Chapter 4: Two

They reached their destination finally. Ember pointed to her house and told him to pull into the dribeway. Liam did what he was instructed to and parked behind a silver car.

Ember's house was much smaller than Liam's. That wasn't a bad thing to him though. In fact, he considered it a good thing.

Ember lived with her mom who was her full time parent. Her dad had never been fully present in her life but he called or visited on occasion and was there as a financial aid. Well, after middle school he promised to pay for whatever school she wanted to go to. She chose Lavex Academy because her childhood friend, Paige, got a scholarship there but was scared to attend because she wouldn't know anyone. Liam met them both freshman year and they've been friends ever since.

"C'mon." She smiles at him while climbing out of the passenger seat of the car. He shut it off and followed after her.

His friend led the way up the pathway and to her front door. She stepped in and slipped off her shoes so Liam copied her actions. She waited for him to get his shoes off before continuing through the house.

Her living room and kitchen were connected and the table was set in the kitchen. There was two other doors, one open to show it lead to the bathroom, and then a staircase upwards. Ember started climbing up the stairs so Liam fell into step behind her.

Upstairs there was a hall with four doors. Three were shut and one was open. As they passed it, Liam saw it also lead to a bathroom.

They got to the two door opposite of each other at the end of the hall and Ember opened up the one to the left. It was her bedroom. Liam walked in after her and went over to sit in a circular chair she had in the middle of the room.

She walked over to the closet. "I can not wait to change out of this uniform. Are you good here while I step into the bathroom to change?"

She looks over at him while picking up a shirt. Liam nods once and that's all the reassurance she needs. She grabs a pair of shorts and leaves the room. In her absence Liam takes the time to look around her room.

There's fairy lights cascading down the back wall, the same wall her bed is pushed up against in the far corner. There's a TV in the corner parallel to that, setting up on the wall. Under the TV is a dresser and near that is a closet with two rails of clothing. The other side of her room is kind of bare. She's got a fluffy, purple carpet in the middle near Liam's chair and another chair that looks just like it. There's a window behind him that's covered by closed blinds. Posters hang around the walls everywhere. Two for boybands and three for different shows she likes. There's a painting up as well that looks professional.

"My brother and some of his friends are downstairs." Ember says as she returns. Her uniform is nearly folded over one arm as she walks. "Just so you know for when we go down there later. I think there's only two over so we'll have three other guys here."

"Oh, okay." Liam nods. "How old is your brother?"

"Seventeen." Ember says. "He's only five months older than me."

"Wait- what?" Liam furrows his eyebrows at her. That was impossible. Ember looks up as well and it takes her a moment before she realizes what he's confused about and starts laughing.

"Sorry. I forgot you don't know. We're step siblings. Our parents have been married since we were three though so that little fact is kinda easy to forget."

"Oh." Liam nods awkwardly.

"Wanna go down there and meet them?" She offers. "We don't don't to if you're uncomfortable but I've met them all and they're not bad kids. I'm actually kinda friends with most of his friends so I can say that. But again, I understand if you wanna stay up here too."

Liam thought about it. No, he didn't want to go down there. Socializing with people he didn't know was terrifying. Yet, it was new. It was new and different. It was change.

"I guess." Liam said and slowly stood up. Ember's eyebrows raised.

"Okay." She glanced over his appearance. "You can take the jacket and the tie off if you want. Just set them on the chair and you can grab them before you leave.

"Oh." He slid his jacket off and was thankful for it immediately. His arms had been too warm since lunch. He was thankful he had worn the short sleeved button up today.

He undid his tie and carelessly dropped it onto the chair atop his jacket. Now he could breath easier. He smiles at Ember and she smiles back.

"Okay, come on. I'll introduce you to everyone."

Liam follows Ember down the steps and into the living room. As soon as they get to the stairs he hears the noise of three teenage boys. Chuckling and arguing over who picks the show.

"Marvel movies are always a win man, come on."

"No. We watched some last time, we're done now. We can't go down that rabbit hole we'll be here all day."

"If you guys don't shut up I'll decide for you and put on The Vampire Diaries." Ember said as they enter the room.

There's three teenage boys on the couch, leaving the sofa next to it completely vacant. There's a brunet boy with the remote in his hand and his legs stretched out in front of him and then two others on his right side.

