City Lights, Country Nights

22.his shirt

Liora sat on her bed, her hand sifting through the box of clothes that she had yet to unpack. She was searching for her flannel shirt, which she knew was somewhere in one of these boxes. It would go perfectly with her gray tank top and black leggings.

With a frustrated huff, Liora stood up and walked out of her room to Jackie’s door, certain that some of her boxes must be there.

"Jackie," Liora called as she knocked on the door, but there was no answer. "Jackie! Open up!" she repeated, growing increasingly impatient.

“She's not in there,” Cole's voice interrupted Liora's thoughts as she turned to see him standing in the hallway. "What do you need?" he asked.

Liora shook her head, avoiding eye contact. "Um, I seem to be missing a few boxes of my clothes," she said awkwardly. After the tension from their almost-kiss the other night, she hadn't really spoken to him. "It’s nothing big, just a couple of button-ups I can't find," she added, hoping to downplay the situation.

"I never took you for a flannel girl," Cole remarked, nodding toward his room. Liora looked around before walking over to him.

"I don’t really wear them often, I just sometimes layer them over my tank tops," Liora explained, pausing at her door and meeting his gaze as he walked to a chair in his room and picked up the shirt. "Anyway, where’s Jackie?" she asked.

Cole hummed as he sprayed the shirt with cologne. "She left for a run a little after you came inside, after you did your flips," he said, walking back to her with the shirt in his hand. "Wouldn’t want you to have to change your whole outfit," he added with a smirk.

"Why did you spray it with that?" Liora inquired, looking back up at him as he shrugged. "I don’t remember if I wore that one yet or not," Cole said. Liora's eyes snapped to the shirt. It didn't look dirty, there was nothing on it, and it didn't smell bad either.

"Well, thank you," Liora said, slipping the shirt on and then looking him over, only to pause at his wrist.

"You still have that!" Liora exclaimed, grabbing Cole's hand to look at her scrunchie, which she hadn't seen since the day he took it. "Give it back!" she demanded, but Cole pulled his hand back.

"No," was all he said as he walked past her. Liora followed after him. "It’s only fair I get this," he said. Liora shook her head in disbelief.

“Why? Boys don’t normally wear scrunchies to school,” Liora pointed out, walking quickly to keep up with him and then stopping him.

“Look, you got my shirt and I got this,” Cole retorted. Liora slowly nodded, but the only thing was, Cole's shirt smelled like him, and her scrunchie didn't. Liora pulled out a small perfume bottle from her pocket and sprayed it all over the scrunchie.

“There, then,” Liora said, satisfied, and walked back up the stairs to her room to get her bag, quietly clipping her hair up into a half-up, half-down style.

"Rory!" Jackie called out, running up the stairs and stopping at Liora's door. "Hey, we're about to go," she said. Liora nodded and walked down the stairs with her.

"Oh! Hey, I wanted to ask if you guys want anything for Thanksgiving, like any family dishes you'd like to make?" Katherine inquired. Liora immediately shook her head.

"Yeah, we can get the stuff to make it," George offered. Jackie looked at Liora as she closed her eyes.

"No, we're okay," Liora said as she turned to make her way out the door, but she stopped when George called her name. "We're taking you today," he stated. Liora huffed; the two of them thought it would be a good idea for her and her uncle, along with the school counselor, to talk because Jackie had said something when she was out with them. What? She didn’t know.

"Yeah... I was hoping we could just skip that part?" Liora said, but of course they said no. What could they really do? There were only like, what, two days until break? Why do this now?

"We're leaving in 5," George announced. Liora rolled her eyes as she walked back to the kitchen.

"Good luck," Cole whispered. Liora rolled her eyes.

"Go away," Liora mumbled, crossing her arms as all the other kids walked away.

After a few minutes, the three of them walked out the door and made their way to the school.

When they arrived, Liora reluctantly pulled herself out of the car.

"Really?" George asked as Katherine got out. Of course, she wasn't, she didn't want whatever was about to happen to happen.

"No, no, I'm not," Liora insisted as they walked into the school and to where they were going.

"Hi, please sit!" the counselor said. "We already have your uncle on the phone, Liora," she added.

"Rory?" he said. Liora let out a breath.

"Hi!" Liora said as she sat down between George and Katherine and looked up at her.

"Okay, so we have talked and we agreed that we can find something for her to do," Tara, as Liora believed her name to be, said.

"Something to do?" Liora asked, looking at all of them.

"Yes, I mean with the conflicts with other students in and out of school," Tara explained. Liora closed her eyes in frustration.

"I don’t see why what I do outside of this school with others is any of your business," Liora retorted.

"Rory!" her uncle interjected, making her quiet down. "She will do whatever you have for her to do, won’t you, Rory?" he said. Liora laid her head back in resignation.

"Yeah, I guess so," Liora mumbled.

"Okay then, the holidays are coming up as you know, and we have a town Christmas parade," Tara continued. Liora closed her eyes. "The cheerleaders are in it, and from what your uncle has said, we would like you to create a dance and teach it to them," she said. Liora let out a laugh as she looked at her, but quickly realized she wasn't joking.

"You're not joking," Liora said, looking around with wide eyes. "Oh no, you're all out of your minds!" she exclaimed.

"The cheerleaders' coach already knows, and she’s fine with it," Tara explained. "You just need to hand these packets out and then talk to the coach to set up practice days."

"What good is it going to come out of me making a bunch of preppy..." Liora stopped, not finishing her sentence.

"It could give you a chance to make friends in a new environment, an environment you know very well," Tara said. Liora just looked at her.

"Great," Liora said with a fake smile and got up, grabbing the pamphlets. "You know... haha... I’m going to get right on this, top of my list," she said and walked out.

There was no way she was doing this.