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Liam slides onto the stool, his guitar a comforting weight on his lap as he adjusts his hands.
He takes a deep breath, not really looking at anyone particular in the audience, he never does, mostly they don't pay attention to him anyway, he's just the background music to them while they drink their coffees and catch up with their friends. And they won't notice him today either, not when there are practically hearts wafting through the air and loved up couples inhabit every table in the small café. Not when it's Valentine's Day.
And that's a good thing, Liam figures, because normally he uses this time to test out how certain songs sound, plays around with his voice and instrument until the piece is perfect.
The one he is about to play already is. It has been since he put his pen down after only two hours of writing.
His newest song is raw and real, full of emotions, it doesn't need tuning but it needs to be heard, even if the person who he wrote it for probably never will.
Liam closes his eyes and starts singing.
I probably shouldn't say this
But at times I get so scared
When I think about the previous
Relationship we shared
It was awesome, but we lost it
It's not possible for me not to care
And now we're standing in the rain
But nothing's ever gonna change until you hear
My dear
The seven things I hate about you
The seven things I hate about you
Oh, you
You're vain,
The first thing Liam thought about Theo Raeken was how good he looked. The second thought, that he knew that too.
Oh, and how he knew it.
Theo Raeken, strutting around like he owns all of Beacon Hills, in his leather jacket and too white shoes. With his slicked back hair and obnoxious grin. The confident walk and the way he checks himself out every time he passes a mirror.
But somehow, despite or maybe because all that, he managed to worm his way under Liam's skin.
You're games,
And Theo was really good at getting under people's skins. He was charming and his smile lit up the room and when he directed it at you, you felt like you were the only person in that room.
Only when he stopped smiling at you, the light went out and he left your world a little bit darker than he found it.
Liam knows that, because there was a time where Theo smiled at him.
The problem was, Theo gets bored easily and there is never just one person he gives his attention to.
And so Liam ended it.
He still remembers the shock in Theo's beautiful, sea-glass green eyes when Liam ended his game before the finale.
You're insecure
Because despite the facade Theo put up being a good one - telling everyone who asked (and didn't asked) all about this carefree boy, clever as the devil and twice as pretty, going through his life without worry - it was just that, a facade.
And Liam knows all about those.
But when he told Theo that he could trust him, be real, the boy had laughed in his face.
'You wouldn't like what you see. No one ever does.'
No matter what Liam did, Theo's iron grip wouldn't waver and so one day, he stopped. Because no matter how much you want to, you can't help people when they don't let you in.
Theo was insecure, just like the rest of them, but he was so scared of getting hurt that he chose loneliness over trust.
Liam’s throat chokes up, making his voice more raspy than usual when he comes to the next part.
You love me, you like her
The only person coming close, even trying to understand the boy behind the mask, was Tracy.
Theo's ex-girlfriend.
The one who hurt him so bad that he swore to let no one else ever come close enough to hurt him.
The problem with that is, a knife isn't the only way to get your heart broken. Arrows, shot from the safe distance he himself invoked, do the job just as well.
Liam knows that he had hurt Theo when he ended things between them. Ended them after months of trying to break out the real version, months of promises to not give up.
But there is only so much a human heart can take before it breaks.
Liam felt the cracks forming and couldn't take it.
Theo held on and dealt with the shards.
Every time Tracy called, he would answer.
Fixing her car.
Getting her from a party when she was too wasted to drive.
Studying for her second repeat of the biology final.
All while the splinters of his heart ripped open old wounds when he wouldn't allow them to heal.
Wouldn't allow Liam to heal them.
You made me laugh, you made me cry, I don't know which side to buy
It wasn't always like that, of course not.
They had fun.
Liam smiles when he remembers the day Theo turned up at school after the second period, aviators on his head and a lazy smile on his sun-kissed face.
He had held out a hand to Liam and no words were needed.
They spent the day on the beach, diving there in Theo's truck, with the windows rolled down, the wind touseling Liam's slightly too long hair (Theo said he liked it).
And when he climbed out of the car, late that night and walked up to what he was sure to be at least a month of house arrest, he still couldn't stop smiling at the memory of Theo's saltwater-wet lips on his.
Hours, spent lying on the bed of Theo's truck, making out or just talking about stupid little things, Liam's laugh echoing through the trees of the preserve while Theo smiled at him like he was his whole world.
Hours, spent lying in his bed, tears in his eyes and running over his face (like they are now). Crying because Theo didn't show. Didn't text. Didn't smile at him.
Because he took the light away with him.
Your friends, they're jerks, and when you act like them, just know it hurts
But the last straw were Theo's friends.
Tracy, the ex who still had her claws in Theo.
Josh, the insufferable jock.
And worst of all: Brett, Liam's childhood bully.
Liam never understood how Theo could stand to be near them, but surely, they must have good sides, if they are friends.
