The Bedroom Sneaker

Chapter 13

“WHAT THE f**k IS THIS?” I heard Jake roar from nearby. I opened my eyes and looked at him. His face was bright red and he looked murderously angry.

“Jake, not so loud you’re going to make my ears bleed! What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting up. But as soon as I moved, I realised what was wrong. I was still on the couch with Liam. Oh no! I jumped up quickly and looked at Liam who had his mouth hanging open, looking completely shocked. OK, I need to salvage the situation quickly. “Damn it, Liam! Yuck! Did you have your hands on me?” I cried, pretending to shudder in horror. Jake looked at me, his face still angry, but he looked slightly confused now.

“I…. er…. don’t…. what?” Liam stammered.

“What the hell were you doing with him, Amber?” Jake growled angrily, pointing at Liam who just looked confused at this point.

“I must have fallen asleep, I guess.” I frowned, shaking my head as if I was confused too.

“Fallen asleep? Well, what were you doing with him in the first place?” he asked, shooting Liam another dirty look before turning back to me. OK, come on, think! Oh I got it; he’ll have to accept this one!

“I had a bad dream, Jake,” I mumbled, looking at the floor, and pretending to be upset.

He gasped and wrapped his arms around me, instantly, putting his chin on the top of my head. “Oh s**t, Amber. It’s OK,” he cooed, rocking me slightly.

“I was upset and I thought you were out here, but you weren’t. Liam comforted me, that’s all. We must have fallen asleep,” I whispered, feeling guilty that I was lying. I really wasn’t ready for him to know yet, especially after the way he was just looking at Liam.

“I’m sorry, I just thought…. well, never mind,” Jake muttered, pulling back to look at me. “You alright now?” I nodded, biting my lip to try and ease some of the guilt I felt. He looked over at Liam. “Sorry, man, I jumped to conclusions and er…. thanks for taking care of my sister.”

Liam looked really uncomfortable and glanced at me; I gave him a pleading expression, begging him with my eyes not to say anything. “Yeah, no probs.” He shrugged, rubbing a hand through his messy bed hair.

I quickly pulled out of Jake’s grasp. “I’m going to go and get changed for school. What time is it anyway?” I asked, looking around for my cellphone. Why hadn’t the freaking alarm gone off?

“It’s not even six yet, Amber. I woke up early.” Jake shrugged.

“Right, well then I’m going to go have some breakfast before I go in the shower. Er…. thanks, Liam, for last night,” I said, blushing and giving him a small smile.

“It was definitely my pleasure, Angel.” He winked at me, smiling happily.

Jake slapped him across the back of his head, making him wince. “Little sister!” he stated, rolling his eyes and stomping off towards the kitchen, leaving me and Liam in the lounge.

Once Jake had gone, Liam looked at me. “I don’t like having to lie to your brother, Angel,” he whispered, frowning.

“I know, but just a couple of weeks, please?” I begged, kissing him quickly on his lips and turning to run off in the direction of the kitchen. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him, kissing me again, before he gave me one of his beautiful smiles. I almost skipped to the kitchen because I was so happy. Jake was having toast, so I made two bowls of my favourite cereal, one for me, one for Liam. I carried them into the lounge and handed him one, before plopping down on the floor by the couch.

“Er…. thanks for this, Angel, but I don’t like coco pops,” he said, turning his nose up at the bowl.

I frowned at him, confused. He was always eating my cereal. Every day he had a bowl of coco pops. “Sure you do, you eat it every day.” I looked at him like he’d lost his mind; did he think I was stupid or something?

He laughed and shook his head. “No I don’t. I make a bowl of it every day and pretend to eat it, before you come in and snatch it off me,” he said with a sexy smile and amused eyes.

“Why the heck would you make a bowl and pretend to eat it? Do you like to piss me off?” I asked, annoyed.

“No, Angel. I like to make you breakfast,” he said simply.

