Cheryl x Liam: Inevitable

Part 4

"Hey, Mum – here's all the art supplies for you guys today."

Karen Payne smiled as her son, Liam, wandered in with the two rather large bags of art supplies that she'd had him bring over on his way to work today. She gave him a peck on the cheek before leading him to where to store the supplies. However, as he was passing the group of children, a familiar little voice caught his attention,

"Hey, you're the nice man that helped me and my Mammy last night!"

He looked down at the little table, smiling straight away as he saw the same little girl he'd seen the night before when he'd helped Cheryl with her car. This was her daughter clearly as she had the same dimples and smile, and of course the same chocolate brown eyes that were sparkling with happiness.

"Aw yeah, hello again sweetheart," he chuckled, "What's your name?"

"Sophia; what's yours?" Sophia replied, walking up to him.

"I'm Liam; it's lovely to meet you properly, Sophia." He smiled at her. As much as the name Sophia made his stomach churn, he was grateful that the only Sophia that was crossing his path at the moment was this little one who was just a sweet as her mother.

"Hi Liam; that's a cool name," Sophia giggled, "Well, I'm going to go back to my table now but thank you for helping me and my Mammy get home; we was gonna be out there forever and ever if we had to wait for Uncle Garry to get us."

"It's no problem at all, sweetheart; I'm glad I could help. I hope you have a good day." Liam replied. Sophia nodded and went back to sit down whilst Liam chuckled to himself as he followed his mother into the little storage room.

"Her mother just left actually; I don't know if you ran into her outside or anything." Karen spoke up as she put the art supplies away.

"Oh yeah; I mean I saw her when I was coming in but she was looking like she was in a rush." Liam explained as he helped her put them away. Karen nodded before turning to her son, who was putting the higher boxes up for her.

"How are you really son? Sophia came by yesterday looking for you; I told her you were working and that I didn't know when you'd come by again – I wish she'd leave you alone." She asked before rolling her eyes; the entire Payne family no longer being fond of Liam's not so nice ex-girlfriend.

"I went by her family's house where she was to drop off the last of her things," Liam sighed as he leaned against the shelf, "She begged me to get with her again but I'm just not interested in the slightest anymore, especially not since she's shown her true colors. I told her that we weren't getting back together and literally as soon as her dad started walking down the stairs, she burst into tears and started screaming at me, basically making out like I was being terrible and had grabbed her and stuff. I tried to tell her dad that I hadn't done anything at all because I'm not like that, but he just told me that if I came 'round again he'd have me arrested."

"Then you know not to go over there anymore, Liam," his mother sternly told him, "I'm serious, son. You don't need to be dealing with that, and I'll be damned if Joe Smith takes down my son because his daughter is just some prissy little girl that takes pride in ruining people's lives. Seriously, don't go over there anymore."

"Trust me, Mum; I'm certainly not going anymore – I just want to completely wipe my hands clean of that entire family and just move on." Liam said, shaking his head in despair. Karen nodded, rubbing his shoulder as they made their way back out into the class room area.

"And that's what I want you to do son," she handed over two brown bags where she'd packed his lunch and his father's lunch, "There's you and your father's lunches, now get to work."