Those were the thoughts he had in the beginning, the thoughts that helped him to ignore Tracy's jealousy and Josh's remarks. But it didn't help with Brett. The guy had gotten under Liam's skin since they played Lacrosse together in middle school, he never found out what the tall boy found so annoying about him but even when he tried his best to just stay out of Brett's way, he found opportunities to let out his anger on Liam.
Everything only got worse when Theo started to take an interest in him, making a conscious effort to spend time together - unfortunately that meant Liam, Mason and Corey now shared their table with Theo and his friends and so there never went a lunch break without Brett finding something bad about Liam.
Now, Liam isn't in middle school anymore, he's not a scared, angry kid and so he simply ignored Brett (which seemed to make him only more pissed off though).
The only thing that hurt was Theo's reaction. Or lack thereof.
I wanna be with the one I know
And the seventh thing I hate the most that you do
You make me love you
Liam knew that his relationship with Theo was becoming toxic.
He got irritated when Theo didn't text him, started ditching classes when the other boy suggested it and his grades started to slip.
A vicious cycle, letting him spiral deeper when Theo was gone and faster when he wasn't.
He knew he had to end it, and so he did. But doing the right thing doesn't mean it's not hurting.
By now Liam's eyes are closed, he doesn't need the lyrics sheet in front of him, having stared at the words long enough that they are burned into his brain, and it's the only way he can stop himself from crying.
Liam fights his way through the rest of the chorus but when the last note sounds he is ready to bolt and lock himself into the bathroom. This has been a bad idea. What was he thinking, playing this song in public?
He opens his eyes to check if him stopping raised any suspicious glances, his gaze sliding over the people in the Café, drinking, smiling, talking until… until his world freezes and all he sees is sea-glass green eyes.
There he stands, right next to the entrance, leaning against a wall, eyes not leaving Liam's face.
Theo is here. And he heard everything.
Somehow that realization brings back Liam's strength and he strums his guitar, reviving the song.
Compared to all the great things
That would take too long to write
I probably should mention
The seven that I like
The seven things I like about you
Because yes, there are reasons why Theo is bad for him, but there are also reasons why they could be oh so good. If only...
Your hair,
Liam knows that it's pretty shallow to list this as a feature but, he had thought while writing, everyone who said they didn't care about looks is a fucking liar. And Theo's hair is just so soft. His favorite time is shortly before Theo decides that he needs a cut, when his hair is long enough to really hold onto.
In the color of molten chocolate, slightly lighter in the tips, from all that time spent on the beach and in the sun. The strands are silky smooth under his fingers on the rare occasion that Theo doesn't slick them back with product and Liam loves to play with them.
Your eyes,
Theo had laughed the first time Liam told him that he loved his eyes. 'Liam, they are nothing against yours.' he had said. But Liam couldn't help being fascinated.
He never knows what color Theo's eyes are.
They appear the lightest shade of blue when Theo is laughing, like a fresh spring day sky, and stormy grey when he is angry, fuming with the expected thunderstorm.
Around Liam, they mostly were green and the shade they took just after Theo woke up, sleepily blinking up into his face, quickly became Liam's favourite.
Your old Levi's
Even though Liam and Theo are almost the same size (Theo only stopped making fun of his one inch height advance when Liam had threatened to tell where he had an advance in length instead), their built is different as night and day.
Where Liam is all lithe and wiry muscle, a runner's physique, Theo has the body of a football player.
Bulging biceps, rock-hard abs and deliciously thick thighs.
Liam loves Theo's legs, especially in jeans, he likes how he can see the sheer power when Theo moves.
One day, they were out in the preserve, Theo dropped his phone and bent to pick it up when the old material of his Levi's finally gave up and he split the back of his pants right at the seam.
Liam laughed until he felt lightheaded but he still gave Theo his Hoodie to wear around the hips for the way home.
When we kiss, I'm hypnotized
And then, there were the kisses.
Every time their lips touched it felt like fireworks or butterflies or soaring through the sky like birds. It never was the same, each kiss an adventure on its own as the fire between them never seemed to burn out. Until it did.
You made me laugh, you made me cry, but I guess that's both that I'll have to buy
'In good times and bad times, in sickness and in health.'
Liam never thought he would marry.
He never thought he could meet a person, love a person so much that he wants to spend the rest of his life with them.
But then came Theo.
It was a high-school love.
Burning bright and fast.
But deep inside both boys felt the understanding of forever when they looked each other in the eyes. Of course neither of them said anything, they were young and reckless and afraid.
Now, years after they last saw each other, they are both a little bit older, a little bit wiser, a little less afraid and so Liam looks right into Theo's eyes when he sings the next part.
Your hand in mine when we're intertwined, everything's alright
I wanna be with the one I know
It is the safety of belonging Liam craves. The feeling of home , only found in a person. A person he once upon a time thought to be Theo.
When he took his hand, walking through school with his head held high, nobody could touch them. Everything felt right.
And the seventh thing I like the most that you do
You make me love you
Theo slowly made his way through the café and now that he is standing directly in front of the small podium, Liam can see unshed tears glistering in his eyes.
He carefully smiles and when Theo smiles back, he knows that their song is far from over.