Chapter 8

Liam:

Two miles…music thumping in my ears, drowning out the voices around me. Three miles…my mind tries to drown out all thoughts. Four miles… and I'm trying to let go of any lingering tension from the last couple of weeks. Five miles… ensures that I will just pass out when I get home after my workout. Maybe then I won't have to hear my mother push me to call Hayden for the 20th time, or her ask if I was being careful and remembering my meds, though subtly, for the hundredth time.

I'm not even sure why she is asking so frequently now. I haven't so much as lost my temper in months. Maybe the stress is showing as something else. Besides the normal things like tests coming up. There's a big game that could send us to play offs or eliminate us for the rest of the season right around the corner. There's Hayden who is making it her mission to be in whatever place I am in at every opportunity. And then there's Theo who makes me feel things and want things and who is making it so unbelievably hard to not touch all the time, not to mention that if I don't kiss him soon I may lose my mind.

A tap on my shoulder startled me. I would have fallen if my reflexes didn't kick in and I jumped at the last second landing on the frame of the treadmill. Turning my head, I saw Theo behind me smirking. I paused the machine and took the earbuds out.

"Are you training for a 10K?" he asked. I looked back at the machine and saw I had been running for a while, ten miles.

"Oh. I guess I wasn't paying attention." I said turning off the machine. Theo handed me a towel so I could wipe off.

"Something on your mind?"

"A lot actually." I admitted, heading to the weight bench.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Well." I started laying back on the bench and bracing the bar, Theo spotting me.

"My mother seems to be waiting for me to explode. Like it hasn't been months now that I haven't had an issue." I grunted.

"Why is she worried?"

"No clue, but if she asks me one more time if I'm taking my meds, she might get her wish."

"Okay, what else?"

"Hayden won't leave me alone. There's only so many ways I can say 'I'm not interested'." I told him. I had already explained about the morning of the meeting where I tried to explain that I was already seeing someone. She wasn't hearing it, but Theo grinned widely when I told him.

Theo snorted and encouraged me to continue.

"She keeps calling under the guise of working on the project. But as soon as I start talking about it she giggles and flirts and hints at meeting up for dinner or something."

"And you don't think she wants to meet up to talk about the project?"

"I honestly don't know. But she's becoming a nuisance. I've been trying not to hurt her feelings. But I'm seriously thinking about taking an ad out in the paper saying, 'leave me alone'."

"I hear ads are cheap." He shrugged making me laugh. "What else?"

"Normal stuff. There's tests coming up and a big game coming up that coach is hounding us about. There's Kate and whatever she is up too."

"Yeah we are all worried about that. And having not heard back from Derek, Braeden, and Argent yet."

"I know. Allison is worried but she also knows that sometimes her dad has to go places where he can't easily call. Hopefully, they come back soon though."

"Anything else bothering you?" He asked grabbing the bar to set it back. I sat up and wiped off again and was thankful that my workout already made me flush, so any extra coloring would be blamed on that. He took a seat on the floor in front of me waiting for me to answer.

"You." I sighed. He quirked a brow.

"I'm bothering you?"

"Not like that. I'm just…" I tuned my hearing, listening for anyone close by. There was no one here except me, Theo and another guy who was still back by the treadmills with earbuds in. "It's getting harder to not touch you, hold your hand, something, all the time."

"I know, for me too."

"And I think about kissing you all the time."

"I concur." He said with that crazy smile that does not help.

"But then I feel guilty."

"Guilty? Why?"

"It just seems unfair. Like I'm taking advantage or something."

"You think you would be taking advantage if we kiss?" he laughed. "You do realize I want to kiss you too, right?"

"I know. Mason says that I'm overthinking this."

"You are but I think it's cute."

"Anyway," I rolled my eyes. Cute. "Thinking about it is starting to drive me crazy. And…" This next part was hard to really talk about because as much as I wanted it, I was still terrified of what the outcome would be.

"What is it?" he asked, brow crinkled in concern.

"I know I said I wanted to go slow. But I've been thinking about… not hiding anymore. About maybe trying to come out." I admitted and his eyes widened.

"Really?"

"I'm getting tired of pretending in public that we are just friends and that I don't have feelings for you." I told him, nervously.

"You do?"

I nodded. His lips quirked into a smile, and he reached for me but stopped himself, dropping his hand.

"See, that's what I don't want. I don't want you to have to stop yourself and I don't want to have to stop myself all the time. It's exhausting always being aware of my surroundings or thinking about what I say or do before I say or do it. But then I also think about what saying it out loud means."

