Chapter 32

Chapter 32 — Million-Dollar Question

"Want to go get absolutely shitfaced?"

There's no response from the other side and Liam has to check if the call is connected — it is.

"Hello? Katie? You there?"

"Oh, so you still remember me?" she finally responds.

Liam rolls his eyes, sighing, "I'm sorry — I've been meaning to get back to you,"

"Only when you need me though right?"

"Katie, come on. You know it's not like that,"

"Then, what is it like, Liam? Please explain. Do you know how many times I've called in the past week and you can't even fucking text back? You're such a shit friend,"

Liam runs a hand through his hair. This is not the first time he's done this, and this is exactly why he does not much friends in the first place. Kaitlyn has been surprisingly the only one able to put up with his shit for so long. Seems like she's at her end too.

"I know. I'm sorry,"

"And the second you call me, it's about something you want, not even a simple hello, how are you?" she continues to rant, and justifiably so.

"I'm sorry," he apologises once again, "I really am. And okay. Hi! How are you? I missed ya,"

"Fuck off," and with that she cuts the call.

Liam doesn't easily give up though; he calls her right back and for someone who is apparently pissed off at him, she still picks up the call, and before she can cut the call abruptly once again, he quickly says, "I'm sorry. I love you. And I know you love me too. Please let's go out today — 100% my treat,"

It takes a few seconds, and Liam is silently praying that she won't hang up on him again, when she begrudgingly agrees, "Fine. But this better be the last time you disappear on me,"

"I promise,"

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However, it seems like a promise is not satisfying enough for Kaitlyn. The moment the friends meet up, Liam greets her with a big smile, and goes in for a hug, but Katie has a different idea, and slaps him hard on his cheek instead.

Some people turn to look at them shocked, but Liam waves them off with an awkward smile, assuring them that that's everything fine, before cupping his cheek and turning to Katie who is still glaring at him.

"I apologised!" he exclaimed, and this time another slap on his arm, "Ow," he complains.

"You're shit,"

"I thought we've already established that,"

She shakes her head, continuing to scowl, "Buy me a drink. I'll wait at that table," she points to an empty table nearby and walks away.

Liam follows after her shortly after drinks in hand, "So..." he clicks his tongue, and as furtively as he can, he leans a little further away from her, to not risk being hit again, "How have you been?"

She cuts him a sharp look, and Liam quickly raises his hands in surrender, "No violence, please. I'm just trying to make a conversation here,"

Huffing, she lifts her shoulder lightly, glancing away from him and stirring the straw in the glass, "I'm fine,"

He cocks his head to one side, and lifts his eyebrows sceptically — sure, he can be a shitty friend but he's not completely indifferent. There's something definitely bothering her — other than his lack of response that is.

"Are you sure?" he prompts.

She lifts her eyes, still glaring but this time there's a hint of sadness behind it too. She sighs, slowly relenting and answering him, "I broke up with Jeff,"

"What? Shit, I'm sorry," Jeff is the guy Katie has been seeing for a while now — the last time he heard from Katie, it seemed like everything was going fine.

"It's... whatever," she shakes her head, shrugging.

"When did this happen?"

She continues playing with the straw, "You would have known if you actually bothered to pick up my calls,"

Liam grimaces, now fully realising the extent of his shittiness, "I'm sorry," he apologises once again, "Fuck," he curses at himself, "Really, are you ok?"

"I'm kinda over it now," she admits, "Seems like I didn't like him as much as I thought. I don't know," she shrugs. Picking up the straw, she points it at Liam accusingly however, back to scowling, "But it still sucked, and you didn't care,"

"That's not true; I care. It's just I–," she narrows her eyes at him, daring him to complete the sentence, and Liam abruptly stops his claim; there's absolutely no need for him to dig himself a deeper grave.

"Okay," Katie suddenly exclaims, clasping her hands together, sitting up straight, "Although I should probably let you suffer a little longer, I'm still going to forgive you,"

That brings about an idiotic grin on Liam's face and he practically leaps out of his stool and captures his friend in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he reiterated, before replacing it with, "I love you. I love you. I love you," and places a wet kiss on her forehead.

