."
I met her gaze. "That doesn't mean there is, either."
She just smiled and left. I sighed, going back into the room to find Liam staring at his bruising ankle. "Does it hurt a lot?" I asked.
He glanced at me, and hesitated before shaking his head. I smiled weakly, taking the chair beside his bed. It was uncomfortable, and I leaned forward, gripping his hand. "You can't hide anything from me, Liam Dunbar," I said, and he chuckled.
"Thanks for coming here with me." His tone was low, almost quiet, and he pulled our hands into his lap.
"You're my best friend, Liam," I said, brushing my fingers across his jaw. His eyes found mine, and I briefly thought about how the Tiffany Blue probably clashed horribly with my amber. "I would do anything for you."
He didn't say anything, but he didn't look away, either. I smiled, and the corners of his lips turned up.
"Zoe Stilinski, is that you?" asked a voice, and Liam and I both jumped. I turned to see Liam's stepfather standing at the threshold of the door, donning a white lab coat. A stethoscope hung around his neck, and he held a clipboard. "I was wondering when we'd see you again, though I figured it was a matter of time before Liam found you in that school."
I grinned and stood, shaking the man's hand with the one that wasn't holding Liam's. After greetings were over, I sat back down and Dr. Geyer set down his clipboard. Liam hadn't told me that his stepdad was going to be working at the hospital, but with him being a doctor, I should have assumed.
Dr. Geyer put a hand down on Liam's left knee, and the other hovered above his swollen ankle. He glanced at me. "Zoe, is it okay if Liam squeezes your hand when I test his ankle?" I nodded, and Dr. Geyer pressed down on Liam's ankle. Liam hissed, his grip tightening on my hand, and I winced. Liam was definitely strong, and he certainly could have broken my fingers.
The doctor sighed, releasing the pressure, and I let out a breath as Liam grasp softened considerably. "It's broken, isn't it?" He sounded so dejected that I just wanted to give him a hug.
"It's definitely going to need an X-ray," his stepdad said. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, but ignored it.
"It's broken," Liam repeated. "And it's my fault."
I shook my head. "It's not your fault, Liam. Lacrosse is a rough game, and..." I didn't want to blame Scott. I couldn't put fault on him for wanting something like being team captain for himself. Being an Alpha was hard work.
Liam seemed to understand this, so he continued where I left off. "I went up against two juniors. One of them is captain of the team," he said.
Dr. Geyer put a hand on Liam's shoulder. "Remember what we always say? Play smart, not hard." Liam nodded and his thumb swept over my knuckles, leaving a trail of heat in its wake.
"Are you mad at me?" Liam asked, and there where tears in his eyes when he looked up at his stepfather.
"No, of course not," Dr. Geyer said, and I pulled out my phone as it buzzed again. It was a message from Stiles, go figure.
"Get your ass in gear, Zoe!"
I stood, glancing apologetically at Liam. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go now, or my brother's going to kill me. Text or call me, okay, Liam?" He nodded, and I slipped my hand from his grasp.
"Come over for dinner soon, Zoe. Liam's mother would love to see you again," Dr. Geyer added, and I smiled.
"Of course, sir," I said. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."
One last look at Liam, and I left the room, nearly running into Scott, who had been standing just outside the door. By the look on his face I could tell he had already heard everything, and I just nodded before walking past him and back to the waiting room, where Stiles was pacing anxiously.
"There you are, Zoe! I gave you plenty of time to say goodbye to your little boyfriend, now let's go." Stiles ushered me out the hospital doors and pushed me into the Jeep.
It was already dark outside, and I realized how important it was that we get this conversation over with before we picked up Malia. With the heightened senses, she would pick up anything, and she wouldn't understand... She wouldn't get how I felt about Liam.
"He's not my boyfriend, Stiles," I sighed. "I've told you this already. He's my best friend."
My brother snorted. "Yeah, you two sure looked real friendly when you were holding hands. And when you were hanging out on the field? You were totally flirting! And don't think Scott didn't mention that Liam was waiting for you after we talked about the triple homicide."
I rolled my eyes. Goddammit, Scott. Couldn't keep anything a secret around here. "Yeah, well, that happens to be what best friends do. Don't you and Scott wait for each other after classes? You two hang out on the field, too."
He narrowed his eyes at me, and we turned on the street Malia lived on. "We're both on the team, Zoe!"
