Common Ground (The Common Ground Trilogy Book 1) (19 page)

“Well thank you. Now, if you could leave us alone, that would be great.”

Instead of looking at me, he had turned his gaze back out towards the wild and full party that had broken out. He was scanning the room over my head, apparently ready to move on after his advance had failed. After a minute, he stepped around me and headed towards the opposite end of the room, giving me a distant “later” as he passed. I turned and saw Steph standing in the corner, already surrounded by at least 6 guys. Damien quickly pushed his way through the crowd and handed Steph the beer that he had reserved for me. Steph smiled widely and took a big swig.

“That was interesting,” Hope finally chimed in, as she stared at Damien. “At least now Steph has apparently found her prize for the night.”

I laughed uneasily, knowing full well that Damien was no prize. But if it worked for Steph, it kept him out of my hair which was helpful.

Hope and Steph’s living room had gotten very full, very fast. It was almost at standing room only when Hope nervously excused herself to the kitchen to make sure nobody destroyed anything, leaving me alone for the first time. My mind immediately focused on Annie as everything that Steph had told me came rushing back. The day had turned out to be yet another link in the rapidly growing chain of emotional disasters that had been strung together since my arrival at school. It felt like ages since Professor Woodward’s crazy midterm had ended and my most recent dream had occurred. Adding Annie’s jealousy on top of the pile made my head start to spin. I needed to get away from the debauchery that was rapidly brewing in the apartment. There was a clear path from the dining room area to the outdoor patio in the backyard, which is where I decided to go to escape.

I collapsed into one of the two lawn chairs Hope and Steph had set up on the patio. My mind continued to run through everything that had happened during the day. It was difficult to figure out what had bothered me the most. Professor Woodward’s bogus and crazy implications that my family was a group of supernatural beings, with my mother being some type of evil demon was a good start to my anger. My dream about Annie being shot had added fuel to the fire. But, it was Steph’s bombshell that Annie was jealous of me that stung the most. If there was ever a time I would lose my marbles forever, that was it.

Trying to relax, I gazed up at the nearly moonless sky and breathed deeply. With each passing breath, my mind started to clear and my body felt more relaxed. All of the negatives that had happened during the day had burnt away, only to be replaced with the peace and quiet I had been longing for. At that moment, someone flopped loudly onto the chair next to me, breaking the serene quiet. I annoyingly looked over and saw the last person in the world that I wanted to see.

Liam was laying out on the chair in full costume, with a beer in one hand, and a toy pistol in his right. His costume was just as cool and creative as Annie’s. He was wearing a grey pinstripe, three-piece suit complete with a pink polka dot tie and black and white two-tone shoes. He topped the ensemble off with a tan fedora hat, half of which covered his curly, pitch-black hair. I wasn’t sure what stunned me more, the fact that he looked as good as his date did, or that he had snuck up on me again, similar to the toga party. He appeared out of thin air, without the slightest trace of sound. The cocky smirk plastered on his face was almost more than I could bear.

“So, you either really hate being social, or you really love the outdoors,” he said, smiling even wider.

“Wow, Captain Obvious is right again!” I mocked.

“Do you have some type of social anxiety? Or do you genuinely dislike being around people?” he asked.

“Does this bring you some type of sick satisfaction? Constantly annoying me?”

“A little bit,” he chuckled as he took a swig of beer.

“Shouldn’t you be inside with your girlfriend?” I jeered.

“Nah, she’ll be fine,” he said indifferently. “Besides, she’s survived this long without me; a few more minutes won’t kill her.”

“You really are the biggest jerk I’ve ever met,” I said incredulously, shaking my head slowly as my mouth was slightly agape.

“What’d I do this time?” he moaned playfully. He seemed to be getting a genuine kick out of the entire situation. It was at that moment I decided to fight fire with fire.

“You know what? I’ve learned my lesson with you. I am going to keep my thoughts to myself because I’m afraid you’ll just start moping and pouting like a baby,” I said smugly.

I could immediately see that my comments had hit their mark. His smirk vanished instantly, only to be replaced by his menacing stare. Parallel to the previous times, a slight shade of red seemed to appear deep in his eyes.

“You think you know everything, but you’re just a clueless bitch,” he said in a flat, expressionless voice.

Before I knew what had happened, my face had gone stone cold at the exact same moment that my palm connected with his face. His expression changed slightly, as a half smile spread across his lips. It looked as though my slap was just a tickle to him.

“I wonder, are you just a jerk because it’s in your nature as a guy, or is it because mommy and daddy did something wrong?” I asked.

It was the only thing I could remember, besides comparing him to regular guys, which really made him truly uncomfortable. His reaction on our double date to the mention of his parents was unforgettable and the blank expression on his face at that moment confirmed my theory.

“You wouldn’t want to know about my past,” he said in a defeated voice.

Even though a slight part of me felt satisfaction seeing him so vulnerable, a bigger part of me felt guilty for egging him on. The macho, know-it-all, pompous ass who wanted to be the center of attention was on the ropes and it was all my fault. 

“I…I’m sorry,” I apologized. “That was out of line. I shouldn’t have insulted you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a lazy wave of his hand. “Annie’s told me enough about you that I know you’re not the one to insult someone’s parents.”

I cringed at the thought of Annie telling him my deepest, darkest memories. It was difficult to believe that he knew so much about me and yet I hadn’t told him a single thing. Before he could elaborate, I decided to take a leap of faith.

“Apparently you know all about my past, so why don’t you set the record straight about yours? You said I wouldn’t want to know, try me.”

