A knock sounded at my door, and I looked at the clock on my laptop screen. 1:03 am. Who the hell is at my door this late? I push my chair away from my desk, where I had been writing an essay due tomorrow…er, I mean today. With the chain still in place, I open the door slightly only to find my Mom's ex-boyfriend's son standing at my door. I close the door and undo the chain and then re-open the door to let him in.

"L-Liam! What are you doi-" I couldn't finish my sentence, as he stumbled and tripped into my apartment. He would have fallen flat on his face, had I not caught him. I brought him over to the couch and set him down. Then I caught a whiff of the alcohol on his breath. I made him look at me and asked, "Liam, are you drunk?"

"Maybeee…" He half said, half giggled in response. I sighed and let him go. I then proceeded to go into the kitchen and got him a glass of water.

"Drink that. It'll help." He took a tentative sip from the glass. Then he took several gulps, and soon finished the glass. I took the glass from him and set it on the coffee table and sat next to him. Then I realized something.
"Hang on, Liam, how did you get here?"

"You put me here, silly Cecilia."

"No, I mean how did you get from wherever you were drinking, to my apartment?"

"Oh! Haha, I walked. I was, um…" He had to pause and think because of his inebriated state. "I was at the bar down the street. I don't remember walking here though…"

"Okay, well, let's get you cleaned up, and then you can sleep on the couch. I'll bring you home in the morning." I helped him up and led him towards the bathroom. I turned on the shower for him, instructed him to take off his clothes first, because he was trying to climb in with his clothes still on, and then to get in the shower. I closed the door so he could disrobe, then went to go get some blankets out of the hall closet to set up the couch with. After I thought it was safe to go in, I went in the bathroom to collect his clothes. "Liam, I'm taking your dirty clothes to wash them. I'm leaving you a robe and some towels, okay?"

"Uh-huh!" He slurred out. I closed the door again and went to set up the couch for him, also putting his clothes in the washer, to be started when he's out of the shower. I was going around the house, neatening things even though I know he wouldn't really care in his current state. Fifteen minutes have passed, so I went to check on him.

I knocked on the door, "Hey, are you doing okay in there?"

"Yup! Just dandy." He replied. I couldn't tell whether that there was sarcasm in his voice, or if it was just the side effects of his current state of mind. Satisfied with his answer, I returned to neatening and setting things up for him. I got to thinking; I know we haven't known each other long. His dad and my mom only started dating for two years or so, only to separate nearly six months ago because my mother decided it would be a brilliant idea to steal $5,000 from him and spend it all on gambling. Liam and I hadn't really seen much of each other, aside from family get togethers and the occasional encounter at school. But in a weird way, I'm glad he thought enough of me to come to me in a time of drunken need, although I'm sure it's mostly subconscious than an actual want to come here. I finally hear the shower turn off, so I head to the laundry room, well it's really more of a closet, and I start the washer after throwing in some of my clothes to get a full load. I walk back into the kitchen and make myself a cup of tea. By this time, Liam has come out of the bathroom, and is walking into the living room. In nothing but a towel around his waist, and a towel draped over his head. Oh dear lord.

"Thanks for the s-shower." A blush stained his cheeks momentarily, either from just getting out of the shower, or out of embarrassment.

"Um, you know I put a robe out for you. You might catch a cold in just a towel."

"I'm fine." A mischievous glint came into his eyes. "Unless… It makes you uncomfortable?" He smirks evilly, almost teasingly.

My jaw drops in momentary shock. Blushing furiously, I spin around and become fascinated with my tea mug. With my back facing him, I reply, "N-no. It's fine. Just don't blame me if you get sick for sitting around in a towel all night."

"Duly noted."

I heard him go and sit down on the couch. I turned back around, watching him sit on the couch towel drying his hair absent mindedly. I put down my half finished tea cup on the counter, and went to sit on the opposite side of him on the couch. He seemed somewhat distant and pensive. "Are you okay, Liam? You seem a little down…"

He looked over at me, surprised, unaware of the fact that I had joined him on the couch. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I've just had a lot on my mind lately I guess."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Okay. Well, I have to go shut down my computer, and then I'm getting ready for bed." I started to get up, but was stopped by a hand clasping around my wrist.

"W-wait! Please stay… just for a few minutes?" He looked up at me, and I happened to notice the towel he was using for his hair is now lying dejectedly on the arm of the couch. "Please?" I sighed and sat back down onto the couch. He extracted his hand from my wrist and brought his hands to his lap. He had his head down, his chin length, shaggy chestnut brown hair covering his ice blue eyes.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" He mumbled a reply I could not hear, so I inched closer to him. "What? I didn't hear you…"

His head snapped up suddenly, startling me. "I don't want to talk about it because I'm afraid that you'll hate me!"

"Why in the world would I hate you? I don't think I could hate you. Unless…" I smirked and teasingly said, "You didn't kill someone did you?" He laughed a little, and then the frown came back to his face.

