Change My Mind (Liam Payne Fiction)

Chapter 12

Aria woke up when the sun hit her face, and then quickly realized it wasn’t just the sunshine and the sleeping bag that made her feel like she was cradled in a peaceful cocoon of warmth.  Liam’s arms were still wrapped around her – one was under her neck so that her head rested on the hollow of his shoulder, and the other was draped over her waist.  Horrified that she not only let herself fall asleep in his arms, but that it provided her with exactly what she needed after the nightmare, she tried to disentangle herself from him.  But her movement only made him tighten his embrace even more and she ended up facing him, even closer than before.  She tried to get up again but he just hugged her even tighter, so she gave up.  For now. 

She tilted her head up and allowed herself to look.  To really look at Liam Payne.  She lay there quietly, unwilling to make any movements so as not to wake him up.  He was truly good-looking, a fact that she hadn’t fully appreciated before.  His scowl, and the arrogant way he pursed his lips left his face, and he was relaxed.  His hair was a bit mussed as if he’d just run his fingers through it.  Aria felt tingling in her fingers, and she had to clench her fists to fight the impulse to run her own fingers through his hair.  Her eyes traveled down his neck where his birthmark was, down to his arm that was still holding her close.

Aria gave herself a hard mental shake before she started touching him, and tried again to extricate herself from his arms.  But just about when she was halfway standing up, he pulled her back so that he was now embracing her from behind, her back to his chest.   And when Liam moved a little bit closer to her, Aria felt something poking her back that completely stunned her.  For a couple of seconds, she lay there frozen, unable to move.  Then she bolted upright, kicking him and waking him up in the process.

“What’s the matter” Liam asked with eyes still half closed.

“You! You’re what’s the matter!” Aria sputtered.

“What the hell did I do to you this time?” he asked clearly bewildered.  “Did you have another bad dream?”

She just stared coolly at him.

“Are you PMSing?” he asked, and then shielded his face with his arms when Aria made a move as if she was going to punch him. 

She drew a deep breath and yelped, “Y-y-your morning friend poked me!”  And then she made a mistake of looking at that area where Liam was pitching a morning tent.

When he realized where she was looking, he covered up that part and threw a pillow at her.  “Stop looking!” he exclaimed, mirroring her expression of utter horror. 

Aria caught the pillow before it hit her on the face and threw it back at him.  “Well, put it away then!”

“I can’t just command my, er … uh … that to uh … play dead,” he stammered.

Aria felt that she was experiencing what was about to go down in history as the most embarrassing moment of anyone’s life.  She was about to suggest that Liam start thinking about old people kissing when she heard a tiny voice behind her.

“Hi, Miss Aria,” Eugene greeted, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.  “I need to go the bathroom.”

Aria looked at Liam pointedly, as she took the little boy’s hand.  “Come on, buddy.  I’ll walk with you.” 

Liam watched as Aria walked away with the little boy who hated him because he was the reason he couldn’t watch his cartoons.  Before they turned to where the washrooms were, he heard the little boy ask, “Who is Liam’s friend and why did he poke you?”

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“P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face.  P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face,” Liam sang.