Controlla (Discontinued)

21

"Hey, Normani can we talk?" 

I stood there wordless for a second, trying to figure out if I wanted to be difficult or cooperate with him. I just told him last night that I needed space and here he is at my door wanting to talk. I assumed my little speech made it clear that there was nothing to talk about until he got his shit together, but he obviously didn't get the message.

"Mani..." I'm brought from my slight trance by Lauren subtly elbowing me. 

"Uh- yeah, come upstairs." I wiped my hands on the tea towel before awkwardly leading him to my room. I've always imagined him coming up here and this definitely wasn't one of the scenarios that played out in my mind.

We reached the peak of the stairs and was engulfed in the aroma of my salted caramel candle burning atop my vanity. I took in a deep breath, the scent calming me as my body slowly retracted from its tense state. 

I climbed into the middle of my white bedding, patting the plush surface to tell Liam to sit on it as well. He swiftly kicked off his large boots before mimicking my actions and sitting in front of me. Instead of crossing his legs, he stretched them out so that his socked feet were on either side of my thighs. 

"That candle smells really good." He complimented, taking in a whiff of air. "My Jo Malone ones that I keep around my place don't even have that good of a scent."

I let out a laugh at the name of the brand he uses. Of course King Payne drops eighty five dollars on house candles. Rich people annoy me so much. 

"It's twenty bucks at Bath and Body Works. I'll splurge on you a few for your birthday or something." It was now his turn to laugh at my statement. I just simply smiled at the sound, watching his eyes crinkle up as his chuckles filled the room.

"I came here to have a serious conversation and we're sitting here discussing candles." He pointed out, leaning forward a bit to place his hand on my knee. 

Grabbing a hold of his wrist I lifted his arm up before letting it fall back onto his own leg. "We can have that serious conversation without you touching me, you know?" I tried to sound stern but the slight smile on my face was contradicting everything. 

"I know that." He stated as he uncrossed my legs. "But I feel less tense when we have contact so..." His fingers wrapped around my ankles before he swiftly dragged me closer to him. 

"Liam!" I gasped now that I was practically sitting on his lap. The familiar aroma of his Gucci cologne made me feel all mushy on the inside. 

A smirk played on his face as he brought his hands behind his back to cross my legs around his torso. "Much better, right?" His voice noticeably became husky.

"No, it isn't. I told you we need to chill out for a bit. This," I gestured to our current position. "Is crossing the line. You can't come up in here being all touchy-feely." 

He leaned forward, nuzzling his head into my neck. "But I like touching you though." I could feel his lips move against my skin as he mumbled his words. 

"I bet you do." I rolled my eyes as I leaned away from him. "Just as much as you liked touching those girls you were laid up with the other day. Oh! Or like the ones from the club last night."

Liam smacked his lips at my words. "You know they meant nothing to me. I just did it out of spite to make you pissed. Seeing you with him just sets me off." 

I gaped at him. Trying to fully cope with his ridiculous excuse. I don't care how pissed off he was about Justin. That was no reason for him to be disrespectful to me. 

Dramatically throwing myself back onto the pile of pillows behind me, I let out a loud groan. "Please, shut up. If you only came to give me bullshit excuses you can leave."

"Okay look, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for playing with your emotions, I'm sorry for being a dick to you and I'm sorry that I embarrassed you like that the other night." He rambled off his long list of apologies. 

I lifted myself up on my elbows to look him in the eyes. "And none of it will happen again?" 

"Scout's honor." He held up his right hand with the left placed on his heart. 

"Where you actually even a scout?" 

"No." He said with a boyish grin. 

"You're so annoying." I laughed at him, laying back down. "I appreciate your apology, but we're still just friends and I still don't fully forgive you." 

I hope he didn't think I'd let him off the hook that easily. His little pitiful sorry and puppy dog eyes can't fool me. It's clearly just apart of his act he does. He has yet to realize that I'm not as stupid as these other girls that he's used to messing around with. 

Liam sat there staring at me for a second. Probably trying to figure out why I wasn't all over him after his "heartfelt" apology. "So...." He awkwardly dragged out. 

"So?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "If that's it you can...go. Unless you wanted to hang around with Zayn here or something."

"Um, I was thinking maybe we could g-" 

"No thanks." I cut him off as I threw my blanket over myself. "I'm pretty worn out from last night still. I think I'm going to rest for a couple more hours."

"Oh. Uh, o-okay then?" Liam confusedly grabbed his shoes. 

He's clearly never been the one getting brushed off like this. I was loving every second of this moment. 

"So.... I'll see you at rehearsals tomorrow?" He spoke up again. 

"Mhmm." I simply mumbled, snuggling deeper into my bed. 

Liam said nothing else before disappearing down the stairs. I heard him stop to say goodbye to Zayn and Lauren followed by the sound of the front door. 

"Good job, Normani." I quietly congratulated myself. 

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A/N: 

I'm baaaaaack! Sorry if this chapter was boring. This is my first time writing again in months and I didn't want to dive back in too deep. 

Hopefully I can have a couple more updates ready for you guys today. Y'all definitely deserve it for dealing with me going MIA on the story.