"Because then it becomes reality in a way." he said, proving he understood completely.

"Exactly. I mean it is real and it feels real. But even that scares me. And I hate being scared. I get scared then I get angry and then… things like last year happen."

"Liam, you're not that person anymore. You probably haven't been since it happened. You saw what you did, and you took steps to improve. Maybe it was because you saw how the people around you reacted to it or maybe it was because of your reaction to what you did. But that was almost another life for you. you said you haven't had issues since you got here, right?"

"Right, but that could so easily change."

"A lot of things could easily change. We're proof and point of that. But you just take each moment as they come."

"I think I want to start small, in doing this. Well smaller. Our friends already know and those in the group in general."

"You mean you want to start with your parents."

I nodded.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I'm not going anywhere."

"I know. and this isn't for you, not really. Like I said I'm tired of pretending. And I know technically we'd still be hiding but I have to start somewhere." I shrugged.

"I get it. And if this is what you want to do, then I'm behind you one hundred percent. I just want you to be sure."

"I am."

"Okay, when are you going to do it?"

"That I don't know. I want it to be soon. But we leave next week for that trip to my aunts and the last thing I want is to be stuck in the car with my mom if I tell her before that. If she's hounding me about my meds I can only imagine what she will say about this."

"Especially since she's still pushing Hayden on you."

I groaned and he laughed.

"It's not funny."

"I know but at the same time it kind of is. We have all watched you make it blatantly obvious to her that you're not interested."

"So how is she missing the signs if everyone else can see it?"

"Maybe Allison is right and she's thick." He said remembering Allison's words from lunch one day when Hayden kept trying to wave me over while I was sitting with my friends.

"Maybe."

"Forget about that. Eventually, she will get the picture. I would like to talk about that date we have yet to go on."

"I know, I'm sorry. So much going on I haven't even had the chance to talk to Scott about it."

"It's a good thing that I already talked to Stiles then, isn't it?"

"You did?"

"Yep. He said he and Malia would be happy to hang out with us. So, Liam, do you want to go out with me Monday night?"

"Monday? Are we an old married couple with scheduled date nights now?" I snorted and he laughed.

"I know, it's an odd day. But Stiles' dad has over nights the rest of this week, so he and Malia want to take advantage of that, and you leave Tuesday for your trip. I didn't want to wait until you got back."

"Me either. Monday sounds good."

"Good. You ready to head out?"

"Aren't you working out?" I asked but looking at him in jeans. "Wait, why are you here?"

"I rode in with Stiles. He and Scott were still on the field after practice. Stiles wanted to work on his back shots. So, I'm just hanging around."

"How did you know I was here?"

"Mason. I ran into him in the library, he told me."

"Okay. yeah, I'm ready. I need to drag Mason out of the library anyway. He will spend all night in there if I don't." I told him as we headed for the exit of the gym. He stopped me before we were in the hall.

"For the record, I have feelings for you too."

He doesn't know how bad I want to kiss him right now.

"Of course you do, I'm freaking adorable." I said, making him laugh.

Walking out the door we bumped into someone. When I say someone, I mean we bumped into Hayden because… why not. I struggled to not lose my temper.

"Oh, Hey Liam." Hayden greeted perkily, ignoring Theo, right next to me.

"Hey." I said trying to bypass her. she subtly moved in my path.

"You finished working out already? I'm about to get started. I honestly forgot this was even here until a couple of days ago." She giggled.

I looked at the giant gold-plated sign that states it's the exercise room and the door on the left of it which was the girls locker room and blinked at her.

"you forgot it was here? even though its right next to the locker room that you use almost every day?" I asked. Theo turned his head coughing to hide a laugh.

"I can be so oblivious sometimes." She shrugged.

"No shit." Theo murmured. I had to bite my tongue to keep from smiling. she threw him an annoyed glance before smiling at me.

"Do you have to rush off. I could use some help with my stretches." She said flirtatiously, leaning in closer. I sidestepped her and grabbed Theo's elbow.

"Sorry, got to go. already running late. Enjoy your workout." I told her, rushing Theo down the hall and up the stairs where he could no longer hold in a hearty laugh.

Theo:

I was joking with Mason and the girls when I felt someone sit on my other side. We were in the bleachers waiting for the game to start. Malia said Stiles was hoping to get some play time, but Lydia and Allison were skeptical it would happen. Mason was just staring at the players from the other team like it was an all you can eat buffet. The girls and I pointed out various options for him.

