Stand Out

Chapter Nine

Chapter 9

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"Hey Misty, over here!" I heard a male voice shout. I turned around and saw Liam and Niall standing there with a bodyguard.

"Hey guys," I said with a big smile. I walked over to them. I set down my suitcase and wrapped my arms around Liam.

"I missed you," I whispered.

"I missed you too," Liam whispered back. He kissed my cheek, then we broke the hug.

"Hi Niall. Nice seeing you," I said smiling.

"Hey Misty. Nice to see you too," he smiled back.

"We have to go back to the hotel now. You boys have to get ready for the concert," the bodyguard said.

"Okay," Liam said. The guard grabbed my suitcase and started walking towards the limo. Liam put his arm around my shoulder and we started walking towards the limo. Niall trailed behind us.

"Ewww. Lovey dovey grossness. Get a room guys," he said. Liam and I laughed.

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"That was amazing! You guys are incredible," I said as the boys got finished with their concert.

"Thanks love," Liam said walking up to give me a hug. I pushed him away.

"Eww, no. Take a shower first, sweaty boy," I laughed. Everyone else laughed along. Liam grabbed me anyway and kissed me. A small peck, not a full blown kiss. We hadn't really had our first real kiss yet. Huh. Guess we're just waiting for the right moment.

"I want to take you somewhere special tonight," he whispered into my ear.

"Sure, but seriously. Take a shower," I replied.

"Let's go back to the hotel. I'll come to your room at about, 7? It will be casual, so don't be too fancy."

"Sure. See ya then," I smiled back. I kissed him on the cheek and walked out to my rental car in the back. I know they have limo's and fancy cars that they'll drive me around in, but I wanted to be able to do things on my own, and not have to go everywhere with the boys.

I arrived at the hotel, and went up to my room. Okay... He was coming at 7. I looked at the clock. It was 6:15. Huh. I guess the concert was early, and not a night one. I didn't really pay attention to the time when it started.

I quickly took my hair out of the pony tail it was in and started brushing it. I took out my curling iron and started curling my hair. Not tight curls, but loose, casual curls. I brushed my teeth, and went to pick out my outfit. Since it was summer and still hot outside, I decided on white shorts, with a sky blue flow-y sort of top, to complement my blue eyes. It also went great with my light brown hair. I applied a little makeup, barely any. I don't use foundation, since I have a very even complexion. But I do use concealer for my dark circles. So, I pretty much just put on some mascara and pale pink lipstick.

It was now 6:55, so I went out of the bathroom and put on my shoes. Then I sat on the couch and waited, and waited, and waited. This felt like the longest 5 minutes ever.

It felt like forever, but finally Liam arrived exactly at 7.

"Hey babe," he said with a huge smile as I answered the door.

"Hey," I replied with a kiss on the cheek. "Where are we going?"

"I think you'll like it. At least I hope you do. It should be fun," he said.

"Okay, let's go then!" I said walking out the door. We went to the elevator, and went down to the bottom floor. There weren't any young people who looked like they could be fans, so we went out the door and got into the limo.

I was so excited to see where we were going, I kept asking over and over "Where are we going? Come on you can tell me."

Finally, we arrived.

"This is it!" he said gesturing to park that had some sort of display in it.

"What is it? A concert?" I said curiously.

"Nope. Its a fireworks show. It supposedly the best one in California. Should be really exciting, they do it twice a year, once on the 4th of July, then on a random date."

Oh. A fireworks show. What do I say? Do I tell him about my fear? That will ruin the date though.

"Oh, nice. Sounds fun," I said with a fake smile.

"Well, come on. Lets go get our seats. We got a private area," he said pulling me towards the chairs.

"Okay," I started walking towards the chairs with him. "Do you think this is safe? I mean, look at all those fireworks."

"Yeah, it's safe. They wouldn't do it if it wasn't, love."

"Okay. I trust you," I said hesitantly.

Even though it was dark out, it was still pretty warm outside. It felt good.

The fireworks show started. The first ones were just plain multicolored fireworks, some being gold, some green, etc. We watched it for about five minutes and I was tense. I kept replaying the image of my uncle in my head. He still has the scar today. Liam put his arm around me.

"You feel tense. You okay?" he said worriedly.

"Yep. Perfectly fine," I said. I felt bad lying but I didn't want to ruin our date.

Then it was time for the big finally. The guy went over and lit the fuse. He knocked into the firework and it fell over, facing us.

I froze.

Everything went in slow motion. I heard the firework go off, but I didn't see it because Liam pushed me out of the way. He landed next to me on the ground. The firework hit a tree behind us, causing it to erupt in flames.

"Are you okay?" Liam said into my ear as we lay on the ground.

I nodded. Liam got up and grabbed my hand, helping me up. My eyes started watering.

"I knew something bad would happen. I could feel it. This is why I hate, hate, hate fireworks!" I mumbled to myself. I wiped my eyes with my hand.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know you didn't like fireworks," he said to me as we walked away from the tree. Firemen were already on the scene, putting out the flames.

"It's okay. I know you were just trying to make a romantic date, but I'm terrified of fireworks. I just didn't want to say anything and ruin the date." He put his arm around me and we started walking towards the limo.

I was surprised no paparazzi found us yet. You would think that after a fire, the news reporters or something would be there. We got in the limo and we drove back to the hotel. When we got up to our floor, since we had different rooms, we stopped in front of my room door.

"Again, I'm really sorry," he said gently.

"It's okay. I forgive you. You're really sweet you know that?" I said kissing him on the cheek. "See you in the morning." I went in my room and closed the door. I put on a sweat shirt, got in back and replayed the image of the firework pointed at us in my head. I remembered how sweet Liam was, and how cute his apologetic puppy eyes were. It made me think that I didn't have to be afraid any more. That I would always have Liam there to protect me. I fell asleep quickly, with a smile on my face.

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