Illusions (A Liam Payne A. U.)

He looked brave. He looked mysterious. He looked dangerous. He looked like fun. He looked like everything she was not. But isn't that always the way? Your life can be boring and miserable, then all of the sudden someone comes in your life and completely turn it upside down. It's fun, captivating, addictive, dangerous. Everything that she was not.
Alexandria Hastings knew exactly where her life was taking her. She had her whole life mapped out in front of her. It was better that way, she thought. She was going to college to get her Bachelor's degree in Psychology. She would work hard, meet a nice man, settle down, have children and live her life just as she planned it. Life was safe when it was like that. She accepted that's how it was supposed to be. She liked it.

Then she meets Liam Payne. He is like art hanging in an exhibit; breathtakingly beautiful and captivating, but something to only be admired from a distance. For you can look at the work and admire it greatly, but you can't touch it. Sometimes you could buy it, but now why would she want to go and do a thing like that? Clearly he is complex and intricate. Interesting and brave. Alex would never say that he is boring. Alex would say he is everything that she is not. Which is why she must keep her distance.

"Someone should have told me, Liam." I said.
"Told you what, Hastings?" he asks, lifting the cigarette to his lips. He was so close to me, I could almost taste it. He looked pensive and beautiful and cruel all at once. I was scared of him, honestly. Not because I thought he would harm me. No, he would never physically do that. He was above that. God, he's so much more than I expected. I was afraid because I knew at that moment, I would lay my life down for him. I would battle the bravest men, swim the most shark infested waters, and climb the highest mountain just for this one man. In that moment, I no longer belonged to solely myself.

"That you're not an illusion." I breathed.