Liam stammers. It’s a very rare sight.
“You’re going to sell your meal tickets to pay Leda back.”
“Well, that’s true, but…….”
“And it’s even football regular season, so I can’t just stand by and watch you eating only chocolate bars for lunch.”
I stretched my right hand upward to cup Liam’s cheek, meaning I would omit any further words. Then I stroked the surface a few times with my thumb. Liam looked at me with a slightly sheepish expression, then whispered in my ear on the way out after buying Ted’s suit with the money borrowed from Leda.
“……Look forward to it.”
“To what?”
“Just look forward to it.”
Liam said these cryptic words and spent the rest of the evening with a face that looked too happy throughout the entire date. Then, just before we parted, he told me that since he couldn’t bring his mother to the homecoming party, he had asked Ted to come instead.
“It’s a given fact that I’ll be chosen as this year’s homecoming king, and Leda will probably be chosen as queen, right? She’ll be in the parade with her dad, won’t she? It would be a little lonely if I were alone then. So I asked him. I was skeptical even as I asked since Ted really hates being in the spotlight, but surprisingly he was incredibly happy about it. I was shocked. That’s exactly why I bought Ted’s suit today. I’m going to wear what I wore last year. There will be people who’ll tease me about looking poor or whatever……. I don’t care. I just wish I could stand next to you in better clothes, but that’s the only thing I regret.”
“But I don’t even remember what you wore to last year’s homecoming, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Ahaha! Well, that makes sense. I remember vividly what you wore that day, but it can’t be helped. Until then, it was purely my one-sided crush.”
Liam vividly described what I wore to last year’s homecoming as if he’d seen it just yesterday, and even correctly guessed that my partner that day was Sophia.
“I also saw you and Sophia dancing in a corner of the ballroom that day, and I was so envious of Sophia. But…… this year, this clumsy dancer is mine!”
“……You even remember that I’m terrible at dancing.”
“That’s one of the things I remember most vividly.”
“I should wear the suit I wore last year too.”
When I said it was perfect timing since I had strong doubts about having to buy a new suit anyway, Liam expressed his intention to actively support my opinion.
“The trend of buying new clothes when you have clothes you only wore once last year is definitely wasteful.”
“Exactly.”
“Besides, I wanted to see you in that suit again because you looked cute in it last year. Anyway, I’m going to do the homecoming proposal. I’ll prepare the boutonniere too.”
At Liam’s greedy declaration, I begged him to let me handle at least one task, saying I could make the boutonniere myself.
“You’ll make the boutonniere yourself?”
“I…… may not be able to dance, but I’m not bad with my hands.”
Why did I say such nonsense? After buying two DIY boutonniere kits and returning home, I regretted it over and over again while making them with my clumsy skills.
* * *
On the day of homecoming. While standing in front of the car holding the boutonniere and waiting for Liam in a needlessly nervous state, a football suddenly flew gently from somewhere, so I caught it and held it without thinking. On the surface of the messily decorated football was written:
‘The person who catches this ball must go to the homecoming party with Liam Blake.’
I stared blankly at the ball in my arms, then lifted my head and looked around, and soon I could see Liam, looking much more dashing than usual, running toward me.
“You caught it?”
Liam asked with a fresh smile as he looked at me.
“I caught it.”
“Your answer?”
“Of course…….”
I stopped mid-sentence and pinned the boutonniere—which I had barely completed after staying up for several nights but was still sloppily made—onto Liam’s suit jacket. Liam didn’t spare his praise, saying the boutonniere was pretty, and promised to cherish this item even after homecoming ended since I had made it myself. For a moment, I thought I was glad I had made the boutonniere.
* * *
This year’s prom king and queen were decided without incident to be Liam and Leda. The two received their crowns from last year’s king and queen, had a coronation ceremony, and enjoyed the honor of parading around the football field, but unlike Liam who was smiling throughout the event, Leda didn’t look happy at all. Was she perhaps sad that Sophia came to the party with Virgil?
Despite Liam’s insistence that he stay at school a little longer, Ted disappeared in a hurry as soon as his role was over. Liam said it was a miracle that he had come to today’s event at all, then went to see off Leda, who said she was leaving because she wasn’t feeling well. Then he suggested to me that he wasn’t feeling well either, so let’s leave this place soon. Looking perfectly fine to anyone’s eyes.
