Cliché Gone Wrong

Chapter 8

Being a good boy can be a good way of achieving things. For exemple, if your mother asks you to do the laundry and you do as she tells, she will praise you. If you do the laundry without her having to ask you to, you earn her pride and respect. If you do the laundry, clean the house and make dinner, then your mother will give you something. That's how life works. You give then you take. Same with love.

Or ,at least, those were Liam's rules.

He knew nothing about long lasting relationships, but knew enough so that he always succeded in charming someone. You have to be a good boy. Not good as in, the nice guy, but good as in, the guy who can do nice things. And right now he was sitting on a table, eating his mother's slightly burned cookies while trying to figure out what was on the mind of the girl sitting besides him. It was too "nice guy" rather than "guy nice"

"What are you looking at?" A calm, passive voice asked. Quinn. Liam shook his head, waking up from his thoughts.

"N-nothing." He shrugged and picked another cookie, taking a little bite. He was behaving like a girl, mending his manners. Quinn tilted her head in confusion, frowning.

Silence can be deafening. Liam hated that awkward atmosphere, not knowing what to do or talk about, chewing silently his cookie while looking at Quinn from time to time. He had to think, and fast. What do people talk about when they have nothing to talk? The weather? Maybe. That was the kind of topic two old people that were not accquaintaces talked. So exciting.

"It's...it's kinda rainy outside, no?!" A smack to his forehead would've come if he didn't restrain himself. He never had that kind of problem before. Actually, he never had problem with a girl. He saw them, he talked to them and suddenly they were waking up together in a bed.

Frowning more, Quinn looked out of the window. "Yeah, it's raining outside." She then returned to the book in her hands. Liam sighed, he was losing to a Maths book. Was Quinn that nerdy or was she just that bored?

"You surely like to read, huh?" Liam asked, earning a strange look from the nerd.

"Not really." She then took a quick peak at the staircase. He couldn't see her gaze very well, but he was almost certain there was longing inside that brown pupils. "Why do you ask?" She asked.

"I don't know, maybe because of the book you're reading." Liam replied playfully, picking the book out of the nerd's hand and showing her the case. "A Maths book. Really?!" He peeked on the first few pages, that were enough to bore him endlessly.

"O-oh" Quinn stuttered. "I...I wasn't really reading, just looking." So she was really bored, Liam sighed again.

"You sure are drifting away." He pointed out her strange behaviour. She wasn't so unpleasant to talk, she even helped him with Math, and he was thankful for that. But that was a game. "Ever since Kyle arrived."

Quinn made a surprised expression, followed by a quirky lift of her left eyebrow. "So what? Are you jealous?" She laughed a little.

"Are you admiting you like Kyle?" He smirked, even though deep inside that idea disgusted him. Quinn's cheeks suddenly reddened. She tried to utter a word, but nothing came out. Somehow, that was kind of adorable.

"So you like him, huh?" Liam tried his best not to sound disappointed. It sickened him that his brother always stole every girl he ever presented to him, that day was no different.

"I-I don't like him. He's...cute. Just cute." Quinn nodded her head, as if trying to convince herself of her own words. But Liam knew it was just a lie, just a uninterested facade she was putting in order to deceive him. He wondered how he could turn the tables and be the one Quinn looked at.

"Yeah..." He chuckled, making Quinn roll her eyes in annoyance.

"Perhaps...you're jealous." She smirked.

"What? Me? Jealous?" Liam put his hand over the heart in a fake affected way. "Liam Woods doesn't feel jealousy, darling." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Everybody feels jealousy. Some just don't admit it, like you." Quinn chuckled back.

"I'm not jealous. Is just that you were pratically drooling over Kyle, so I just got curious." Liam retorted, sounding more angered than intended. Quinn bit her lip and looked at her cellphone, suddenly she got up and picked her material. Shocked, Liam sat straight.

"S-sorry! Don't get angry with me, I didn't think..."

"It's nothing." Quinn interrupted him. "I have to go now, before it gets too late. Sorry for anything I've done wrong." She was ready to go but Liam's hands reached her shoulders before she had the chance to take a step further.

"Look, I can take you home if you want."