One was a boy with caramel colored hair and a lip piercing. He also had two ear piercings in his left ear but none in his right. His eyes were a shiny green, so much so that Liam could see from his distance away. Over his lap were legs of the third boy sitting next to him.

The quieter boy is practically sitting on top of his friend as his legs are outstretched over him. It makes Liam question for a second if they're friends or something more. He doesn't overthink it though. If they are cool for them, it's none of his business. His hair is curly on his head and his eyes are blue. They're not bright blue but rather dull, so dull they could be considered gray. Yet they're still more lively than Liam's own dead ones.

The boy who had suggested marvel, the one with the lip piercing, groaned loudly. "No."

The boy next to him, the brunet with a silver hoop earing in only his right ear, smiles at them. "Hey Em, who's this?"

"Oh, this is Liam." She moves her hand over to motion towards him. "He's Paige and I's friend from school."

"Oh." The boy says softly. "Well it's nice to meet you, I'm Ian, Ember's brother."

Liam nods in acknowledgment. His throat suddenly feels dry. "Uh, nice to meet you too."

"Anyways, Li, that's Chris." She motioned over to the guy with the lip piercing. "And that's Lucas."

The quieter boy waves from the couch. Liam offers them both a small smile. He's not sure what to do now. He awkwardly slides his hands into his pant pockets.

"Where's Mom?" Ember directs the question at Ian. He shrugs in response.

"Probably feeling up Dad. Iris is supposed to be here this week so she's supposed to be watching us or something. If you want, we can go ahead and order the pizza. Mom left me with the money."

"Okay." Ember nods. "Two large meat lovers sound good?"

All the boys on the couch nod. Ember turns her eyes to Liam and gives him her soft smile. It's the expression that's asking his opinion and saying it's okay if it's different than the one previously spoken.

Liam has never had pizza, but he likes meat and isn't pickey. So he shrugs. "Sounds alright with me."

Ember smiles. "Okay, I'll call the Pizza place."

She pulls out her phone before glancing at Liam and then the couch. She gives him one guilty look before striding into the kitchen while dialing the phone. Liam stands there awkwardly just watching her put the phone to her ear.

Ian clearing his throat drags Liam's eyes away. The boy pats the spot on the couch next to him and Liam watches the movement. He hesitantly steps closer before sitting next to him.

Ian smiles softly and looks back over at the TV. When he speaks he nudges Liam gently. "Any suggestions?"

"Uh... no." Liam didn't watch an insane amount if television. Even when he did it was mostly older movies. Nothing he would suggest to a group of kids he doesn't know.

"Alright." Ian frowns as he continues to skim over movies. His friends and his just can't seem to find one they actually like. "Fuck it. I'm not picking."

He throww the remote over to the pile of boys next to him. The one with the lip piercing, Chris, picks up the remote with triumph. "Yes! Marvel!"

Ian groans and leans back into the couch with an eye roll. "We're gonna be sitting here binging all day."

"That's the fun of it." Chris grinned happily and quickly went to the search engine. He puts on one Liam hasn't seen yet. He hasn't seen many if he is honest.

"Okay, pizza is on the way." Ember walks back in, her phone in her hand. She glances over at Liam sitting awkwardly on the couch and gives him a reassuring smile before walking over to the sofa and sitting down.

Liam wishes he could sit by her because she's the only one he knows. However the couch is full and he can't get up and move now, that'd be rude. So he sits next to Ian.

Slowly he let's himself relax into the couch. The entire group is quiet while the movie plays. After about five minutes his phone vibrates in his pocket.

He sighs and digs it out. No one texts him other than Paige and Ember. Paige is at work and Ember is in the room with him. That means this can only be one of his parents. Probably his mom.

Sure enough it's a text from his mom. She asks where he is. He answers and tells her he's with a friend and not to worry before silencing the phone and sticking it back in his pocket. He wasn't going to let it ruin his afternoon of something new.

The doorbell rings awhile later. Ember hops up with a smile. "That's pizza. Ian go get the money."

Ian gets up too and runs up the stairs while Ember goes to get the door. She opens it and a young man is standing there holding two pizza boxes. They exchange a few words before Ian is returning. He hands the guy money and then shuts the door.

Ember carries the pizza boxes over to where they are and sits them down on the coffee table in between the couch and the television. Liam smiles when she comes over and sits next to him. She reaches forward to open the first box and immediately the amazing smell hits them all.

