Just Friends?...

"D-do you mind if I vent... for a bit?".

He shakes his head. "By all means, go ahead..." he replies.

I take in a deep breath, in an attempt to begin talking, but all I do is let out a deep sigh. I rarely vent to anyone, and every time I do, I feel... horrible, for some odd reason.

I look up at him as I see him looking at me, giving me that look that he, genuinely, wants to listen to what I have to say. It was always like that, Liam would always hear me out. Needless to say, I don't know where I would be without him.

He tilts his head ever so slightly as he manages not to break our eye contact.

"You know you can tell me anything and everything that is bothering you..." He begins, but I notice a small smile grow on his lips, "except if that 'thing' bothering you is me..." he adds, to which I chuckle.

"You?..." I question. "You can never bother me. You are like a... therapist of some sort. My therapist. You give me a shoulder to lie on, or even cry, whenever I feel down... Or you can brighten my day very easily with everything you say..." I add.

"Your words are at times way too kind..." He replies with a smile continuously growing on his lips.

"Coming from a person who really has a good way with words, I'll take that as a compliment..." I say, to which we both break into small giggles.

Then silence descends amongst us, just for it to be broken a couple of seconds later. "Take a deep breath and tell me what it is that is bugging you..." he says in a gentle tone. No impatience is present in his voice to speed me up.

I do as I was told and I take another deep breath before I try to speak again.

I look up at him and see him, again, looking at me.

"I... I feel... Angered... I feel like I have lost my patience... And I feel like I have taken too much of people's crap..." I confess. I gulp before taking a leap of faith. There is still one more thing that is bothering me the most. I am crushing on someone, but I don't know if they feel the same way about me...

I turn and face Liam, he is looking at his hands, but it's evident that he is still listening to me. "But also... I'm hurting..." I say. Something in me flutters when I see his reaction. He immediately lifts his gaze up to me and my face.

"Did somebody hurt you?..." He asks I sense the worry in his voice.

"No... No... If anything, I hurt myself..." I say, but the gaze he's giving me makes me look over my words. Seconds take for the realization to kick in. "No, not in that way, I'm not hurting myself physically... I... I just..." I begin, but a sigh interrupts me.

"I like someone... And I am scared that they might not like me the same way back. My head tells me that they don't like me... That they would never go out with me and all of those types of things..." I admit to him.

"Now... for the anger and the crap that people show... I'll recommend you to run it out, or use the energy into like... writing, or cooking or, as I say a second ago, running." He begins. "But... you have a crush on someone???..." He asks in pure surprise. I see a small smile grow on his face. "Who is it?... Is it a guy or a gal?".

"It's a guy..." I say, but I feel heat spread across my cheeks.

"Is this guy someone I know?" He asks, raising a brow.

"Well... I'd be both surprised and kinda concerned if you didn't..." I reply, feeling both excitements, that I am getting a chance to talk about this topic, but also fear, that I may be revealing a bit too much.

"Do you mind me asking who this person is?..." He asks and instantly I feel a burning sensation in the pit of my stomach. 'Oh no...' my mind says. 'But maybe it's for the better...' my mind adds seconds later. "But of course only if you feel comfortable saying who it is," he adds.

"Oh, I do, I do..." I say, subconsciously, but begin mentally slapping myself a second later.

"Okay, who's it then?" Liam asks a teasing smirk stretched across his lips.

I swallow whatever is in my mouth. I guess Liam sensed my unease when his smirk dropped ever so slightly.

"Promise me you are not going to be mad... Okay?" I say.

He lifts a brow.

"Jess... Who is this guy that you like???" He ignores my question, all that I see now is worry on his face.

"Promise me that you are not going to get mad at me, please..." I say.

"Fine, I won't. Just tell me, who is this guy?" He asks I sense slight anger in his voice.

I take a deep breath, my breath hitches.

"You...".