Shy [Liam Payne]

Chapter 23

*Liam's Point of View*

"Was that really you fighting, Liam?"

"Who was that guy you beat up?"

"Was he Marianne's ex boyfriend?"

Tons of questions were being thrown at me from various celebrities at the party. Several paparazzi people got in and were taking pictures like crazy.

"Are you alright?" I asked Marianne, who looked overwhelmed by all the flashes of cameras and loud questions being yelled at us. She nodded, biting her lip nervously.

"This is crazy." She mumbled, keeping her head down. I lost the boys a couple minutes ago on accident. I searched the room for people I know. I saw one person that I don't know personally, but I know Mari would like to meet.

"Hey, look over there." I said, pointing at a couple people near a corner.

"Oh my gosh! That's Adam Levine!" She said excitedly, grabbing my hand. "He's even hotter in person!"

"Me too, right?" I pouted.

"Well..." She stretched the word, teasing me. I chuckled and started walking over to Adam. "What?! No! I can't go talk to him!"

"Why not?" I questioned.

"Because I'm awkward and he's hot and it just won't work." She shook her head.

"You're gorgeous and I found your awkwardness adorable. And I'm way hotter than him and you're calm around me, so you can pull it off." I winked.

"Psh, only person that's hotter than him is probably Channing Tatum or Liam Hemsworth." She disagreed.

"Well, I'm a close fourth. Now come on." I pulled her. She finally gave in and came with me. He was talking with Ed Sheeran, a great friend of mine that I didn't notice earlier.

"Hey, mate!" Ed said once he saw me. Marianne tensed up. I internally chuckled. She must be a fan of Ed too.

"Hey, lad. How's it going?" I asked him.

"Pretty good. Who's this?" He gestured to Mari.

"Lou's little sister, Marianne." I introduced them. "Ed, this is Marianne. Mari, this is Ed."

"Nice to meet you, love. Hopefully you're a bit calmer than Louis." He laughed. "Oh, and this is Adam. We wrote Payphone together."

"Really?" Mari spoke up.

"Yeah, he did most of it." Adam chuckled. "So are you two dating?" He pointed at Marianne and I.

"No, just good friends." I shook my head. I hope I can answer that question with 'yes' very soon. But not quite yet. I'll give it a little while.

*1 Month Later*

*Marianne's Point of View*

A month later and I'm still single. I'm starting to wonder if he's gonna ever ask me out or not. Harry told me he wants to take it slow, but usually the guy would ask the girl out after the third or fourth date, right? Not Liam. We've been to the movies, the park, bowling, several restaurants, the movies again, Starbucks, and an ice cream place. Eleanor and Perrie are driving me crazy. They want me to ask Liam when he's gonna ask me out. I'm too scared of his answer to do it.

I really like Liam and all, but it's a little annoying that we go out all the time and I still can't call him my boyfriend. I understand that he wants to take things slow, but this is taking forever. I just want to be able to go on Twitter and say 'had an amazing date with my boyfriend'. But I can't. I have to say I had an amazing time with a good friend. Does that make sense? I think so.

I have learned a couple things about him, though. He's extremely protective of me. He doesn't get jealous easily, but he makes sure people know that I'm his. Well, I'm not technically his. But I'm basically his. If he would hurry up and ask me out, then I could say that I'm his and he's mine. But not yet.

"Marianne," Harry whined, interrupting my thoughts, "I'm hungry."

"The kitchen is right there." I told him. "Go eat something."

"But I can't cook anything." He sighed. "Well, I can. But I don't feel like it."

"Oh well." I shrugged.

"Cook for me, Mari." He begged, dragging out my name.

"I'm too lazy." I shook my head.

"Well, then come with me to Nando's." He said, getting off the couch. He pulled me off of the couch too.

"You're paying." I mumbled, slipping on sandals. I followed him out the front door and to Niall's door for some reason. He just walked right in. Haleigh and Niall were watching TV and sitting on the couch.

"Hey, losers. Wanna go to Nando's?" Harry asked. Ah, he's probably gonna use Niall's black card to pay.

"Yes!" Niall exclaimed, jumping off the couch.

"Wanna see if Liam wants to come?" Harry asked me:

"Sure." I nodded. I went to Liam's flat and knocked on the door. He didn't answer, so I just opened it. "Liam?" I called out. He didn't reply. I went down the hall and heard voices coming from his bedroom. The door was open and I saw him and Danielle.

What?

"You don't need to tell anybody about this, Danielle. It'll cause unnecessary drama." Liam told her, not noticing me.

"Come on, Liam." She rolled her eyes. "You know you missed this."

"Dating anybody else was a mistake. Nobody else can make me feel like that." Liam said. I stumbled backwards, trying to realize what just happened.

Dating anybody else was a mistake? Is Liam saying dating me was a mistake? Is he... Cheating on me?

I left his flat, slamming the door behind me. Harry was waiting will Niall and Haleigh by the door.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Harry asked me with wide eyes.

"I think-"

Liam's front door opened. We all saw Liam and Danielle standing there.

"Mari, babe, it's not what it looks like." Liam said, grabbing my hand. I stepped backwards, pulling away from his grasp.

"You cheated on me, didn't you?" I asked quietly.

"I- I'm sorry." He looked down at his hands.

"Of course." I mumbled softly and walked off. I opened the door to my flat and quickly shut it behind me.

Tears streamed down my face as I walked to my room. I accidentally ran into something- or somebody. I looked up and saw Eleanor.

"Marianne? What's wrong?" She asked me. That's when I broke down in sobs. "Louis!" She yelled.

"Oh my God." Louis muttered. "He fucking did it. He broke her heart." I heard the anger in his voice clearly.

I felt myself being picked up bridal style and set on a bed. I was in Lou's room on his bed.

"What happened?" He asked me.

"Danielle. He cheated on me." I choked out and started crying again.

"Fucking bastard." Louis muttered angrily. He wrapped his arms around me tightly. The bed dipped on the other side of me and somebody placed their small hand on my back comfortingly. It was Eleanor. I was shaking with sobs. "El's gonna stay with you, okay? I'm gonna go talk to Harry." Lou said quietly. I nodded, unable to use words. Louis got up and Eleanor scooted closer to me.

"Don't cry, love." She said, wrapping her arms around me. "You'll be alright." She continued to tell me positive and soothing things while I cried and cried and cried.

*Louis's Point of View*

Talk to Harry? Bull shit.

I stormed out of my bedroom and made a beeline for Liam's flat. Zayn and Niall stood in my way.

"No." Zayn said firmly. "Don't go in there and beat Liam up."

"Fucking bastard deserves it." I muttered, trying to get around them. They wouldn't let me by.

"Louis, we don't even know what happened. We need to talk about this before you start beating people up." Niall stated.

"We don't need to talk about this! He cheated on her!" I yelled. I finally pushed passed them and stomped into Liam's flat. He was on the sofa with his head in his hands. "What the fuck, Liam! You're a fucking idiot!"

"I know." He said quietly.

"Damn right, you better know!" I exclaimed. "Don't come around my sister ever again!" I left before I physically hurt him. In anger, I kicked the wall in my own flat.

"Louis, sit the hell down!" Niall ordered, pulling me to the couch.

"Stop yelling at me! I knew he would break her heart! I knew it! But everybody kept telling me to give them a chance! So I did. And guess what? He fucking cheated on her!"