Growing Up and Moving On: A One Direction Story

Chapter 20: calm and the storm

I text Rachel that we will be back in four hours which will be enough time for their movie and all.

Liam and I strap ourselves into their old van in which they are trying not to bring attention to themselves. We call it the loser cruiser cause they have much nicer cars back home for themselves.

Liam shuffles around to get the radio to stop loosing satellite and finally gets it to a local radio station.

They are playing teenage dream by Katy perry and we both sing at the top of our lungs just for the hell of it. When the dog comes to an end we laugh and wait for the next song to come on.

"You're insecure..." I make the most awkward face possible once I realize that Liam is singing on the radio. He blushes.

"Maybe we should just change the channel..." "No... Baby you light up my world like nobody else the way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed and when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell you don't know oh oh you don't know your beautiful."

I make sure to flip my hair and point at Liam whenever they sing you. Liam laughs and changes the station and turns the volume down to a normal capacity.

"Thanks for embarrassing me there. I really deserved it. Every time I hear that song I get some sort of out of body experience. I'm still shocked to believe that's me...you know what I mean?"

"That's deep bro." I giggle and smile. Suddenly I remember and my smile drops. "Well..I did have that same feeling when my dad died.... But I don't want to talk about that." I look out of the room to relieve some tension.

"Hey just turn right here and that will take you to the less ghetto part of downtown." He does as told and looks over at me at the stoplight.

"Sophie you are special, unique, and complex,I hope you realize that. Anytime that you need me, I'm right here okay? I hope that you will be here for me too."

"Of course I will Liam... Oh my gosh!! Is that? We need to go inside there I loved it here as a kid."

The nearest city to where I live is Reno. Reno, being in Nevada, has an abundance of gambling but there was one place where a casino was fun,the Circus Circus. Here, you play carnival games to win stuffed animals and such. It can get expensive but it is always worth it.

"A casino? This is fun?" We walk through the smoke of the first floor and make our way down to the midway as I grab his hand, leading him down the stairs.

"No, THIS is fun." I present him the carnival acts and circus performers and the fun galore. We take off running, making sure to hit every available game.

He was set on winning me a giant stuffed teddy bear by throwing the ball in a jug but failed miserably.

"Liam that is the most rigged game here! It has a funnel so it bounces off! The teddy is cute, but there are better things." I show him my favorite game, the horse races. Here, you roll balls into different holes on order to get points and move your horse along.

I beat Liam easy. "I got beat by a girl!" He slams his head on the table and demands a rematch. We play again and I beat him a second time and prance away.

"Just cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't have mad skills!" I try to act gangster and laugh at my idiocracy. It's already been two hours? We have barely won anything. I only won two small toys and Liam is left empty handed. He steps up to the strength test.

"That giant turtle is going to be yours in a couple of minutes." Boys and their pride. Hopefully this game isn't rigged like all the others..*ding* He swung his mallet and brought the bell to the top. If he can do it twice more it's mine. *Ding* wow. Liam actually is pretty strong, he is even strong enough to break the bell off when it hits the top the third time. He grabs the turtle from the director and hands it to me and bows.

"My lady, I present to you Sir Squiggly Face!" I laugh at the ridiculous name. "Sir squiggly face?" "I came up with it in my head when I hit the bell that last time... You love it right?" "Of course I love it." I grab turtle and we go back to the van in hopes of getting back in time to pick them up. We get outside and it is pouring rain.

"But it never rains here! And never this hard! The weather is always so weird but rain is my favorite type of weather I love the smell and sound of it." I put my stuffed animals and Sir Squiggly face into the van and stand in the rain,letting the raindrops fall on my face.

"Isn't it absolutely splendid?" Liam grabs my hands and we begin I waltz in the rain. He dips me in the dance and brings me back up,closer than before.

"The rain is always so romantic. I have always had this stupid dream of kissing a girl in the rain.. I'm just a hopeless romantic I guess."

"Have you ever done it?" "No. I haven't.." "Why not?"

"Because none of those other girls were you." He leans in and we kiss, letting the rain soak our clothes without a care.

I guess he finally decided when to make his move.