Twenty-Two ➳ l.p.

Chapter Eighteen: Plan

“What’s the plan, Liam?” I asked him, whispering about how we could scheme to stay home.

                  “Fake temperature?” He asked.

                  I shook my head.

                  “Lock the doors?”

Chapter Eighteen: Plan

                  We were like a puzzle; like we had always been missing our final piece, and now we were complete.

                  “Still laying low?” I asked when I flopped on Liam’s bed, Niall and Louis scooting over a bit in response. I laid back, kicking my shoes off and snuggling into the duvet, raising my brows at Harry who wore a sheepish grin.

                  “Look, if I knew that she was going to go crazy, I would’ve just asked somebody else where the juice was.”

                  “He got us spotted over a cup of juice, Ali!” Louis cried out then, huffing and rolling his eyes. “Juice!”

                  Harry pouted when I laughed, muttering something about how I was choosing sides, and for the first time I realized that Liam wasn’t in the room. Zayn and Harry were both perched on beanbags, while Niall, Louis and I shared the bed, but the Wolverhampton boy was nowhere to be found. “Where’s Liam?”

                  Almost as if he could sense my presence, the door to Liam’s room swung open, followed by a huff and a, “Alice isn’t home, guys. Matt said she just left.” Liam hadn’t noticed me yet, toweling off his damp hair and eyes turned to the floor. It was essentially the perfect time for me to ogle his body; though he was clothed, he was also clammy with a thin layer of sweat, making his shirt cling to his torso in the most criminal way. I knew that the other boys knew I was staring, but I didn’t really care. They knew that I was in love with Liam by now (I’m sure that Harry had spread the news) so it wasn’t like I had to hide anything, being as I’ve ogled Liam without him noticing for all of our lives.

                  “Went for a run, yeah?” Zayn coughed slightly, almost smirking when Harry shot him an alarmed look, head shaking frantically as his green eyes darted from me, to Liam, to Niall, and eventually back to me. He thought that he was being inconspicuous, I’m sure, when he mouthed a firm ‘stop it’ to Zayn, who only snickered.

                  “You know I did,” Liam sighed, voice muffled by his towel. “Exhausted, really. I just can’t—Alice! When did you get here?”

                  I chuckled lightly at Liam’s wide eyes, stance frozen and nose scrunched. He tossed the towel and it landed somewhere near Louis, who let out an indignant huff and crossed his arms.

                  “I do not want your sweaty leftovers, Payne.”

                  Liam ignored him, rolling his eyes slightly before focusing back on me and trudging toward the bed. He was truly worn out, I knew, because he didn’t even bother to take a shower, and Liam was definitely one for sanitation. “You got here when?”

                  “Not too long ago; seriously only about a minute before you came up.” I scooted over, shoulder-to-shoulder against Niall so that Liam could squeeze onto the tiny space that was left. He let out a sigh, letting his eyes fall closed and I frowned. He definitely overworked himself—I could see it all over his face. There was no way that he wasn’t going to be sore tomorrow if he wasn’t already.