Heavenly
Chapter III
Deja vu
AN: Hi everyone! Just really quickly I wanted to say thank you to everyone who's supported the story so far – Charmed Forever Fan for the lovely review on the old version, Shatoi and Lady Rafaela for the follows + favourite all on , and Soapyfrog for the kudos on Ao3! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
The next day felt like déjà vu when Liam walked into class again. The teacher wasn't there, and Jessica and Mike were early once more, bickering with each other. They paid no attention to Liam when he arrived, however, which he was grateful for as he preferred to avoid an awkward moment with them. He snickered to himself a little quietly as he wondered again which table to sit at, recalling what Edward had said to him yesterday. He went over to the one he had sat with Summer at, as that would prevent any uncomfortable situations arising; he hadn't met the Cullens either, so it would be a bit odd to go to the desk where they would presumably sit. Liam also worried that after they'd caught him staring they would think he was some sort of weirdo anyway, so he thought it was probably best to stay away from them, as they might have felt tense at having him nearby. 'Who am I kidding? They will think I'm a freak, and why shouldn't they?' Liam introspected. He found it best to push his focus onto something else; opening up his laptop, he downloaded the plan for today's lecture, just to see what they were going to be looking at as he was curious. 'The Humanistic Approach to Psychology' was today's topic. Another subject he knew about, but that wasn't a problem. It'd simply serve to reaffirm his knowledge, and it was always gonna help for the final exam this semester.
"Is this seat taken?" a familiar voice questioned. Liam peered up from the notes he had been reading intently to see… Edward, surprisingly.
"Oh, hi, umm, no," Liam stuttered. The paler man sat down next to Liam, however he insisted that he was only going to stay momentarily (this was actually because Edward read that poor Liam was so confused and under pressure of having him nearby. He obviously didn't tell Liam that, though).
"You can stay if you'd like," Liam said softly, but Edward didn't want to make the man feel uncomfortable.
"No, it's OK, but thanks. Hey, I just wanted to ask..." Edward began, taking a deep inhale as he himself questioned what he was doing, "...can I see your notes?" Edward became extremely embarrassed with himself. He couldn't believe he had just asked that – not because it was anything humiliating in nature, of course; on the surface it seemed like a perfectly normal scholarly question. Truthfully, though, Ed had wanted to actually get to know Liam, ask him about ordinary, non-school related stuff, and he'd chickened out. After his everlasting psychological session the night before, he'd planned to strike up a conversation with the man. 'Some plan that's worked out to be...' the vampire thought to himself, irritated. The old Edward would've never wimped out or been afraid of talking to someone, so why was he now? He suspected that his heartache over his relationship breakdown with Bella was influencing his actions, his behaviour to a much higher extent than he felt acceptable. Ed felt two pairs of eyes on him – he quickly shot around to see the Mike and Jessica were glaring at him and Liam, however, the vampire moved so fast that they didn't see him glance at them. Mike had always been jealous of Edward due to his love for Bella. He still always looked at Ed with narrowed eyes and an envious expression whenever he passed him on the school corridors, even though he was with Bella now – he was obviously holding a grudge. But Edward didn't really care about what Mike thought of him; so long as Bella was happy, he was… alright with her being with Mike. The vampire turned back to look at Liam, whose mouth was open wide, remaining in shock that Ed had actually come to sit next to him. Liam had had fantasies about guys that he had spoken to coming to talk to him willingly before – his fantasies were never really sexual, just mostly romantic – but it had never actually become truth. So now that Edward was here, it was very… surreal, was the best way to describe it. Of course, Liam had been thinking about Edward for roughly 99.9% of the previous evening, more so than Ed had thought about Liam, and had been secretly hoping that this moment would happen, playing out several imaginary scenarios in his mind whilst he lay in bed that night. None of them had included schoolwork, however, but it was a conversation with Ed nevertheless.
"Oh, yeah, of course you can. Do you want me to load up a certain section, or…?" Liam queried.
"Uhh, yeah. Can you show me your bit on Self Image? Thanks," Edward requested, although he already knew all about that topic.
A few clicks on his keyboard later, Liam spun his laptop around and passed it to Ed, praying that he wasn't somehow gonna find his endless number of personal files of fanfics on there. "Here you go," he said, pointing at the screen.
