Ophelia McCarthy (breatheoutside) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-06-24 20:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | #october 2017, liam, liam x ophelia, ophelia |
Who: Liam and Ophelia
When: after school, Monday, Oct 30
Where: walking to the library
Status: Complete
Ophelia enjoyed school for the most part, but there was one thing she dreaded above all other things -- group projects. Luckily this one was just a history report in groups of two, and she and Liam had locked eyes almost immediately. They’d made plans to meet at the library after school to get a head start on it ... but honestly Ophelia just wanted to talk to him in private. She felt like she was bursting with news and she wanted to know how things had gone with Jen. It felt so weird to have stuff to want to dish and gossip about with friends, like that was something only Other Teenagers did, and Ophelia was too lame to have friends like that, but apparently that was where she was now. Hopefully it would last.
Once the bell rang, she headed for Liam’s locker, assuming they would walk together, since they were going to the same place. Neither of them had a car yet, which sucked and needed to change. Ophelia needed to work on wearing her dad down.
Liam had spent Sunday nursing a hangover and catching up on sleep, all while trying to figure out how much of what he remembered was real versus in his head. He thought he’d asked Jen out on a date, but then he didn’t feel like he had any specifics and wasn’t all that sure that she’d agreed knowing that’s what it was. He wasn’t even sure he knew that’s what he was asking when it came out of his mouth, so how was he supposed to find out? What if she was weirded out when she realized that’s what he wanted it to be? He wasn’t sure how he was going to get an answer without asking her and he didn’t want her to know that he didn’t know for sure, which brought him round in circles.
With Halloween almost there, Liam had about twenty-four hours to figure out what to do, and still had to function like a normal person for most of that time. He’d jumped at the chance to work with Ophelia in history, because they were friends and she was smart and she wouldn’t screw him over, the last being the most important when it came to group work. He just hoped she didn’t think he was a slacker, since he wasn’t sure how well he was going to focus today. He’d be a much better partner after Halloween. “Hey,” Liam smiled when she showed up at his locker. “Ready to go?”
Ophelia smiled back and nodded, tucking her thumbs into the straps of her backpack. “Ready when you are, chum,” she said amiably. It was hard not to be in a good mood today, even though it was a Monday and all. She’d caught a couple of glimpses of Greg throughout the day and they’d exchanged some smiles that she felt like made her whole body glow. Her stomach was just a mess of butterflies every time, and she couldn’t get enough of it. Everything had a sweet dreamy quality, and she just felt good. And she was pretty sure she and Jen were friends now, so that was another reason to be happy. Phee walked with Liam out of the school and started down the sidewalk toward the library with him. After they’d put some distance between them and prying ears, she flashed him a grin. “Soooo,” she said. “Did you have fun?”
“Yeah, I did,” Liam grinned, looking back at her. He was so glad she’d decided to go to the party, not only because he’d wanted a friend there to hang out with, but because he was pretty sure Jen wouldn’t have gone if it was only him. And while he’d met a few people there that he’d enjoyed talking to, he’d had the most fun with the both of them. “Kind of paid for it on Sunday, but oh well. What about you? Did you talk to him? I really hope you talked to him. It was, like, the best opportunity ever to be social and you looked hot.” Which he hoped wasn’t weird to say as a guy that was only a friend. Because she had and she should know that. And hopefully Greg had noticed too, but in a less just-friendly way.
She didn’t want to turn into one of those girls who aimed all conversations at herself, but Phee felt like she was positively bursting when Liam asked about Greg. It was all she could do not to grab his arm and shake it and squeal like a crazy person. But her huge smile was probably answer enough, and she did a little skip-bounce while they walked. “Okay A, thank you. And B, I totally talked to him. But I did way more than that,” Phee said with a sing-song sort of way. She had looked hot, and her magic had been popping, and everything had been stupidly perfect. “We kissed,” she told Liam, her cheeks already a little sore with all the grinning. Sure, they had both been pretty drunk, but it had still been the best kissing in the world.
“Damn, girl! You did have a good time at the party!” Liam laughed, thrilled on her behalf. He knew how much she liked him and how much she’d wanted something to happen, but even he’d not expected Greg to kiss her. And not by any fault of her own! But more that he thought one of them would probably have to cross a line they were probably used to not crossing. But wasn’t that the way with all relationships? You had to go out on a limb at some point. “So have you talked since then? Is there more? Are you dating? Is it all a big secret?” He kind of loved it if it was. He was in on a secret! Wohoo!
