Steven lies on his bed in the dark, looking up at the ceiling. The entire house is silent. His brow is furrowed as he thinks of Elizabeth. Her image rolls over and over in his mind, overshadowing everything else. He feels hopelessly attracted to her – hopeless because he knows it will never be mutual. She's just playing with him. He doesn't know why, but she's definitely playing. What's the sense of talking to her, of even thinking about her, when there's nowhere further it can go? And what's up with that guy Liam? What an asshole... He turns on his side and pulls his blankets up around his head, trying to fall asleep. Liam pauses in front of the door to Elizabeth's house. He stretches and looks up at the sun... he always feels weird being awake this early. He clears his throat, then knocks. "Come in." The voice is Elizabeth's mother, Angela. He opens the door and steps inside, finding her on the couch, watching a movie. She glances over at him. "Good morning, Liam. How are you?" "I'm okay." He motions toward the tv. "A little early for movies, isn't it?" "Ah, I've been awake for hours." He leans against the couch and asks, "So what is this?" "Shoe Leather: The Movie." He looks confused. "Really?" She looks up at him, slightly amused. "I take it you're not familiar with the term." He shrugs. "Nope." "It's what they call useless bits in movies, like people walking places or making breakfast when it really isn't important. This," she says, gesturing toward the screen, "is Shoe Leather: The Movie." "Why'd they call it that? Some kind of joke?" She sighs quietly to herself. "Elizabeth's upstairs, if you want her. She should be awake by now." "Alright." He nods at the screen. "Let me know if anything happens." She smiles. "I will." He goes upstairs and freezes in front of Elizabeth's closed bedroom door – from inside he can hear the sound of her breathing more heavily than usual. The sides of his mouth perk up and he pushes the door slowly open. He's slightly disappointed to find that she's only doing push ups. He watches as she grunts quietly to herself, struggling to lower and raise herself a few more times. Finally she stops and moves into a sitting position, breathing a little heavily, then looks at him. "Hi." "Hey." He remains leaning in her doorway. "You do push ups?" "Every morning. Usually some sit ups too. Nothing major. You must have wondered how I manage to constantly outperform you at everything." "One race doesn't quite count as everything." "And it'll just keep getting worse," she continues. "While I'm getting slightly more fit every day, you'll get slightly more out of shape, until one day you'll be a forty year old man with a giant belly and I'll be a forty year old woman who still looks thirty." She shakes her head. "It's too bad, really..." "Hey, fuck that. I'm in great shape. The only reason you won that race was because you're lighter than me." She rolls her eyes. "Sure, Liam. Have another one." "You talk a big game, but you can't back it up. Look at that girlish body," he says, taking the opportunity to briefly ogle her. "Alright, let's settle this right now." She considers for a moment, then cracks her knuckles. "Arm wrestling. I'm a little tired out, but I can still school you." "You're on, bitch." He looks her directly in the eyes. "I'll show you who the man is around here." "There's no room up here. Downstairs." Angela hears the two of them coming down the stairs and turns toward them. "This movie is terrible," she says to Elizabeth. "Why in christ did you rent it?" Elizabeth shrugs. "I heard it was good." Angela laughs grimly as she turns back to the screen. They go into the kitchen and sit at one end of the table, taking each other's hand and preparing themselves. "One shot only," Elizabeth says. "No two out of three." "Fine," he says. "On three. One... two... three!" Liam takes an immediate but slight advantage, feeling a surge of confidence at seeing Elizabeth's arm begin to yield so quickly. Elizabeth, however, feels an even greater surge of fear at the realization that she could lose. With every ounce of strength she has she fights back. She slowly evens their arms, much to his surprise, then forces his arm part way down. For a moment they remain completely still, until his hand is slammed suddenly to the table. He's silent for a moment, then yells, "No fucking way!" "Yes! Mwahaha!" Elizabeth jumps up and does a spontaneous dance around the kitchen while he stares down at his own defeated hand... the betrayer... "This is ridiculous." She points at him, smiling widely. "You suck, Liam! Haha! I am the best!" He stares down at his hand for another moment, then walks out of the kitchen in a slight daze and slumps down on the couch next to Angela. Elizabeth stays in the kitchen to make a sandwich, smiling happily to herself. "So what was that all about?" Angela asks him. "Ah... I lost the swimsuit competition." Still looking somewhat sullen, he asks, "So what's so bad about this movie, anyway?" "Well, right now they've been talking for over five minutes and no one's said anything even remotely interesting. And look at this close up of the girls face while she's complaining – nobody needs to see that." "So Elizabeth rented this?" "Yeah, but I never finished watching it," Elizabeth says, walking into the room. She stands beside the couch. next to her mother while she eats. "It's amazing that movies like this even get made." Liam notices the rental box and picks it up. "Hey, this isn't called Shoe Leather. It's called... Life is Sweet?" Elizabeth says, "Yup." She and her mother exchange glances, then start to laugh. "Hey, this thing actually won awards," he says. "It did?" Angela asks. "Yeah. Three of them!" Angela and Elizabeth laugh even harder, and Liam finds himself grinning as he watches them. When they've stopped Angela says, "Enough of this." She turns off the tv and stands up. "I'm going into town for a few hours; are you two going to school today?" "I dunno," Elizabeth says, chewing on the last of her sandwich. "We'll see." "Do you want me to return that movie while I'm out?" "No, I've got it." "Okay." She gives Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek and heads for the door. Over her shoulder she says, "Bye Liam." "Later." The door closes and he and Elizabeth are left alone in the house. "Hey, come over here," he says. She walks over and looks down at him, sitting on the couch. "What?" "Come closer." Looking a little confused, she leans nearer to him. He looks her directly in the eye and then jumps up, grabbing her by the arms and spinning her around. He throws her off balance and she falls backward onto the couch, and he falls with her. He keeps his hands on her arms, holding her down, one foot on the floor and the other straddled across her legs. He smiles down at her, and she looks back up at him placidly. "So, tough girl," he says. "Can you get up now?" He feels something rub lightly against his inner thigh, and looking down he sees her knee in place between his legs. His eyes widen slightly and he lets her go, backing off. "See, boy?" she beams. "You can't beat me." She sits up and gives him a light slap on the face. "And if you ever try that shit again, I'm going to break your fucking nose." "Whoa, okay!" he says, holding up his hands in mock defense. "Wouldn't want the big bad Elizabeth mad at me!" She leans back against the couch, relaxing. "So what do you think?" she asks. "School today?" "It'd be better if I went – my dad's been getting on my case lately. But if you're staying here I can't see going by myself." "No, I think I'll go. I can't let my presence slip too much. Gotta remind everybody who's boss." "Through your brutal regime of total non-participation, I assume?" "Of course." He looks around for a clock. "What time is it?" "Beats me." She holds up her arms. "No watch." "It must be almost time for the first bell. We should probably leave soon." She stretches out on the couch and closes her eyes, smiling contentedly to herself. "No hurry. We'll leave in a few minutes." "Sure. I'm just gonna go upstairs and root through your things while I'm waiting." She doesn't reply, so he sits on the edge of the couch and waits, quietly watching her resting face.