Edward pretended to read for a while, whilst really plucking up the courage to do what he had meant to do earlier. There wasn't much time; the lesson would be starting soon, and his siblings would be coming into the room in not too long as well. His eyes glossed over the notes, trying to pay attention to them, and on the spur of the moment, he asked. Sometimes, Edward felt that the best time to do something scary was at a completely random time when you weren't still overthinking it; focusing on the notes had provided a decent enough distraction for his confidence to perk up in the background, before he utilised that confidence without thought. "So, did you do anything interesting last night?" he finally said. It sounded like a simple question, but it was a big step for Edward. He barely even talked to humans at all nowadays.
Liam was surprised once again – most people, other than his parents, didn't usually ask him that sort of stuff. "Um, not really. I just played some video games, read a book, watched some Tv and stuff… What about you?" he replied chirpily.
"Same to be honest. Well, I mostly gamed with my brother, Emmett. What games do you play?" Edward responded.
"OK, I hope this doesn't sound too embarrassing, but I'm obsessed with Star Wars," Liam said with a grin. "I play Star Wars Battlefront, 1 and 2, a lot," he continued, chuckling.
Ed couldn't believe it. "You're kidding, right? We played SWBF2 last night! I'm not joking," he mused excitedly.
"Really?" Liam asked.
"Yeah!" Ed yelped cheerily. The two were getting very exhilarated over a chat about video games, but having a discussion itself was a big deal for both of them. They proceeded to have a detailed, in-depth talk about their tactics and favourite characters and maps, etc., along with what else they played, until the beginning of class bell rang out and the room had become full to bursting. Although strangely, Summer and her friends weren't there yet. "Oh, I'd better go. My brothers and sisters will be here in a minute," Ed alerted. Right on cue, the doors opened and the other Cullens came filing in.
"Oh, OK. Do you need my notes, or…?" Liam drifted off, but Edward swiftly told him that he didn't. The vampire got up and smirked at him; Liam smiled back; then Edward left to join his family. Liam didn't know what to feel. His stomach was filled with nervous butterflies – but he didn't want to overanalyse this, either; he couldn't. It had gotten him hurt before. He wasn't gonna let it happen again. Rather than thinking about Edward, he chose to concentrate on the lesson that was going to begin shortly instead. Summer also walked in a few moments after Edward had left – unfortunately, she had somehow seen it all; Liam wondered if she had maybe seen them through the glass pane, implemented into the door. She strolled curiously over to Liam with a bewildered look in her eyes.
"Was that you talking to… Edward Cullen…?" she asked confusedly.
"Umm… yeah…" Liam said awkwardly. A sly smirk crept across the blonde girl's face.
"What did you… talk about?" was all she could think of saying. Liam thought for a while what to tell her.
"Just some random stuff, you know. He wanted to see my notes for the lecture, and… we talked about video games afterwards," he revealed.
"Ah…" Summer nodded. She paused momentarily. "Can I ask you something, and don't take it the wrong way, but… are you… y'know…" she drifted off.
"No!" Liam shook his head rapidly, predicting what she was going to say – he'd been asked this question what felt like hundreds of times before, and he'd lied as an answer for every single one of those times. He could add another one to that tally now.
"OK, OK, don't worry. It's not like I care about that sort of thing, anyway," Summer justified rapidly in defence, seeing how much her question set off Liam. He sighed, and suddenly became very irritated with himself. He'd done this all the time back in his hometown and hidden himself away. He was sick of hiding – so he decided that this time, in this town, it was gonna be different.
"Actually, you know what? I am," he suddenly blurted out assertively.
Summer paused, before giving a very simple reply. "Cool." Liam was taken aback by how calm she was about it all, and it showed in his expression as his eyes widened.
"I'm… sorry I lied just then…" he said.
"Hey, it's alright. Like I said, I don't really care about that sort of thing. I do, however, now have a question that I desperately want to ask…" Summer confessed with a devious grin.
"Oh no… what is it?" Liam groaned.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna say anything to anyone or anything, but… do you think Edward's hot?" the blonde girl smirked. The truth, of course, was yes. Like, incredibly so. But Liam didn't want to overdo his answer.
"Umm…" he murmured.
"Go on, you can tell me," Summer prompted.
Liam exhaled "Fine," before leaning in to whisper to her. "Yes…" he said, blushing. Summer giggled. He hated this, talking about boys as if he was twelve years old in the school playground. He didn't actually mind the action of talking about boys, it was more just because of how cliché it felt.