"Ugh," she recoils, pushing him away, and wiping her forehead with her arm, "Do not make me regret forgiving you,"

Liam simply grins at her, poking her arm with a single finger, "You love me," he claims.

Katie rolling her eyes, neither denies nor affirms the statement; not that she has to since the both of them know the truth. She still putting up with him is proof enough.

"Shut up," she says instead, and gestures at the empty glass in front of her, "Keep 'em coming, busboy,"

Later, after a few glasses of drinks in, and Katie is visibly relaxed and Liam has managed to extract as much of her tension as he could and cursed her ex to the world's end, they are on the dance floor, jumping — not precisely to tune, but it's the spirit that counts.

"So, what's up with you?" Katie yells over the music.

Liam shakes his head — he did seek her out to vent to her, but it doesn't seem right now. He does not want to prove that he only thought of her when he had a problem, although there's some truth to it. He can lament another day; today he's going to focus on her.

Katie stops jumping and fixes Liam with a questioning look, hands on her hip.

"What?"

"I've already forgiven you, and I promise I won't judge — so spill,"

"It's–," he starts to shake his head, but fixes him with another strict look and Liam swallows the rest of his sentence.

He stops his jumping as well, and runs a hand through his hair, sighing; he decides to give her the short version, and also the absolute truth — one he himself has not quite wrapped his head around yet.

Another deep breath, and it certainly doesn't help his nerves that he has to yell what he has to say to be heard, but he yells it anyway, "I think I am liking two persons at the same time,"

She squints her eyes at him questioningly and an ugly fear creeps inside him thinking that her opinion about him is about to take a swan dive for the absolute worst. But it's just him being paranoid, it turns out.

"What?" she yells back instead, having not heard him.

He lets out an audible sigh, and as daunting as it is, he decides to be honest anyways, "I think I like both Jason and Aaron,"

"What?" she says again, but this time it's apparent that she's heard him — her eyes widen and her jaws slacken a little.

As they are still standing in the middle of the dancing floor, people bump into them continuously and it is really hard for them to hear each other. Liam takes the initiative and places a hand on the small of her back, guiding her out of the dance floor and to a corner where it is admittedly less crowded and less noisy. They can now at least manage to talk to each other without risking damage to their vocal chords.

Katie appears to be still shell shocked and Liam asks her to wait while he goes to get them some water. She appears to have regained herself when he's back however.

"Did I hear you right?"

"Depends on what you heard," he shrugs, his nerves not allowing him to be frank.

"That... you like Jason and... Aaron? Aaron, like your boss, Aaron,"

Liam gives him a rather slow and exaggerated nod, "Yeah, you heard right," he affirms.

"So, Aaron, your boss?"

Yeah, he was expecting this response, to be honest. He grimaces, nodding again, "Yes,"

"How did that happen?" she laughs.

"Wait, I also still like Jason,"

"Okay, yeah, I heard you,"

"You're not... surprised by that?"

"I already know you like Jason. You've told me that before,"

"Yeah, but I like two men now,"

"So?"

"Is that... not weird?"

"No," she regards him carefully, quirking her eyebrow, "Did you think I'd be repulsed by that?"

"No? I don't know," he confesses, "It's just... I've been having a hard time accepting that myself and this is actually the first time that I've even admitted it,"

"Hard to accept because it's Aaron or because it's like two persons at once?"

"Both?"

Katie simply smiles, shaking her head, "I thought you knew about polyamory,"

"No, I didn't. And am I the only one who didn't know about it? Even Rylee knows about it,"

Katie shrugs, "What about Jason? Have you told him?"

"He's the one who even opened up the idea to me. I was blissfully unaware,"

Katie stifles a laugh and fails, "What?"

Letting out a long exhale, Liam starts relaying everything that has happened to her.

"Wow," is her end response.

"Thank you,"

"So, what are you going to do now?"

Liam shakes his head, "Isn't that the million-dollar question?"

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