CHAPTER 5.

My phone rang, and I thanked to whichever laws of probability were favoring me at that precise moment.

I took my phone from my purse and I saw Jeremy's name flashing on the screen. With all eyes on me, I excused myself and kindly asked Susie to let me pass through so I could take the call.

- Jer…

- Jules, please tell me you still have Swanson's book with you. The one you borrowed from the library, remember? – I could hear him typing on the keyboard.

- Yes, I still have it. You need it? - I told him as I entered a vestibule with huge mirrors on the wall, a colorful four seats sofa and two doors on opposite sides, indicating the entrance to the toilets.

- No, I just need... to know what it says, verbatim, one paragraph at page... forty-nine. I need to confirm something that I had written here. I'm not sure I took the correct notes.

- Oh… I'm not at home now.

- Oh.

- Can I call you when I’m back home? A couple of hours maybe?

- It’s alright. I’ll find my way, or we can check it later or tomorrow. Don't worry about it.

- Everything okay with your project? - I was perfectly fine on buying myself some time around here while talking to my dearest friend.

- Yes. - A deep sigh left his lungs. - I can't complain. But hey, you know Sanders. He enjoys driving students crazy, for a living.

- Yes. That's why the students adore him. Specially you. – He laughed. Still heard some quick typing on the background.

- Exactly… - He continued after a short silence. - Sounds kind of spirited out there. Where are you?

- Oh yeah. I'm at this Tex-Mex restaurant that just opened here near…

- Oh, the Bebble's, Bubble’s one?

- Yes... Been here already? – It shouldn't have surprised me at all if he did. If anyone had a hectic social life, and friends who were quite informative about all cool, new places in the region, that person was Jeremy. I should have known that he was already very aware about this new restaurant.

- No, I haven’t. It was a colleague who told me the other day about this spot. He told me that they served these amazing Margaritas. The best he’d ever had, according to him. – I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his comment. I really had to try those Margaritas. Besides, they could help me cope with this dinner night, which had already started being interesting, to say the least. – Have you tried them already?

- What? The Margaritas? No, not yet. We've just arrived. But yeah, I like the place. It's nice.

- We? As in…?

- Susie and I… – The relentless typing on the other side of the line stopped, all of a sudden, at the very mention of my bestie’s name. And I knew exactly why.

- Oh, you're with Susie. Good. Are you ladies on your own tonight? – He tried to sound chill and aloof.

- Not actually. We kind of have company here.

- Kind of? What’s that even supposed to mean? – He laughed at my rather clumsy statement. However, I knew some part of his was just absolutely terrified about the idea of Susie having a date with someone else.

- Well, Susie and I, we had made these plans to come here tonight. We agreed to meet at Café Orly, but on her way she stumbled in with Roger and Anderson, and well...

- Oh.. ho, ho! Is Liam there with you?

- Yeah…

- Holy shit, Jules… - a sigh and a laughter, out of awe, came out of Jeremy’s mouth. - Are you having dinner with Anderson? That’s what I call progress. Did I miss anything? – Jeremy said with a startled voice. The kind of voice that was also saying something like “I cannot believe what you’re saying”.

- No, you didn't. And I'm not having dinner "with" him. Susie just came across with them and invited them to join us. Or they just invited themselves. I don't know.

- Uh, that’s literally the definition of having dinner with someone, Jules. Same restaurant, same table. - I sighed in frustration. - Anyway, how is it going? You know you can always come up with some excuse, right? You can blame me on this one if you want. Do you need me to go there and pick you up or something?

- No, no. It’s alright, I can totally handle it.

- You sure?

- Yeah, absolutely. So far he’s been... civil… so...

- Your Liam... civil… with you…? That's a new one...

- Jesus, Jer. He's not MY Liam…! And what I meant is… - I looked up at the mirrors and saw the reflection of a human tower right at the entrance of the vestibule, with crossed arms and staring at me with one of his eyebrows lifted, standing a few steps behind me.

Oh God, this dinner couldn't get any worse. I knew it would be a bad idea in first place. Liam had not only caught me drooling about his biceps moments ago back at the table, but now he'd heard me say, well… It all depended on how long he had been listening because, to my very, very bad luck, I had no idea how long he had been standing there, and I knew, for sure, that Liam was anything but deaf. Oh my God. I had been ignoring the buzzing in my ears until a distant, insisting voice coming out of my mobile phone took me out of my trance. “Jules? Hello? You still there?" Ahm… I averted my eyes from Liam’s reflection on the mirror, unable to hold his gaze after knowing that he had overheard part of my conversation with Jeremy.

- Jer, I gotta go. - I made sure I spoke in a lower, whispery tone of voice, the kind of I should have used since the very moment I answered the call.

- Is everything ok?

- Yes. Talk to you later.

- Ok, but call me if you need anything, Ok?

- Sure. Thanks.

I finished the call with one of my shaky fingers and eyes glued on my screen. I let out an almost inaudible sigh and turned myself slowly to face the guy at the vestibule’s threshold. There he was, that Greek statue, just a few steps away. Gathering all the courage I could, I slowly raised my face and I stopped when I had a full, clear view of his crossed arms. However, I didn't stop to appreciate those well-defined biceps (which I had already looked at a few minutes ago), but because a rather familiar object hanging from one of his hands caught my attention. A light blue scarf. I looked down to my shoulders and confirmed that something was missing. As if he noticed where my eyes were, he started speaking, and his voice made me look up into his eyes again.

- You dropped it. – He said extending his arm to hand me the scarf. I turned my gaze back to the blue object in his hands and forced a grateful smile.

- Right. - I muttered reaching out my hand to take it, and when I finally grabbed it with my fingers, I could feel not only the pleasant touch of cashmere provided by one of my favorite clothing accessories, but also a pleasant warmth on my fingertips. Very pleasant, actually. Only then I realized that I was touching Liam's hand, without even knowing how my fingers had gotten that far. My body immediately reacted to the touch. The tips of my fingers began itching and an electrical shock was projected from each one of them up to the nape of my neck, down my spine and then through my entire body, until it settled in my skin and in each of its nerve endings. I felt my heart throb, desperate as a lion imprisoned in a jail. I looked up and Liam's green eyes, dark and with both eyebrows frowned, were looking down, stuck in the place where our hands were still touching. I looked down again, holding the scarf in my hand, and instinctively started moving it away from his, while staring at the exact spot that was still burning out of Liam's touch. I blinked in a failed attempt to hide all the whirlwind of sensations caused by that simple touch.

- Thanks… - The words came out as a whisper. Scarf already in hand, I turned myself to head out of the vestibule, but his voice, husky and soft in equal parts, stopped me just as I was walking past him.

- Baker...

I gulped.

- Thanks. For letting us join you for dinner.

I didn't dare looking at him.

- It's no big deal. It's just dinner. I would have shared the table with anyone. – Although my words seemed to have the best intentions, deep down, they sought to set Liam apart. To tell him that I did not want his closeness at all. Perhaps out of fear of what he may have heard, and thus misinterpreted, from my call with Jeremy. Or because I desperately wanted him to forget that I had been carefully analyzing his muscles at the table some minutes ago. Or because it was Liam. Or maybe because of all the above. Having said these words, I intended to turn myself so I could find my way back to the table. However, before doing that, I could not ignore the fact that Liam's smirky face slightly vanished after what I've said. And then as I started walking through the tables, a question just popped into my mind, all of a sudden. How did he notice that my scarf fell off my shoulders? Did that mean that… Had Liam been watching me all the way through as I came down to the vestibule? I turned my head to the vestibule once more but he was already gone, to the loos most probably, and one part of me felt disappointed.