“I was wondering if I could talk to you for a second?” I furrowed my eyebrows at his request, but nodded. I turned to Duncan, to tell him I’d be back, but when I looked at him he was… Flirting? Oh wow okay, he was absolutely flirting with one of Paisley’s friends. The girl was short, and she had a cute bob-cut and soft brown eyes beneath her lilac mask. She seemed to be responding to Duncan as well, giggling with him, not taking her eyes away. I lifted an eyebrow, and left him to it. I turned back to Liam.

“Somewhere with less people, yea?” I asked, and he nodded shortly after. I gestured for him to follow me, and we went for a short walk into the garden where there were much less guests. We passed Sophie while she played with the other young guests and the dog.

“This okay?” I asked when we were in a more quiet area, still in sight of most of the people though. I seemed to interrupt his train of thought.

“Oh, yea.” He said. He seemed tense again, so I started walking, it seemed like he felt more comfortable moving around the garden; I wanted him to get whatever he wanted to say out, already.

“I mostly just wanted to apologize,” he started, following closely. “For my dad, if he said anything that weirded you out or something.” He added.

“I mean, dads are weird, so it’s fine I guess. I won’t lie it was a little awkward.” I laughed, a tad humorlessly. We were nearing the stone pathways now, but we didn’t stop. Liam laughed too.

“I mean, you’re not wrong.” He sighed, “He gets excited sometimes when he sees me socializing. Which is weird, because it’s not like I don’t have friends or anything.” he paused, like he was thinking. We were by the old fountain now, he took a seat on its rim and I sat down next to him.

“Do you just not get out much or something? My parents can get super pushy about me going out if I spend too much time inside.” I contributed to the conversation.

“Erm, in a manner of speaking, yea.” he sounded like he was going to say more, but seemingly got frustrated about something. “Can I take the mask off for now? It’s a little uncomfortable. I don’t wanna break any ‘masquerade rules’ or anything...” He said the last part in a weird voice, and I laughed.

“It’s fine with me.” I permitted, and he smiled. He reached up and removed the offending material. Feeling weird being the only one with a mask, I untied my own as well. I readjusted my hat after, but while I did so I glanced over to see Liam staring at me.

“What?” I asked him. He flinched slightly, and casually looked away again. Facing forward now. He had kind of a sharp, handsome, alert face. He also had what looked like a diamond stud beneath his eye.

“Is that a piercing on your cheekbone?” I asked suddenly. He looked back over, surprised. I leaned back quickly after I realised I had been leaning closer to get a better look.

“Yea, it is.” His hand came up and he touched it briefly. “Why?”

“Just never seen one there before, it’s cool, I like it.” I told him honestly. He smiled then. A real smile. Teeth and everything as he said thank you. It hit me right then and there. My heart skipped a beat and everything, this guy was way too handsome. I took a deep breath and smiled back.

“Can I have your number?” he asked suddenly, and it shocked me. I must’ve made a face, because he was suddenly talking again. “I just- you seem cool, I wanna be able to keep in touch after tonight… is that okay?” I blinked at him for a moment. Then started moving again.

“Yeah, right. Yeah.” I said as I reached into my coat for my phone. We traded devices while we put our contact information in. When he gave me my phone back I saw he set his contact as ‘LI AM I AM’ I laughed, and he gave a light chuckle back. I got a text from Duncan as I was thinking of what to say next. I turned to Liam.

“Duncan’s asking where I am. I should head back inside.” I said as I grabbed my mask and began tying it back. Liam followed me up a few feet, until I caught his attention. “Liam, you might wanna put your mask back on. We don’t wanna break the ‘masquerade rules’.” I warned jokingly as he hastily retrieved his mask. He had a grin on his face when he turned back around.

We started walking back to the castle, talking along the way. He was really cool actually, once he got over his initial nervousness. We found Duncan waiting by the door as we got closer, I think he was watching, but I couldn’t see too well from that far away without my glasses. When we got close he spoke.

“Hey… What were you guys talking about?” He asked us. I wasn’t sure if Liam wanted me to keep the topic private, so I tried to come up with something vague. Before I could open my mouth, however, Liam spoke.

