Chapter 38
When I was younger, I used to get so upset that Cadence always got to sit in the front seat of Mom’s van. Once she headed off to college, the front seat had finally become mine. Now, I gleefully climbed into the back and scooted all the way over to make room for Liam, and my heart was beating through my chest.
He’d come over a few times before to study, but the other times, his mom had brought him or he’d ridden his bike. He only lived about a mile away. Everyone in Shenandoah lives relatively close by; it’s a really small town.
Liam climbed in and shut the door behind him. “Cool van, Mrs. F,” he said, buckling his seat belt. I had mine on already and smiled over at him, not sure what to say.
“Why thank you, William,” my mom said, pulling out of the parent pick-up lane. There were not a lot of vehicles in line since most of the kids at my high school could either drive or caught rides with their friends who could drive, but I’d never been embarrassed by my parents, and I figured Lucy would have her license soon enough since she was several months older than me. Emma said she’d never learn how to drive because it was too complicated. I was determined to teach her. Once I knew how to myself.
Liam was looking at me and smiling, and I felt myself blush. “How was your day?” he asked.
“Great,” I replied, nodding. “How was yours?”
“Not too bad. Ben Jackson almost caught his hair on fire in chemistry, so that was cool.”
I laughed, and I heard my mom make a noise that let me know that she was either shocked, or annoyed, or both. A song I really like came on the radio. I began to bop along to it, and when I looked at Liam out of the corner of my eye, I could see that he was, too. Did this count as our first dance?
“I really love the guitar part coming up,” he said, and my mom, being the hip momster that she is, turned it up just a bit. “It’s totally rad.”
Trying not to look surprised at his word choice, I agreed. “I like it, too.”
“My brother’s going to teach me how to play guitar as soon as he gets his back from the shop,” Liam continued. “He broke it at their last gig.”
“Oh?” I knew Liam’s older brother was in some sort of a band, but I didn’t know they did gigs.
“Yeah, he wants to tell people he slammed it down at the end of a song, but really he didn’t buckle his strap correctly and it fell off.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I just nodded. “Well, learning to play the guitar would be great.” I really did think it would be cool if Liam learned to play. Then, I could go to see his performances and maybe be the girlfriend of a rock star. I was getting ahead of myself, way ahead of myself. Chances were, his older brother, Chase, would never teach him how to play as he didn’t exactly have a reputation for doing anything he said he was going to do. He worked at my sister’s friend Jon’s parents’ plumbing company, having dropped out of college after one semester. But then… my sister hadn’t even finished that much.
“You okay, Cass?” Liam asked as my mom turned onto our street. “You look a little… distracted.”
I saw my mom’s eyes flicker in the rearview mirror as she decided whether or not she should be alarmed. “No, I’m fine,” I replied, forcing a smile. “I was just thinking about how cool it would be to learn the guitar.”
My mom pulled the van into the driveway and stopped. Since she’d be taking Liam home soon enough, there was no reason to bother with the garage. We climbed out. “You know, I could teach you, if you want,” he said, “once I know how to play.”
Explaining that I thought him learning to play the guitar was about as likely as me learning to fly seemed like a waste of air and time, so I only nodded and repeated his favorite word, “Cool.”
“You kids make yourselves at home in the dining room,” my mom said, unlocking the door and pushing it open. “I’ll go make you a snack.”
The smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies wafted through the open door, and I led Liam toward the dining room, not at all surprised my mom had done some baking. I was certain the moment I’d sent her a text to let her know Liam and I would be studying together after school she’d preheated the oven. I give my mom some grief sometimes for not being completely with it, or for treating my sister like she’s the princess and I am a house servant, but for the most part, she does everything she can to help us. And whether I like it or not, my mom is fully aware that I have a crush on Liam.
We sat down at the table and pulled out our algebra books. Soon enough, my mom came in with two plates, each containing three warm chocolate chip cookies. “Milk or water?” she asked Liam, setting the plates down.
“Whoa! These smell so good,” he said, smiling broadly. “Milk, please, Mrs. F.”
My mom smiled and disappeared, coming back a few minutes later with two tall glasses of cold milk.
We nibbled our cookies, and I tried to explain the algebra concept we were working on to Liam. He’s cute, but he’s not the brightest guy I’ve ever worked with, and sometimes it took me several tries for him to get it, but he smiled the whole time, and once he bumped my hand with his. I didn’t think it was an accident.