"Don't worry. I won't tell a soul," Summer winked, moments before her friends came over to sit with them. Finally, after the teacher arrived, the lecture began. Everything went pretty much exactly like it had the last time, and even though Liam had tried his hardest to concentrate on the content, he couldn't help but find his mind drifting to Edward Cullen every once in a while.
After what felt like a good long while, the lesson had come to an end. Liam, as he usually did, quickly stuffed his equipment away into his bag, hoping to try and dash out the door and go home as fast as he could. He always felt comforted when he arrived home; perhaps it was because of the dissatisfaction he had with school back when he was younger, and how good it had always felt to leave it. Liam knew he needed to remember that this school was not the same as the one in Patney, and he was not the same person as he was then. But before he could bolt out, he felt a shadow slowly creep up behind him. He turned around swiftly to see… Edward again. Although the paler man wasn't looking at him; instead, he was glaring in the direction of where Jessica and Mike were. Liam also flicked his head over to see what he was staring at – he was met by the two of them scowling back. 'Charming…' Liam thought as he turned to face Edward again.
"I know…" Edward muttered, as if responding. Liam paused for a second in confusion.
"Wait, what?" he asked Ed.
"I said, I know. They are charming, as you put it," the other man explained.
"But… I didn't say that out loud…" Liam revealed, shooting a suspicious expression at Ed, who had now frozen, realising what he'd done; because he'd been focusing on Jess and Mike, he'd accidentally heard Liam's mind and instead had thought he'd said his opinion aloud.
There was only one thing he could do, as much as he hated it – "Are you sure? I think you did," Ed said, pulling a questioning face back. He detested gaslighting, even if it was in its least-harmful form like what he was doing now; but he couldn't help it, he couldn't let Liam know he was a vampire, especially if anyone else in the room could hear. The entire Volturi would be coming after him in seconds if he said it and multiple students got wind of it. He listened to what Liam was thinking again, trying to see if he believed him or not. From what he could hear, he was considering that maybe Edward was right, and that it wasn't a big deal anyway.
"Hmm… OK, maybe I did, sorry. I didn't know," Liam chuckled, and Edward rejoiced in the opportunity to also laugh it off. He'd gotten away with it – this time, at least. "What's up?" Liam added.
"Oh, yeah. Umm… I wanted to know if you… d'you wanna come round to my house to play video games some time?" Ed asked, cringing as he said it – he felt the question made him sound like he was ten years old; he also knew that his family were probably going to kill him for inviting a human round. He knew it was dangerous doing so, but at the same time, he was his own person – he could offer for a 'friend' to come over just like any human person would, and he accepted that it would be on his conscience if anything happened. Liam appeared stunned.
"Wow… I mean, that sounds like fun, sure! Sorry… it's just nobody's ever really asked me that sorta thing before," Liam replied eagerly, although Edward already knew that when he heard the man's inner monologue.
"Great…" Edward nodded with a wry smile. "About you coming over, I mean," he then made sure to clarify.
"Thanks. So… when d'you want me to visit? Also, where is your house?" Liam said, thinking that asking when to come over first was a bit silly seeing that he didn't even he know where he'd be going. Edward didn't know how to explain where his house was – he couldn't just say it was 'in the woods'. He then formulated a plan.
"Tell you what, why don't I drive you there whenever you feel is most convenient?" he proposed.
"Sounds good. Umm… how about tomorrow, after school?" Liam said. Edward grinned and agreed, and Liam couldn't help but admittedly get a little turned on by it; he had a very hot smirk. "Cool!" he exclaimed, trying to hide how flustered he from Edward – it obviously didn't work however, as Ed could hear how the man found him attractive anyway.
"See you then…" Edward plotted and gave a casual wave goodbye to Liam. He waved back excitedly, as Edward left to join his sister who was waiting nearby.
"…Ooh, Liam!" Summer, who'd witnessed the majority of the conversation whilst pretending to check her back, teased, punching him playfully in the arm. Liam giggled.
"Shut up!" he said with a cheeky, embarrassed smile, but it was all in good nature.
"OK, but seriously, what just happened there?" the blonde woman queried.
Liam stood still, appearing as if he had zoned out for a moment. "I… I have no idea…" he mumbled.
