05

He closed in on me, now an amused smile hovering on his lips, and I stepped back and felt the wall behind me.

“Why don’t you just say it the way they do on those funny statement shirts—I didn’t say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame you,” he said, tapping my nose like a child. “It’s okay, you know ? I’ll let you blame me.”

He was too close for comfort but I ignored the heavy weight that settled in my stomach. I narrowed my eyes at him and poked a finger at his chest. “You bring me nothing but trouble and constant annoyance. When this project is done, I want you to stay away from me. Understood ?”

He caught my hand and didn’t let it go even as I tried to tug it free. “Not really. And I’m not the one making your life hard. It’s you. So your request is unacceptable, sorry.”

“You will be the death of me,” I hissed furiously before pulling my hand free successfully and marching off and into the crowd coming out of a lecture hall.

“Ali ! Ali, wait !” I heard him call me but I just drew my lips into a tight line and never looked back.

“I suggest you perk up if you want these people to help us out, Ali,” Liam murmured through the big grin he had plastered on his face, nudging me as I sat next to him by the registration table. “Hey there ! Come on in and take one of these with you.”

I looked up just in time to see him hand a couple of yellow agenda sheets to a group of nerdy-looking girls who just came up to the table. I automatically handed them the clipboard for them to sign their names on.

Liam glanced at me as the girls got in line to sign and widened his grin at me in emphasis. “Smile !”

I adore Liam. He’s only a couple of inches taller than my five-foot-five-inchheight and has a slender yet very fit physique. He usually carries his slim figure well with brightly colored, perfectly tailored cut-off pants and a preppy shirt-and-sweater combo. He always has this very polished, classy look to him which doesn’t come as a surprise to most people. Liam’s openly gay with a vibrant personality and a knack for style. He is under the theatres program and mostly focusing on production design. We went to the same high school along with our other bestfriend, Ria. Liam’s the most high-spirited of us all and we adore him without a question but sometimes we find it hard to match his zest for life. Like today.

Obviously, I was still grumpy about what happened yesterday in the Asian Civilizations class and I didn’t get enough sleep last night so I woke up very cranky. The last thing I needed was for the two volunteers who were supposed to man the reception table to back out half an hour before the general meeting for the Children’s Play Day fundraising event that we were organizing as part of the student council’s social assistance efforts. Liam, Ria and I are volunteer coordinators for the student council’s activities and the Children’s Play Day is yet to be our biggest event of the semester. It kept me busier than usual but I liked it except for the part that I couldn’t easily find somebody else to replace volunteers who back out on the last minute.

“Why are you so sour-faced today anyway ?” Liam asked when the girls had finally left. We had about ten more minutes before the meeting started and so far, no one else has wandered in our direction.

“I’m just stressed out,” I answered, sitting back and taking out a book from my faded, brown leather satchel that was my Dad’s. “I also happen to have another big project to add to my pile of other big projects.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “So this is, once again, about the incident with Seth at your Asian Civilizations class. I should’ve known.”

“It’s just that I can’t believe how careless I was, joining Seth’s nap time,” I grumbled, still quite annoyed, mostly at myself now.

“Oh, I would join Seth’s nap time anytime,” Liam purred, a mischievous smile on his lips. “I don’t know if you’re just blind, my dear friend, but you’re in a very favorable position.”

I raised a brow at him. “And what’s that supposed to mean ?”

“I’m not yet assuming that Seth’s found true and everlasting love with you but you’re quite lucky that despite of all the girls dying to even get him to acknowledge that they exist, he’s actually fond of you no matter how many times you bite his head off,” Liam answered as-a-matter-of-factly. “You know I adore you and all but it’s hard to figure out what Seth gets out of being your emotional punching bag. I see all these gorgeous girls in his circle but he doesn’t seem as fond of them as he is of you.”