Long distance

Prologue

Amelia’s POV

Depressed and mentally, physically tired will be what to use in describing my mood tonight and I was just rounding up with my night shift.

The night air was humid and a bit warm and I was really regretting my choice of outfit for work, who the hell wears a flannel shirt in summer here?

I looked over and saw my best friend in a corner of the restaurant with her boyfriend all cuddled up, I rolled my eyes at her.

“How are you doing there Amy?” My boss Robbie asked cheerfully as we walked past, into the worker’s lounge that was behind.

I smiled at him,

“I’m doing great Robbie, just trying to close the account for today”.

He gave a wave and disappeared into the lounge.

“Goodnight Amelia", Rosa, my coworker said cheerily as she made her way out of the restaurant.

I was left with Robbie and Emily with her boyfriend now. Not that I minded, I was grateful they were actually here.

My thoughts then wandered to the one person I was trying so hard not to think about today, Liam.

I kept wondering why he hasn’t been at the restaurant for about a week now.

“We are leaving Amy”, my best friend’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I blinked twice, focusing my line of vision properly on her.

“But Jason is not here?” I asked in a questioning tone.

Jason her brother, my teenage crush. The guy I’ve spent most part of my summer trying to learn how to get his attention from Liam.

“He will be here shortly”, Emily shrugged and my eyebrows shot up.

Really?

“Really?” I voiced out my thoughts.

“After ghosting me for a week?”

Emily sighed,

“Look, my brother is a complete jerk I know. But I think he kind of likes you”.

Emily knows about the crush I have on her brother, we often made jokes about it. She actually initiated the idea of him picking me up after work every night when she started dating.

I raised both brows at her.

“He sure knows how to show that”, I replied her sarcastically.

Emily smirked at me.

“Besides I don’t think you are that much into him, if anything? I think he’ll be the one getting hurt at the end of the day. But I’m not going to stop you, please be his karma”.

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath in, because what the hell is she talking about?

“What do you mean?” I asked her and she smirked.

“Girl I know that you are into Liam, have you seen the way you have been fidgety ever since you’ve not seen him this week?”

I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead.

“Doesn’t mean I like him, I’ve liked your brother for a much longer time”.

“That is a crush Amy, a teenage crush and you are still holding on to the fantasy which is what is making you not realize that you don’t actually really like him that much”. Emily said to me all in a rush.

“Look, I’m not trying to discourage you from being with him or anything. If there is anything I want the most, it’s for you to date him and break his heart so he knows what that pain feels like”.

“Why are you so sure that I will break his heart?” I asked her with genuine confusion.

“The heart wants what it wants”, she replied me in a singsong voice and pulled out a fifty dollar bill from her bag, handing it to me.

“Just in case Jason decides to be a jerk for one more night”, she told me and I collected the bill from her, putting it in my pocket.

“You have such great faith in your big brother”, I muttered and she laughed as she walked away, back to her boyfriend.

Few minutes later, both she and her boyfriend were walking out of the restaurant with Emily blowing me a kiss.

I had just wrapped up with balancing the accounts and I went into the workers lounge to grab my bag and other personal stuff.

“You are done for the night?” Robbie my boss asked as I got into the lounge and I smiled at his direction while nodding my head.

“So is your boy going to come pick you up? I noticed that he has not been coming around for the past week”.

“Which one?” I instinctively asked before I could stop myself.

“I was going to talk about the fine gentleman that is always sitting at the corner and demanding that you alone serve him”, Robbie added with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

I groaned mentally.

“So where has he been?” My boss asked and I blew out a breath.

“I wish I knew, they both ghosted me for the week”.

Robbie gave me a look and I waved him off.

“I promise I’m fine, I don’t have anything going on with either of them anyways. Jason is Emily’s brother that just picks me up from work and drop me back home because my mother is such a paranoid woman”.

“And the other man?”

“Liam”, I said in a breath.

Just as his name left my lips, we heard a noise coming from the bells that always rang when someone opens the door to the restaurant.

“You did not close the front door?” Robbie asked and I shut my eyes tight.

‘s**t!’

“Honestly, I thought I did. I guess I’m more tired than I’m admitting”.

I turned to go out back and check who entered the restaurant and tell them that we were closed.

I got out front and froze.

“Who is that? Tell them that we are closed!” Robbie’s voice came yelling from back.

Liam was standing right before me with his hands in his pockets giving me his lopsided smile that I had not realized I missed so much.

“Liam”, I breathed out and his smile widened.

I heard Robbie’s voice again but still did not answer him.

"Hey daisy," Liam answered in one breath like he had been holding it in for long.

I stood in shock for a full sixty seconds before snapping back after hearing sounds come from behind me.

"Amelia?" Robbie's voice came from behind me and I turned to smile at him.

He did not meet my face, he was staring at the person behind me.