I gasped at the revelation. He made them for me? “You make them for me? Every day?” I asked, my mouth hanging open, shocked that he would be so sweet and I had never even noticed. Every day I would come in and make some nasty comment to him about eating at home and leaving my cereal alone, and all this time he makes it for me? Jeez, that is so freaking sweet! He just shrugged as if it was nothing. All this time I thought he was just a jerk, when really he was being nice to me! Jake walked in then, so I couldn’t say anything. I scoffed my breakfast and practically ran to my bedroom, grabbing my cellphone and texting him because as I couldn’t speak to him:

‘Thank you, that is really sweet! I never realised that you did that. I’ll thank you properly later! X’ I sent. I smiled to myself and went to take a shower.

As we stepped out of Liam’s car at school, we were swamped by the usual hoard of girls wanting to paw Jake and Liam. I rolled my eyes as Jessica pushed her way to the front and wrapped her dirty little arms round my boyfriend’s waist, looking at him with her come to bed eyes.

“Jessica, seriously you need to get off,” Liam said sternly, unwrapping her from him and stepping backwards.

“Liam, baby, how about we skip first period and we go have some fun,” she purred suggestively, rubbing her hand up his chest.

Oh my God, I was so jealous that I actually felt sick!

I turned and walked off as fast as I could, just wanting to be away from it all. After a minute I could hear Kate running to catch up with me, she grabbed my hand pulling me to a stop. “Seriously, I’m not in the mood,” I almost shouted, turning to her, but it wasn’t her, it was Liam.

“Hey, I just wanted to walk you to class.” He frowned, looking at me sadly.

“Oh right…. er…. sorry. I thought you were with Jessica, having some fun,” I said sarcastically, embarrassed that I had shouted at him.

He shook his head and stepped closer to me. “No, I’m not with her, I’m with you,” he said sweetly, smiling at me and making my heart beat faster.

“Right, yeah sorry, I just…. I don’t know….” I trailed off, blushing like crazy.

“You were jealous,” he stated, seeming pleased about it. I nodded reluctantly not really wanting to admit it. “Good, I’ve been waiting for you to get jealous for the last twelve years,” he said, grinning like a crazy person.

I laughed. “You have? Well there you go then, it finally happened.” I kicked my shoes in the stones; trying to distract myself from the jealous feeling I still had coursing through my veins. I guess I was going to have to get used to girls being all over him. He was Liam James for goodness sake; girls have always followed him around, begging for his attention.

“Remember the talk we had yesterday, the one about trust? Well, that works both ways you know. I will never hurt you, but you need to believe that too.” He put his finger under my chin and tilted my head up, making me look at him.

I sighed; yeah OK I did say that I guess. “I do trust you, it was just hard to watch,” I replied, smirking, mimicking his words from yesterday.

He laughed. “Yeah well, the word's out now that I have a girlfriend so that should put an end to the whole flirting thing,” he said with confidence, brushing my hair from my face.

“You told everyone that you have a girlfriend?” I asked, shocked. OK wow, maybe he is more serious than I thought about making this work.

“Yeah, of course. I do have a girlfriend. I have the sexiest, most beautiful girlfriend in the world, who is yet to give me the thank you that she promised me by text this morning.” He smiled his flirty smile at me and it felt like a thousand butterflies took off in my stomach.

I giggled and leant forwards until my mouth was almost touching his. “All good things come to those who wait,” I teased, winking at him and walking off.

He groaned and caught me up quickly. “You don’t think twelve years is long enough to wait?” he asked, faking shock, making me giggle.

“Hmm, not really. I think I’ll make you wait a little longer.” I blew him a kiss as I stepped through the doors to my history class. I heard him groan, but when I looked back he was smiling, watching me walk away. I purposefully swayed my ass, trying to look sexy; it must have worked because three boys from my history class whistled at me and made a comment about my sexy booty. I rolled my eyes. Boys!

I couldn’t speak to Liam much at lunch, we were sat at the same table but everyone wanted to talk to him. “So, you really have a secret girlfriend?” Tim, one of his friends, asked, looking at him like he didn’t believe him at all.