Alcohol was great for line-crossing, apparently. Not that Phee thought that was all it had been. Whenever she and Greg had locked eyes that day, she’d felt that fluttery spark again, and judging from his grins, she was pretty sure he felt it too. She laughed at Liam’s questions, even though they were totally valid -- it was just pure joy to think that the answers to them might be ‘yes’ eventually. “Well, this much is a big secret, so shhh,” Phee told him, still looking delighted. “Greg doesn’t want Sebastian to know until after the playoff games, at least, just in case he’s like, weird about it. But we haven’t talk-talked much besides that, and no, not like ... dating. Not yet, anyway.” Maybe they wouldn’t, but Phee was going to stay positive, dammit. Even if they didn’t? She’d still gotten her first kiss from her crush, and that was something. “Ugh, he’s such a good kisser though,” she added, giving a dreamy sigh.
“He doesn’t think he can play a football game because his best friend kissed his sister?” Liam asked amused. Sure, he’d probably get his panties in a twist, but if he couldn’t put that aside to play the game, that was his problem, at least in Liam’s opinion. “Whatever. That’s, like, five more days. And I guess then, if they lose, Sebastian can’t blame it on something stupid. And after that-- well, you should talk to him. Or text him. Or something. He knows you’re still interested, right?” Liam knew from what Ophelia said that it wasn’t a one time thing, but he didn’t know if Greg had picked up on that, that it was a real crush. Liam laughed softly. “Well, good. It’d be such a let down if he turned out to be a bad kisser.”
“Oh yeah, total disappointment, but he’s got it in the bag. And dude, football players are so superstitious, it’s crazy,” Ophelia said with an affectionate roll of her eyes. “I won’t name names, but Bash has told me about some of the guys on the team who like, won’t change their socks all week before a big game. Stupid stuff like that. I mean, he already knows I’ve got a huge crush on Greg and he’s not sure how to feel about it, so like, actual kissing might throw him off, I dunno.” She shrugged, then admitted, “It’s kinda fun as a secret anyway. But I mean yeah, I think so? I can’t stop grinning at him like an idiot whenever I see him, so that’s probably pretty obvious.” She blushed a tiny bit at herself -- it was probably so stupid, but it felt so weirdly good. Phee grinned again and gave Liam a playful nudge. “Boys can be dense though, I hear, so I’ll be sure to spell it out somehow.”
“Dude, I’m superstitious too, but that’s just disgusting,” Liam laughed. “Clean socks are essential to a good track meet. So is clean underwear, just in general. Good life practices and all that. If I’m running with guys who haven’t changed something all week, I don’t wanna know.” He preferred things like lucky pendants, or lucky traditions. Even a lucky rabbit’s foot, though he thought there was probably some magic in that. “So, I don’t have a sister-- I mean, I do, but not like you and Bash-- and I think it’d be this weird place to be. But it’s his problem to deal with and he’s a big boy, so he’ll get over it. Plus, if you both like each other? He’d be a jerk to be against it.” And he hoped that Greg told him so, if there really was a problem. “You know I’m gonna start watching now,” he smiled. “I bet you light up like a Christmas tree.” She was blushing now, so he could only imagine how it’d be with Greg actually around. “We’re not dense. We just don’t want to assume things. It’s good to be on the same wavelength and all.”
Ophelia was pretty used to the idea of boys being pretty gross, so Liam’s protests just made her laugh. She was pretty sure Sebastian changed his socks -- she hoped so, anyway -- but maybe he had some other weird superstitious habit before important games. And she had to agree that having a problem with her and Greg would be his own problem to deal with. Her brother didn’t own her, nor did he own his best friend. Maybe hanging out together would take some getting used to, but whatever. It wasn’t like she was going to hog Greg all the time ... probably. Plus Bash had a boyfriend now, why shouldn’t she? Phee felt bolstered to hear that opinion from someone else, like Liam was just affirming it all for her. She had to giggle at the Christmas tree comment, one hand coming up to her hot cheek before she bumped into Liam’s arm again. “Ugh, shut up,” she said, clearly amused. “I totally do though, I can feel it. Somebody’s gonna notice. But yeah, wavelengths should be the same. I’ll text him soon. I just don’t wanna be like ... omg-clingy-girl, you know?”
“So what if someone notices? You know the person who’s most likely to is your brother, but you said he already knows you’ve got a crush, so he probably won’t pick up on it. Secrets can be fun though. Just don’t let it get to that not-fun stage,” Liam said, as if he knew anything about keeping a secret relationship. With his mouth, he’d have a seriously hard time maintaining something of that nature. “That’s fair. But if he likes you, I’m sure he’d like to hear from you, so don’t wait too long. But I also don’t really get all those rules about how long you’re supposed to wait.” He’d never been good at playing games. Girls were hard enough without all that mess.
