005

Coach raised a finger, signaling him to wait a moment as he finished a call. Liam's eyes strayed to the wooden framed picture on the desk of his wife and two kids smiling in a cozy christmas photo. He had grown up idolizing coach, who had become both a mentor and role model. This office was a place where dreams were made. Finally, he hung up the phone and gestured to the chair.

“Liam, I wanted to talk to you about your performance today. You showed some excellent ability out there, but you seemed distracted.” Coach leaned forward, studying him. “What is it, son?”

“Nothing, Coach. Just some tough classes,” he lied.

“Do you need a tutor? I can assign you the best from the college tutoring program.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ve drawn up a study plan to improve my grades. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll talk about the program.”

“Alright. Just know I believe in you, you have the potential to make it big in the league. Don’t waste this opportunity.”

“Thanks, Coach,” he said. Heading out, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw a text from his wide receiver, Pierre. “Yo Liam, the entire team is meeting at Matt’s for his party tonight. You’re coming, right?”

“Yep, gonna be there.”

“Cool. Later, man.”

Stepping into the party in the Montgomery suburb, he exchanged handshakes and nods with familiar faces. Approaching the bar, he spotted his most recent ex, Olivia, swaying to an upbeat reggae music in her best seductive moves. Oh, he missed that. But he knew better, Olivia had her own problems. Her manipulative and toxic behavior had taken a toll on him, and he wasn’t eager to rekindle their relationship.

Sauntering over to him.“Hey West, miss me?”

“What’s up, Liv?”

“Liv, not babe? Rude.” She pouted. “I know we aren’t dating right now, but we can still get back together. You know, do the on again off again thing, I mean we are basically celebrities.”

A camera flash interrupted their conversation, gosh the curse of being him, his gaze flicked to the paparazzo, Olivia’s bestie Kendra. “Ignore it, it's for the gram, people are literally obsessed with me” she told him, posing mid sentence.

He almost laughed, absolutely zero had changed about her, still the same fame hungry L.A rich kid, who cared only about trends, followers and pop culture. A boarding school brat who flaunted her parents' wealth in the most obnoxious manner ever. Hermès, Lambo truck, penthouse suites, diamonds, name it, if it screamed money she definitely had it. “Wanna go somewhere quieter?” she purred, trailing her hands down his torso.

“Not really, pretty tired from practice,” he replied, stepping back.

“Well, I can help massage all those sore muscles,” she offered, with sultry come-hither eyes.

“Another ice bath is more of the vibes right now.”

“Okay? Well you know how to find me.” she winked.

“Later Liv” he left her and made his way over to his team.

Skylar, couldn't remember the last thing Prof. McAdams said; she tried to concentrate but the annoying Westbrook kept distracting her. She checked her phone 1:30p.m, forty five more minutes. Argh, kill her now! A notification lit up her screen an ESPN headline about Liam Westbrook rumoured future team. Her thumb hovered; she shouldn't have, but she tapped it anyway.

The article praised his determination, drive and discipline. She read on; another popped up, captioned. “Liam making his family proud,” with a picture of his mom and little sister. She clicked on it. His mom, a fit woman who could pass for his older sister, and her daughter Emily, no older than six, with a missing front tooth, smiled in unison. She curiously ended up on his Ins**gram page; his first post read.

“Hey guys, meet Lukie, the little golden retriever I rescued.” The comment section was full of “Aww, so cute with the heart eyes emoji”, or “This makes me want to go to the shelter now!” replies.

In his next post, she watched him packaging meals meant for the homeless, or one where he asked his fans which classical books they could recommend. The comments mentioned Shakespeare's Hamlet, Charles Dickens' Great Expectation and Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Okay, someone was desperate to please, she couldn't stop the smile that was spreading across her lips. Why he was doing this was beyond her; she wasn't a slub, but she wasn't the smokin’ influencer type either. It was a wildly established knowledge that he could have anyone he wanted, why her?.

“...and don't forget your paper is due Friday. That will be all,” McAdams announced. The hall gradually emptied, people filing out, she picked her brown leather totes bag and got up, waving to a few friends.

April, fresh out of their shared shower, was blowing her hair when she came home.

“Hey, going out?” she asked, dropping groceries on the counter top.

“Yes, we are going to Matt's birthday party. The Buckeyes, especially Liam, are likely gonna be there.”

“No, I'm not.”

“Of course you are, don't think I haven't noticed how sleep deprived you've been lately. You can pretend all you want, but he is getting to you isn't he? So you are gonna go to this party and stop fighting these feelings.”

She couldn't argue with that, sharing this apartment three years running, April did know her. “Fine, but I am picking my outfits.”

“Okay, please just avoid what Annalise Keating would wear.”

“Very funny.” she replied, slamming the door in her face.