"I've got napkins." Ian walks over to the kitchen and grabs a few paper towels. He bringing them back and hands them out.

Ember grabs a slice first and uses her paper towel as a plate. Chris and Lucas both sit up to grab their own slices and do the same. Ian gets two next and walks over to sit on the sofa, unbothered by the fact Ember stole his spot.

Liam copies them all and grabs a slice, one on the smaller side, and holds it with the paper towel. He takes a bite out of it and wow that's good. He eats his piece before taking another and eating that too.

By the time he's finished Ember is too but the rest of the boys are still eating. She smiles widely at him and he returns the expression. He relaxes into the couch and she kicks her feet up onto his legs. The atmosphere is so relaxing he feels some of the tension leave his shoulders.

This is okay, he decides. Perfectly okay. For a moment during a witty scene in the movie he let's a small smile grace his face. Yeah, this is okay.

When the movie was closer to ending Ember patted his knee gently. He looks over at her with curious eyes to see her getting up. "I gotta use the bathroom."

She's looking at Liam as she says this so he just nods slightly, unsure what else to do. She walks away and goes to the open door leading to the bathroom, closing it behind her. In her absence Liam tries not to become too uncomfortable around these boys.

"So, please don't take offense, but like are you and Ember fucking or dating or something?" Liam looks over at Chris who asked the question.

Lucas raises his eyebrows slightly and Ian sits up straighter on the sofa to look over at them. Liam swallows down the knot in his throat as the attention is turned to him. Then the question really processes in his brain and his eyes widen.

"Oh! No- no, no, no." Then he realizes he's speaking too quickly. Like he had to hurry and correct them. That could be offensive to Ember. "She's pretty but... I don't know, just not my type I guess?"

Did Liam even have a type? He's never liked anyone before. He doesn't like Ember or Paige, not like that, so he just assumes it's because they're not his type. That's the excuse everyone else uses when they don't like someone. So then, what was his type?

Chris chuckles quietly. "Okay, it's cool I was just curious."

Liam nods a little and fades into quiet. His curiosity from before comes back up and he summons his courage as much as he can. Unfortunately he doesn't have much courage, but he does have a little so he uses it to ask a quick question.

"So, please don't take offense because I'm just curious, but like are you two fucking or dating or something?" Liam flicks his eyes between the two boys on top of each other on the couch. The sentence isn't formal and it makes it sound weird to his ears but he's just repeating what Chris had asked him in the same way. If his mother had heard the vulgar language she would probably behead him.

Chris smiles. "Touché." The shakes his head. "No, we just kinda have an affectionate friend group so shit like this is normal for us."

"Oh." Liam nods a little. Chris is smiling and the quieter boy doesn't look offended so he's assuming they're not mad for his question. He still feels awkward for asking it.

Ember opens the bathroom door and walks out just as the move credits start to play. She comes over and plops onto the couch next to Liam once again. They all send her smiles as she does.

Liam pulls out his phone while they're all sitting and watching the credits play. He has seven texts from his mother and a missed call but he isn't worrying about it so he just swipes the notifications away. Then, he has a text from Paige that was sent two minutes ago.

He clicks on it and it's asking if he's still at Ember's. He answers yes and waits for her to start typing. Paige always responds fast, especially when she texted first. Sure enough she does this time as well, asking if he could possibly give her a ride. He says he will with no hesitation.

"I gotta go." Liam stands up, sticking his phone back in his pocket. He turns to smile at Ember. "Thanks for having me over."

Ember smiles back. "Of course. Is it your mom?"

There's worry in her eyes. He shakes his head to get rid of it. "No, Paige. She needs a ride home from work."

"Oh." Ember nods then. "Your jacket and tie are on my chair."

"Oh, right." He walks over to the staircase and steps up to the second story. He remembers where Ember's room is easily and slips in. After picking up his jacket and tie he leaves and starts back down.

As he makes his way over towards the door he sees Ian turning to look over the back of the sofa at him. The brunet boy smiles. "Bye Liam, it was cool having you. Come back some time!"

Liam smiles softly. Chris says bye too and Lucas waves a little. He calls back before leaving. "Bye."

He steps out into the evening chilly air and releases a breath. He felt okay, he realizes all at once. A smile comes up to his face. The tension in his shoulders was gone and the sickness in his stomach, while it was still there, had eased.

Yeah, he'd be okay.

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And so, it begins.

Love you ♡

- Z