A Full Course Meal (ziam)

/6/ The Risk Taken

/6/ The Risk Taken

Seven months, three weeks and four days later... (Not that Liam was counting)

Andy had definitely been wrong. Again. Which wasn't news, Andy was wrong a lot of the time; he always was that kind of super positive guy that saw an upside to everything, no matter how delusional. Liam, as usual, was the realistic one, but still, he didn't give Andy a hard time for it this time, because he really wished Andy had been right for once.

For a moment there, Andy's positivity had rubbed off on him, making him believe his theory could be right. Andy's theory, of course, was that it didn't matter whether Liam won or not; when the show aired and people around the world saw Liam cooking, his name would be out there and he would get amazing job opportunities. Renowned Chefs from cool restaurants would blast Liam's phone wanting to hire him.

Maybe even losing was a good thing, because someone was bound to want to help redeem him. At the least, food critics would see how brilliant Liam was and how unfair his loss was and they would swarm the restaurant Liam worked at, tasting his food and adoring it and writing about it in their blogs or newspaper columns or whatever.

It was a beautiful sentiment, and Liam tried to hold on to it for a while after the show aired, but no. That didn't happen. Like, at all. The days went by and his phone never rang. The only people that called him were actually kind of unwelcomed. There was that shitty ex-boyfriend that called to congratulate him and ask if they could see each other again. There were two mates from college asking if now that he was famous they could go eat at his restaurant for free. Finally, there was that one old aunt that always sent him money on Christmas, telling him that she saw him on the TV and that he was chubbier than the last time she saw him. Nothing else, which was pretty disappointing, but then again, the only idiot that had high hopes was Andy. Liam tried to stay positive, he did, but life taught him to always set his expectations as low as possible and maybe, just maybe, if he was lucky, life would surprise him from time to time.

Just not this time, though.

He kept working in the same restaurant he always did. His boss was proud of him but apparently that didn't really merit a raise. After the show aired a few customers would recognize him sometimes, giving him the usual awkward congratulation because yes, he was on TV, but he lost, so there was nothing to congratulate him about, right? Those interactions were always weird and at most they ended with bigger tips that usually ended up in the waiter's hands and did nothing to get Liam closer to his dream.

That was the shittiest part. It wasn't just having lost; it was that he was still in the same place. He had been convinced for a moment there that participating in such a popular cooking show would at least increase his chances of fulfilling his dream, but no, not even that. He was nowhere nearer to having his own restaurant.

The only really good thing that came out of Chopped were the boys. Once he processed everything that happened and felt ready to face the world again, he did call Niall. The guy was so happy about receiving that call that he almost left Liam deaf screaming and laughing excitedly. They arranged to go for drinks, the four of them, a month after the recording. Niall was still planning his trip around the world so he had time to meet, and the other two... well, of course they were dating by then, so they showed up together and practically never left each other's side.

Seeing them was actually really nice. It was a good thing, making the decision to get in touch with them. Maybe doing Chopped hadn't been such a life changing thing but still, that part was nice. Making new friends was nice, and being able to talk to people that actually knew how it felt, how chaotic and hard it was. The four of them stayed good friends and Liam needed that, having a bit of fun, clearing his head.