"So?" I squeaked, folding my arms. "He was there for me when you..." In an instant, Stiles's face fell, and I felt my insides shrivel up. Blaming my brother wasn't fair. It wasn't his fault what the nogitsune did.
We were both silent as the Jeep rolled into Malia's driveway. She bounded out of the house, bag in tow, and I hopped into the back. Malia took a cursory sniff, and shot us both peculiar looks. Thankfully, she didn't say anything, because I think I would have wanted to crawl in a hole and die more than I already did.
As soon as Stiles pulled up to our house, the three of us clambered out of the Jeep and went inside. Stiles and Malia departed to his room, and I went to mine, which was separated by a bathroom. Thank the heavens, because my sweet ears did not need to hear what went on in there.
I had nearly fallen asleep when Stiles hurtled into my bedroom. "We gotta go, Zoe, so get up," he ordered, and I rubbed my eyes, blinking experimentally.
"What's going on?" I asked, standing. My face had previously been glued to an English assignment that the directions had been too scrambled for me to accomplish.
"I just talked to Scott, and he said something about Liam, and then Dad called - " His arms flailed, and I suddenly became more alert.
"What happened to Liam?" I inquired, following him out the door. Malia had vacated the premises, and as we passed the mantle clock in the living room, sighed upon realizing that it was past midnight.
Stiles climbed into the Jeep, and I did the same. "I don't know. His voice was all muffled and he was doing that stammering thing when he's being vague."
I bit my lip, and we sped to the McCall house. I didn't forget the detail that Stiles had talked to Dad. Scott had still been at the hospital when we left. And so had Liam... I could only hope he was all right.
The two of us jumped out of the vehicle and met Scott at the front door. "Did you tell him about Liam?" was what Scott said instead of hello.
"You barely told me about Liam," my brother said. I tried to keep up with them as they weaved through the family room, but they both had much longer legs than myself. "What did you do with him anyway?"
I stopped. "'Do with him?'" I repeated, and the boys turned to face me. "What do you mean?" And then I scowled at Stiles. "I'm beginning to think you left a few things out, brother." He smiled sheepishly and Scott sighed, glancing up at the ceiling.
"He's upstairs," he said, and Stiles frowned.
"Doing what?"
Scott paused for a moment before pursing his lips. "Lying down."
My brother and I looked at him suspiciously before tromping up the stairs after him. I couldn't help but grumble to myself about rotten siblings and shifty werewolves.
Scott led us to the bathroom attached to his bedroom, where the shower curtain was drawn. I could heard faint noises coming from behind it, and my mouth dropped. "You're kidding!" I shrieked before diving forward and yanking the curtain aside to see a head-to-toe duct-taped Liam sitting in the bathtub.
He met my eyes and was already panting heavily, but added incoherent grunting to that as well. "Oh, my God," I mumbled. As I crouched down to rip the tape off, I only managed to tear one strip before Stiles wrenched me backward and I went limp as I caught sight of blood on Liam's forearm. Scott closed the curtain, and I was dragged back to his bedroom.
"What are you doing?!" I spluttered, hitting my brother until he released me. He and Scott sat on the edge of the bed, and I made to go into the bathroom again, but Scott, with heightened reflexes and strength, caught me around the waist and pulled me to sit in between them. "We have to let him go!"
Stiles ignored me, and sighed. "So you bit him." Scott nodded. "And you kidnapped him." Another nod. "And you brought him here."
"I panicked," Scott said, as if that was an explanation.
"Clearly!" I snapped, sending a glance at the closed curtains. Of course I hadn't told him anything about my brother's best friend being a werewolf. The whole point of me staying with Grammy was to get away from it.
Stiles scrubbed a hand over his face. "This isn't going to end with us burying the pieces of his body out in the desert, is it?"
My jaw went slack. "No!" I exclaimed at the same time as Liam's muffled protests came from the open bathroom door. Before I could even try making a break for it, Stiles and Scott each grabbed one of my arms.
"As a reminder, this is why I always come up with the plans. Your plans suck," Stiles said, and I snorted.
"I know. Which is why I called you. So, what do we do?" Scott asked, and we loosely decided to bring Liam into the bedroom, sitting him on a chair and explaining what happened. I say loosely, because I wanted to let him go, but my idea was shot down immediately.
Liam grunted and I widened my eyes at Stiles. He rubbed the back of his neck, and I felt tears well up in my eyes at the way Liam was looking at us. His biceps flexed against his restraints and his breathing was heavy.
