Puppy Love

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Liam's lips press against mine, an unfamiliar touch of softness on mine.  At first, I don't pull back.  I just lie in the darkness, frozen and shocked, feeling the weight of Liam's body over mine.  But after reality soaks in, a jolt of realization surges through my veins.

"Shit," I breathe, pushing Liam's weight off of me.  I wipe my lips with the back of my hand and curse at myself.  I actually enjoyed that in a sick, twisted sort of way.  

Argh, what is wrong with me? 

I reach over to the night stand and switch on the light.  

Have you ever felt like you don't know what to say?  Like you're completely frozen in shock, unable to make a sound or stutter some sort of coherent sentence?  Well, that's kind of how I feel right now.  My lips are sealed shut, my eyes are wide, and my throat feels like it's closing up and suffocating me. 

I don't know.  I feel like my mind has gone blank.  How are you even supposed to respond or react to something like this?  What are you supposed to say when an innocent hybrid puppy boy kisses you out of the blue?  Does Liam even know what kissing is—what it means?  

A sharp whimper breaks me from my train of thought.  

Liam is sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, staring at me with wide, brown irises.  His eyes are watering and he looks like he's about to cry.  His lip trembles and his body starts to shake.  His lashes flutter and a single tear trickles down his rosy red cheeks.

I intake a sharp breath.  "Li, don't cry, it's okay," I hush.

He whines again.  "I n-naughty puppy.  I up-upset Za-Zaynie."  

"No, you didn't upset me," I assure him.  "It's just—why did you do that?"  He cocks an eyebrow in confusion, so point to my lips in order to clarify.  His cheeks flush even redder.

"See b-boy and girl to-touch lips on the TV.  They say ‘cause they l-love each other . . . and Li-Liam love Zayn," Liam explains innocently. 

It makes my heart flutter, but I inevitably feel a pang of guilt in my stomach.  Why didn't I stop right away? Oh right, because I’m a right idiot.  He's a hybrid and is noticeably younger than I am.  I shouldn't think about him in a non-platonic way.  It's just wrong, even if he doesn’t understand why it’s wrong.

But he looks so damn cute, and he's so innocent and naïve, so, naturally, I can't help but want to rip away every shred of purity from him.  There's a vile part of my brain, in the darkest corners of my imagination, that wants him.  I need to push those thoughts away, but he's not making it very easy.

"Is Zayn angry at me?" he squeaks.

I sigh.  "No, I'm not."

"W-why say bad words?" 

I bite my lip.  "Cause you kissed me, Liam."

His puppy ears perk up at the sound of the new word.  "Ki-iss?" he stutters. 

"Yes, kiss."

He frowns.  "What kiss?" 

I bite the inside of my cheek and try to scrape up some sort of definition and explanation.  "It's when—ah, it's when two people who like each other touch lips.  It's what you just did."

He giggles.  "Oh.  I kiss Liam?"

I nod, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.  "You did, indeed.  Why did you kiss me, Liam?"  

"Like Zaynie," he explains, expression softening.  "Zayn nice a-and make Liam happy.  Zayn not hurt me."

I huff.  "Liam, that's really sweet, but . . . people only kiss when they're, erm, romantically together," I say.

"Ro-roman-tically?" he murmurs, confusion threaded through his voice.

"Yeah, romantically.  Y'know, when two people have feelings for each other and want to be together.  When they feel a connection and love each other."

"But I l-love Zayn," Liam pouts.  "Ke-keep Liam safe.  Save from m-mean owner!" 

He tilts his head to the side and, fuck, could he be any cuter? 

"That's not what I meant, Liam," I begin.  "There's friendly love and romantic love.  What you're feeling is friendly love, and friends don't kiss, okay?" I continue, trying to put my words together in the simplest way possible.  

"Why not?" he wonders.  His floppy ears become limp and his eyebrows furrow together at the ambiguity.

"Because,” I say lamely, unable to give him a good answer

"Why?" he nearly whimpers the word in a puppy-like way.

"Because they just don't, alright?" I say louder.

As soon as the words slip out of my mouth, I realize it came out harsher than intended.  Liam murmurs out ‘oh’ and then his eyes water again.  A sense of remorse sweeps over my body.

"That came out wrong," I say quickly.  "I didn't mean to snap at you.  I'm sorry."

Liam whimpers.  "Make Zaynie angry?" he asks, panic surging through his tone.  

"No," I answer.  "No, you didn't make me angry, Liam.  I just . . . I'm tired.  I need sleep.  We'll talk tomorrow, alright?"

Liam frowns.  "Zayn hate Liam," he says.  The fragile and brittle sound in his voice makes my heart shatter.  

I immediately shake my head and cup his face between my hands, squishing his heated cheeks in my palms.  His eyes blink up at me and his lips form into a pout.  

"I could never hate you.  Finding you was the best thing that ever happened to me," I tell him.  

He sniffles.  "O-okay."

"You're just . . . you're so damn cute, Liam," I hum, more to myself than to him.  I let go of his face and he grins. 

"Zayn say naughty word!" he laughs.  His unstructured sentences always make me smile.

I chuckle.  "Now, go to sleep out on your air mattress, Li.  It's late."

He yawns cutely, his ears flicking back as he does so.  "’Kay," he murmurs.  He stands up from the bed and pads over to the door.  

"Wait," I say.

He turns around on his heel.  "Wha'?"

"No hug?" I ask, faking a pout.  Liam giggles again and leans over to give me a quick hug.  I smile into his embrace.  

He pulls away and I scratch behind his floppy velvet-like ears.  "Good night.  I'll see you in the morning," I say.

"G'night Zaynie," he says, voice thick with sleep.  He gives me one last smile before walking into the living room.  I fall back into my own bed and snuggle under the covers.  I listen to the distinct sound of scratching sheets against the mattress, indicating that he's in his own bed now.  

I let out an exhausted sigh and reach over to switch off the lamp, plunging the room into pitch blackness.  I fall asleep shamelessly dreaming about the innocent hybrid puppy who stole my heart.

written by TrulyMadlyLarry

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some housekeeping stuff: please keep in mind that both Cara and I have busy lives outside of fangirling. She's in high school and I'm in my very first year of uni. As much as we enjoy writing, school always comes first, yeah? And comments like "please update" or "please continue" aren't going to magically make our school work disappear. Frankly, those comments are selfish and even rude in my opinion. if you respect me as a writer, you should understand that all that those comments do is piss me off a bit (or a lot, it depends on the day). Please keep that in mind. And I will delete those kinds of comments on all of my stories. My profile also mentions that.