While the change in atmosphere was a welcome one from the Fourth of July party, there was also something else noticeably different.
My relationship with Liam.
On that day we"d still been tiptoeing around how we felt. I don"t think either of us had figured it out quite yet, but at least we weren"t denying it anymore. I still didn"t know what was to come, but that was okay. Tomorrow isn"t promised to us, only today.
I smiled up at Liam then, silently thanking him. I might"ve reacted badly at first, but I was truly grateful. His thoughtfulness was astounding.
"I"m going to go say hi to Rebecca." I took a few steps away from him, letting him know that I really was okay and he didn"t need to watch over me.
He nodded, watching me closely like he expected me to have another meltdown any second. After a quiet moment, he nodded once.
I let out a breath as I slipped away from him and joined Rebecca, Ashley, and Bree. I didn"t know Ashley and Bree all that well, but enough that it wasn"t awkward being around them.
"Hey, guys." My voice shook a little with nerves; afraid they might ask about earlier. "I"m so glad to see you here. This was quite the surprise."
Rebecca b.u.mped my shoulder playfully with hers, jostling the drink she held in her hand. "I don"t think I"ve ever seen someone that surprised before. We got you good."
I laughed awkwardly. "Oh yeah, so surprised."
"I take it Liam didn"t tell you about the sleepover, either, then..." She lifted a brow in question.
"Uh...that would be a negative." I bit my lip nervously. A sleepover? Why would he do that? He knew I woke up screaming every night and the last thing I"d want to do is have anyone else know. Having Liam know was bad enough.
"He said you hadn"t had a birthday party since you were fourteen, so I said we had to have a sleepover. I mean, it"s only customary for a fourteenth birthday party. He didn"t seem to like that idea, but I insisted. I got your back, girl. We"re gonna do this right." She giggled and then hiccupped. I eyed her cup, wondering how much she"d already had to drink. "Talia said she"d join us for this slumber party, but these two wh.o.r.es are ditching us." She pointed at Ashley and Bree. "What could possibly be more important than a slumber party?"
"s.e.x," Bree replied with a grin.
"Do you hear her?" Rebecca poked my arm and pointed at Bree. "She"s worse than a guy."
Bree laughed and took a sip of her drink. "You"re only saying that because your v.a.g.i.n.a"s full of cobwebs."
Rebecca blinked at me and then burst into an uncontrollable laughing fit.
"Maybe lay off on the alcohol a bit." I grabbed the cup from her hand and held it captive.
She lunged at me. "Give that back!"
I evaded her easily and sniffed at the cup, gagging in response. "What the h.e.l.l is that?" I coughed.
"I have no idea, but it"s delicious." She tried to take the cup from me again, but I held it out of her reach.
"Fun sucker," she mumbled, her shoulders sagging dejectedly.
I tossed her drink out onto the ground and eyed the other two girls. "Do you think you guys can keep her out of trouble for a little bit?"
"Sure," Ashley spoke up, but I didn"t know if I really believed her considering Rebecca was clearly already wasted in the short time she"d been out there. The poor girl obviously didn"t have much of a tolerance for alcohol.
I slipped away, heading for the food table. I saw that pizza had been ordered and different kinds of chips and dips littered the table. It was true birthday party fare. I grabbed a paper plate that was emblazoned with Happy Birthday in some swirly purple font. I shook my head at it, fighting a grin, as I grabbed a slice of pizza and some chips.
"Wise girl not to grab my Cheetos."
Ollie appeared behind me and swiped the bright orange bag off the table.
"I would never take your Cheetos." I shook my head at him and pursed my lips; trying to feign that I was offended he"d suggest such a thing.
"Come on, join us." Ollie slung his arm over my shoulders and dragged me over to where Talia, Liam, Brady, and Jeremiah stood. "Found your girl, Liam; you should really keep a better eye on her." He let me go and slid into place beside Talia. She rested her back against his front and smiled up at him.
Liam smiled over at me, laughing at Ollie"s words before taking a sip of beer.
"Liam"s girl, huh?" Brady"s eyebrows lifted as he looked between the two of us.
Jeremiah"s lips lifted into a pleased smile and he shook his head. "We all knew it was a matter of time. Don"t act so blindsided, dude."
Brady hung his head and scrubbed his hand over his mouth. "Nah, it"s okay. No hard feelings, Ari." He lifted his head and winked at me.