“Yep,” Liam confirmed, looking extremely proud about it. Every time he looked at me, I blushed like crazy, and was sure someone was going to notice.

“She must be one hot woman to have tamed the beast into settling down,” Rick smirked.

Liam laughed, his eyes shot to me for a split second. “She is the sexiest thing alive, man,” he said confidently.

“Really? She a good f**k?” Rick asked, picking at his sandwich.

“Dude, seriously, I’m not going to answer that about my girl,” Liam stated with a smirk.

“I bet I could blow her out of the water,” Rochelle flirted, running her hand down his arm.

He laughed. “You know what, you wouldn’t stand a chance. My girl is incredibly beautiful, both inside and out.” Liam shrugged, pulling his arm away, grinning. All the girls at the table aww’d and ahh’d. I smiled and tried to eat my lunch. I could feel Kate’s eyes on me so I looked at her, she was grinning at me from ear to ear. I rolled my eyes at her, chuckling.

“He hasn’t slept with her, she believes in no s*x before marriage,” Jake interjected, smirking. I swallowed a laugh. Had Jake really believed him when he told him that this morning? Everyone gasped and looked at Liam, who was grinning like crazy.

“No s**t! You haven’t slept with her?” Rick asked sceptically.

“No I haven’t, but that’s not really any of your business, guys.” Liam shook his head, grinning. “I’ve got to go. I need to speak to coach about practice.” He shrugged, getting up. Half of the boys got up too, following him out.

As soon as he was gone, all the girls started planning and scheming. They wanted to know who the secret girl was, and would stop at nothing to find out, then they each took out twenty dollars and put it into the middle of the table. I looked at them, confused.

“So, the next girl to nail him, wins the pot,” Jessica said, with a smirk.

I gasped. “Seriously? He’s just said he has a girlfriend and isn’t interested, and you’re betting on who’s going to sleep with him next? What if his girlfriend sleeps with him next?” I asked, shocked. I can’t believe these girls are betting on ha**ng s*x with someone! It’s a damn competition!

“Well, if she puts in her money then she can win, but she’s obviously not giving him what he needs. He’ll stray eventually. The next one to nail him wins, but I guarantee it won’t be his girlfriend. He can’t wait. No s*x before marriage, yeah right! This is Liam James we‘re talking about.” She rolled her eyes, grinning. She was obviously very confident that she’d win.

Then I had an idea, I pulled out a twenty and dropped it into their pile. “The next one to nail him, right?” I asked, barely able to contain my grin.

“Yeah right! Like you stand a chance, Emo!” Jessica spat at me nastily.

“So, how much does the winner get?” I asked excitedly, ignoring her sneer.

She counted the money that was in the pile. “Well, there’s two hundred and forty here at the moment, but once people hear of it…. well, I don’t know…. the last time we did this, it was for Chris. It got up to six hundred and twenty, but Liam is way hotter, and by the looks of him untouchable, well, for the moment anyway.” Jessica laughed, folding the money and putting it in her pocket, writing the entrants names onto a piece of paper. I laughed; wow, this is going to be easy money. Kate was laughing her head off.

“You going to put in as well?” Jessica asked Kate and Sarah politely.

“Nope, not me. I don’t stand a chance.” Kate shrugged, still laughing.

Sarah passed Jessica her money. “I’m in. Who could say no at the chance of all that money and they get to sleep with Liam James,” Sarah said dreamily. I grabbed my two friend’s arms and dragged them out of the lunch room to our next class.

I had to hang around after school, waiting for Jake and Liam to finish their hockey practice. I snuck into the rink and hid at the back so I wouldn’t be seen. We weren’t allowed in here during practice because their coach said that girls distracted the players. I loved to watch their hockey games; there was just something about the way they glided over the ice so fast and gracefully. They were doing sprints at the moment, skating from one line to the other as fast as they could, then they had to dribble a puck around a load of cones, and finally they were all taking turns shooting at the goal, with my brother doing his best to keep the pucks out. He was a really great goalkeeper, but he only played for fun. Liam on the other hand, had been offered a full athletic scholarship to one of the best collages in the country. He was hoping to turn pro - which apparently, he had every chance of doing because he had scouts falling all over him.