“……Alright, let’s go.”
I accepted Liam’s signal to go somewhere where only the two of us could be together, accepted the proposal, and drove to the place he led me to. The place Liam guided me to was a forest not far from his trailer, and there we turned on the car lights and danced to music flowing from a smartphone. Liam laughed holding his stomach at my clumsy steps, then said he was sorry for laughing too much, put the crown he’d been wearing on me, and pretended to drape a cloak over my shoulders—then pulled me in with it and kissed me. I danced with him while stepping on his feet several times, kissed again when our eyes met under the moonlight, and enjoyed a party just for the two of us with Liam, losing track of how much time passed.
* * *
One day, while eating lunch with Charlotte and Liam, I had no choice but to nod when Charlotte asked if many things around us had changed.
“Nathan has been busy following Juliet around ever since things worked out with her, and Sophia…… since there are so many uncomfortable people, she only wants to hang out with Virgil.”
Charlotte looked directly at Liam when she mentioned ‘uncomfortable people,’ and Liam seemed embarrassed by it and put down what he was eating for a moment without even making eye contact with Charlotte.
“I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty. That’s between you and Sophia anyway, not between me and you, right? Anyway, it’s uncomfortable these days. Everyone’s split into different groups, so when I hang out with Alice, I can only hang out with her, and when I hang out with Sophia, I have to exclude Leda, Alice, or Liam, and when I hang out with Leda……. No, actually, she doesn’t want to meet with anyone these days.”
Charlotte’s complexion was very dark when talking about Leda. Liam predicted that Leda’s depression would continue for a while.
“I heard this audition didn’t go well either, but it’s a shame I can’t really be of any help as a friend.”
“……Well, she doesn’t always have to get the lead role, does she?”
Having heard the story from somewhere and appeared, Alice asked in a somewhat prickly voice.
“By the way, I’m a little hurt. I’m the lead this time, but you only feel sorry for Leda who didn’t get the role and don’t want to congratulate me? Huh? Charlotte. Am I not your friend?”
“That’s not it, but……. You know, Leda these days is really…….”
“It’s her own doing. Where in the world does anyone follow their friend on a date and ruin it?”
Alice seemed to have prepared tremendously, coaching Virgil on his date leading up to that day. She grumbled that Leda had ruined everything she had prepared, and revealed that she herself was in a situation where things weren’t working out as much as Leda.
“Look, first of all, you’re feeling sorry for Leda rather than congratulating me, and here Tchaikovsky is…… I warned him so much, but he’s still eating lunch with him. Even sharing food.”
The ‘him’ Alice pointed to with a displeased hand gesture was Liam. Liam said very sarcastically that he was sorry for existing, then started eating again the food he had put down earlier.
“You’re really a son of a bitch. Look what happened to me. For a brief moment, I liked trash like that and even fought with my friend.”
“Right, and speaking of which, Olivia is eating lunch alone over there.”
Liam pointed to Olivia eating lunch alone in the distance and told Alice. Alice hesitated but ultimately couldn’t approach Olivia, and unable to bear watching this, Liam shouted toward Olivia.
“Hey, witch hag!”
There’s no place as noisy as the plaza during lunchtime, but Liam’s shout was loud and powerful enough to overwhelm all the noise there. Perhaps embarrassed that Liam was calling her by her childhood nickname, Olivia’s face turned red and she ran over in one dash and started kicking Liam.
“I told you not to acknowledge me! Are your ears attached to your asshole, you bed-wetter?”
“I just don’t listen to what you say.”
Recently at school, we’ve been able to see Liam and Olivia interacting quite frequently. The show usually starts with Liam calling Olivia “witch hag” and Olivia cursing at him huffily, and watching these two is quite entertaining.
Actually, while the two’s comedy show is fun, it’s also a bit envious. Because I stick with Liam, I’ve naturally grown distant from Sophia, who used to exchange banter like that quite often.
“I don’t have time to mess around with you right now. I’m…….”
“What, busy eating lunch alone?”
“That’s not it!”
Olivia pushed away the fooling-around Liam and walked briskly to one side of the plaza. There, Sophia and Virgil were eating lunch together, and when Olivia appeared, the two looked at her with tense faces.
“Here.”
Very unexpectedly, Olivia took off the bracelet she was wearing and gave it to Sophia.
