Shy [Liam Payne]

Chapter 35

*Marianne's Point of View*

Apparently all the boys except Liam had an important meeting to go to a couple days later. Liam and I haven't spoken. I've done my best to avoid him, by leaving with the other boys as much as possible.

So since Liam didn't have to attend the meeting, Louis told him this stay with me of course. I didn't get a chance to disagree.

"So... Uhm..." He trailed off once the front door shut and everybody else was gone.

"You don't have to stay here. You can go back to your flat." I said bluntly.

"Well, I kinda wanted to stay here with you." He told me.

"Why? So you can beat up somebody else who has an opinion about me?" I snapped.

"Mari, come on." He sighed. "I overreacted. I'm sorry."

"But you're still gonna keep doing it." I rolled my eyes, walking into the kitchen. I got some Ramen noodles from the cupboard and started looking for a pot.

"It's in the top cabinet." Liam told me, realizing what I was looking for. I opened the cabinet and saw it on the top shelf.

"I don't need you here. You can leave." I snapped. I got on my toes, trying to get the pot. Liam came up behind me and easily reached up to get it.

"You don't need me here?" He chuckled, handing me the pot.

"I could've gotten it myself." I rolled my eyes.

"If you climbed up on the counter." He added.

"Will you leave already?" I asked bitterly.

"Can't we work things out, Marianne?" He sighed in frustration. I didn't answer, but instead filled the pot with water and set it on the stove. I turned the burner on and then turned around to face Liam. To my surprise, he was right in front of me.

"Come on, Mari. Talk to me." He frowned.

"I don't have anything to say to you." I tried to step around him, but he wouldn't let me. "Liam, move."

"I'd rather not." He shrugged.

"And I'd rather not be speaking to you. But sometimes, we have to do things that we'd rather not do. So move." I crossed my arms.

"Nope." He put his hands on the counter, so his arms made a barrier somewhat. "Not until you tell me why you're so mad at me."

"Because you're an idiot." I sighed.

"Well, can you explain a little bit more?" He asked me.

"I'd rather not." I mimicked him.

"But sometimes, we have to do things that we'd rather not do." He copied me.

I rolled my eyes. "You used to be really nice and sweet to everybody. Now all the sudden, you beat up everybody that has a problem with me." I told him.

"So you're mad because I changed?" He questioned. I shrugged. "Well, damn. I changed for you." He chuckled.

"What the hell? I didn't want you to change. Where the hell did you get that from?" I asked.

"Well, I just saw how insecure and scared you were when we first met. I figured you needed somebody to protect you and stand to for you. When we broke up, I promised I would do that from then on. I guess I took it a bit too far." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"A bit." I scoffed.

"Please forgive me, Mari. I'll try not to overreact like that again." He pleaded.

"Why should I?" I inquired. "Every time I forgive you for something, you do something else to start a fight between us."

"Well, what can I do to earn your forgiveness then?" He sighed.

"You'll have to figure that out yourself." I said, deciding to make this interesting, before turning back to the boiling water on the stove.

"You're too stubborn, Marianne." He complained. I smirked and refrained from laughing. It's his turn to be the confused one.

***

"So what was the meeting about?" Liam asked casually as we all ate dinner in the living room. The four other boys stopped eating and glanced at each other nervously.

"Louis," Harry nudged his older friend.

"Why do I have to tell them?" He whined. "Okay, it was about you two." He said. I set my glass down, suddenly more interested in this conversation. "Apparently, Simon noticed how much the fans love you two together. Therefore, he wants you two to, like, make public appearances. You don't have to be dating, but wants you to go out on dates. He said he's gonna text you a schedule eventually." Louis said to Liam.

"What if I don't want to do that?" I spoke up.

"Well," Lou said sheepishly, "I'm your legal guardian right now. So if I signed the contract, then it goes."

"You signed a contract about me, without telling me?" I asked, frowning.

"When you put it that way- Okay, I did." He admitted. "But only because I knew you wouldn't go through with it."

Of course. As usual, I get no say in what happens with my life. I was forced to move here, basically forced to date Liam, then forced to stay here when I wanted to move back, and now I'm being forced to date Liam again.

I took a deep breath and went in the kitchen. I didn't feel like seeing any of them right now. I began washing the dishes, to take my mind off of things.

"Mari," Liam's voice said from behind me, "can't we talk about this?" I took another deep breath and calmly set the glass that I was washing down. I wiped my hands on a dish cloth and took one more deep breath before turning to face him.

"Talk about what?" I scoffed.

"Are you seriously so pissed off about this? Do you really hate me this much?" He asked.

"It's just the fact that Louis controls my life that makes me mad! He doesn't let me make my own choices ever. Hell, I think I can decide if I want to go on dates with you or not. It's not his place to make those kind of decisions for me." I crossed my arms.

"These don't even have to be dates, Marianne." He told me. "It can be us just going out as friends. You do it with Harry all the time."

"But we aren't friends." I snapped. He looked hurt at my choice of words. Shit, that came out wrong.

But did it really? All we do is fight. Friends don't typically do that. We don't get along. We're complete opposites. Friends usually have things in common. I don't even know why he would think of us as friends. We aren't. We used to be, but not anymore.

"We aren't?" He asked with wide eyes.

"No, Liam, we can't be friends." I sighed. "All we do is fight and piss each other off. We never get along. We don't have anything in common. You won't accept the fact that I do not want a boyfriend and you keep pressuring me into dating you, just like everybody else. It's so annoying! Friends don't do all of that stuff. We aren't friends."

"So I'm not even friend-zoned. I'm enemy-zoned." He rolled his eyes.

"See!" I exclaimed. "We just fight! That's all we know how to do! I don't think we're meant to be. You need to understand that, Liam. I don't want to hurt you anymore. I hate fighting with you. Until you back the fuck off, all we're gonna do is fight and hurt each other. Obviously, we aren't meant to be together."

"You really think that?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I do."