“I don’t either,” Ophelia admitted. “They all seem pretty stupid.” She was pretty clueless about all of it, she only knew what she’d picked up through osmosis from other people and movies and such. It wasn’t like she’d ever gone out with anybody before, so she hoped Greg would be understanding if she did stupid stuff for a while. Phee was pretty confident she could figure it out, she just had to have the chance to do it. Hopefully this was the start of that chance. “But anyway,” she said, feeling self-conscious now about talking about herself and Greg. Phee flashed Liam another smile. “Did you talk to Jen at the party?”
“Yeah, I did,” Liam said, his smile turning shier. “I think we might have a date. Maybe. I wasn’t super clear on whether it was a date or not, so she might not realize it’s a date and I don’t know how to clarify without her thinking maybe I don’t want it to be one when I do, so we’ll see if it ends up being date-like?” He wished there was something that could make it just a little clearer, but he felt stuck. What if she just wanted to come over and hangout as friends? That would be fun, but a little bit of a disappointment.
She raised her eyebrows at that confusing string of words. It sounded like the kind of over-think she would do. Phee was so good at overthinking, obviously. Liam seemed to be in the same boat. She hummed thoughtfully and pursed her lips. “I guess just ... see how it goes? What the vibe is like? And if it’s good, maybe you can ask her if she wants to go on a date-date sometime? Or try to hold her hand or something? I mean, hanging out and watching movies is great, but easily confused with just friend-stuff.” Phee paused, then gave a little snorty laugh. “Or you could just like, ask her. Jen’s pretty cool, she’ll probably be cool about it.”
“I know,” Liam said, nodding his head. “I just don’t want things to be weird if she’s not interested, you know? But you’re right. She is pretty cool, so maybe things will be okay?” If she didn’t want it to be a date, he could always make it a friend thing and invite more people. Or something. “I’m so bad at this,” he said, scrunching up his nose. “All the other guys always seem so cool about it, and make it sound so easy.” If it wasn’t, they just kept quiet on that part, or bragged after they knew things were good enough to be confident.
“Things will totally be okay,” Phee assured him first, giving another smile. She hadn’t outright asked Jen if she liked Liam back, but she had a good feeling about it all in general. “And those guys are totally lying, like, pretty much all of them. You should see my brother around someone he likes, he’s a giant anxious dork.” She stopped herself there, lest she talk too much about the kind of ‘someone’s that Sebastian liked. They were getting close to the library now, and that was probably a good thing. “Just relax. Everybody feels bad at this.”
“Really?” Liam asked, a touch surprised. “He always seems super relaxed around the girls he’s dated. Not that I’m paying attention, but, you know.” It was hard not to notice the kids in the popular crowd sometimes, floating through life like it was so damn easy while Liam continued to trip over his own two feet. He didn’t envy Sebastian, but he totally got why he got on Ophelia’s nerves at times. “Okay, relaxing,” he said with a little laugh. “At least we’re planning to watch a horror movie, not something mushy. I know that’s not super romantic, so there’s no big clue there, but that was part of the appeal. Any suggestions on what we should watch? Got a favorite horror movie?” He didn’t think she was into that at all, but maybe there was one Ophelia enjoyed.
Ophelia kept her mouth shut about her brother and girls. She’d always thought he was super confident and smooth and all that too, until she’d learned what was really going on. It was best just to let Liam -- and everybody else in school -- think that Sebastian was just a cool teenage playboy or whatever. Phee nibbled at her bottom lip and tried to think of horror movies instead. “I mean ... you already know she likes Cabin in the Woods,” she pointed out. “That’s always a good one, kinda funny-gory. Ummm ... some classic like Rosemary’s Baby? The Exorcist? You can laugh about how innocent people were back then, thinking that shit was scary. The Shining’s always good ...”
Liam nodded, liking all her suggestions and remembering that there were a few he’d named at the party that she hadn’t seen. “Maybe I’ll get a few and she can pick,” he said, thinking that would probably be best. That way they were both happy and she could go with whatever mood she was feeling that night. “So, are you ready to tackle this project?” he asked as the library loomed ahead of them. He was feeling a little more focused now, like he had a plan, even if he still didn’t know the answer to the big question. And if they got a good amount of the work done tonight, he wouldn’t have to worry about it later in the week, like on Halloween.
“There you go,” Ophelia said with a smile. “Let the girl decide, that’s always a good policy.” Not that she knew that for sure or anything, it just sounded right. She made a put-out face at the library, but it was only half-hearted. It didn’t feel like much could pull down Phee’s good mood. Especially now that she’d really gotten to gush to someone else. It wasn’t gushing she could do at Sebastian, so it was nice to feel like she actually had some friends around now. Liam would be a good partner too, so the project wouldn’t be so bad. “Let’s kick its ass,” she declared, slipping her arm through her friend’s as they strolled up to the front sliding doors.