Didnt see it coming || Liam O'donovan

Chapter thirty-nine

A.N// listen to night changes by 1D while reading this chapter,it fits painfully well (heads up-not in the way you'd expect it too)
(Apologies in advance)

                                  ——————

                       December 6th 2017
                            (3 years later)

•Liam's POV
I've never understood why the hell Jack insists on listening to podcasts and news in the car instead of music. Fair enough if he wants that psychotic lifestyle for himself,but why do I have to live through it.
"What time is it Liam" he asked me,hands on the wheel looking straight ahead.
I get he's a police officer but his serious driving streak wouldn't end if he glanced at the time for half a second.
"Minute past 10" I replied dryly
"Turn on the radio you nuisance! Im missing the weekly author interview"
That was the 12th time I'd rolled my eyes that morning. Every Saturday at 10,Jack listens to this podcast where they interview a different author every week. Like any normal person,I'm asleep during that time-but this week I have to sit through it.
I turned it on and put it on the station for him,then pulled my headphones out of my pocket to listen to my music
But I froze when I heard the name of the author being introduced on Jack's podcast. I'd been seeing and hearing that name non stop lately. Not once was it easy.
"-this week we have the author of the #1 best selling Sunday Times book "Care Heroes", Miss Riley Power GOOD morning to you Riley"

"Top of the morning Sheila"

Liam could hear the smile in her voice.

Jack being the police officer he is,never looks good away from the road while driving,but just this once ,he removed a hand off the steering wheel to turn the radio off. He looked at Liam,but Liam was staring out of the window-and Jack knew better than to talk to him just then..

~flashback to 3 years ago~

That morning when Frank and Tracy went behind Liam's back and met up with Jack, they found out he was a police officer and like Liam,had spent all his life in care homes. Tracy took a photo of him to show Liam,and when Liam saw who it was,he was livid.
It was the guy that was selling those pirate DVDs,the reason Liam was under this curfew and tag in the first place. Riley tried to calm him down,he already had 2 strikes. But it was no use.
Liam ran out of Elm-Tree House not giving two damns about the tag-and ran straight into town.
Ran until Jack's DVD stand.
The police were onto him in seconds of course because it was the third strike.
Liam didn't care. He couldn't see nor think clearly.

In the end he didn't end up facing any punishment, thanks to his long lost brother who just so happened to be an undercover police officer.
Things had calmed down-that is,until Jack asked Liam to live with him. That stumped him. He'd-he'd never had any family. He'd be moving out of the dumping ground soon enough anyway but-
He never thought it would be to live with a family member.
"Liam" Mike called softly "You don't have to make a decision straight away. This is a lot to take in."

Liam didn't get in the car with Mike to go home.
"I'll walk" he said without looking at Mike ,stuffing his hands in his pockets and crossing the road. The whole walk home he never looked up-so he was surprised to see the dumping ground what appeared to be so soon when he arrived home. Everyone looked at him as he walked in,no one saying anything. He didn't look up at them and didn't say anything to them either,cause he knew once the questions started they wouldn't stop. He just glanced at Riley to go with him upstairs,before turning around and walking to his room,head down. Riley didn't say anything as she walked with him,she slipped her arm around his shoulder and wouldn't say anything until he did. She couldn't imagine being in Liam's shoes and she really,really didn't know how to feel. She was elated at her boyfriend finally having a family,but that happiness was slightly dampened when Tracy and Frank told her Jack would be moving out of Newcastle soon. Meaning Liam would too if he was to live with him.
She put her own feelings aside-there was no way she was mentioning them to Liam. She wanted him to choose the family he never had,to finally have a home outside of the dumping ground. She wanted him to be happy. They went into Liam's room and shut the door before sitting on his bed.
Liam was silently staring out of the window when Riley noticed his hands were shaking. She softly slipped his hand into hers,rubbing her thumb comfortingly across his hand.
Liam finally looked at her,and Riley felt her heartbreak when she saw his eyes were glassy. Not once,had she ever seen Liam cry,despite the embarrassing amount of times he had seen her cry. "Come here" she said softly
She leaned against his pillows before pulling him in. His head lay on her chest-she wrapped her arms around him and lay her head against his,softly stroking his hair as he was inhaling sharp breaths,trying to regain control over himself.
He was grateful that Riley didn't say anything. He didn't know why he became emotional all of a sudden.
They sat in silent like that for quite some time,before Liam finally muttered
"What do you think made Tracy decide to move in with Cam?"
"She knew she'd be cared for" Riley replied
"Well-I'm cared for now. I've got you,Mike,Gina,Tracy,Frank. I have a family."
"And you always will" she said quietly as she kissed the top of his head (as he had done to her many times before since he was taller-it was nice to be the big spoon for a change) "but you've got to look towards the future Liam."
He slowly sat up and looked at her.
He'd never get tired of looking at her.