He was furious.
Stiles stepped forward, and I leaned on the door frame, not wanting to be any part of this. It was one thing when it was someone we didn't know, but Liam? He had been the main support in my life after the nogitsune ordeal. He may not be the best person in the world, but he didn't deserve this.
"Liam," Stiles said, "we're going to take the tape off your mouth. If you scream, it goes right back on. If you talk quietly, it stays off. Got it?" Liam nodded, inhaling through his nose. "Okay."
I winced as Stiles ripped the tape off. Liam made an awful noise, and I wanted the floor to swallow me up.
Stiles sighed. "Okay, Liam, now you've seen a lot of confusing things tonight. And more confusing things are going to happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight. Do you understand?"
There were a few seconds before Liam muttered, "Not really."
"Good. That's good."
Scott frowned. "I don't understand either."
My brother took this in stride. "Maybe you should tell him."
"Tell me what?" Liam sounded frustrated. He sounded angry. But I couldn't bear to make eye contact with him. I didn't want to see those Tiffany Blue eyes alight with anger. I didn't want to see that anger directed at me.
"Liam..." Scott started, "what happened to you, what I did to you - which I had to do in order to save you - it's going to change you."
"Unless it kills you," Stiles interjected. Almost as an afterthought, added, "Shouldn't have said that."
Liam looked up at them. "What?" he breathed. And then his head turned down, and something like sobs escaped his lips. My head tilted toward the boys. I couldn't see Liam - Scott and Stiles were blocking my view - but I could tell he wasn't really crying. I had seen Liam cry before, and this was not that.
"Uh..." Stiles floundered, "uh-oh. Oh - oh. Is he... Is he crying?"
Which made me realize...
Scott crouched. "Liam, it's okay. You're going to be all right." The whimpers continued. "You're not going to die."
Liam was faking.
"Probably not," my brother said, kneeling.
"Stop it."
"Okay, possibly not."
And neither of them knew.
"Would you just help me untie him?" Scott asked, and the boys ripped the tape off my best friend. Well, maybe ex-best friend now. "Liam? Are you okay?" Liam slowly stood, his head down, and turned around, his hands going for the chair.
I watched curiously as my brother apologized and Liam gripped the back of the chair. Liam had a plan, but what?
As soon as that thought went through my mind, Liam swung the chair around, and it smashed against Scott, sending him tumbling to the ground, and Stiles staggering backward.
I unfolded my arms, eyes wide, and realized that I was still standing in the doorway. Liam's only exit. He cut off my brother's exclamation with a solid punch to the face, and Stiles fell into Scott's dresser, moaning.
Liam's eyes met mine. I couldn't see his very well in the lamp light, but as he came at me, I couldn't say I wasn't scared.
I had seen Liam angry before. And it was not a pretty sight.
He jumped over Scott's groaning body, whipping past me, knocking me off my feet. I fell on my ass, and Liam skidded down the hallway in his socks.
Well, his ankle was fine.
The boys stumbled out of the room, grumbling and whining. Stiles held his cheek, and I pushed myself out of their way.
"Ah," Stiles exhaled, and Liam spun around. "Get him!" And the boys charged at Liam, screaming. The three of them went tumbling down the staircase, and I scrambled to my feet, taking the stairs two at a time.
I arrived just in time to see Liam crawling over Scott and Stiles to the door. It swung open and I lunged for him, but there was no way I was any faster than he was. Especially now that he had been bitten.
Behind me, I heard my brother yelling. "Leg! I got him! I got him! I got him, I got him!" When it was just Scott's foot.
"Liam, wait!" I called, watching his figure disappear in the darkness as as ran as fast as his legs would take him. "Liam!" I had no plan to go after him. I had no plan at all. "Liam, I'm sorry!"
Scott grunted. "Your plan sucked, too."
Ahh, chapter three! I'm really liking Zoe so far. Is that self-absorbed of me? I don't know. I like the way the story's going. We're at that part where Liam may not be too happy with Zoe at the moment. Though, they are best friends, so will he forgive her? Drop a review and lemme know what you think! Also, I want to make it clear (if I haven't already) that Zoe hasn't told Liam anything about anything. So he doesn't know why Zoe had to live with her grandmother away from her immediate family, other than some BS story that's probably something like "I just needed a break." Ya feel? Oh, heads up - I might not be able to post or write during the weekend, as I'm helping my sister move into her new apartment. Toodles!
8.7.2014
