The Other One | Payne

1 | The Way

He was a beautiful man. He was the kind of person that could be noticed if wasn't so insecure in himself and hid all the time. He was beautiful in that he treated everyone with the utmost amount of resepect, but respect was never returned to him. He was gullible. He let people trick and decieve him and the worst part was that he knew they were doing and still, he always let them.

He was a smart man, but he was still dumb in the sense that he fell too hard too fast and that he always let everyone walk all over him. None of his relationships had worked in the past because of this. He never stood up for his girlfriends or their relationships because he was scared; scared that they would only hate him more.

Liam had a good life ahead of him. He had the world on a silver platter, but it was also a platter he had to share with four others - even if the fourth was out of the picture. In the world's views, Liam was the forgotten. No one remembered his name or his face or even voice. Liam was the puzzle piece that kept everything together and yet, everyone forgot him anyway.

Liam didn't think that he deserved it; the fame. After all, no one knew who he was anyway, so it wasn't like the celebrity status helped in any form. Liam was bland and banal, boring. He had no substance, even with being labeled famous. Liam was just normal and plain. In a crowd of thousands, he would be nothing special. It wasn't just Liam that thought this. The whole world did. Even his "fans" did. If it came down to saving Harry or he, every fan would choose Harry because he was interesting and fun. If they saved Liam, there would be nothing to save him for. He wasn't important.

You see, Liam didn't realize that his actions had consequences - or well maybe he did, but he just didn't acknowledge it. Liam wasn't considered famous until the media got him in trouble. Usually, Liam's words were twisted and he had to clarify his intent and publicly apologize for something as measly as liking a TV show. Liam hated that part about being "famous". He was only famous when other people chose so. He was never famous for doing something good. It always had to be something bad.

Liam knew that that was what Hollywood was about. Creating drama. The rest of the boys had caused just as much controversy. Except for Niall. Niall never did anything bad, other than calling fans a 'shower of cunts'.

Liam wasn't praised for defending fans over that stupid Channel 4 Directioner Documentary. He wasn't praised for thanking the fans for staying with them after Zayn left. In fact, Zayn wasn't even a part of the band anymore and Liam was still living in his shadow.

Every boy had their own trademark. Zayn was the mysterious one. Harry was the flirty one. Louis was the sassy one. Niall was the cute one. What was Liam? He was know as the forgotten one.

Liam lived in everyone's shadow. Liam boosted Danielle's dance career. Liam helped Sophia gain her own fans for doing absolutely nothing but look pretty. Liam was now giving Cheryl more coverage. Liam wasn't sure how to feel about Cheryl. Liam had known Cheryl for years. He had known her since he was fourteen and he had always fancied her and now that she was on his arm, Liam knew that he loved her, but he also knew that Cheryl did not love him. He could see in her eyes that she still loved her ex husband. Liam could respect that, even if he truly wanted to be with her.

No matter what Liam tried to do or say, he realized that he was never good enough. Even after asking Emily out twenty two times, each time she said no. Danielle and he didn't work out either of the two times and the same could be said for Sophia. Cheryl wasn't going to stay with him for long. He was sure of that.
Even with everything that he had done for the fans and anyone in general, it never panned out for him. It always ended in disaster. Every positive income ended with a negative outcome.

Liam could remember the day that those gay photos of himself surfaced. He had wokened up late into the day as it had been an off day and he had had a long night. When he awoke, his hair was dissheveled, eyes drooping and he was sporting a major hangover, but he still willed himself to log onto Twitter.

Twitter was his own personal torcher device. It was where all the stress in his life came from and yet, he still continued on with the tweeting bird life. As he went to the trending topics list, he saw his name and just below said that it had been tweeted about over fifty thousands times. Liam's eyes widened in shock. What the hell could have happened that would make people notice him?

He clicked on the topic and there at the top of his screen sat a picture of himself wearing a baseball cap and his hand laid in a plump ass. Liam groaned. They were real. Liam did do some things while under the influence.

You see, Liam was an alcoholic which may have seemed hard to believe with the kidney problems that he had had, but when Liam started drinking, he simply couldn't stop and last night, he reached the ultimate low.

Liam and a random guy from Funky Budha went back his hotel room and they slept together, but the mistake on Liam's part was thinking that Zayn wouldn't leak the pictures.

Zayn and Liam had always had an on again off again type of relationship. Zayn wasn't to be trusted. He was a bad influence and Liam hated the man, but god, he loved his body. It was only his luck that last night Zayn had gotten jealous and decided to leak the photos. Zayn was confusing. He loved Liam, but then he loved Perrie. He wouldn't make up his mind. He got mad when Liam tried to move on and he got annoyed when he held on. There was simply no winning with that man.

Liam was furious. He knew that Zayn would do something like this. He always did. Liam shouldn't have trusted him, but then again, Liam was gullible. He instantly called him up.

"Hello? Zayn?" Liam asked as Zayn's line opened up.

"Yeah? What's up, babes?"

"Don't babe me. You know what you did." Liam's nostrils were flaring and if you could see him, you would think that steam would come out of his ears.

"What? What the fuck did I do?" Zayn challenged him.

"You leaked the flippin' pictures, Zayn!" Liam yelled.

"So?"

"So those were private."

"I had a damn good reason for leaking them."

"And what reason was that?" Liam questioned his boyfriendish friend.

"No one is allowed to touch you like that unless they are me. You aren't allowed to touch anyone like that unless they're me."

"God, Zayn. I am not your property. I'm a human being."

"You sure don't act like one." Zayn mumbled under his breath. Unfortunately for him, Liam heard that.

"The hell do you mean by that?"

"You act like you're an angel. Like you can't do anything wrong. Newsflash, Liam, you are the king are fucking things up." Zayn ranted.

Liam scoffed, "You're fucking me behind Perrie's back and claiming you love both of us. I think I'm doing better than you, buddy."

"I do love you both, why can't you understand that?" Zayn asked. He needed to know why Liam couldn't understand that concept and why it was so hard to grasp the fact that he just might love them both. Obviously, it wasn't hard to tell that Zayn never really loved them. He left the band to get away from Liam and he left Perrie too for that blonde whore of a model. Well, in Liam's mind at least, she was definitely a whore.

"Because it's impossible, Zee. I have to go. Talk to you later." Liam hung up aburptly before Zayn could profess his love for him.

Liam wanted to cry. He wanted to cry a river and pretend like being with Zayn was a good thing, but he knew that it wasn't. It was just his gullibilty showing. That night Liam took to Twitter and apologized. It was night of tears as he laid in Harry's arms, while Louis comforted Zayn in his time of need and Niall stayed in his flat with pizza and Netflix.

When Liam remembers that time, it's very bittersweet, and still after two years, nothing has changed. Liam is still the forgotten one, only remembered for his stupid mistakes.