(Liam's POV)
Liam had not slept well after what happened in his room.
The kiss had stayed with him, warm and close under his skin. He had not meant for it to happen. He had only stepped out of the shower with towel still damp around his shoulders, and there she was, Elena, standing like she owned the place. He should have told her to leave. He should have pulled away the second her eyes widened and her lips parted. But he didn't. He bent down and tasted her, just once, before the world fell away with the sound of his brother's booming voice calling them for dinner.
It had been a short kiss, clumsy even, but it had left him wide awake and unable to rest. He could still feel the softness of her lips, the way she had looked at him, as if she had been waiting for him there all her life. It made his chest clench and his head spin. He kept telling himself it had been a mistake, but he knew it had not.
He went to one of his part-time jobs the next day, at the auto shop. Grease and wrenches were a relief. Dealing with Elena would not be. The smell of oil and smoke, the clink of wrenches against metal, cleared his mind. He worked hard, wiping his hands on a rag and bending underneath a hood, pushing her out of his head as much as he could. He kept telling himself she would not come. Elena belonged in a world of starched uniforms, silk ribbons, and shiny shoes. She had no reason to cross over to his world of cracked cement and grease-stained rags.
He told himself she would not do it.
He looked up and she was standing at the entrance, the sun behind her like a halo, lunch bag in her hands. His stomach dropped.
"Elena," he mumbled, straightening up too quickly and nearly bumping his head on the hood of the car.
She smiled at him as if it were the most normal thing in the world for her to be here. "I made you lunch."
The other workers saw her right away. They froze, wiping the sweat off their foreheads, nudging each other, whispering and staring. Elena walked inside, same way she did everywhere else, graceful and as out of place in the grease and dirt as she could possibly be, but she did not look like she cared. She came right up to him, completely ignoring the stares of the others.
"You don't have to." He scrubbed his hands on a rag, voice rough, trying not to show how shaken up he was.
"I wanted to." She simply answered. She put the bag on the workbench and opened it, neatly packed food in it. Sandwiches and fruit, a small container of soup.
The men groaned low, impressed. One of them, a tall guy named Ray, laughed. "Dunno you had someone like her running after you, Liam."
Liam's jaw clenched. He wanted to tell them to shut the fuck up, but before he could, Elena was already speaking.
"I'm not someone," she said, and her voice was calm, but her words were loud enough for everyone to hear. "I'm his girlfriend."
The shop went quiet. Every head turned. Liam could hear his own heart pound in his chest as the words hit like a brick.
He first wanted to run. She had said it so recklessly, without fear of their reaction, without caring if they laughed or didn't believe her. He looked at her, eyes wide, but she returned his gaze, straight on, as if daring him to argue.
His mind reeled. He could not believe she had said it. She had taken something private and complicated and confusing, something he had not even sorted out in his own head, and had tossed it out for everyone to see. His chest flared with anger, but underneath that was something else he did not want to think about, something that was way too close to pride.
Ray cleared his throat. His laugh came again. "Girlfriend? Her? You're fucking with me, right? Liam. Since when do rich bitches run after guys like us?"
"Yeah," another worker said. "You and her are way out of my league, man."
The words made Liam's hands curl into fists. He hated how they looked at her, like she was a prize too big for him. He hated how they could question him, like it was not possible for Elena to be with him. But he also could not deny a small part of him, a dark, satisfied tingle in the pit of his stomach at the fact that she had said it herself. Right here. In front of everyone.
Elena did not move. She just looked at the men, still and quiet, almost daring them to say something. "Believe it or not, it don't matter. I'm with him," she said, and her voice did not shake. She kept looking at them like they could say something they would not be immediately sorry for.
Liam could see the whispers start again. The smirks, the disbelief. His ears burned and he wanted to grab her hand and drag her outside, tell her not to talk so carelessly, so loud. But a dark satisfaction also twisted through him, something he did not want to think about. She had chosen him. She had said it. Out loud, in front of everyone.
He cleared his throat, tried to get a grip on himself. "Elena, you should leave. This place ain't right for you."
Her eyes softened but she shook her head. "I'm not going to leave you to eat lunch by yourself."
The men muttered in the background, their voices drifting."Unreal. He's really with her?" "Nah, man. She's playing some game."
Liam felt his fists clench. The words made him want to punch everyone in the face. He wanted them to see that she was not playing, that she was serious. But the more he thought about it, the heavier it all felt. He still did not know what it meant. He still did not know if Elena knew what it meant to be with him, a boy with no money, broken walls, and a part-time job.
Still, when she reached over and put the food in front of him, her hand brushing his, his whole world tilted. He caught himself staring at her and the memory of the kiss was so vivid he had to turn away.
He ate in silence while his coworkers buzzed around him, disbelief still on their faces. Elena stood right there with him, next to his workbench, and every time someone made a comment, she would glare at them or speak up calmly, as if she was doing it to protect him. It made something twist in him, tight and angry and just as satisfying.
When lunch was over and she finally left, the whispers turned to actual words. The men teased him, some laughing, some shaking their heads.
"Didn't know you had it in you, man," Ray said, slapping him on the shoulder.
Liam shot him a glare sharp enough to knock some of the air from his lungs. But when he was finally alone again, wiping his hands and staring at the empty lunch box, he let out a long breath.
The kiss. The words. The way she looked at him as if she didn't care about the rest of the world.
It was too much. He did not know if he could handle it, but one thing he knew. Elena was not going to let him push her away.
And maybe, he admitted to himself as he scrubbed his hands on a rag, he did not want her to.