Penn shook his head and reached down to grab Becca, who had obviously had another cup of punch after we'd finished ours a while ago.
"You're supposed to be SuperGirl! You were supposed to catch me!" Becca stomped.
I pretended to spin kick her. She laughed and spun around and soon we were kicking and punching down the hallway away from the boys. Becca brought out the weird in me.
"My elbow seriously hurts," I laughed as we paused to catch our breaths.
Penn and Liam were standing a little ways down the hallway, laughing and nodding their heads in agreement. They were probably agreeing that they should ditch our asses for sexy, worldy, models that didn't pretend to be tipsy super heroes. Pfft, no. That sounded boring, who would want that?
"Is Peen cool? He's super hot," I joked, unable to stop the laughter from spilling from my lips.
Becca actually karate chopped my arm after that. We needed to get out of these costumes stat.
"His name’s Penn," she corrected, loud enough for the boys to hear, which made me laugh harder.
"That's what I'm saying: Peen."
Becca shook her head but couldn’t conceal her smile. "You suck, but yes, he's awesome and super funny. Cute and funny! Can you believe it?"
I high-fived her. "I'm going to go get something to eat with Liam, I think. How weird is that? Do you guys want to come?"
We started heading back to the boys.
"Nah, I think Penn is going to take me home." By the tail end of her sentence we were in range for the boys to hear our conversation.
"Yup," he confirmed, rocking back on his heels.
"Can I trust you with my friend, Penn?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips and pretending to puff my chest like a superhero would. I imagined my cape floating in the AC draft behind me for added dramatic effect.
"I got her," he winked. "Have no fear."
Liam laughed and stepped forward to grab my hand. "Let's go, SuperGirl."
I let him drag me through the front door toward his car but not before yelling goodbyes to Becca. All the while, I smiled about the fact that I actually got away with being Liam’s date at a party. Sort of. Okay, hardly. We weren’t together around anyone, and when we kissed it’d been pitch black. He also didn’t ever refer to me as his date.
But we were in matching Superhero costumes.
Sooo, it seemed pretty official to me.
"My elbow really does hurt," I said, finally sobering enough to realize that it was throbbing.
Liam reached inside his jean pockets and unlocked his SUV. He came around the passenger's side and opened to the door to let me in.
"Let me see," he said after I'd hopped up onto the seat.
I showed him the back of my right elbow.
"You're always injured at my parties." He shot me a playful frown.
"Because of Becca! She bruised my face with her gyrating hips last time." Damn Becca. She’s worse than Shakira.
He laughed and stepped back. "If it still hurts after we eat, I'll take you to get it looked at. And I think I should hear more about the gyrating hips story."
I laughed and buckled up. "All right, I'll explain it on the way."
…
I was expecting to go inside the restaurant like most normal people, but Liam ordered from the car and then a waiter ran out with our order a few minutes later. Liam tipped him handsomely before handing me the bag of food.
"Sorry that we can't go in, but the press would have a field day, especially now that you're 'The Rising Star in Soccer'."
"What? Is that printed somewhere?"
"It was the title of an ESPN article the other day. Did no one mention it?"
I shook my head. Who would have mentioned it? My friends didn't check ESPN, my dad was busy working, and my mom was busy sending me care packages.
I didn't really mind not knowing about articles like that though. I didn’t need anything else going to my head.
"I don't want to read it, but you should save it for me so I can read it when I'm like sixty," I laughed. “When I need to cling onto my glory days.”
"Will do… but you’re okay with eating in here?" he asked, eyeing me cautiously.
His question almost shattered our happy moment. When we were at the party things started to feel normal, but that was because we were secluded in our own tiny world. There were no seniors, no press, and no adoring fans. Now it was a completely different story, and the reality of our situation was starting to sink in. We couldn’t leave his car for fear that someone would recognize us and leak the story to the press
But we still had a little while to live in lala land. When I got home I'd worry about the consequences of my actions, but for now I'd just appreciate being with him.