"It's chilly today" Liam broke the silence as we walked under the night sky, our footsteps echoing in the silence.
"Yeah" I absent-mindedly nodded, kicking pebbles in my path. It was awfully quiet for a saturday night in London, but then again, people were probably partying, not walking the midnight streets like loners.
"I hate winters" Liam shivered again, tightening the leather jacket around himself.
"Yeah"
"Let's skinny dip"
"Yeah" I spoke mechanically, making Liam chuckle. I suddenly flushed, embarrassed with the realization of what I just said "I mean what?" I tried covering up, only to make the boy next to me laugh harder. "Whaaatt...it was an accident.." I felt my cheeks go warm with embarrassment as I kept looking down.
"Ofcourse it was" he teased, and I didn't even have to look up to see the smile on his face, it was evident in his voice.
"Yeah" This time I did it intentionally and caught him grinning from the corner of my eye. My lips turned into a smile too, but this time it wasn't forced, it came naturally. It's the first time I smiled since losing him which made me think of him again, and instead of dropping my smile like all the other times...this time it actually grew wider, my smile grew wider thinking about his beautiful face and I didn't even realize what I was doing until Liam had stopped walking and was looking at me, a small smile playing in his lips.
"Are you okay?" he nearly chuckled, making me look down from his face as I nodded and we started walking again. "You knoowww...I'm starting to think I make you blush" my smile disappeared as I kept my gaze on the ground.
"You do?" I asked emotionlessly.
"Yeah...because everytime I say something you look away" he continued teasing but my heart suddenly ached for Harry so much that I felt like I'd start crying any second.
"Oh, no you don't" I answered a bit too quickly making Liam's smile fade away as he shoved his hands in his pockets again. There was silence again, silence that made me crave Harry with every passing minute. "Let's go home" I turned around, taking long strides in the direction we came from.
"Hey hey! slow down" Liam caught up with me, his eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Why the sudden change of mind?"
"I just feel like going home"
"Yeah..um...okay sure" his voice dropped. He sounded sad, almost...almost hurt. But I couldn't care about that right now, my body craved Harry's touch and being out this late with another man just didn't feel right, even if it was Liam. The rest of the walk home was quiet before Liam's sudden outburst scared me half to death. I put a hand on my heart, jumping in surprise when he spoke.
"Jeezz...calm down" I widened my eyes, making him chuckle again. He laughed at everything, didn't he?
"It'll just take a second" he looked all excited before he grabbed my wrist, pulling me as he ran towards God knows where. What have I got myself into? I stood behind Liam as he ordered something, before turning and facing me, his eyes shining with childish excitement as he extended a shake-like looking thing towards me. I grabbed it, making chills run through my body.
"A chiller?" I practically glared at him "you got us chillers in this weather?"
"Chillers taste best when its chilly" he shrugged, taking a sip of his strawberry chiller.
"Yeahh...if you want to get a brain-freeze" there he goes again, laughing. I took a sip of mine, enjoying the strawberry coolness that melted down my throat.
"How did you know I like strawberry?" I took a long sip, waiting for him to answer. He shrugged, pouting before he answered,
"I didn't. I like strawberry"
"Fair enough" he gave me a small smile before we walked in peaceful silence again.
"So what about the band now?" I looked up at Liam, the aura around us was much more serious now. Liam's jaw suddenly clenched.
"We're staying together and obviously we're not replacing Harry" I felt something tug at my heart as soon as I heard his name. "We're stronger now, stronger than ever, stronger for Harry. And we're going to make him proud...this is all for him" I nodded at the firmness in his voice and it touched me how much they cared, they really were like family.
"That's great" I managed to choke out. Liam turned to look at me, his look unusually intense for some reason. I wanted to say something but my lips seemed to be glued together, I just stared back into his dark eyes. He held my gaze for a while before tearing his eyes away from mine and looking down at the pavement.
"We're here" he spoke slowly and I nodded, turning towards the front door. "Bye" I weakly waved at him and he softly smiled before waving back.
"Bye Khadija" he stood there, waiting for me to go inside safely.
"Thank you" I spoke a little louder, making him nod as I nearly closed the door. I watched him from the window, his shadow slowly walk away into the night fog. I suddenly felt tired, this had been the maximum physical exercise I had in the past few days, which was a good thing because it made me sleepy...and I wouldn't have to cry myself to sleep again, in hopes of seeing the curly-haired boy in my dreams.
