Red Balloon [Liam Payne AU]

viii. I Think We Got Off On the Wrong Foot

Juliette

 

There were a thousand places I’d rather be on a Friday night, and my apartment certainly wasn’t one of them. But yet- here I was, curled up in my oldest and softest white blanket (so old that it was really more of a yellow now than a white), watching terrible reality TV and eating Chinese takeout. Yeah, I was definitely living the high life.

With a sigh I moved the sweet and sour chicken off of my coffee table and into my lap as I switched the channel to a new station. Seeing what show was on, I almost laughed out loud at the irony. The Bachelor. Of course The Bachelor was on. That, and Million Dollar Matchmaker seemed to be on every channel, every time I flip on the TV. I couldn’t stand either- The Bachelor had too few matchmaking assets and Million Dollar Matchmaker had too many. Both were overproduced, extremely fake, totally addicting-…and exactly the kind of in-home therapy I needed.

I never thought of myself as a boring person particularly, but this past week had held more excitement in five days than I’d had in a while. Liam…I still didn’t know exactly what to think of Liam, or the mess I’d created on his behalf. It was something I preferred not to overthink, or else I would really run to his front door and confess everything.

Liam was unlike any client I’d had before, and he scared me, to be totally honest.

My thoughts were interrupted when Beth slammed open my door, knocking over an umbrella stand and scaring the absolute life out of me. I jumped in my seat, spilling my sweet and sour sauce all over my white blanket, groaning as I rubbed at it with a napkin.

“Beth, that’s going to leave a stain. Is it too much to ask to have you open my door slowly? Or, God forbid,” I continued, throwing the blanket in my laundry pile, “Knock first? How did you get my spare key anyway?”

Beth rolled her overdone eyes at me and kicked the fallen umbrella stand with her stiletto-clad foot. “I took it. You know, for emergencies.”

“And this qualifies as an emergency how…?” I asked.

“Your social life, J. I feel like I have to practically drag you places.”

“That’s because you do drag me places. Usually against my will,” I noted.

“Exactly. So you should really be thanking me, then.” She tossed her hair, perfectly curled and held firm with probably at least three coats of hairspray. Her motto? A girl can never have enough hairspray.

“So where are we going tonight?” I asked, flipping the TV off. There was only so much of The Bachelor I could take before I wanted to rip my eyebrows out. ”Please tell me it’s not another club, because I really don’t think I can handle another-“

Beth cut in, motioning me to follow her into my bedroom, answered me over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to another club. I’m taking you, on a date!”

With a smirk as big as her heels, she sat on my bed and watched my reaction with glee.

Oh Lord. “Beth!”

She grinned wider. “Sorry, J, no getting out of it, I’m going with Louis and he’s bringing his roommate. It’ll be fun!”

“Can I at least have his name?”

“Absolutely not. Juliette, don’t forget that I’m your best friend, and I know you better than anyone. That means that I know the minute I give you his name, you’ll look him up on whatever stalker database you use, and it will defeat the entire purpose of tonight.”