Drowning

Chapter 2

Liam woke up with the urge to use the toilet. His neck ached for having to sleep on the arm of the chair and as he sat up, realising that it wasn’t just his neck that ached, rather his whole body. Turning on the lamp next to the couch, light quickly illuminated the small space, scaring away the dark. Liam stood up, stretching before using his phone as a guide to find the bathroom.

After exiting the bathroom, Liam thought he could hear small sobbing coming from the room next to it. Leaning his ear against the door, Liam could definitely hear the small painful sobs. Remembering the paintings, he knocked on the door twice. After hearing a lot of sniffing and shuffling on the other side of the door, it finally creaked open to reveal a red eyed brunette.

Liam gave her a small smile, to which she started to return but it turned into another sob. He quickly guided her back into the small room, towards the double bed before pulling her close to him. His mother had once told him that sometimes the best medicine for a crying girl was a man’s chest to cry on and that was exactly what he was doing, using his thumb to draw small circles on her back.

His actions had somehow soothed her, making her feel like she wasn’t alone and she knew that she could never tell him how grateful she was to have this stranger comforting her. After crying for a while, she stops, to look up at the boy whom had done so much for her and yet she didn’t even know his name.

“Are you ok?” he asked her, his tone full of concern. She nodded her head honestly; he had helped her a lot.

“Can I know your name?” he asked her, a small smile gracing his plump lips.

“Emily.” She answers in a small voice but the boy smiles anyway.

“I’m Payne, Liam Payne.” He introduces, doing his best impression of James Bond as he reaches out his hand for her to shake, which she does with a small giggle.

Liam couldn’t help but take a quick glance at her arm, and just like expected, he could see small marks as she pulled her hand away from his. He decided not to bring it up, he barely knew her and it would be completely rude for him to ask about them as well as her paintings, no matter how curious he was.

“Thank you, for, um, staying with me.” She says, giving him an awkward small smile.

“That’s fine, I didn’t want to leave you.” After he said it, Liam realised how creepy that sounded. “I mean because, well-um you n-nearly drowned.” He tries to elaborate, making Emily giggle again. He realised that he enjoyed the sound of her melodic giggles, and he was determined to make them occur more.

***

Liam woke up to something heavy weighing down his stomach. Peering down, he sees a head of brown hair splattered across his chest. Had they really been talking for so long that he had fallen asleep? He didn’t want to wake her, and he knew he shouldn’t. But just as he was about to close his eyes again, the head was moved off his body quickly.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry.” The brunette mutters, causing him to chuckle softly.

“Don’t worry about it, love.” He assures her, using his elbow to help him sit up properly.

Light blush could be seen on her cheeks as she looked at the handsome boy whom she had slept on his muscled (and extremely comfortable if she might say so herself) stomach and she had to quickly look away before her blush deepened.

“D-did you want s-some breakfast?” she mentally slapped herself for stuttering, why was she anyway?

“Sure,” he says, trying to grace her with a smile but it didn’t reach because she refused to look at him, making the smile fade instantly. Had he done something to offend her?