Phone call. (rp for verbal_vomit_1)

[marcusisaspaz]

Fine. I understand. Go do your manly macho crap and whatever.

Liam read the words off his laptop screen and hissed fuck under his breath. Closing the computer, he reached for his cell phone instead and called up Chuck from his contact list. He couldn't leave their online conversation at that, couldn't let the tiny blond girl keep stewing any

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[verbal_vomit_1]

She considered not answering, she was hurt and annoyed by things named MacEibhir, but Chuck also really really wanted some source of comfort and the thought of Liam's voice in her ear, warm and accented as it was, compelled the teen to dry her eyes again and open her phone. "I don't need you to tell me what a screw up I am for doing his homework, okay? I'll just hang up."

Chuck hated to feel as if she did nothing right and that's all Liam had done with his suggestion to let Marcus hang. She tried to ignore that little voice in the back of her head insisting that this is why people treated her like crap, tried and failed so she apologized. "I'm sorry, Liam. Thank you for calling me."

[marcusisaspaz]

The raw undercurrent in Chuck's voice told Liam what he'd suspected earlier: she'd been crying. He stifled another jolt of anger at his cousin in order to keep his voice gentle and warm. Maybe even tender.

"You're not a screw up, Pixie," he said softly. "I think you're a sweeter friend than the Spaz deserves right now, but no way are you a screw up, okay?"

[verbal_vomit_1]

Chuck didn't try to hide the fact that she'd been bawling a short while ago. Not from him, what was the point? She did curl herself up on the bathmat, phone to her ear and her fingers raking the plush fibers she was lying on. If he were here, maybe she'd be on her bed instead, his arms around her or her face pressed against his neck. Something, anything softer than where she currently was. "I don't want him to be mad at me either. And I don't want him to fail a test because it'd be my fault."

She sighs, it's tiny but full of frustration. "I shouldn't have gotten so excited over a pointless dance." Small hands curled against the floor and she studied the way her knuckles turned bone white. "I really wanted go...I thought..." She flattened her palm to the floor again. "It doesn't matter what I thought, it was even more dumb than prom."

[marcusisaspaz]

He's got no call to be mad at you. None. Liam thought it, but he didn't say it. This phone call wasn't about his idiot cousin, it was about the little girl he'd hurt. Staring at the ceiling, the country boy hunted for words to help her feel better.

"What you think and feel does matter, Chuck. It matters a lot to me. You can tell me whatever you like; I won't think you're dumb."