Jake went to get some drinks in-between games so I took my opportunity to speak to Liam; he hadn’t even looked in my direction since the whole Mark incident. “Hey,” I said, moving to sit next to him.

“Hey,” he muttered, watching the people next to us bowl.

“Not talking to me?” I asked, scared he would say no.

He sighed. “Why did you do that?” he asked sadly, shaking his head, still not looking at me.

I grabbed his hand and dragged him off to the bathrooms. When we got into the ladies room, I shut the door behind us and locked it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise that would upset you. I didn’t mean anything by it. He was flirting with me, I was just joking around, that’s all,” I explained, trying to get him to look at me, but he just closed his eyes for a second before looking back at me again.

“Angel, that was hard to watch.” He pulled me to his chest, looking into my eyes; I could see that I had hurt him badly.

“I’m sorry, Liam. Honestly, I didn’t mean anything by it, I was just having fun. People don’t know we’re together I could hardly say, ‘Mark, stop flirting with me, my boyfriend’s sitting right there’ could I?” I asked, putting my arms around his neck.

He sighed. “I guess not.” He still looked upset and I felt awful that I’d hurt him.

“You need to trust me though; I would never do anything to hurt you on purpose. I’m sorry.” I pulled his face to mine and kissed him tenderly.

He responded immediately, kissing me back and pulling me closer to him. He slid one hand down and gripped it on my ass, it didn’t even affect me at all, well, it did but not in any of the bad ways, I liked it, I wanted more. I grabbed his other hand and pulled it up my body, making it cup my breast. He pulled back, looking at me a little shocked; I smiled at him and pulled him back to me. He kissed me hungrily, massaging my breasts. His mouth travelled down my neck, making me shiver with desire. I slipped my hand under his t-shirt, tracing the muscles on his chest, making him moan. He slowly moved his hand down to the bottom of my top and slipped his hand under, trailing his fingers along my skin, moving it up slowly until he got to my br**sts where he massaged them through my bra making me moan breathily.

After a few minutes, he pulled away, smiling at me, his eyes dancing with excitement. He put his forehead to mine, we were both breathing heavy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be all possessive,” he said, kissing the tip of my nose.

“You don’t have anything to apologise for, silly. We’ve both never done this before, so we need to find a way that works for both of us.” I kissed him tenderly again, savouring the feel of his soft lips against mine.

He sighed. “I think we need to go back out now before people realise we’re missing.”

“Another minute won’t hurt,” I whispered, smiling flirtily. He chuckled and bent down to kiss me again.

That night we were all cramped into my lounge. Sean had brought Avatar round and none of us had seen it before so all seven of us were now sitting around, eating McDonalds. We were going to put the movie on after. I was leant against Liam’s legs; Jake didn’t seem to bat an eyelid, which we both took as a good sign.

Mark moved off of the couch. “Here, Sarah, you sit here, I’ll sit on the floor,” he suggested, as he plopped down next to me with a flirty smile. I shifted uncomfortably to get a little more space from him. I felt Liam stiffen, so I put my hand on his foot, rubbing my thumb across the top of it soothingly. “So, Amber, what do you like to do in your free time?” he asked.

“Lots of stuff. I like to dance and go to movies. You know normal high school stuff,” I replied, adding definition to the words high school.

He laughed. “Wow, you really are a feisty one aren’t you?” he said, shaking his head.

“You have no idea,” I muttered, turning away, pretending to watch the TV.

“You don’t want to talk to me?” he asked, faking hurt.

I let out an exaggerated sigh. “I’m just trying to watch this.”

He looked at the TV, and laughed. “This advert for new sofas?”

I looked at the TV that I was pretending to watch, it was indeed an advert. Damn it! “Yep, I’m a sofa girl, you can never have enough sofas,” I joked.

“You’re funny.” He laughed, scooting closer to me.

“Thanks, and you’re too old for me,” I stated, smiling sweetly.

“I’m only nineteen.” He looked at me challengingly.

I nodded. “Yeah, but eighteen is my limit, so you’re shit outta luck, bud,” I said. I heard Liam laugh behind me.

“I could make you change your mind,” Mark stated confidently.

I laughed humourlessly. “You know what, I’d bet you twenty bucks that you got nothing of interest for me,” I replied just as confidently.

He chuckled darkly. “I’ll take that bet, but you need to wait until your brother’s not watching.” He glanced at Jake a little nervously.

