Clouded

Chapter 28- 18

"We made a start, be it a false one I know. But, baby, I don't want to feel alone... A long way from the playground." - 18, One Direction (baby daddies)

What a strange coincidence that tonight Liam's sisters happened to be in town. When I had called my mother earlier that day she had made a point to warn me that the two were in for the weekend and her and my father had been planning to go over to the Payne's for a big dinner.

“Kill two birds with one stone, right?” I let out a shaky laugh when I told Liam this as we entered the city limits of Wolverhampton.

I noticed that his knuckles had turned white next to the black leather of the steering wheel. “Right,” he muttered under his breath.

I pursed my lips and turned back to face the road.

When we eventually pulled into the driveway of Liam's house- behind two other familiar vehicles- I heard Liam release a long unsteady sigh.

I reached across the console to squeeze his hand reassuringly. “We're in this together,” I reminded him. “it'll be fine, they'll understand.”

After a moment's hesitation, he finally nodded. As his hand reached for the door handle, he spun back around as if he forgot something.

“Did you-?” I began to ask, but I was cut off as his lips met mine aggressively, bruising into mine with quick heated passion. His hand rose up to tangle itself behind my neck and into my messy hair from the car ride.

Impulsively, I reached up to clutch his bicep, letting my fingers make their way underneath the sleeve of his shirt as his lips made their way to the corner of my mouth.

He let out a sigh of relief into my lips before pulling away slowly and pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I don't know how long it will be until I can do that again,” he whispered against my temple, referring to bombard of family that was waiting for us and how they still thought that we were platonic best friends.

I nodded. “Okay,” I breathed. “let's go.”

And we did.

The moment we walked through the threshold of his family home, we were shoved right into the familiar hugs and greetings of love. As I kissed my father's cheek and buried myself into my mother's neck, I knew that there was no way Liam's family could misunderstand. They loved him just as much as my parents loved me. And they would stand beside him through this time.

“I love what you've done to your hair,” I swooned as I ran my hands through the short blonde locks of Liam's older sister Nicola. She was- easy to say- a foot taller than me, even without the stilettos that adorned her feet.

“Thank you,” she smiled widely back to me, her eyes glinting in the same shape of Liam's. She turned away from me to where Liam stood beside us, his smile reaching his eyes as well. “Look at my baby brother,” she sighed and pulled him to another tight embrace.