City Lights, Country Nights

26.It's not something, but it's not nothing

Liora sat in her room, her eyes moving across the laptop screen at the detailed layout. "What are you going to tell them to get out of it?" Jackie asked as Liora's eyes closed, reclining on her bed.

"I'll probably say that I'm working or helping you with deliveries," Liora replied, knowing that Will wasn't going to let her work, so she found an alternative excuse. "I'll just say I'm helping you," she added.

"Do you feel a little guilty about this?" Jackie inquired. Liora shook her head as she looked at her. "No, because we agreed we didn't want to do anything," Liora explained, closing the laptop and getting up. "I don't want to do anything holiday-related," she asserted. Jackie nodded in understanding.

"I'm going to change, and then we can go," Liora informed Jackie, who nodded in agreement before walking out. Liora quickly changed into a hoodie and blue jeans, throwing her hair up before following after her.

"I have to make a food delivery," she heard Jackie say as she walked down the stairs and stopped next to her. Katherine's eyes moved over to Liora's and gave her a small smile.

"I have some work to do," Liora said, looking down. "And I'm going to help Jackie, so I don't know what time we are going to be back."

"So whatever is left over will be fine with us," Jackie added. Liora nodded along as she turned to quickly walk out the door.

"That didn't go too bad," Jackie said. Liora shook her head.

"I mean, they can't really force us to celebrate the holidays when we don't want to," Liora said as they walked. "The only thing is, how are we going to get out of Christmas?" she asked, which made Jackie groan.

"I'm sure you can figure something out for the both of us," Jackie said. Liora nodded and let out a huff of cold air as they walked off. Liora stood next to Jackie, her hands in her pockets, as Erin pulled up. "You can sit in the front," she said, making Liora move her head over to her.

"You can talk about your dance or something so it's not awkward," Jackie suggested as Liora rolled her eyes and got in.

"Liora," Erin said, not looking at her.

"Erin," Liora said back, glaring at her from the corner of her eyes as she started driving. Liora didn't say another word, that was until Jackie hit the back of her seat, making her shoot her sister a glare.

"So, have you done anything for the dance?" Erin asked, Liora, keeping her eyes ahead nodded. "Well, what is it?" she asked. Liora closed her eyes.

"It's going to be on a very cold day, so I thought that we do groups," Liora said, looking at her lazily. "There are going to be three stops. Each stop is about two to two and a half minutes long. We'll do three groups of five; each dance will be about a minute and thirty seconds long. The first group will walk to the beginning of their dance spot, dance, and then switch with group two, and repeat so everyone is not standing in the cold for too long," she explained. Erin nodded.

"Not bad," Erin said, as if Liora hadn't been doing this her whole life.

"We're here," Jackie said as Erin stopped the car. Jackie was the first one out, and Liora went to follow but was stopped.

"Hey," Erin said, making Liora look back at her. "What's going on between you and Cole?" she asked. Liora shut her door, took a breath, and let out a breathless laugh before looking at her.

"You thought it would be a good idea to talk about this now?" Liora asked, looking down. "Look, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what you want me to say."

"The truth," Erin said back. Liora huffed.

"The truth?" Liora snapped, her eyes locking with Erin's. "Why do you expect people to tell you the truth when you can't even say what you and Cole are?" There was a small silence.

"Me and Cole have known each other forever," Erin said, looking at her. "It's not something, but it's not nothing. It's complicated." That made Liora's heart sink. Did Cole lie to her? Were him and Erin still a thing?

"I... why does everything have to be complicated?" Liora mumbled. "Erin, I get that you and Cole have a history, and I don't think anyone should have to be someone's plaything or side girl," she said, the conversation sounding all too familiar to Liora.

"You're a pretty girl, Erin, and smart, and the more I think about it, you really remind me of my sister, Lucy," Liora said. Erin looked confused and taken aback.

"What?" Erin asked.

"Me and my sister had a good relationship, and I loved her," Liora said, nodding. "We were more alike than we would like to admit, and it made us close, but we constantly butted heads. I was a terror before they were gone, and I know that, but she... She was not one to take my nonsense, and in a way, I think it calmed me down when she was there. I wasn't like this before," she explained.

Liora didn't know why she was telling her this.

"Playful mean is how we were, and after everything was said, we would go back to like nothing happened. And I find it easy to be that way to you because you do the same thing she did," Liora said, looking up at Erin. "I can't answer your question because I don't know what's happening in my life right now, much less with a boy." Erin slowly nodded as Liora get out of the car.

"Are you okay?" Jackie asked. Liora nodded. "That was a touching talk, Rory," she said, lightly hitting her arm as they walked to the back of the car.

"Do I really remind you of your sister?" Erin said, looking at Jackie, then to Liora, who both nodded.

"You two really remind me of her," Jackie said. "And she's right. I know a hundred guys that would fight to the death to be your boyfriend, Erin, Rory here might just know two hundred, maybe more," she said, making Liora's eyes widen.

"Jackie!" Liora said and shook her head.

"You have a lot of boyfriends in New York?" Erin asked.

"No, I had the normal amount," Liora said, grabbing some bags. "She's talking about my dance team, but we were more like family than friends," she explained.

"Okay, now let's get this stuff delivered," Jackie said as they closed the door.