"Dr. Geyer, how are you sir? I didn't know you were coming." I said, offering him a hand.

"Theo, we talked about this. Lose the sir, keep the Dr. if you must." He said with a smile.

"Right, sorry. Habit."

"It's okay. I'm doing good. I try to make it to as many of Liam's games as I can. But my schedule has been hectic lately. This is the first one I could get to this season. Do you come to them often?"

"Not often but a few. Though the last one I was at I was stabbed, so it's not high on my list of things to do."

"I would imagine not." He laughed. "Why this one?"

"Liam asked me to come. Apparently it's a big one."

"Do you follow Lacrosse?"

"Not even a little bit." I told him shaking my head and he laughed again. "there's a stick and a tiny ball that you have to get into the net. That's as much as I got."

"Well, those are the basics at least. I trained Liam to play Lacrosse since he was a kid. He got rather good at it and with his new abilities he's gotten even better."

"Yeah, I bet. And it seems that this sport brings a crowd." I chuckled looking around. I caught sight of Hayden sitting in the next section over from me, glaring.

"Is there a reason that girl is glaring at you? She looks familiar." Dr. Geyer asked side eyeing Hayden. Not that she noticed. Her focus was on me, and she looked to be turning red in anger.

"That would be Hayden." I told him.

"Ah." He said, nodding. "The one Liam took to homecoming."

"Yeah, pretty sure she hates me." I told him.

"Oh, I don't doubt it. She's really… persistent. Doesn't help my wife and her mother are friends and have a real obsession with getting her and Liam together. I don't get it. Anyone can look at Liam and see he's not into her."

"Except her, apparently."

A whistle blew then, and the players made their way out onto the field. Dr. Geyer was up and cheering as soon as he saw Liam. I watched the first face-off between Scott and whoever was from the opposing team and winced at how brutal it seemed. Scott slammed into the other player and captured the ball then was running down the field avoiding the other players until he couldn't and handed off to Liam.

"Is he dancing?" I asked. Dr. Geyer chuckled.

"It looks like it, doesn't it. He was always agile on the field but now he's more. all those twirls and spins are from his new abilities." He explained.

Liam did a jump and scored. Getting pats on the back from his team and cheers from the crowd. His dad the loudest as he stood and gave a piercing whistle. The game continued on with shots missed and shots scored. It was the third quarter when one of ours got caught mid jump, being slammed into by an opposing player, spinning and landing hard on the ground.

"Is that Liam?" I asked standing.

"I think so." Mason said. the other players gathered around him cutting off the view.

"Is he hurt?" I asked ready to climb down the bleacher steps. But a hand stopped me.

"Give him a minute." Dr. Geyer said. I looked at him, he didn't look worried. Looking back at the field, I saw Scott bulldoze his way through. He waved everyone back except Isaac and Stiles and helped Liam to his feet. Words were spoken and Scott blocked everyone's view when he grabbed his arm. I don't know what was done but heard Malia hiss.

"That had to hurt." She said.

"What? What had to hurt?"

"His arm was broken."

"He broke his arm?" I asked, panicking.

"Relax, wolf remember. Scott fixed it. it's probably just sore now." She whispered to me.

I looked back out there and saw Scott talking to him, Liam nodding and head to the benches looking just fine. He looked up to where I was still standing and smiled. I felt relieved and sat back down.

"What?" I asked Dr. Geyer who was smirking at me.

"Nothing." He shook his head. My phone buzzed and I pulled it out. another message from Corey.

COREY: JUST CHECKING IN. I'M FINE I PROMISE. PLEASE DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME. STAY SAFE THEO. LOVE YOU. CHECK IN SOON.

I tried not to squeeze my phone too hard in frustration. I was happy he was checking in. But every new message just reminded me that he was putting himself in danger every day while I sat here trying to stay hidden. It felt wrong.

"Everything okay?" Dr. Geyer asked.

"Yeah." I said, putting my phone away. It's not like I could text him back. It would sit unread if I did. I'm sure he has his reasons.

"Someone important?"

"My brother."

"You have a brother? I didn't know."

"Yeah, he's not here right now. It's a long story."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully, you'll see him soon."

"Yeah, hopefully." I said with a forced smile.

Liam turned to look at me again, brow crinkled, and head tilted in that cute way when he was trying to figure something out. Smiling I mouthed 'I'm fine.' He smiled, nodded, and turned back around. Dr. Geyer was smirking at me again.

"What?" I laughed.

"Nothing." He said again, patting my shoulder.