**XXVII: Liam**
Liam flinched when he heard the main door to Marie’s dorm open. His heart began to pound in his chest again. Over the past few hours, he’d alternated between pacing around the small room and sitting on the bed, head in his hands. When Blake had first told him, everything around Liam had fuzzed, not really existing to him anymore. He couldn’t even remember what had run through his mind at that point. Once he came back to reality, Liam’s instinct had been to go back to his dorm. There, at least, he could distract himself with video games or composing if he tried hard enough. Instead, he had shut himself in Marie’s room, forcing himself to remain there save for the few minutes when he’d stepped out to use the restroom and then showered when he caught a whiff of himself. He’d left his phone on her nightstand and made sure not to touch it. He didn’t want talk to anyone else until he had a chance to talk to Marie about this in person. He knew he had a tendency to overshare sometimes, and If this was all just a misunderstanding, he didn’t want color Marie in a bad light to any of his friends.