I found myself watching Liam skating. I’d watched him do this hundreds, if not thousands of times, but there was just something so beautiful about it. He took my breath away. I was watching the way his feet moved, the way his messy brown hair blew as he skated, the way the ice sprayed up as he stopped. And, of course, I noticed how unbelievably hot he looked in his uniform.

I snuck back out as practice finished and waited by Liam’s car for them to shower. Sarah came up as I was standing there. “Hey, girl,” she chirped, bouncing up and down a little in excitement.

“Hey, Sar. What’s up with you? You haven’t been sniffing those herbs again have you?” I teased. This was a running joke, Sarah had bought some ‘herbs’ from a friend of hers and lit them in her room to cleanse her aura or something. It had ended up being weed and she got high, running down her street half n**ed whist calling everyone on her cell to come and see the parade. She never lived it down.

“Ha ha! No, I’ve just spoke to Ashley who said that the pot for Liam’s ass is now up to $1860! Can you believe that? So, I’m going to give it a shot when he comes out of practice,” she said, bouncing on the spot and looking around for them.

I almost choked. $1860. Was that a joke? Holy crap! That means over ninety girls are going to be begging my boyfriend for s*x, offering it to him on a plate and I’m scared to let him touch me. Maybe this isn’t going to be as fun as I first thought.

About five minutes later, the boys came out. “Hi, Liam. Wow, you smell good,” Sarah purred seductively as she leant in close to him.

He looked at her, a horrified expression on his face. I bit my lip, hard, so I didn’t laugh. “Hi, Sarah. Listen, you might not have heard but I have a girlfriend, so….” he trailed off, shrugging.

“That’s OK, I don’t mind sharing,” Sarah purred, putting her hand on his chest to make him stop in front of her.

He looked a little annoyed. “Sarah, seriously I’m not interested, OK.” He moved her hand and got into the car, frowning.

I smiled apologetically at Sarah because she looked a little defeated. “There’s twenty bucks I’ll never see again,” she pouted.

I laughed. “Hey, when I win I’ll give you your twenty back.” I winked at her teasingly, making her laugh as I climbed into the car.

Today was one of the days that Jake worked, so Liam always dropped him at the gym where he worked Monday to Wednesday evenings. Then Liam usually drove me home. “s**t, man, I think I’ve been hit on more times today than I ever have been. What the hell is that about? I tell people I’ve got a girlfriend, and all afternoon people have been begging me to fu-” He abruptly stopped talking, looking at me in the mirror as if he’d said too much. I laughed, bless him, he had no idea nearly a hundred horny girls were trying to sleep with him for a bet! “What’s so funny, Angel?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at me in the mirror.

“You want to know why you’ve had all that extra attention today?” I asked, smirking.

“Yeah,” he answered, looking a bit apprehensive.

Jake turned to look at me from the front. I smiled. “Well, there’s a bet going around amongst the girls as to who can sleep with you first. The first girl to get you, wins the pot. It’s pretty good money,” I stated, still smirking. Jake burst out laughing, and Liam almost swerved the car into the other lane because he was so shocked.

“They’re doing what? Don’t they know I have a girlfriend?” he shouted, obviously really pissed off. His outrage seemed to make Jake laugh harder.

I nodded. “Yep, that’s why they’re doing it. They don’t like the idea of you being attached, seeing as you’re such a player, so they want to be the next one to sleep with you.” I shrugged dismissively, pretending it was no big deal when I was actually worried sick about it. How long would he be able to resist all of this attention for?

“How much is the pot?” Jake asked, amusement still clear on his face.

