Through the Dark (A Liam Payne Story) || Season 5 1D Watty Awards Winner: Best Liam Payne

Chapter Twenty-Five

I look at myself in the mirror and I'm already smiling. The new Rosalie Elizabeth Evans. I put down the scissors and slowly run my hand through my short hair. I look so different yet so ... pretty. "Wow," I whisper.

I feel butterflies erupting in my stomach from the excitement of something new. I already look stronger and more mature. I should be at the party, but I have something else in mind.

I unlock the bathroom door and take a quick peek outside, checking to see if Liam has come back, but thankfully, he hasn't and I smile. I walk out and go over to my bags to take out a gray scarf to cover my hair. No one has to know yet.

I go back in the bathroom to clean up the strands of hair that I cut, putting all of them in the toilet and I flush immediately. I let out a breath of relief and walk out of the bathroom once more to leave the room, but there is a knock outside the room.

"Rose, are you in there?" Valerie asks and I sigh. "You're missing out on the fun, come out." I hesitate before opening the door and a huge smile appears on her face. "There you are! Let's go!" She grabs my hand and pulls me out of the room, and we run down the hallway together.

"You seem to be extremely happy," I point out and giggle when we reach the bottom of the first set of stairs.

"Yeah well it's a fun night," she says. "Why are you wearing a scarf on your head?"

"I uh ... I found hair dye and I wanted to change my hair color ... but it didn't work out too well," I lie, but she believes me.

"We can fix that in the morning, darling," she smiles as we continue to skip the steps up to the roof. "You look good like that, though."

"Thank you," I say. "Is Liam up there?"

She shakes her head, but doesn't look happy or sad. She looks nervous, instead. "He came up for a few minutes, but then he left and didn't come back. I think he was looking for you," she says.

"Good. That means he won't be looking for me on the roof for the rest of the night," I say and smile to myself.

"You never know," Val says. "Carter wanted to speak to you, too."

"I need to speak to her, too."

"Alright," she says. "Here we are!" She opens the door that leads to the roof. "Look who is finally here!"

I blush and everyone, even people who I haven't even met, cheer and then resume to what they were doing before I arrived. "Liam was looking for you," Carter comes up to me and rolls her eyes.

"I don't care at the moment," I say and smile at her.

"He'll probably come back up," she says nervously. "But let's not worry about him now."

I don't intend to even think about him for as long as I possibly can.

---

Nonstop drinking, games, and never-ending fun is what the night has brought, and I am in no mood to stop myself. I don't know how long we've all been outside, but the party is not even close to being over. We're sitting in a large circle around the perimeter of the roof, each of us with a cup filled with beer in front of us.

"Just letting all of you know in advance," I start to announce. "I was never good at Truth or Dare!" Everyone laughs, and I blush from embarrassment, but I still feel excited to play the game, nonetheless.

"I think we all know who is not starting the game," Flynn jokes from across the circle, making everyone laugh again, and I can feel my face begin to heat up more. "So I'll do the honors. Rosalie, truth or dare?"