“I forgot it’s Terri’s birthday tomorrow, and I have no idea what to get her!” he cried desperately, running his hands through his hair roughly, confirming my earlier suspicions about the style.

“Calm down, you’ve still got time. Now, what sort of thing does she like?” I asked, thinking about Terri and all the things I knew about her.

“I wanted to get her something she could keep, but I don’t know what….” He closed his eyes, obviously panicking.

“Sean, calm down. How about some pretty earrings? She likes studs, right? You could also get her a new jewellery box or something to put them in,” I suggested.

His face brightened. “Yeah! She has this like old crappy jewellery box at the moment. That’s a great idea! Oh God thank you, Amber. I owe you big time! I’m gonna skip this morning so I can go get it,” he said, smiling excitedly and running off, shouting bye over his shoulder. I walked back to the school and noticed that there was hardly anyone around.

Holy crap, am I late? I started to run down the hallway; I could see Liam and a couple of his friends walking towards me.

“Slow down, Angel, you’ll fall,” Liam shouted, smirking at me as I half ran, half walked towards him. As I passed him, he stuck his foot out tripping me up, but before I hit the floor he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, and pulled me upright. “Jeez, Angel, I know I’m hot, but you don’t need to fall at my feet,” he teased, making all his friends laugh. I slapped him hard on the chest, glaring at him. “Oh I like it a bit rough, Angel, you know that,” he said, smiling wickedly. He still hadn’t let go of my waist, he stepped forward and pressed his body against mine, his hands slipped down to my ass. “Mmm nice,” he purred in my ear.

I hated being touched; it brought back memories of my Father. I gasped, and before I could even think about what I was doing, I jerked my leg up and kneed him in the balls. He grunted and let go quickly, bending in half and clutching his groin.

“Keep your f**king hands off me!” I shouted, trying not to cry. I was struggling to breathe and my hands were shaking.

I turned to run away but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him. “Angel, I was only joking around, you know I’d never hurt you,” he moaned. His voice cracked slightly, it sounded like he was in pain.

He looked straight into my eyes; I could see the honesty in his deep blue watery eyes. He pulled me into a hug and put his lips to my neck, just where it joined my shoulder and breathed deeply through his nose, sending his hot breath blowing down my neck and back. This is what he always did to calm me down, when I would sob on his shoulder; this was the only thing that seemed to work. I could feel his heart beating fast against my chest, so I focused on matching my breathing to the pace of his. I breathed in his smell until I had calmed myself down. I pulled back and he was just looking at me, sorrow clear across his face.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, Angel, I didn’t think,” he said apologetically.

I nodded and sniffed, wiping my face on my sleeve. “I’m sorry too. Did I hurt you?” I asked, wincing at the thought of how hard I had kneed him.

He shrugged. “I’m OK, it was my fault,” he replied, bending to look into my eyes again. I looked away quickly, feeling uncomfortable. I had a feeling that when Liam looked into my eyes, he could see the real me, the one I tried to hide from everyone, the scared little girl that doesn’t like people to touch her because it brought back memories of those Sundays and my father leading me over to the couch, guiding me to sit on his lap. When people touched me, even girls, my heart went into overdrive and I always start to feel sick. The only exceptions to this are my mom, Jake and Liam. This was the exact reason that I didn’t date. The thought of someone touching me or kissing me, made my skin crawl.

I looked away from him and noticed that he had a big wet patch on his shoulder where I had been crying. I wiped it, frowning. “I ruined your shirt.”

“I’ve got others, Angel, don’t worry,” he replied with an easy smile, it wasn’t a smirk that he gave other people, it was a genuine smile, the ones I usually only get at night or when no one was around.

I looked around and realised we were alone in the hallway; I gasped in shock. “Where?” I muttered, looking up and down the hallway desperately.

“They went to class,” he answered. “Come on, there’s no point going in late, so let’s go get a drink or something.” He pulled me by the hand to the parking lot, towards his car.

“Liam, what? I can’t skip class!” I cried, glancing around quickly to see if anyone noticed two students just waltzing out of the school.

He laughed. “Come on, Angel, one class won’t hurt. You’re already ten minutes late for it anyway.” He opened the passenger door and gestured for me to get in.

