Chapter 134: A Blast From The Forgotten Past!
Liam stood there for a moment longer, staring at Sara’s name on the screen, waiting for the familiar tightness to show up in his chest the way it always used to whenever her name crossed his notifications.
It didn’t come.
No sharp pull behind his ribs, no instinctive spiral back through everything that had gone wrong. Just her name, sitting there, and beneath it, nothing but mild indifference.
He actually smiled at that. Small, private, the kind of smile that came from recognizing genuine progress rather than performing it. This was a step. A real one, the kind he couldn’t have manufactured even if he’d tried.
He didn’t bother opening the message. There was no version of whatever she’d written that warranted the effort anymore. He selected the thread instead and deleted it outright, watching it disappear from the screen without a flicker of hesitation.
Done. Gone. He gave considerably less of a damn than he expected to, and that alone felt like its own kind of victory.
He opened Instagram next, more out of habit than intention, and scrolled until Vanessa’s private story loaded at the top of his feed. Another party, apparently — different location, same general theme, her laughing into the camera surrounded by people Liam didn’t recognize and had no interest in learning.
*Is she even employed?* he thought, an eyebrow raising slightly as he watched the clip loop.
He didn’t say it out loud. No reason to. Whatever Vanessa did with her time wasn’t his business to comment on, and he had a feeling voicing that particular thought wouldn’t land the way he intended it to, even as a joke.
Still, he tapped the reaction button before he could talk himself out of it — because credit where it was due, the dress she had on did absolutely nothing to hide the effort she’d put into looking good tonight. He wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.
He locked the phone and picked up the room’s landline, dialing down to the front desk.
“Hi, yeah — could we get someone up to change the sheets in the master bedroom? Whenever’s convenient.”
“Right away, sir.”
It genuinely was right away. Within minutes, a member of housekeeping arrived, moved through the room with brisk, practiced efficiency, and had everything swapped and remade before Liam had even finished checking his phone again. He raised an eyebrow at the turnaround time, mildly impressed despite himself — this was the kind of service that justified the room rate, if nothing else.
He thanked the staff member on their way out, tossed the phone onto the freshly made bed, and headed toward the sitting area where Darren and Mateo’s voices carried through — some argument breaking out over whatever show had ended up on the screen.
Liam dropped onto the couch beside them, letting the noise of the room pull him back into the present, Sara’s message already a non-event fading somewhere behind him.
–
Liam settled into the couch beside Mateo as the movie started up, some slasher flick Mateo had picked off the menu with surprising confidence. Darren claimed the armchair, stretching out with his eyes already half-closed before the opening credits finished.
By the twenty-minute mark, Darren was gone completely, head tilted back, mouth slightly open, soft snoring blending into the movie’s soundtrack.
Liam glanced over, unsurprised. “And he’s out.”
Mateo didn’t look away from the screen. “Lightweight.”
The movie kept going, tension building through a series of increasingly bloody set pieces, and Liam found himself watching Mateo more than the screen at certain points, genuinely curious how he’d react. Given everything — the bullying, the quiet, the way he tended to shrink into himself around anything remotely confrontational — Liam had half expected him to flinch through the scarier moments, maybe ask to skip ahead.
Instead, Mateo sat there completely locked in, eyes wide with excitement rather than fear, leaning forward at the tense parts instead of away from them.
“You’re not scared at all,” Liam said, mildly impressed.
“This is nothing,” Mateo said, grinning. “You should see the stuff I watch on my own.”
“Didn’t peg you for a horror guy.”
“Everyone underestimates me.”
Liam filed that away, genuinely surprised. It wasn’t what he expected, and he found himself recalibrating slightly, another small piece of who Mateo actually was slotting into place.
The credits rolled eventually, and Liam checked the time, wincing slightly at how late it had gotten. “Alright — you still got energy for homework?”
Mateo nodded immediately, already reaching for his bag without a hint of the usual resistance, pulling out his notebook and getting to work like it was nothing.
Liam blinked, caught off guard by the enthusiasm. “That’s new.”
“I said I’d do it. I do what I say.”
“Noted.”
That was when Darren stirred, murmuring something incoherent, his brow furrowing as whatever dream he was in the middle of took a turn. The mumbling grew louder, words tumbling out half-formed, a string of profanity threading through it that made Liam glance sharply toward Mateo.
He reached over and slapped Darren lightly across the face.
Darren shot upright off the couch like he’d been electrocuted, eyes wide, head snapping left and right in total confusion.
“What— where—”
“You were dreaming,” Liam said flatly. “Loudly. And swearing. There’s a kid in the room, Darren, you fuck head.”
Darren blinked, still catching up, rubbing a hand down his face. “…My bad.” A pause. “Sheets changed?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool.” Darren pushed himself up and shuffled toward the bedroom without further comment, already half-asleep on his feet.
Liam shook his head, turning back toward Mateo, who was already a page deep into his homework, pencil moving steadily.
That was when his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
[Vanessa.]
Liam was surprised by how persistent she was considering she tried her hardest not to do too much, or was he the only one who couldn’t forget that day?
It would be no surprise because Liam already knew a platonic friendship would be impossible as the attraction was present between them no matter how much they tried to deny it.