"No need, it's not so far. Thank you anyway."

"If I said anything that bothered you, I-"

"I already said it's fine." Quinn cut again, this time offering her hand. "Now it's for you to shake my hand." Liam slowly shook it.

It was a strange sensation, Quinns fingers were far smaller so was her entire hand. It almost felt right to have her small hand intertwined with Liam's big one. She had a cold skin, delicated but overworked as well, her tiny palms had some cuts here and there. Liam wondered what caused her to be cut.

"Bye." She said and walked out of the door. Liam stood still, watching as the petite girl made her way across the street. How someone as small as her was walking alone?

After a while, Liam lost sight of her, closing the door. Sighing, he made his way to the kitchen, carrying the now empty tray of food with him. His mother was not around anymore, so he thought it was a good idea to clean everything before her arrival. Be a good boy. That's what he aimed to. But he knew that, while he was chasing after Quinn, he was walking further away from his goal.

Suddenly someone entered the kitchen, Liam looked at the intruder, narrowing his eyes after realizing who it was.

"Hmpf" He muttered. Kyle opened a can of Coke, swallowing some before facing his bother with a mischievious smirk plastered on face.

"That girl went home already?" Kyle leaned on the counter.

"What do you think?" Liam kept washing dishes, not bothering to look up.

"I think it's strange. Rather strange." Kyle replied, taking another gulp. "She's not exactly your type. What are you doing with a girl like that?"

"What? Nothing." Liam looked at him for the first time, Kyle had a undeniable skeptical expression. "She's just...different. My standarts have not to be the same as yours." He then turned to keep washing. When finished, he was about to get out of kitchen when his older brother blocked his way.

"Don't hurt her, okay?" He spoke in an almost threatening way, making Liam frown.

"Why would I hurt her?" Liam retorded.

"I know you, Liam. And I know what you do with the girls." Kyle glared at him. Liam chuckled in disdain, looking inside of his brother's green eyes, just like his.

"Like you are any different." He bumped shoulders with Kyle. "Hypocrite."

"No, I'm not." Kyle held his wrist before Liam could get out. "I know I'm not serious about relationships, but all the girls I've been with knew that and respected. We respected each other, but you don't. You like to be a heartbreaker for entertainment. And now I grew up, when will you?"

Liam hated the superiority Kyle had while speaking. Clenching fist, he was ready to give a blow on his brother's pretty little nose, but before he could do that, the back door opened revealing his mother.

"Hey" She said, taking off some bags she carried. Kyle instantly went to help her, Liam following behind. "I bought some things." She showed the bags with food, some contained Kyle's, Liam's and Troy's favorite snacks.

"You don't needed to, mom." Kyle smiled, giving a quick peck on her forehead.

"Nonsense. And I had to buy other things for my friend too, it doesn't matter." She said, taking out a bag with some kitchen products inside. "By the way, I need that one of you deliver this to Elise." A bag with some kitchen products was handed to Liam. "I'm giving back some of the sugar she borrowed me."

Liam widened his eyes. Elise was his neighbohor, not only that but also Caitlin's mother. The Masterson family had been acquaintances with them since they arrived in town. Gulping, he tried to give the bag to Kyle, but the latter shook his head, walking out of kitchen and saying:

"I need to go back to study." Kyle studied in a college nearby, so he kept going back to home since they needed his help. Ever since their father left, he assumed the house as the father figure. He didn't fully accomplish the goal thoguh.

"So the task is all yours, honey." His mother said.

Sighing, Liam exited the house. It would go smoothly without any confront of both parts. Or just his. He would enter the garden, knock on the door, call Mrs. Masterson, deliver the bag and go away. Simple and fast.

Caitlin's house was close to his, she lived with both her parents. Being a single daughter, she received everything she had right and even more than that. She just didn't receive him in a silver plate like she would like to. Her house brought many memories to him, but those were slowly fading as the distance between them increased. Arriving at her house, she saw a black car parked near. Liam stopped on his tracks, looking at it for some seconds before realizing it was neither of Mr or Mrs. Masterson car.

Wondering who it belonged to, his answer was quickly answered by the opening of the front door. Caitlin and an unknwon guy.