"No… I-it's just, I was seeing this girl for a while, but for the last month of the relationship, I realized that I didn't love her, like I had thought I did. So, I ended it. But what's been bothering me, is… I can't get this one girl out of my thoughts! It's been driving me insane for the past few weeks. So, I decided to go hang out with some friends to get my mind off things. Well my buddies decided that it would be a wonderful idea to get me drunk as their remedy to my calamity. And here we are."

"Well, why don't you just tell the girl you like that you like her! It might help ease your mind."

"I can't! I can't tell her." He nearly shouted saying this.

I looked at him in shock from the outburst. "Why not?"

"Because… I-I don't know. I just don't want to ruin the friendship I have with her only to get rejected." He got up and stormed off in the direction of the bathroom. I followed him. He managed to lock himself in the bathroom before I got to him. I knocked on the door.

"Hey, don't worry! I'm sure it will be all right. I don't see why this girl wouldn't like you back. You're a great guy. You're nice, and smart, attractive and a generally great person!"

"Really?"

"Yes. Don't worry. Give it a try! Just tell her how you feel!"

"I guess I could… Did I hear you call me… attractive… earlier?"

All the blood in my body rushed to my face as I replied, flustered. "W-what? N-no! Well, I did, but it was just an observation! Nothing more! I said that because I see how the girls whisper about you in the halls at school!" Myself included, I said to myself. In my embarrassment, I failed to hear the door unlock. The door suddenly opened and a pair of arms pushed me, gently, across the hall until I was against the wall. His eyes were boring into my green ones. My ability to form coherent words has entirely disappeared, as I struggled to find something to say. His arms, his beautiful, tanned, muscled arms are now placed against the wall on either side of my head. He has completely boxed me in. His eyes, now molten and shining with emotion, look as though they are memorizing every inch of my face, which makes me blush even more. He smiled.

"You know, Cecilia, you are extremely adorable when you blush like that." My face is now the shade of a black cherry, and I'm sure you could probably fry an egg on my cheeks. He chuckled. His right hand disconnected from the wall and came to rest near my face, holding my chin so I am forced to look at him, though I truly don't mind the view. "See, the problem is… You're the girl I can't tell my feelings to. It's you that I like."

Being flustered from the turn of events, combined with my awkwardness from not being in this kind of situation often, I oh so smoothly replied, "S-see? It's not that hard, is it?" He chuckled again.

"Yes, but there's still the…rejection part that I'm worried about."

I closed my eyes for a brief second, to get myself together. When I opened my eyes, I saw his eyes filled with dread, steeling himself for the impending rejection. So I reached up on my tiptoes, and brushed my lips over his own. There was an initial shock that passed over his face, which quickly disappeared when I deepened the kiss by taking his face in my hands, holding his head in place. In seconds, he was kissing me back, our bodies pressing closer together, deepening the kiss further. My arms had detached from his face, and snaked around to his neck, pulling him closer. His tongue traced along my bottom lip, requesting access, which I granted. He thoroughly explored the cave of my mouth, and then I his. After a minute, we had to separate so we could regain our breath. Still holding each other, though a little looser now, we looked at each other for a minute. He was grinning like a love struck fool, and I was smiling back, nearly matching his intensity.

"I told you, I don't think I could ever hate you. And everything turned out alright, see?" I grinned.

Curiosity flashed across his face, and he said, "So… what's going to happen now? Are we," He motioned a hand back and forth between the two of us, "you know, together?"

"Well do you want us to be together?"

"O-of course! I was just saying you know, just making sure we're on the same page. I-I didn't know whether you wanted me to ask formally, or if we just say the kiss init-" I cut off his rambling with a kiss.

"Then we're together, okay?" I smiled again as his fingers laced through mine, and we kissed to seal the deal. Then of course, the buzzer signaling the washer was done went off startling me. It also reminded me that his clothes are in there… so he's still, I glanced down for a second and a blush crept to my face again, he's still in the towel! He noticed my glance down and chuckled.

"Would you like if I put the robe on?" My blush got brighter as some not so PG images flashed through my head. I wanted to decline… but… He's just so damn…attractive!

"M-maybe you should…" He slowly detached himself from me, laughing, and walked into the bathroom to retrieve the robe.

While he was walking, I heard him say, "Gutter brains…"

"HEY!" I yelled back with my face lit up with a furiously red blush again. He came back out donning the robe, still laughing. He took my face in his hands and gave me a relatively short kiss.

"You are SO cute when you're embarrassed, you know that?"

I blushed again slightly and looked to the side, away from his humorous eyes. "S-shush you…"

He laughed and let my face go. For the rest of the night, after I put the clothes in the dryer, we sat on my bed talking until we eventually fell asleep. Both of our dreams were very happy ones, until one of my dreams reminded me of that paper that's due today. Crap! Oh well… I'll worry about it later. Then I fell back to a peaceful sleep in his arms.