Contrary || l.p.

5. Car Ride

"You're so fucked up," Liam seethed into his phone. "You know damn well that I am tired as fuck. You have no heart, do you?!"

I uncomfortably gripped the steering wheel as Liam shouted at Zayn on the other line. I could hear him laughing hysterically through the small buzz of the cellphone line, which made me pray for his life.

Liam moved the phone from his ear. "Turn left here," he said to me and returned the device to his ear. "STOP LAUGHING YOU ASSHAT PIECE OF SHIT!"

I held back a small laugh and turned left, following hus directions.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," he mumbled. "Just know that when I see you, I'll murder you!" Before Zayn could possibly even talk, Liam hung up the phone.

I let out the breath I was holding in and relaxed. "You okay?"

He scoffed. "Is that really a question?"

I let out a small laugh. "You're really tired I guess," I said, trying to lighten the mood a little. "What has been keeping you up?"

"Homework, studying," he answered, "the usual thing that keeps a senior awake these days."

"Tell me about it," I agreed, rolling my eyes. Though I was a bit surprised that he would be the kind of person who studies.

"Keep going straight, then turn right," he instructed as he leaned his head on his fist.

Then, silence.

It was the kind that you wanted to say something, but you just couldn't find words to say. I desperately wanted to start a conversation, but I just did not know what to tell him, nor did I know what kinds of things to talk about that wouldn't piss him off.

I quickly glanced at him, and he was awkwardly twiddling his thumbs.

I cleared my throat. "So..." I began,"are you sure you don't have a favorite author?" I asked, trying to start a decent conversation with him. It's been a few days, and I just really wanted to have a good conversation like the one we last had about dance, except this time, it's about books.

He looked at me. "I already told you, Jess. I don't have one."

"I doubt it," I mumbled. "I think you're just embarassed," I joked with a smile.

He huffed. "Are we really having this conversation again?"

"You don't have to be embarassed to tell me," I said. "You can trust me."

"What makes you think this is about trust?" he asked, rubbing his temples.

I shrugged. "Whenever someone gets overly defensive about something, they tend to be hiding some sort of truth. When they hide the truth from someone, they don't trust them."

"This is not about trust," he repeated.

"Sounds a lot like it. Why do you have so many walls up?"

"I don't like talking about it-"

"Hey, I'm just trying to get to know you."

"You are asking personal questions."

"I asked about your favorite author. Not about your life," I argued.

"You're fucking annyoing," he mumbled.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "No, Liam. That's you," I replied just as icily. I shook off my attiude, knowing that this was not the best time to be losing my temper. "It's not a bad thing to let someone in once in a while, you know? I know you have walls up, but someone has got to knock the down, right? I may not be Harry, Niall, Louis, or even Zayn, but I'm still someone who happens to care about you and wants to get to know you, alright?"