"Oh," his voice came quietly and I could almost hear his knowing grin, I rolled my eyes internally.

"Are you done for tonight?" my boss asked me and I nodded at him.

"Okay great, go on ahead. I will lock up tonight."

I gave him a big grin and bounced off to the worker's lounge to get my personal belongings before joining Liam back in front.

"Goodnight Robbie," I yelled while making it out through the front door with Liam following closely behind me.

I had not spoken a word to him since he called me by the pet name he had given me.

I am still angry that he would bail on me, not talk to me for a whole week, we are supposed to be friends! Even if something was going wrong in his life why did he not just let me know?

I was confused and frustrated and angry, most part of me was hurt and I could not understand why, do I really have feelings for him other than that for platonic friendship or am I projecting my feelings for Jason on him.

"Hey hey," I heard Liam said softly behind me before touching my arm and slowly bring me to a halt.

He smiled wryly, "you are going to fast and I was hoping to talk to you for some time first."

I exhaled in a long breath and realized that I'd held in my breath as he touched me and I could feel the electricity that was zapping between us and the butterflies that were threatening to burst out of my stomach at his touch.

I frowned lightly, 'why don't I feel this way with Jason? I've had a crush on him for forever!'

Liam saw my frown and misinterpreted it I guess, because he quickly let go of my arm and returned his hands back to his pocket while rocking up and down on his heels.

I was amused as I finally got a good look at him, he looked nervous.

Liam is never ever nervous, this man is a walking pillar of confidence.

I looked at him again and noticed what he was wearing, a black trouser and a white long sleeve shirt but he had the sleeves folded up and I could see the veins of his hands flex as he continued rocking on his heels, this man is absolutely gorgeous, almost perfection if I may dare.

I sighed, "let's talk."

He gazed at me cautiously.

"I'm sure you are angry at me," he stated in a matter of fact and I nearly lost it.

"Of course I'm mad at you! You stood me up after promising we'd go to the art gallery together. Imagine how stupid I was waiting for you that day, I waited for three hours. Not even a call from you, all my calls kept going to voicemail, for a second I thought that you were probably hurt or something. Thank God for Emily that ran into you the other day, I would have been killing myself with worry meanwhile you would be all over town galavanting with your girl."

The way I said the last part tasted bitter in my mouth and I had to convince myself like I had been convincing myself that I was not jealous, I was only hurt that he did not consider me important but of course, who am I right? This is the CEO of a big tech company and I am just college girl working summer to make things easier for me.

Liam flinched as those words flew out of my mouth and I took a slight step backwards, he noticed and frowned but did not say anything.

"Amelia, I stayed away because I did not want to ruin anything for you," he whispered softly and then took a step towards me with pleading eyes.

"But I am a selfish bastard that can't stay without you and that is why I came here tonight, I can't stay away from you any more."

"What do you mean?" I asked him in a whisper even though part of me already kind of know what he meant.

He smiled sadly and lifted his hand to my face, gently tucking away stray strands from my face.

My face exploded with heat as he did this and my lips parted, releasing a gasp which I'm sure he heard.

"Isn't it obvious? I think I'm in love with you." He stated and I felt like reeling backwards.

How did this happen? he was only supposed to teach me how to get the boy of my dreams while I helped in in building some apps with my knowledge.

How then can someone explain to me that this Adonis god is in love with me, I swallowed hard and looked at him, opening up my mouth to answer him.

"Liam I...." I started before hearing a car coming up towards us.

We both turned our heads to the sound of it and my eyes nearly fell out of their sockets, there he was, driving up towards us.

"Jason," I breathed.

I could feel Liam stiffening up besides me before he sighed softly.

"Of course," he said slowly and I turned to look at him with sorry eyes.

"I'm so sorry Liam," I started to say but he waved me off.

"It's fine really, like I said I was being selfish. You like him."

I nodded at Liam weakly, this is what I wanted right? But why is everything he's saying right now sounding so wrong?

"Call me?" I asked him weakly, only because I know I can't live without his friendship.

Liam smiled tightly and held my gaze for a split second, "he's waiting." He just said while nodding subtly towards Jason's direction.

I smiled sadly and turned away from him, Jason was out of the car now, looking towards our direction with a guarded look.

He cracked and smiled when he saw that I was coming towards his direction, but then I saw the smile grow into tension.

I got to him and opened the passenger door without saying a word to him, I slid in and buckled up.

I looked towards Liam's direction and saw that he had already started walking away.

I want Jason right? But why does this feel like I'm making a mistake?

I turned my attention back to Jason just as he reversed out of the car park and into the traffic.

"You better have a good reason," I simply said and he closed his eyes briefly but quickly opened them to continue his driving.

I turned to catch a last glimpse at Liam and slowly released the breath I was holding.

How did I get to this point again? Let's start the story from the beginning of this long summer.