Sweet Smiles and Silent Tears (A One Direction Fanfic)

Booze Blues

She slowly slid the razor blade across the delicate flesh of her wrist while the broken fragments of her Venus shaving razor lay messily on the bathroom floor. It started with two shallow nicks, then four, then eight; by the time she was done their were sixteen neat, bleeding cuts and a dull aching on her wrist.

"Fuck," Audrey whispered to herself after noticing a few droplets of blood had stained her lavender tank top, "screw it."

She tended to her cuts and discarded the broken razor before slipping on a tie-dye hoodie. She glanced in the mirror before stepping out of the bathroom, grimacing when she saw her reflection.

"Get yourself together bitch, it's just one of those days," she said to herself before slapped on the happiest smile she could and exiting the bathroom.

-

Audrey didn't expect to see her mom downstairs before she left for school, she also didn't expect her mom to notice her driving in the direction opposite the local high school and she definitely didn't expect her mom to realize that she hadn't been to class in almost five weeks. Having a drug addict and a total floozy for a mother generally makes you lower your expectations. Her home life was a complete wreck - strange men constantly in and out of the house, her mother slurring through simple conversations, loneliness aching in her chest... A loneliness that she fixed with binges at local clubs and cuts along her wrists.

Though outside of the house, Audrey was a seemingly typical sixteen-year-old girl who lived in a seemingly typical home in Wolverhampton. She was the proud owner of a red Mustang, a very generous sweet sixteen present from her rich grandparents. She had chestnut hair the flowed in loose waves down the middle of her back and her eyes were the lightest shade of brown. Her lips were plump, and behind them she had gorgeous white teeth, not that she showed them off very much of course, there wasn't much to genuinely smile about. She had a decent social life with decent friends, she even had a few boyfriends here and there, though never anything serious. Boys her age were too busy lusting after her body to notice the pain behind her eyes. She did flaunt her assets a bit too much in tight skinny jeans and shorts, sometimes even wearing low cut t-shirts when she felt daring. Audrey wasn't a twig in the slightest - she wore a voluptuous D cup and she had proud, wide hips which made way for a perfectly full bottom. That's all the boys noticed... but maybe she liked it that way.

-

Instead of going to that dreaded school every morning she would typically go to Shamrock, a modest pub a few blocks from her favorite club, 'Crank.' It wasn't difficult for Audrey to get into bars, she just had to flash a charming smile and the tap would flow freely for hours.

"Morning Jep," Audrey greeted her usual bartender.

"Morning to you, sweet girl. The usual?"

"I'm thinking something stronger," she urged, "Fireball sounds yummy." Audrey licked her lips while looking at Jep straight in the eyes.

He handed her the bottle of golden liquid and winked, "Have as much as you like."

She didn't like speaking to creepy old men in such a suggestive manner but the smooth burn of the alcohol trickling down her throat made her forget about the disgusting churn in her stomach. Although Shamrock was a little sketchy, she could be herself here. No one new ever came around, especially not this early in the morning, so without even thinking twice Audrey shed her colorful hoodie. Her curvy frame was clad in her blood stained lavender tank top that showed just enough cleavage, ripped light wash denim shorts that hung loosely from her hips and she wore her favorite leopard print vans, with black laces. She felt comfortable like this, cuts visible and all. There was no one to impress, no one to hide it from because no one here genuinely cared for her enough to speak out.

Today was different. After her fourth shot of whiskey a fresh face made it's appearance in this run-down place of sweet smiles and silent tears, a face she had seen thousands of times in hundreds of places.

He was pushing six-feet tall and his frame was strong, he had broad shoulders with toned arms that were laced with tattoos. His skin was just barely sun kissed and he had the most delightful stubble on his chin. His eyebrows were a bit too bushy and his lips were a bit too full, but they both fit absolutely perfectly on his face. He had on a loose fitting grey cotton flannel, dark wash straight leg jeans and worn out Converse. His eyes looked tired, run down; then his eyes met hers.

He took short strides to meet this beautiful stranger at the end of the bar. His heart was beating at an alarming pace while Audrey's mind was racing.

What was she supposed to do?

Curtsy?

What was she supposed to say?

'He's a human being you idiot, you speak in sentences using words!' She mentally scolded herself through her fuzzy, irrational thoughts.

Before she could continue driving herself insane, he sat down and extended his hand.

"Erm.. Hi lovely, I'm Liam."