I sighed. “What is it exactly that you think I’m going to be interested in? You have a kitten in your pocket? Or maybe some candy? Or the answers to the test I have tomorrow in calculus?” I joked, making him laugh again.

“No. I’m going to kiss you, and you’re going to love it.” He shrugged, smirking at me again.

Liam’s legs jerked behind me as he made a move to get up. I pushed back on his legs and started rubbing his foot again. “Really? If you kiss me I’m going to knee you in the balls.” I smiled at Mark, innocently.

“You think that’s going to scare me away from a hottie like you?” he asked, looking me over slowly, making my skin crawl a little.

“It’s just a friendly warning.” I shrugged, turning back to the TV which, thankfully, was now the movie and not a sofa advert.

“I’m pretty sure my money is safe. I’ve never had any complaints before,” he whispered in my ear, making me go cold because of how close he was to me.

“Hmm, well there’s a first time for everything,” I said through my teeth, still rubbing Liam’s foot.

When the movie finished, Liam went home to tell his parents he was going to stay over at ours and to grab a change of clothes. He actually had spare clothes in my room, but we couldn’t exactly tell anyone that. Jake and Kate were making more popcorn. We were now going to watch Terminator Salvation, because most people hadn’t seen it. I went to the bathroom. When I stepped out, someone grabbed me and pushed me against the wall. At first I thought it was Liam, but then I realised this guy wasn’t tall enough. My heart started to race, the fear building up in my stomach. Mark laughed and crashed his lips to mine, roughly, gripping the sides of my face so I couldn’t move away. I tried to push him away but he wouldn’t budge. He nibbled my lip, asking for entrance, so I clamped my mouth shut and brought my knee up as hard as I could into his groin. He let go of me instantly, bending over, groaning.

“Told ya. That’s twenty bucks you owe me,” I said sweetly, as I stepped past him and made my way back to the lounge with a triumphant smile plastered on my face.

Liam was sitting back down on the couch so I quickly took the seat next to him before anyone else did. “You OK?” he asked, looking at me, smiling.

“Yep,” I replied, popping the p.

He smiled. “What’s so funny?”

I giggled. “Mark,” I answered, grinning. Just then, Mark walked in to the lounge, limping slightly, his hand over his groin, looking like he was in a bit of pain. He threw a twenty dollar bill into my lap and sat down over the other side of the room.

Liam burst out laughing. “That’s my girl,” he whispered, making me smile.

After everyone had left, it was almost midnight. Kate and I went to bed, leaving Liam and Jake in the lounge. I winked at Liam as I went to bed and decided to put on my smallest pyjamas tonight so I could feel his skin on mine. I pulled on my pink short shorts that had purple lace along the trim. I paired it with a skin tight matching pink tank top with a bit of purple lace across the breasts. I looked in my mirror and suddenly got nervous. Maybe I should change, was this giving him the wrong impression? I bit my lip. No, it’s fine, he’d seen me in this before so I’d wear it.

I went back into my bedroom, Kate whistled at me. “Wow, Amber, you should take a little trip to the kitchen and get a glass of water or something. Let Liam have something to dream about,” she suggested, looking me up and down.

Actually, that wasn't a bad idea; otherwise he wouldn’t get to see until the morning. “You think?” I asked nervously. She nodded eagerly, so I decided to do it before I wimped out. “OK,” I agreed, laughing as I opened my door.

“Go on! Give him a thrill.” She waved her enthusiastically when I hesitated at the door.

I took a deep breath and walked confidently down the hallway. The way our house is set out, you have to walk through the lounge to get to the kitchen. I strutted into the lounge in my tiny pyjamas. “Anyone want a drink?” I asked innocently, walking past Jake and Liam who were sat watching the sports channel.

“No thanks,” Jake answered, not even looking at me.

Liam’s eyes snapped to me, his gaze literally followed my every move, his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide. I bit my lip to stop from laughing. Oh yeah, totally worth it!

I grabbed two glasses of water and walked back out through the lounge, with Liam taking off what little clothes I had on, off of me with his eyes. Jake spotted him looking and slapped him around the back of the head. “Dude, stop perving on my little sister! Anyway, you have a girlfriend,” he grumbled, clearly annoyed.

Liam rubbed the back of his head. “Right yeah, girlfriend,” he mumbled, smiling.

I went back to my room, laughing my head off. “That was so funny,” I told Kate, who was sitting up in bed waiting for me.

She started laughing too. “Did he like?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows.