The Band Next Door

Chapter 09 - Problem?

Dedicated to my most consistant commenter&voter and a good friend :)

Chapter 9~

~~TORI'S POV~~

I collapsed exhausted onto a chair in my kitchen staring at the counters littered with baked goods.

"Shit, I may have gone a bit overboard..." I muttered to myself, looking about. There was a zone I got in when I was baking that didn't allow me to stop until I worked everything out of my system. "At least the bake sale won't run out of supplies."

Suddenly, it hit me that I was talking to myself, and I shook my head laughing. Picking up a few tins, I decided I'd be a good neighbor and drop by the neighboring houses with my baked goods. After dropping a few off at Nikki's house, knowing how she liked my brownies, I made my way over to the Band House, as I affectionately titled it.

Knocking on the door with some chocolate chip cookies, I was surprised to have it thrown open right away by a frazzled Liam who was just as surprised to see me on his doorstep.

"T-tori?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head embarrassed as he eyed me intently. He was shirtless, which did nothing for my racing heart, and I had to swallow hard to get any moisture in my mouth.

"Hey, Liam." I said, running a self conscious hand through my hair. I realized I was standing on his step, bare faced, in old sweatpants and a tanktop with a light jacket. Clearly, I wasn't making much of an impression. "I... I, um, made a few too many cookies and I wondered if you and the lads would like to have some."

Liam practically snatched the cookies from my hands looking behind him nervously.

"Yeah. Thanks." He replied shortly.

"Liam?" I said with a questioning tone, a little hurt by his short treatment of me.

"What?" He snapped.

I reared back, my shock written across my face. "I just wanted to know if you were alright..." I trailed off, before spinning around and leaving angrily. "Enjoy the damn cookies."

"Tori..." He said sadly, before pausing when I didn't stop walking. "T-tori! Tori, wait!"

I was halfway across the street before a hand grabbed my arm, stopping me. I could see Liam had thrown a jacket on over his bare torso and grabbed mismatching shoes in his rush to stop me.

"What, Liam? What do you want?"

"I-I'm sorry, I'm stressed." He apologized, rubbing his buzz cut head.

I crossed my arms unimpressed, "Doesn't mean I can be your punching bag."

"I know." He said before shooting me a crooked smile. "I'm very sorry."

In the face of his smile, I couldn't hold out long and shook my head, waving it off with my hand. "It's fi-"

I was about to respond when a car blared from my side of the road, and I was suddenly very aware that we were right smack dab in the middle of the street. I was caught like a doe in headlights, and I froze. All of a sudden, I felt the car whiz by me as Liam pulled me to his chest and spun me around shielding me.

I looked up at him as he brought me upright, locking my brown eyes with his hazel ones. "Th-thank you."

He looked just as shaken and his eyes were wide, "No problem."

Suddenly, I realized I was pressed against his bare chest in just a tank top, and I backed away quickly, feeling much chillier without his arms around me.

"What are you stressed about?" I asked, trying to resume the position we were having before.

"Baby problems." He sighed.