“Over eighteen hundred dollars.” I laughed. Liam nearly swerved us off the road again and Jake’s mouth dropped open. He looked at Liam with a look of pure pride in his eyes. “Yep, twenty bucks each. So that makes about ninety girls wanting to be the next one you screw, Liam.” I smiled at him in the mirror. He looked horrified, and honestly, a little scared.

“Holy s**t, man! You know, you should just choose someone and screw them and split the money!” Jake said excitedly. Liam gave him the filthiest look in the world, like he’d just suggested skinning a puppy or something. Jake held up his hands apologetically. “Kidding. Jeez, I’m kidding!” he said quickly, but I could tell by his face that he was actually serious.

“So, that’s why Sarah just hit on me outside the car! Who the hell else is in on this, Angel?” Liam asked, sounding really annoyed about it.

“Well, Jessica’s arranging it. All of the cheer squad, most of the seniors, me, Ashley, Nadine,” I replied, listing off the people that I knew, but Liam cut me off.

“You?” he asked, with wide eyes.

I nodded, laughing. “Well yeah, eighteen hundred bucks is a lot of money. Mind you, it was only at two forty when I put in, but still, I like to gamble,” I joked, giving him a sexy smile in the mirror.

Jake looked like he was going to explode. “You? No freaking way! What the heck are you thinking?” he shouted at me, making me flinch. I hated to see Jake angry.

“Jake, it’s a lot of money I just thought, you know, it’d be a laugh. You never know, I may get to lose my virginity to the famous Liam James,” I teased, waggling my eyebrows at him.

Jake started to laugh, looking relieved; he obviously thought I was joking. I smiled and looked out of the window; I wasn’t good at lying, if he asks me if I was joking then I would have to tell him the truth. “Jeez, Ambs, you scared me then! I thought you were serious.” Jake laughed, slapping Liam on the shoulder proudly. “Eighteen hundred bucks that’s awesome, Liam. I wonder how many girls you could bang in one night, if they all thought they were the one to win the bet.”

I gasped. Oh crap! Great Jake, put that in his head, I’m sure that’s all he needs to hear since his girlfriend’s not willing to give it up! “Damn it, Jake, I have a girlfriend!” Liam cried, sounding a little exasperated.

“Yeah I know, but come on, girls are going to be pretty desperate to win, I bet you could get them to do anything,” Jake smirked, waggling his eyebrows.

“Jake, just stop. I don’t want anyone else; I’m crazy about my girl. I’m not going to screw it up with her,” Liam stated proudly. He smiled at me in the mirror and my breathing started to slow down as my panic started to recede. Trust. I needed to trust him and stop assuming the worst all of the time.

We dropped Jake off at the gym and Liam drove us home. “You put in twenty bucks betting you would be the next one to sleep with me?” he asked, smiling at me cockily.

“Actually no, the bet is to be the next one to nail you.” I shrugged, giggling.

He laughed and gripped my hand as we drove. “I can’t believe that this is happening. I thought that once people knew I wasn’t interested, that they would all leave me alone, not have more girls after me! I’m really sorry.” He frowned and kissed the back of my hand softly.

“Don’t worry about it; it’s not your fault. I guess that whole trust thing is going to be needed a lot from now on, huh?” I joked, smiling a half smile, pretending I wasn’t worried about all of the girls that would be throwing themselves at him for the foreseeable future.

We reached my house and he parked in his drive. “Hey, want to come in? We can tell my parents we’re together. I told them I have a girlfriend and my mom almost died, I swear,” he said, chuckling and nodding towards his house with a hopeful expression.

“Wow, the whole meet the parents thing already?” I joked, pretending to be scared. “I mean, what if they don’t like me?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his waist and putting my face in his chest, faking horror. He laughed and so did I. The idea of Liam’s parents not liking me was seriously funny. They already thought of me as a daughter. Liam was an only child because his mom had some problems when she gave birth to him, which left her unable to have more kids, so she loved me and always said that Jake and I were part of the family. I loved them too; they were great people, kind, funny and thoughtful. Actually, just like Liam, though it just took me a long time to see past all of his bravado.