Apartment Tours: The Living Room

“Jesus, what the fuck took you so–” Zoey began, but was promptly cut off by Liam pushing past her and striding into her penthouse apartment it was his place and he owned the world. That was life with Liam, she supposed. “–Long… Ooh-kay, then?” She pushed the door closed, dark oak slamming against dark oak before she disappeared after him, down the corridor, past her collection of expensive electric guitars that she had hanging on the wall in the hallway, and right into her living room. 

The furniture and flooring — much like her front door — was made from oak. Dark, rich oak, and none of that Hunger Games mahogany stuff that everyone had been making references about since the dumb movie had come out a couple of years back. For the rich kids at Dumort, it had been one of their latest fads, and slipping through the Residency Halls at the university, Zoey couldn’t help but sigh at them in pity. Sheep, they were, and wolves ate sheep for breakfast. 

“You know how it works, Pearson.” Zoey said, taking a seat on the arm of her plush couch and extending her hand towards him. Her head nodded towards the outline of his wallet in his left jeans pocket. “Money first, drugs–”

“–After. Yeah, I know.” He finished for her, reaching into his pocket with one hand while keeping the other practically glued to his waist. It took a certain amount of one-handed diffing before he managed to dig out some cash and hand it over to her. Her mouth opened to thank him, but she was cut off for the second time that evening. “I was thinking about our conversation last night,” he spoke, taking a step back and peering over his shoulder as his jeans brushed against the side of the coffee table. An audible groan left her lips when he moved back even further and knocked over the guitar that she had carefully leaned against the side. 

“Oh, yeah?” She queried, taking the money from him and running a thumb over the edges, making a mental count of exactly how much he had given her. It took a while before she finally looked back up at Liam — math had never been her strong point — and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw that he was staring right at her. They had always send a shiver down his her spine because they were so damn blue. Almost electric. She shook her head and shifted her concentration back towards the conversation they were having, shamelessly tucking the wad of paper into her bra. “What else is there left to think about? You made things seem incredibly clear when the conversation was being had at the time.”

“Scout’s not ruining my life.” His sentence confused her hazy mind. Eyed narrowed and a puzzled expression settled over her striking features before she burst into abrupt laughter. It began in the back of her throat and rumbled out of her mouth. Soon, she was falling sideways into the couch cushions and clutching at her sides as the familiar twinge ached below her ribs, and with every glance at his face, she laughed even more. 

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” She burst out, sitting up again and crossing her legs as she grinned at him. Liam on the other hand, wasn’t finding the hilarity in their current situation, and he made it clear as he stepped closer to her, grabbing at roughly at her chin and taking her smile away.

“Have you smoked yourself stupid, little girl? I said she’s not ruining my life.” Then she understood, and suddenly nothing was funny anymore. Zoey shoved him away with the strength of ten wolves, causing him to stumble back into her fallen guitar, over the varnished coffee table and stopping short of her flat-screen TV as he landed on his ass. 

“You’re crazy, you insane, psychopathic freak.” His blue gaze turned to icy glares that were pointed in her direction, and as he slowly got to his feet she began to realise just how trapped she was. Behind the couch was a wall of glass that separated the living room from the smallest of the two dining rooms. Beyond that was her bedroom and other such bores. This right here was the largest and most open room there was in the entire apartment. There was nowhere else for her to go and Liam looked like the very definition of the word ‘danger’. She didn’t like it. No one that was sane would like the look that he was giving her, not to say that she was anywhere near sane.

Then out of the corner of her eye, she caught the glimmer of something shiny that glinted under the lights.

Zoey looked up at her best friend.

He looked back at her.

She didn’t want to remember what happened next.