"Are you saying I should go?"
She gave a slight nod "It's your decision. It's up to you what you wanna do. But do it in a way that you'd be following your heart without losing your head."
"Jack won't be living in Newcastle for much longer" he muttered
"He's moving to Middlesbrough,it's not like he's moving to London" she smiled
"That's still over an hour away"
"Don't make this decision based off of me Liam. Listen,we're staring college in less than a year,you can attend Newcastle college-as for where you'd live during that time,well you have three options you know. A dorm room,with me,or I'm sure Mike would let you kip in his office"
They both chuckled at the prospect of the last option.
"I suppose you're right."
"I-I am."
He looked up at her,and this time she was the one with the glassy eyes.
"Well don't look so excited" he smiled before planting a kiss on her lips
"Bummer-I was about to pull out Harry and Nina's streamers and balloons with a cake that says 'NO MORE LIAM!' she replied with an eye roll
He lifted her chin with his thumb and looked into her eyes with a smirk "You'd be wishing there was no more Liam-I'll be spam texting you so much you'll block me"
"I can live with that" she grinned,before he pulled her in for another kiss.
When they pulled apart,he asked "what're you gonna be doing with all the peace and quiet? Do Tracy's college work for her?"
Her eyes lit up and she slowly smiled
"Actually..."
She jumped off of his bed and grabbed his hand,proceeding to pull him out of his room and into her own"
"Behave!" a passing Tracy yelled at them to which they burst out laughing. She probably thought they were about to give each other a very passionate goodbye.
Liam leaned against the wall with his arms folded,as Riley lifted her mattress and pulled out a few sheets of paper.
She breathed in and said
"I came up with a novel idea. These have the plot jotted down with some scrap layouts of how I want it to turn out but I'm not sure how exactly it'll-well," she just faded out of speech and passed Liam the papers to look at himself.
Liam's entire face lit up as he read what she had come up with and when done,he picked her up and spun her around while exclaiming "IF I'M NOT THE FIRST PERSON TO RECEIVE A COPY I'LL BE INFORMING MIKE WHOSE STOMACH HIS MISSING CHOCOLATE RESIDES IN"
"MIKES CHOCOLATE WILL GET PUKED ALL OVER YOU IF YOU DONT STOP SPINNING" she yelled back "

~flashback over~

When Liam heard her name and voice on the radio,about to talk about her recently published book,Liam's memory had to take him back to that day when she first told someone about the idea. That someone being him. She'd had that idea for a while before she confided him,but only decided to write it when she knew he'd be gone-as something else that's super important to her that she'd be spending a lot of time on. From Liam to writing.
Hearing her voice for the first time in 3 years on the radio, despite the pain he felt,also made a huge wave of proudness wash over him. Proud wasn't a strong enough word for it when he thought of how far she'd come since she first arrived at the dumping ground. Since he'd last seen her.
If you told Liam that day that Riley first told him about the book idea that he'd be finding out it was published from seeing it in the paper and online instead of her telling him
He would have laughed in your face

Would have laughed even harder if you told him it's because they wouldn't be together anymore.

              We're only getting older baby
        And I've been thinking about it lately
              Does it ever drive you crazy
            Just how fast the night,changes..