An Unexpected Meeting: (A Lawsworth Fanfic)

Chapter 19: Aftermath

AN: 12500+ words..... yikes!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liam manages to lock the door shut before he feels his throat start to constrict and grow tight. He forces himself to cough a few times in order to clear his airway as he makes his way quickly to the bathroom. His body shudders as he continues to struggle for breath and through his watering eyes, he grabs a glass, fills it with water and begins gulping it down as if he hasn't drunken anything for days. His body, however, rejects the sudden intrusion and his stomach gives a worrying jolt as a warning. Feeling what's coming next, he turns on his heels, flips up the toilet seat and manages to lean forward just in time for the contents of his stomach to make a disgusting reappearance. He has no idea how long he is bent double, but pretty soon his throat is burning with pain and the only thing he spits away is saliva and bile. Thankful that his body seems to be done with its self-purging, he lets out a shaky sigh along with a hiccup and quickly flushed the toilets content away just as his shock returns from the news he just found out. Wishing he could flush that news away, he lifts himself up on wobbly legs and turns back to the water glass. Now laying on its side and with a trail of water slowly dripping from the counter on to the cool, smooth laminated floor.

He tries not to think of alcohol dripping down an expensive speaker as he grabs a nearby towel and wipes the counter down. Another foul taste makes itself known in the back of his throat, although he thinks that was probably the aftertaste of his body rejection of his stomach contents. Wanting to be rid of it, he quickly gargles mouthwash, brushes his teeth and soon the only thing he can taste is the strong sharp flavour of mint.

He gulps down some more water and closes his eyes as he lets out a long sigh, relief flooding this body when it doesn't come straight back up and his eyes slowly open to reveal his reflection. His pale face gapes hollowly back at him, the only real colour is the redness around his sore eyes and mouth. He looks away and slowly runs his hands down his face, trying to coax some feeling back into his features. His fingers drop back down as he hears a soft knocking at the bedroom door followed by the rattling of the door handle.

He doesn't say anything but just stares blankly from the mirror to the door then back again feeling lost for words and a little annoyed. He doesn't really feel like seeing or speaking to anyone right now so he ignores the second round of knocking and just takes a seat in his comfy armchair, near the window, the bottle he brought with him in easy reach.

He watches without really seeing as the stars twinkling from within the inky blackness of the sky above. He sips from the bottle and gags at the foul combination of alcohol mixing with the mint still lingering on his tongue. Frowning, he looks down to see that he'd picked up the bottle of Kentucky bourbon Josh had brought. "Not quite as smooth now" Liam mutters to himself taking another deep swig. He grimacing past the taste then lets out an annoyed huff as the knocking behind him grows a little louder and more insistent.

"Liam, it's me. Come on little brother, unlock the door already."

Chris' voice reaches him and after a thoughtful pause, Liam reluctantly stands, unlocks the door then head back over to stand in front of the window being sure to face away from his brother. He sense's Chris' eyes on him but he makes no attempt to meet his brother's gaze and just settles on alternating between looking out the window and sipping from the bottle. After the fourth sip, he feels his tongue loosen.

"So," he says setting the bottle down and looks at Chris with blurry eyes. He sees his brother frown then his shoulder slump forward as he leans his back against the window.

"Mate, this is so fucked up," Chris says with a sigh.

Liam nods but doesn't comment, in truth he isn't sure what to say anyway. He's still trying to process the situation and figure out what emotion he should go with. Anger seems like the most obvious one to go with, and although he can feel plenty of that bubbling up within himself, the main thing he feels is a deep sense of betrayal and shock that Miley could have done such an awful thing and not told him.