Neither Liam nor I corrected them on the fact that I wasn"t his girl, because in a way, I felt like I was. Not in a possessive, object sort of way-like Blaise made me feel-but like we sort of completed each other. I felt like he was mine as much as I was his, as stupid as that sounded.
I didn"t know what to say in response to Brady"s comment; I took a bite of pizza so I was saved from having to say anything.
"Talia and I have an announcement to make!" Ollie exclaimed suddenly, further diffusing the attention away from me. "I know this is your party and all, but-"
"All right, Kanye." Liam snorted.
"I"m far better than Kanye," Ollie defended, puffing his chest out and flexing his arms.
"Baby," Talia scolded lightly, unable to hide her grin at Ollie"s antics.
"Oh, right." He let his arms drop. "Back to my original mission... Everyone! I would like to have your attention," he shouted, causing everyone at the party to cease their conversations. "Excellent," he grinned at everyone, "you"re great listeners. There was this one time-"
"Babe," Talia said in a warning tone.
Ollie shook his head, sending his blond curls bouncing everywhere. "There I go again getting side-tracked." He let go of the Cheetos he"d been holding the whole time and let the unopened bag fall to the ground-he"d probably apologize to it later-and wrapped both hands around Talia"s waist, resting his hands on her stomach so his thumbs and forefingers formed a heart shape. "I would like to announce that I, Oliver Malcolm McGruff, am about to become...Daddy McGruff or Ollie-D-I haven"t decided what I like best yet," he mumbled the last part. "Yes, folks, you are hearing that right. I am, indeed, going to be a dad. A DILF, to be more accurate. It"s going to be fabulous. Oh yeah, and Talia"s the mom, obviously, but that"s not as exciting as me being a dad! A dad." He kept rambling on and on as no one said anything. I think we were all in shock.
Talia raised her hands and shook them awkwardly in the air. "Surprise?"
Liam was the first to recover. "For the love of G.o.d tell me you"re not naming the kid Cheeto."
Ollie snorted. "Of course not. I was thinking Mary Jane for a girl."
"Oh f.u.c.king-"
"Kidding," Ollie interrupted Liam. "I kid, I kid. We haven"t talked about names yet, but I think Oliver Malcom-Cheeto McGruff Junior is a most fantastic of names." Ollie beamed at everyone.
We all only held it together for a millisecond before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.
"You suck, you suck, and you suck!" Ollie spun around, pointing at different people. "You all suck." He said it in jest, though, and soon joined us all in laughing.
"So, yeah," Talia began, "we"re having a baby!" She giggled, and the happiness was evident in her eyes. I set down my plate on a nearby table and went over to hug her.
"Congratulations," I whispered in her ear. "I"m happy for you guys."
"Thanks." She tucked a piece of blond hair behind her ear and beamed at me. "It was such a surprise, but we"re so happy."
"You better be my kid"s G.o.dfather." Ollie slung his arm over Liam"s shoulder. "Don"t say no to me, man."
Liam looked apprehensive and shuffled his feet nervously. "You want me in charge of your kid if something happens?"
"Well, yeah," Talia spoke this time, "we trust you."
Liam blanched, clearly taken aback by that statement. "Well, um, I"d be honored."
"It"s settled then." Ollie grinned from ear to ear and smacked Liam on the chest before letting go and returning to Talia"s side.
Brady let out a low whistle. "This is going to be the coolest f.u.c.king kid ever with you guys as parents and with us as unofficial uncles." He chuckled before moving in to hug Ollie and Talia.
"Congrats, guys, this is awesome." Jeremiah took a turn hugging them.
"Thanks." Talia beamed, leaning against Ollie"s side.
"Now, can we eat cake?" Ollie questioned, eyeing the large cake across from us.
"This isn"t your party," Liam grumbled, "so no."
"Fun sucker." Ollie picked up the bag of Cheetos and opened them, immediately stuffing a handful in his mouth.
Liam shook his head and smiled over at me. "Having fun?"
I nodded and picked up my plate of food, finishing off the piece of pizza. "Yeah, this is awesome. I can"t believe you"d do something like this for me."
He shrugged, trying to act like it was no big deal, but we both knew it was.
I set my empty plate down and clapped my hands together. "I"m thinking cake would be good now."
"Yes." Ollie fist-b.u.mped the air.
Liam fought a smile at his friend"s outburst. "You heard the birthday girl. She wants cake," Liam yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.
