here’s how it starts, part i

About this short story: m/f, fake (?) hooking up, (mutual?) pining, these characters are confused ok

Liam Park really couldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

Yuri glanced away from the K-Pop star lookalike in front of her (a face honestly ruined by the smarmy, self-satisfied expression he always wore) in search of someone she could send “SOS” eyes to. Her best friends Grace and Tonya were across the room, laughing over something on Grace’s phone. A guy named Markus who she sort of knew from College Algebra was a little closer, but he just smiled at her encouragingly (?!).

“Well, what about next Saturday?” Liam was asking, bending to catch her eye. He lifted his eyebrows when he noticed how very blatantly she was not looking at him. “Hello, Yuri? Rude much?”

She scowled, hand itching to dump the warm cup of beer in her hand down the front of his jeans. “I can’t next Saturday. Or ever.”

“What?” Liam looked annoyed. “What do you mean by that?”

“I think she means she’s not interested.”

Yuri almost sprained her neck with how quickly she turned towards the voice behind her. Amar Daniels was standing there with an easy smile on his gorgeous face, one hand tucked into the front pocket of his jeans. Amar was an English minor who shared some classes with her, and up to that moment, she hadn’t even realized he was at this party.

Normally, when not distracted by trying to get Liam out of her face, she would have noticed. She always noticed Amar. She’d been half in love with him since they first met in freshman comp three years ago. He was always kind, always respectful, and had a face that warranted a double (or triple) take. Now, his presence was sending her heart rate to the moon.

When he turned his attention from Liam to Yuri, his expression softened. His gaze flickered between her eyes. “You good, Yuri?”

Her instinct was to say yes, which was dumb because it would have been a lie. Instead, she fingered one of her dangling earrings awkwardly. “Well. I was just about to tell Liam that…”

“I would be insanely jealous if you agreed to hang out with him?” Amar supplied.

“What?” Yuri and Liam said equally stupidly. Was Amar for real, or was this part of a ploy to get her away from Liam? Either way, Yuri’s response was going to be a resounding yes.

Amar grinned and tipped his head in the direction of the nearby hallway. “I thought we were going to meet up over there, Yu.”

A ploy, then, since she and Amar weren’t the type of friends who made plans. They saw each other in class, she stared at him moonily as he smiled and talked to her, and then they went their separate ways. Yuri nodded vigorously, setting her beer down on the nearby mantel. “Right! How could I forget? You were going to—ravish me!”

Liam choked on air, and Amar’s eyebrows shot up so high that they nearly touched his hairline. For a second, Yuri thought she might die of mortification. But then Amar said gamely, “Yes, I believe ravishing was on the agenda.”

“Perfect.” Yuri grabbed his hand in an uncharacteristically bold move and started off towards the doors along the hallway. Then, like it was an afterthought, she called over her shoulder, “Bye, Liam.”

“Wait. Yuri!”

Poking her head into the first room in the hall, Yuri found that it was a guest bedroom of some kind—super neat, sparsely decorated, and no personal belongings of any kind in sight. Perfect.

“Let’s go in here,” she told Amar loudly. She shut the door behind them, and just as she was letting go of Amar’s hand, she had an inspired idea. Without warning, she near-bellowed, “Oh, yeah, that feels so good!”

Amar’s lips twitched at the corners. “We just stepped in here. What could I possibly have done?”

Cheeks heating, Yuri whispered, “I don’t know! Haven’t you seen Easy A?”

“Have I seen Easy A?” Amar echoed indignantly. “I’m a man of impeccable taste. Of course I’ve seen it.”

“Well, then you know that we need to do sex noises!” Yuri hissed. She hoped the walls were thick enough to hide whispers but thin enough to let Liam hear her fake sex sounds. A girl could dream of a perfect world.

“Why?”

“So Liam will leave me alone,” Yuri explained patiently.

Amar’s expression just kept growing more amused. “Okay. So, go for it.”

Yuri’s mouth opened then closed. “Well, you could help!”

Amar blinked, and the way his eyelashes swept with the movement was a whole thing. Wow, he was pretty. “Could you please be very clear about how you’d like me to help?”

Oh, God. That hadn’t been what she’d meant, at all. Yuri waved her hands frantically, shaking her head. “No, I thought you could also—not that you should do anything—”

But Amar was grinning, and there was a softness to his eyes that had Yuri’s stomach flipping. She became very conscious of the fact that she was leaning back against the door with Amar just in front of her. If he took half a step forward, he could rest his forearm by her head.

“I could do something, though,” Amar said. “If you want.”