Brave Bold Belle (ft. Liam Payne)

Chapter 34 - Weight

    Liam surprises me by stopping the car in one fluid motion, facing me with eyes wide in disbelief and hurt. I’m aware my words hurt him, I did it on purpose. I had to do it to prepare him for what’s to come. I just didn’t think he would stop in the middle of the street on such a fast turn. He could’ve caused an accident, considering it’s snowing.

“Liam! Why did you stop like that?” I demand. My heart begins beating faster due to the surprise.

“What did you say?” he asks and I sigh.

“I said: why did you stop like that? That was reckless. It’s snowing, Liam! You ought to be careful when dri—”

“Before that!” he shouts, cutting me off and surprising me. Ah, he means what I said before he suddenly stopped. I close my eyes and sigh tiredly. For a moment I thought that approaching this topic whilst he was driving would be a good idea as he would have to concentrate on driving instead of the issue.

“Ah, you mean that,” I say, injecting my voice with a lack of concern. “I just noticed that lately. We signed the contract on the twentieth of September, which means it ends on the twentieth of March. Practically a month away,” I explain as if it was the simplest thing. But from the corner of my eye I see him clenching his fist around the wheel. “I’m sorry for mentioning the contract; I know you don’t like it when I do—”

“Then why? Why do you bring it up?” he snaps, cutting me off once again. “Even if we have one month left, why now? Why tonight?”

“Come on, Liam. It’s not a big deal,” I try to calm him down. “I just noticed it today, that’s all,” I lie because I’ve been aware of this all the time. “Don’t tell me you forgot we have to ‘break up’ in March.” Even if I’m trying to make that sound nonchalant, I still feel the lump in my throat. It does feel like we’ll be breaking up for real.

“It’s not that—”

“Then why does it surprise you?” Now I’m the one cutting him off and I see him pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“I’m not surprised because of that, I’m surprised that you bring it up, that you still care about it! I thought we were past that,” he exclaims and I take in a sharp breath.

His words make my heart race because it seems he really forgot about the contract and thought of us as a real item. I know it felt like that, but even if I let myself just enjoy my time with him and my feelings grow, at the back of my mind I always knew we were just together because of a whim and a contract.

I look away, my eyes focused on the snow falling around us. I don’t want to fight now because we still have one month. I know we can’t be close, that I need to build up walls to protect us both, but that doesn’t mean I want to end it here and now or make our last month something difficult and uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry,” I mutter. “I shouldn’t have mentioned it now,” I say because eventually I’ll have to bring it up, when the deadline arrives. Our time is definitely running out.

“But you’ll mention it later,” he says, his voice tense. I don’t even dare to look at him, but I can feel his eyes boring into my skull.

“Eventually,” I mumble and I hear him sigh, frustrated. “Let’s drop it, okay? I don’t wanna fight now, Liam.” I turn to look at him and it’s hard to smile but I try. “I haven’t seen you in a while and I missed you.” I bite my tongue because I shouldn’t have said that, but the words escaped my lips because I couldn’t stop myself.

Liam doesn’t say anything else, he just looks me in the eyes and I can see in his that he’s still hurting, that he’s worried and I also see dread. But all that disappears when determination crosses the brown sea of his irises and his hand reaches out for the back of my neck, pulling me into a fierce kiss that takes me by surprise. I tense at first because I wasn’t expecting this at all, but then I melt against him, my own hands grabbing the lapels of his coat and leaning in closer, kissing him back with the same passion and need. His lips are demanding and rough, his arms wrapping around me, pulling me closer, almost onto his lap. I can barely keep up with him, but I don’t want to break the kiss. I want to be weak right now and forget we have a month left, that I have to break up with him for the sake of his career.