I sighed and reluctantly climbed in. I didn’t really mind spending time with Liam but it just depended which Liam would be here with me, the night or the day one. Night Liam was considerate, loving and thoughtful. Day Liam was a flirt, slut and a jerk. However, both night and day Liam’s made me feel safe and protected. I turned to look at him while he was driving; he had a small smile on his face.

“What’s up with you?” I asked, a bit concerned this was going to turn into some sort of joke that would end badly for me or embarrass me.

“What do you mean? I can’t be happy that we’re spending some time together?” he asked, giving me a flirty wink. I rolled my eyes and groaned. Great, an hour with daytime Liam is my worst nightmare.

I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going so I was surprised when we pulled into the parking lot for the ice rink. He grinned and got out; I followed him with a frown. “What are we doing here?” I asked as he grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. Maybe they had a good café inside or something, that was the only reason I could think of for him to bring me here.

He ignored my question. “Hi, two please,” he said to the lady behind the counter, handing over the money. I gasped; we were actually going to skate? I’d been skating a few times in my life but I was completely terrible at it.

“You need skate hire?” the lady asked with a friendly grin while her eyes roamed over Liam’s body discreetly.

“Yeah, an eleven and a five please,” he replied, winking at me. I frowned as he spoke, wondering how on earth he knew my shoe size.

She passed him two sets of skates and he grinned again, grabbing my hand and dragging me to the benches. I noticed that the lady didn’t stop watching Liam as he walked away, and she actually licked her lips at his ass. I laughed and rolled my eyes at her, which made her blush and look away.

“What’s so funny?” Liam asked, looking at me weirdly.

“You’ve got another fan,” I stated, nodding my head towards the woman. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?” I teased with a small smile.

“Don’t worry, I’m not interested in her,” he replied, looking at me as if trying to tell me something.

“Worried? Liam, I wasn’t worried,” I scoffed, as I rolled my eyes.

We changed into our skates and walked towards the ice. There was no one else on there, probably because it was only just after nine in the morning. “Why are we doing this? You know I can’t skate.” I winced, looking at the ice, starting to panic.

He laughed and pulled me onto the ice. “I know, I remember. Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” Liam and my brother played Ice hockey for the school; Jake was the goal keeper and Liam the striker. They had both been skating for years, but I had never been able to do it. I loved to watch people skate and always wished I could learn, but I literally couldn’t stand up. He grabbed both of my hands as I slipped and slid all over the place. He was skating backwards, facing me. “You’re bending your ankles in slightly, Angel. Try to keep them straight, that’s why you have no control,” he said, looking at my feet.

I stood straighter and felt my feet slide out from under me; instantly, he grabbed me around the waist and leant backwards so that we both fell and I landed on top of him, his body breaking my fall. He chuckled under me; I pushed myself up to my knees so I was straddling him, then sat down next to him. I couldn’t stand up so I waited for him to get up first.

“OK, attempt number two.” He smiled, pulling me to my feet easily. “Stand up straight and keep your feet still, I’ll pull you around until you can get your balance.” He kicked at my skates gently, nudging them to get them closer together as he gripped my hands tightly.

I managed to stay on my feet for a while before losing my balance. Again, he grabbed me around the waist and leant back so that I fell on top of him. “Why do you keep doing that?” I asked, pushing myself into a sitting position again. I could feel the ice starting to wet the back of my jeans, making me shiver.

“Doing what?” he asked, looking at me with a confused expression.

“Every time I start to fall, you make yourself fall backwards so I land on top of you. You’re going to hurt yourself,” I explained, frowning.

He shrugged. “Rather me than you,” he mumbled under his breath, pulling me to my feet again. I just stared at him, shocked. Did he just say that? Maybe I heard him wrong. “You’re getting better; you lasted at least a minute that last time,” he teased with his trademark smirk.

OK, that’s more like the Liam I know, I just heard him wrong that’s all. “Ha ha. Well a minute is good for me. You know I can’t do this,” I grumbled, instantly falling again. He managed to just hold me up this time by grabbing my hips, pressing our bodies together and lifting me up off the ice so I could get my footing back from scratch. I felt my heart start to beat faster, but it wasn’t because of the usual fear of someone touching me, it was something else that I couldn’t understand. I blushed and looked away as he set me back on my feet.

“Why are you blushing?” he asked, frowning at me but looking amused at the same time.