A Step Behind

The Best Day Ever

   The first day of school always excited Emma Miller. She loved the shiny new school supplies, she loved being reunited with her girlfriends, she loved meeting her new teachers, and she even loved being back into a routine after the three months of summer freedom. The only thing she dreaded about going back to school was the tortuous bus rides. Her family lived in the middle of nowhere, even by Verona standards, which meant they were the first kids to board the bus and the last ones to flee from it. Rural bus routes are notoriously long, and the Miller kids had to endure a whole hour of it, morning and afternoon every day of the school year. 

    Thankfully this year Emma and her twin brother, Ethan, would be spared the torture that was the school bus. Rescued by their mutual friend and neighbor of sorts, Liam Anderson. Liam had managed to scrape together enough cash to buy an ancient Ford pick-up over the summer, and he and Ethan had spent hours fixing it up. It still looked like a junk yard on wheels, but it was in good running condition. Liam had convinced his Dad, Pastor Anderson, to let him get his hardship license, which is not as cool as it sounds. The only hardship necessary to procure one was parents that were tired of chauffeuring you around. So at 15, and a freshman in high school, Liam Anderson had his own clunker and the license to drive it. Ethan was a little miffed because Liam was a whole year younger than him (and Emma), but had a running vehicle AND a license before he had. Emma didn't care, she was just grateful she'd never have to ride the bus again. Even showing up to school in Liam's eyesore of a pickup was cooler than riding the bus.

    She heard the loud dinosaur of a motor before she saw Liam's truck round the corner. She grabbed her new backpack and yelled over her shoulder for Ethan to hurry before bounding out the door and down the steps to meet her friend. Ethan was close behind her when she swung open the passenger door and slid across the bench seat, settling with the gear shift between her knees.

"Our knight in shining armor!" she exclaimed with a bright smile. Liam gave her his signature crooked grin that made all the girls crazy, and c****d one eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah?" 

"Mmm-hmm. You rescued us from the evil yellow dragon. We are forever in your debt."

"Speak for yourself, Em." Ethan grumbled as he slid in beside her and shut the door. "I don't need rescuing, Anderson is only helping me out temporarily until I get the MG running."

"Well, I for one, am glad I don't have to wait on you to get that old piece of junk running-"

"Piece of Junk!?!" Ethan protested, "It's a classic!" 

"Who cares if you can't drive it?"

Ethan rolled his eyes to Liam and heaved a huge sigh of irritation. Liam shook his head and they were both clearly disgusted by Emma's lack of appreciation for classic cars. Emma shrugged and turned back towards Liam.

"Seriously, though, thanks for letting us ride with you. We both really appreciated it" she said earnestly. Liam looked down at her and smiled. He squeezed her hand quickly before shifting.

"I'm glad to do it, Emma"

Emma returned his smile and wondered when Liam had gotten so handsome. He had always been cute, but it had been in a boyish way. Now, he was devastatingly handsome. He was already pushing six feet tall, and he had shoulders that would make a line backer jealous. His blonde hair was always the slightest bit tousled, and his tanned skinned made his bright green eyes pop. He used to have freckles, but they had faded now. Emma missed them a little. Liam with the freckles and the chubby cheeks was her good friend that she had a harmless crush on. Having a crush on this new Liam didn't feel harmless. It felt like suicide.

The first week of school had went by smoothly. Emma reconnected with her two best friends, Celeste and Amanda, and they had gossiped about their summer adventures with all of the enthusiasm of teenage girls. Every bad thing, terrible, and every good thing, magnificent. They all liked their teachers so far, and they agreed that their Algebra teacher, Mr. Fiolla, was a hottie. The teachers had gone easy on them since it was the first week back and didn't give them any homework over the weekend which meant Emma was free to spend her Saturday chatting on the phone with Celeste. She was sitting on a huge rocking chair on the front porch, the phone cradled against her shoulder while she painted her toenails, when Liam rode up on his four-wheeler. He cut the engine and took the front steps two-by two, playfully shoving Emma's arm, before letting himself in the front door. The impact made her smear bright pink nail polish in a streak across her foot. 

"William James Anderson!" she yelled after him indignantly. She could hear him laugh in response and she scowled.

"What did Prince Charming do this time?" Celeste asked.

"The i***t pushed me and made me paint half of my foot. He better be glad he didn't spill nail polish on this sweater. It's new."

"Yeah, yeah, he could pour the whole bottle on you and you'd thank him and ask him to do it again." Celeste teased.

"Whatever. Shut-up!" Emma protested. She was glad Celeste couldn't see the traitorous blush creeping onto her cheeks. Liam stepped back out onto the porch, and leaned against the side of the house, gazing at Emma. She glanced up at him,

"Uh-oh, Speak of the Devil" she said into the phone. "Guess I better see what he wants. Talk to ya later. Bye."

Emma put the cordless phone in her lap and returned her attention back to her toenails. 

"Well... what do you want?" she asked without looking up at Liam. 

"I came to see if Ethan wanted to go riding with me, but apparently he's grounded."

Emma giggled. Ethan had put a wind-up mouse inside Mrs. Lasseter's grocery bags the night before. The poor lady had nearly fainted dead away when the little furry toy came scurrying after her as she was putting away her dry goods. She recovered quick enough to march herself right back into the store and give Ethan and Mamma a good tongue lashing. Mamma of course grounded Ethan for the foreseeable future, but he had confided to Emma later that it had been worth it. Emma had to agree, Mrs. Lasseter was a regular busy-body, and the prank was well deserved.

Emma finished her last nail with a flourish, and replaced the lid to her polish, finally looking at her friend.

"So.....?" 

"You wanna come instead?"

It took her about two and a half seconds for her to decide that she did, in fact, want to spend the day riding four-wheelers with Liam. She had tagged along with him and Ethan lots of times and it was always fun. She'd operated the atv on her own enough that she was confident that she could keep up. 

"Sure!" she said without hesitation, "Let me just grab my boots."

"You might wanna change" Liam advised tugging on the hem of her soft moss green sweater, and casting a doubtful eye at her denim pencil skirt.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Besides the fact that it's eighty-five degrees?" 

"It's Fall, Liam. You wear sweaters in the Fall." 

Liam smirked at her, "There is no such thing as Fall in Arkansas."

She rolled her eyes at him and disappeared through her front door. When she reemerged she had ditched her seasonal outfit. She'd replaced it with jeans tucked into cowboy boots and a T-shirt. Her brown hair hung in a braid that reached to the waist band of her jeans. She added a ball cap and looked up at Liam with a grin.

"Is this better Mr. Fashion expert?"

"Much." he approved with his crooked grin. 

 It was a perfect day for exploring the backroads, and Emma was glad that Liam had invited her. It had rained a few nights ago so the dust wasn't too terrible, and there were even a few straggling mud holes for them to slide around in. Emma watched carefully as Liam spun a perfect fishtail in front of her and copied his movements. After a few tries she managed to do one herself. She made up her mind to make Ethan let her drive their four-wheeler more often. It was fun. Liam slowed down a little and motioned for her to pull up beside him. When her four-wheeler was even with his he yelled to her over the sound of the engines.

"There's a great mud hole just off the road up here. Wanna go play?"

   Emma just grinned and nodded at him, falling back behind to let him lead the way. Liam led her to the edge of what looked to be the remnants of a pond. There was no water anymore, just a think layer of red clay mud. It was about ten foot across and a couple of feet deep. The perfect place to sling and spin mud on each other. The perfect battleground.

   Liam gave her a devilish grin, challenging her. Emma had never participated in a mud war while driving a four-wheeler before, but she wasn't about to back down from Liam's dare. Spoken or not. She lifted her chin towards him slightly and met his grin with one of her own. She was about to get slaughtered, but at least she'd go down fighting. 

   For the next hour, they drove in furious circles around the little forgotten pond, trying to send a spray of mud onto the opponent. They laughed even as they got covered in sticky clay mud. Emma was the obvious looser, but she managed to land a few solid hits on Liam. Finally they cut their engines and collapsed together under some pine trees. They sat in silence for a few moments catching their breath. Emma looked over at Liam and was a little startled to see him already looking at her. He had a strange expression on his face. One that made her heart stop and beat faster all at the same time. He was looking at her as if he liked her, really liked her. Emma swallowed hard. Her palms were getting sweaty, and in that moment she hoped with all her heart that she was not misreading what she saw on Liam's face. She wished that he liked her, because she liked him too.

 Slowly, painfully slowly, Liam reached up and ran the back of his finger across her cheek. Emma thought - hoped- he was going to tilt her chin up to him and kiss her. Instead he trailed his finger down her neck and grasped a lock of her hair that had slipped out of her ball cap.

"You've got pine-needles in your hair" he said softly tugging on a strand. Emma glanced down at her braid, and sure enough there were pine-needles sticking out of it in every direction, She groaned, yanked off her cap, and began undoing her braid. She combed her fingers through her long hair and picked out a good dozen pine needles. She felt Liam's gaze on her the whole time. He was leaned up against the truck of a tree just inches from where she sat. It would be so easy to reach over and touch him, or slide over just the tiniest bit so their legs would be touching. In a moment of bravery she did scoot closer to him, pressing the side of her thigh to his lightly. If Liam noticed, he didn't say anything, but he still never took his eyes off of her. Emma began re-braiding her hair and asked

"What are you thinking?"

Liam cleared his throat, "I was wishing I had my guitar." he confessed.

"Why?"

"I would play, and you would sing." he answered simply.

Emma nodded. She was a sophomore this year, and Liam was a freshman, so the only class they shared was Music. Verona High was a very tiny school with an equally miniscule budget. There was no glee club. Band and choir were mashed together and called simply, Music Class. Liam was the golden boy of Music Class because he could play any instrument he laid his hands on, and play it well. Give him an hour alone with any given musical instrument, and he could play before King Saul with all of the skill of David. Emma didn't have an ounce of musical talent in her body, but she did have a sweet, clear singing voice with just a hint of a southern drawl. Most everyone who heard Emma sing loved it, but noone more so than Liam. Occasionally they would sit in the treehouse together him playing, her singing. Both of them falling in love. Neither of them realizing how deep.

  Words didn't seem adequate for what Emma and Liam were feeling at that moment. Both of them processing the new direction their relationship was taking. Emma leaned back against the tree beside Liam and rested her head on his shoulder. She hadn't meant to fall asleep but the next thing she knew Liam was gently shaking her knee.

"Hey, Em." He said into her hair, "We should probably get going."

Slowly she sat up and stretched. She should be embarrassed about falling asleep, but she wasn't. Not with Liam. She smiled up at him.

"Yeah. I'm getting hungry anyways"

Liam got to his feet with a grace that was surprising considering his size and reached for Emma's hand to pull her up. 

"I know. Your stomach was growling. At least I think it was, it was hard to tell over the snoring." he teased.

Emma glared at him. 

"I don't snore!"

Liam shrugged and swung his leg over his four wheeler.

"Liam! I don't snore... do I?" she asked jogging after him.

"I'll never tell." With that he started his four-wheeler. 

Emma quickly followed suit, hoping with all her heart that she did not actually snore in front of Liam, because apparently she could be embarrassed around him. She wasn't sure she liked that and she knew she didn't like the blush she could feel staining her cheeks.

They had barely made it back to the main road when Emma's ATV started sputtering and spitting. It shook violently before shuddering to a stop. Emma furrowed her brow in confusion and tried to start it back up. It coughed a few times, before dying for good. Liam had noticed and turned back to pull up beside her.

"Out of Gas?" he asked. 

Emma shrugged. How was she supposed to know? Did this thing even have a gas gauge?

"Did you check before we left?"

"Ummm....no..."

Liam sighed and leaned over to unscrew the gas-cap. He peered down into it and shook the handle bars. 

"Yep. You're out." he said replacing the cap.

"What about the reserve? That's a thing, right?"

Liam chuckled, "Yes, It is, but you were on reserve already. See that switch there?"

Emma nodded.

"That means you're on reserve." 

"Oh. Right." she whispered, looking down at her hands.

For someone who had thought she could not be embarrassed around this guy, she was sure doing a lot of it today. Liam seemed to sense her discomfort, and for some reason it seemed to delight him.

"Hey, it's okay. Well push it off the road and you can ride with me to go get some gas." he said cheerfully. 

It took them a few minutes to get the miller's four wheeler safely off of the road. Emma settled behind Liam and wrapped her arms around his waist. He stiffened for a moment before letting out a slow breath and taking off. 

If driving her own four-wheeler with Liam had been fun, riding behind him on his was bliss. His back was so strong a broad in front of her and he smelled so good. It was all Emma could do not to lay her head against him and just smell him for the rest of the way home. What was happening? This was Liam Anderson, one of her best childhood friends. He was the guy that teased her about her clothes and her choice of music. How could she be feeling this way about him all of a sudden? Or maybe she always had.

Eventually it was too much for Emma to resist. She slid closer on the seat towards Liam and rested her cheek against him. She closed her eyes and murmured.

"This has been the best day ever"