If ever there was a chance for him to prove me wrong about everything I came to know about him, that was it. He slowly shifted his head towards me with a mildly interested look. A warm, welcoming grin came from out of the blue as he then leaned back in his chair. His arms folded over his head and he gazed up at the glowing stars. At first, I thought he wasn’t going to say anything at all, but then he took a deep breath and dove in.

“Damien didn’t really tell you the whole story a few weeks ago. My parents weren’t just traveling back and forth to Seattle, they were never around. They literally abandoned me when I was twelve. Being the loving people that they were, they left me on the doorstep of Damien’s family, and I’ve only seen them once since,” he said, not pulling his gaze from the sky.

I couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of pity for him while he sat there and spoke. My parents had died, but they didn’t abandon me. There was nothing worse that I could think of than not being wanted by my own flesh and blood.

“That’s gotta be pretty rough,” I coughed, casually looking over at him. “My parents were taken from me; I couldn’t imagine being left behind.”

“Yeah, well, I made it on my own. Sure, Damien’s family helped, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, you’ve gotta be self reliant. Everyone will let you down at some point, and when they do, you have to be able to take care of yourself.”

“True, but family is important. I wouldn’t have made it this far without Annie and her family, it’s good to have people you can rely on.”

“I guess,” he shrugged. He continued to gaze up at the stars, and the reality that we were sitting there, having a civilized discussion was just the perfect ending to such a roller coaster day.

“When was the last time you saw them?” I asked, looking over at him.

His eyes slowly lowered while his body seemed to tense up a bit. I could see anger building up in his face, as his jaw was clinched tightly and his hands had been wrapped up into threatening fists.

“They showed up about two years ago towards the end of my senior year,” he said curtly. “It was a fun little reunion.”

“What did you guys do?”

“We went out to dinner, just the three of us. At first, I thought maybe there were going to take some responsibility and apologize for what they did. But instead, they decided to make my life a living hell before taking off for good,” he continued through clinched teeth.

Each word seemed to bring on more anger, as his fists had started to turn white from the loss of blood flow. 

“What’d they say?” I asked again.

I found myself quickly being sucked into his past and actually feeling sorry for him. There seemed to be a lot of pent up anger inside, which started to give his past outbursts and explosions some merit.

“The whole experience was a disaster from the moment we sat down. First, they felt the need to give me advice about college. They practically threw ULV down my throat, telling me it was where I was supposed to be, whatever that meant. Not once did they tell me why it was important to be here, they just continued to hammer it home. It was more a boring lecture than dinner with my family.”

There was a glossy, blank expression that had invaded his face. He was no longer staring up at the stars, but instead was leaned over the arm of his chair, looking directly at me. His penetrating glare was burning right through me and all I could do was quickly look back at the stars, as I remembered what Steph had told me earlier in the night.

“That’s weird,” I stammered.

“You think that’s weird? I think its crap. But that wasn’t everything. Once they finished deciding my future for me, they thought it was a good idea to tell me that I was different than regular guys,” he continued.

His words had locked me into a trance. Anything that had been running through my mind was ancient history. Professor Woodward, my own parents, even Annie were all distant memories as I sat there in a timid silence. I wanted to find out why he was different, remembering how defensive he had gotten the one time I brought it up. Swallowing hard, I took a risk.

“What did they mean by different?” I asked apprehensively, bracing myself for another tantrum. Instead, he glared over at me and smiled awkwardly.

“Let’s just say I have a different purpose in life than most, um, normal people,” he said, with an emphasis on people.

“A purpose? You were just a senior in high school! How can anyone have a purpose that young?” I laughed. I could finally see why he was so self gratifying. His parents really had done a number on him.

“Ask my parents, if you can find them,” he said quietly, not amused at all by my joke. His shift in attitude seemed to bring the entire atmosphere that had built up between us down.

“Well, what was your purpose?” I coughed, unable to restrain my curiosity. Something inside was dying to know and it was starting to scare me a bit. I’d never been so interested in someone’s past, especially someone that I disliked.

“That’s my business,” he replied darkly.

His face instantaneously turned to stone and his eyes burned into mine. Any positive feelings I had gotten towards Liam faded away in a split second. The old, standoffish, jerk was back.

“I was stupid to think that maybe you really were different,” I mumbled quietly.

“What? You thought that I’d just tell you everything about me?” he taunted, as his trademark cocky smirk reappeared. “The ego on you is just amazing!”

“Yeah, stupid me,” I barely whispered.

Liam’s bait and switch was the last straw. After such an emotional day, the last thing I needed was more baggage. The fact that I got sucked into his world and actually felt like we were making a connection made it even worse. I’d forgotten everything Simi warned me about him and felt lower than dirt because of it. Using every ounce of energy I could muster, I pulled myself out of the chair and turned towards the door, only to be met by Annie’s furious glare.

“What’s going on out here?” she said flatly, not taking her frozen eyes off of me. Her arms were folded across her chest and her foot was tapping impatiently on the ground.

“Nothing Ann,” I heaved. “I was just leaving.”

“Uh-huh,” she replied, finally pulling her stare away from me and turning to Liam. I turned as well and saw him sitting there, eyes closed and smiling.

“And where the hell have you been? Your brothers got here over an hour ago, and you weren’t with them. Haven’t you heard of a cell phone? I’ve been sitting inside in this ridiculous costume, waiting for you to show up,” she argued.

Liam’s expression remained perfectly calm, while Annie stood there impatiently waiting for a reply.

“Relax baby,” he said lazily. “It took a little extra time to get the costume ready and I forgot my cell phone on my dresser. You know I always forget it.”

“Yeah, well why have one if you don’t use it?” she asked, the tone of her voice relaxing slightly. She slowly uncrossed her arms and unclenched everything.