The Night We Met

3

[A/N: As promised (and half an hour before deadline!!), here's another chapter!

Feedback is always appreciated.
Little heads-up to let you know there will probably be just two more chapters until this is over! Thank you so much for reading. All the love, x.]

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You could hear nothing but the steady breaths of Lucy, Watson and I; and for me it had become harder to breathe.

"I'm joking" Lucy suddenly said, "My favourite song is The Way You Look Tonight by Frank Sinatra. I have nothing against What Makes You Beautiful, though"

I didn't answer. I couldn't.

I sat still on my sofa, staring blankly at the dark that surrounded us. A cold touch on my forearm made me jump.

"I thought it wasn't fair, Liam" Lucy said. Her voice sounded sweeter than it had before, and I didn't think that was possible; "It wasn't fair that you kept thinking that I had no idea of who you actually were"

Never "who you actually were" had sounded so bad. Who was I actually? A famous popstar? A boyband member? Was that all I was being reduced to?

"I knew you were Liam Payne from the second you started trying to figure out how that wooden door worked" Lucy continued, and the way we had met brought a small smile to my face. As smile she couldn't see because everything was still pitch black. "But I didn't want you to think that I wanted to get to you because you were Liam Payne. You wanted to be just Liam, and I wanted to be just Lucy, and that's what we've been for the whole night."

The room fell silent again.

I was very confused, but I began to realise that I was confused because I didn't feel hurt. My brain was telling me I should feel hurt and I should feel used, but I didn't. Lucy's attitude towards me had been so sincere, that I genuinely thought she had no idea of who I was.

"I'm sorry I hurt you" her voice, trembling and a bit wobbly this time broke the silence.

And hearing the pain in her voice broke my heart.

"You didn't hurt me" I quickly answered.

That could've been my entire speech, but I decided to open up a little bit more.

"I actually thought you had no idea of who I was" I said, "That's how natural you've been around me. My brain tells me I should feel used, but I don't because I don't think you've used me. As you said, tonight I wanted to be just Liam, because for the past year and a half I haven't been able to be just that outside the walls of this house" I sighed, "I was always Liam Payne, 'Liam, when is the new album coming out?', Liam who had split with Cheryl, 'Liam, how is Bear?'; even 'Liam, when is One Direction getting back together?' even though the band is been on hiatus for longer than I can remember"

Watson sneezed and made us chuckle, and it felt like the tension in the air had been released a bit.

"I felt just Liam tonight, so I have to thank you for that" I finished.

I silenced, even though my brain had added a sentence that I didn't say but terrified the hell out of me: I didn't know who just Liam was anymore.

I stretched my hands in the dark and searched for Lucy. Watson moved away, which I appreciated, and after what felt like ages of stretching out my arm to nothing, I felt her hair brush against my fingertips.

Lucy jumped and let out a little squeal.

"It's just me" I whispered.

She relaxed, and I felt her move towards me.