Walking in the Wind One Direction

26. Is that a Hickey?

"It's really hot in here let me take this hoodie off." I say to Liam after practicing another few rounds.

"Am I making you hot?" Liam jokes.

"Ha-ha" I respond sarcastically, pulling the thing over my head. I throw it to the side. "Okay from the top, without track this time."

"Girl let's do this." Liam and I come together in the middle of the room.

He enters my personal space and starts the song. "We're soaring, flying." He looks at me, "there's not a-, wait hold on what's that in your neck?" He chuckles as he points to my throat and I immediately cover the faded bruise of John's fingers on side of my neck with one hand.

"What? Is that a hickey I see?" Liam begins to laugh, trying to get a better look at my neck. "You got a secret boyfriend or something?"

"No you fool." I laugh at him. "I don't have a boyfriend." I playfully hit his chest, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"So? A secret lover then?" He jokes. "A one night stand? Is it somebody here on X factor?" He raises his eyebrows.

I guess he's not letting it go.

"No." I stand there awkwardly and bite my lip. As soon as he realizes I got quiet he stops laughing.

"Tell me, is it a hickey?" He starts getting more serious now.

"No." I swallow and look at the ground. A silence follows, Liam waits patiently for me to explain. "It's uhm... my ex he.." I close my eyes trying to hold back my tears, "MyExTriedToStrangleMe." I rip the bandaid of by saying the words really quick. Then I open my eyes back up.

Liam is standing in front of me, totally in shock. It takes him a moment to process but then he looks me in the eyes. "Are, what..? When? Are you okay?" He asks. He looks me in the eye and cups my cheek with his hand.

Are those tears I see forming in his eyes?

"I mean, I guess so." I shrug, turning away from him. His hand slides across my face and he lets his arm fall back down. "It was right before bootcamp started. The day after we auditioned." I cross my arms and keep my eyes stuck to the ground.

If I look at Liam, or myself in the mirror I'll break.

"Who is this guy?" I can start hearing some anger in his voice.

"I really don't think he's worth even talking about."

Between everything he has, and hasn't done in this timeline I don't want to talk about him. If I start talking about it I might never stop. And in this timeline half of it would be lies because it hasn't happened yet.

I turn back to face him so we can just go back to practice but see his eyes turned dark.

"No seriously who is he?" Liam insists, "I'll.. I.."

"Liam it's fine," I sigh, "Louis took care of him already. It's actually how I met him." I smile thinking back to the well deserved punch Louis threw.

"Louis?" Liam raises an eyebrow.

"He was walking his dog and saw me being pressed up against the wall." I explain. "I think Louis actually broke his nose." I giggle.

"Really?" Liam chuckles now too. "Louis? Throwing punches?" He begins to laugh.

"Oh yeah, you should've seen it." I get infected by Liam's laugh. "He was actually pretty badass there for a second."

"I actually can't imagine. He hasn't got the muscles." He catches his breath. "But I'm really glad that you're okay." He looks at me again, with those sweet big brown eyes of his. "Next time you're in trouble you call me okay? I'll protect you."

I think that might be a little too late, I'm already kind of broken.

I smile at him and nod, "because you've got the muscles right." I jokingly say to lighten up the mood.

"Hey, I mean it." He grabs my arm and pulls me in for a hug. I bury my face in his chest and wrap my arms around him.

"I don't want to see you hurt." He softly kisses the top of my head.

I think I'll stay here for a little while, listening to his heartbeat.

The door bursts open. Liam and I immediately step away from each other and I turn around to see who is in the doorway. "Oh am I interrupting?" Nicole enters holding two cups of tea.

"No, no." I try to wipe the tears of my face in a subtle way.

"I thought I'd check in on you guys." She continues talking and luckily doesn't notice anything. "I brought some tea for the occasion."

We chuckle as she hands out the cups. "How far are we? Are we ready?" She smiles at us.

Liam sips his tea. "Oh yeah definitely getting there." He says confidently.

"Maybe we can show you, see if you got any tips?" I ask her, stirring my tea. "This is too hot to drink for me now anyway."

"Sure show me." She walks over to the sound system to start the track.

Liam and I both put our cups down and go stand in our places.

"3, 2, 1." Nicole presses play.