“I was just apologizing about my dad being awkward.” He spoke truthfully, after looking around to make sure the man wasn’t present.

“Yep. It was really weird.” Duncan said bluntly. I shook my head. Liam nodded along, then looked somewhere in the distance.

“I think my mom is looking for me, maybe we’ll catch up later?” He asked, then started slowly walking away.

“Sure thing.” And with that, Liam made a finger-guns motion with his hands and left. I watched him leave the room with an older looking woman.

“Hmm…” Duncan said, watching as well.

“What?” I turned to my friend.

“What were you really talking about?” He asked, tone sly.

“You heard him, he literally just apologized for his dad being awkward.” I told him, as we began walking further into the house.

“And after that?” He urged.

“I- I don’t know what you want from me. We just talked about parents being weird for the most part. We talked a bit about ourselves as we got up here but nothing significant.” I was genuinely confused.

“Alright, alright.” He gave up for now. We found ourselves in the main hall by the stairs, there were a lot of people scattered throughout it for some reason.

“What about you?” I nudged him, “That girl, you were giving her goo-goo eyes.”

“Ah, Lacey. She’s pretty, I actually see her back home all the time but never had the confidence to talk to her.” He lifted a finger to his face. “Mask helps a lot with that. It’s obvious who everyone is, but it still helps, thinking no one can actually see the face you’re making.”

“And how did it go? She seemed into it.” I wondered. Duncan grinned.

“Got her phone number.” He seemed so pleased with himself. I smiled for him, I was tempted to tell him I got Liam’s number as well. He kept talking though, and I let him go on, until I saw Liam walk into the room. He was with Paisley. I saw them talking but I couldn’t hear what about, and Liam’s head was turned away, so I couldn’t try to piece whatever he was saying with his mouth. They stopped walking, and faced each other. I saw Paisley make the face she always makes when she asks for clarification. Her head tilted forward, eyes open, and eyebrows raised; he must’ve asked something or said something unexpected. Suddenly she slowly grinned, then laughed. He brought his hand to the back of his neck, shoulders raised. He was flustered. I could feel myself becoming annoyed. Then she held out her hand, and he hurriedly grabbed his phone. She was putting her number in his phone. She chuckled a bit longer, and patted his arm as she walked past, and she left the room. I quickly looked away, frustrated. Duncan noticed the change, and watched me stew for a moment. I didn’t think I was making a face, but he reached forward and grabbed my wrists to get my attention.

“You okay man? We can go somewhere else if you need to.” He asked. I took a deep breath, and pulled my hands back.

“Yea, I’m fine, just a little tired I think.” I said, he made a face like he didn’t believe me, but didn’t ask anymore. I looked back over to where Liam was, he turned, and we locked eyes again. I quickly looked away, I was the one caught staring this time. I could see him starting to walk over, and I looked to Duncan. I was about to ask him to come up with an excuse to leave, when I stopped. ‘Why am I running away?’ I thought. I wasn’t upset with this guy, but the impulse to turn tail and run was so strong for a second. I took a few more deep breaths, and turned to greet him as he arrived.

“Hello again.” I said politely, he smiled.

“Hello.” He turned to Duncan, “Sorry, I think I’ve forgotten your name?”

“Duncan, hey.” He nodded to the taller teen.

“I’m Liam, nice to officially meet you.” He said in response, and Duncan nodded. He turned back to me. “My family is going to be leaving soon, I thought I’d drop by one more time to say goodbye.”

“Oh okay, I hope you enjoyed yourself.” I smiled gently.

“I did, thank you.” He looked me directly in the eye when he said that, I had to remind myself to stand my ground, I didn’t turn away until he did. Why was this so intense?

“Well, I have to go now. Bye!” He was still smiling, and he stepped backwards, then added “I’ll text you later!” then he turned and left the room. Duncan and I were quiet for a while. Guests slowly began making their way out of the house, till eventually the last family was leaving, and Sophie was waving to them from the doorway. It wasn’t until later when Duncan made a sudden realization.

“Wait, he has your phone number?” His head shot up from the journal, startling me. I laughed at him for a bit, and he stayed convinced the rest of his time with us that I lied about what we talked about that evening.