Ollie went running over to the table and stood by the cake. "Someone light these f.u.c.kers." He pointed at the candles that spelled out HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
"I"ve got you covered." Liam chuckled, pulling a lighter from his pocket.
I followed him over to the table and my heart beat nervously as everyone gathered around. I didn"t like being the center of attention, and being boxed in by so many people made my fight or flight senses kick into overdrive. I took a deep breath and counted to five, blocking out all the noise and chatter around me.
Liam noticed my momentary freak out, though, and looked at me with worry in his eyes. I smiled at him in a way to let him know that I was okay. He nodded once, having understood, and proceeded to light the candles. I noticed then, that there were even more than the HAPPY BIRTHDAY candles. In fact, there were fourteen more. Tears filled my eyes.
Do not cry, Ari, I scolded myself silently. Now is not the time for tears.
Liam began to sing "Happy Birthday" and everyone else joined in, which only brought more tears to my eyes. One spilled over, and I quickly swiped it away.
When the last notes of the song hung in the air, I held my hair back and blew out the candles. It took three tries to extinguish them all and Ollie ended up helping me, because, let"s face it, he wanted cake.
Liam removed the candles and cut the cake.
"Birthday girl gets the first piece." He handed me a plate with a chunk of cake the size of my head.
"How do you think I"m going to eat all of this?" I laughed, grabbing a clear plastic fork from a cup on the table.
"We"ll share." He winked, and my stomach stirred.
He was really going to have to stop with the whole winking thing. It was destroying my insides.
"Share?" I squeaked.
"Oh yeah." He smiled confidently.
I stood there, stunned, unable to even eat the delicious cake I held because Liam had turned my brain to mush. After a lingering moment, while Liam went about his business cutting more slices of cake and I stood there blinking stupidly, I finally regained my wits and moved out of the way.
I found Talia sitting on the stone wall facing the ocean, and I joined her. Her blond hair whipped around from the wind, and she caught it in her hands, drawing it over one shoulder.
"You don"t want cake?" I questioned her as I swung my legs over the side of the wall.
"No," she shook her head adamantly. "Unfortunately the sight of any food makes me pretty nauseous. Even cake. Which is such a tragedy." She frowned at my plate with a look of longing in her eyes.
"Sorry," I slid a little away so my plate wasn"t practically right under her nose.
"S"okay." She smiled, rubbing a hand over her flat stomach. "Little Bean is worth it."
"When did you guys find out?" I took a bite of cake, suppressing a moan. The vanilla cake was the best I"d ever tasted, and the frosting was so fluffy it felt like little clouds floating in my mouth.
"About a week ago, but we only went to the doctor today to confirm it." She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled out at the water. "I hope he or she loves to surf as much as Ollie and I do."
"You surf?" Surprise laced my tone.
"Oh yeah." She nodded eagerly. "Have you tried yet?"
"No," I shook my head, shoveling another bite of cake into my mouth.
Her eyes widened in surprise. "I can"t believe Liam hasn"t gotten you out on a board yet."
I shrugged. "Liam"s busy, I"m busy," I reasoned.
She stared me down, with a look that said, Come-On-Girl. "I know that boy would teach you if you asked. He likes you, and Liam doesn"t like most people."
"How did he end up friends with you guys?" I questioned. It was a story I"d wanted to know for a while. Liam didn"t trust easily, so how had he let his new friends into his life after what happened with Spencer and Kennedy?
Talia laughed and shook her head so her hair fell forward shielding her face. Looking at me, she raised her brows. "Have you met Ollie? The guy is relentless when he wants something, and he saw something in Liam that made him want to be friends with him. Ollie... He"s loud and outrageous, but he has such a kind heart. He likes to take care of things, make them better, and I think he saw that Liam needed healing. So he forced his way past Liam"s defenses and they ended up best friends. Ollie was already friends with Jeremiah and Brady, so they kinda forced their way in too." She shrugged like it was that simple. At my crestfallen expression, she added, "It took a long time, though. It wasn"t like they were best buds overnight. If I could have a dollar for every time Liam told him to f.u.c.k off..." She turned then, so her legs were straddling the wall. "I can tell he"s let his guard down with you, and much quicker than normal. That"s a win for you, Ari. You must be special, because I can tell you that since I"ve met him I"ve never seen him look at a girl the way he looks at you."
"Really?" I speared another bite of cake, even though I was full and didn"t want another bite. I"d simply wanted an excuse to look away from her.