As I closed my locker I heard yelling and what sounded like someone slamming someone else into a locker just feet away from me. I looked in the direction of the ruckus to see Tyler, the rude asshole of the junior class, holding Liam, the quiet kid in almost all of my classes, up against the lockers. Liam didn't look Tyler in the eye as he took the verbal abuse from his bully. I found myself quickly moving towards them both. I pushed myself through the small crowd that had formed and yelled for Tyler.
"Tyler! Leave him alone." I say sternly. He along with Liam and the rest of the audience turn their attention to me.
"Why should I listen to you?" He questions, still holding Liam up against the lockers.
"Well, right now is your free period and you're supposed to be in the library getting ready for your study hall. Your grade in math has dropped again and you don't want to have to be put into intensive math next semester. So I suggest you put him down and get to the library so you can study." I say, purposely trying to humiliate him. I'm his tutor that's why I know so much about his grades, I'm supposed to be meeting with him in three minutes and the library is five minutes away from where we're standing. His glare on me softens and he becomes self conscious of all the stares being back on him and the fact that I just disclosed that he's basically failing algebra 2. He clears his throat and I see his grip on Liam loosen. I cross my arms across my chest and shift my weight from one foot to the other. He then drops Liam to the ground and pushes past me with a huff, the crowd then soon leaves. I kneel down to help Liam pick up his books and collect the ruined papers scattered across the floor.
"Th-thank you." Liam says barely audible, merely making eye contact for a split second. I smile sweetly and secretively watch how his jaw clenches as he grabs a notebook and shoves the papers that were starting to fall out back into their place.
"You're welcome." I smile and he looks up. My breath catches in my throat when he does, catching me off guard.
"I'm Liam." He introduces himself with a sheepish smile. He then stands and I follow his actions while handing him papers that he had missed.
"I'm (y/n)." I say and watch as his eyes light up at the mention of my name coming from me.
~ six months later~
"C'mon Liam!" I exclaim as I approach him at his locker. His muscles flex as he slams his locker shut for the last time this school year. He had just finished cleaning it out. He laughs at my giddy behavior and makes eye contact with me. We start walking towards the end of the corridor, past the mass crowds of students flooding the halls. I grab his arm and he leads the way to the exit. He pushes the large door open with his free arm and holds it open for me as I walk through it. As we walk down the long set of stairs in the front of the school I continue to hold his arm. I look up at him to see him smiling down at me and I smile back at him.
"I'm starving!" I exclaim, nudging him with my shoulder. He laughed, throwing his head back.
"When are you not starving?" He says while laughing. "Where do you want to go?" He looks down at me waiting for an answer as we make our way to his car. Then we toss our backpacks in the back seat and get in. He starts the car and pulls out of the school parking lot.
"How about Regee's?" I question, Regee's is a little diner that we go to all the time. Liam drove towards the little diner as I blasted his radio and pestered him while he drove. I kept poking his cheek as I sang to the songs, he eventually got so annoyed that he grabbed my wrist when my pointer finger was just centimeters away from his soft cheek and held it away from his face. When we got to a red light he glared at me and then turned the radio down a little bit so he could focus on driving. He held my wrist the rest of the way as he leaned his elbow on the middle console. I just stared at him, reading his mood. He wasn't angry at me, he was just being protective.
"Sorry Liam." I spoke just loud enough for him to hear as he pulled into the parking lot of Regee's. He sighed as he backed into the spot he normally takes.
"It's okay." He said and put the car in park. "I just don't want to get in an accident. I don't want anything to happen to you." He spoke with soft eyes. Our eye contact was tender and loving, he was the person who cared about me the most out of anyone in this entire world and I don't want to do anything to lose him.
Before I could respond he turned off the car and got out. He came and opened my door but still didn't speak. He had changed alot since that first time we talked when I saved him from getting beat up. He's taken up kick boxing and could now beat anyone who even looked at him wrongly, he dresses slightly differently, with more style one could say. He's hardened his heart a little bit I guess, not really, but he doesn't let many people in. I was the only one really, I slipped in without him noticing one day right before he closed the doors and locked them and I haven't been able to leave him ever since. He's still the adorable lost dork that I locked eyes with months ago but now he just acts tough when he really is just a puppy, well, my puppy for that matter.
"Earth to (y/n)!" He snaps me from my thoughts as he waves his hand in my face.
"Oh, erm sorry. What?" I ask obviously flustered.
"Where do you wanna sit?" He asks and looks at the diner filled with teenagers from our school.
"Um, in the corner booth is fine." I reply. He nods and grabs my wrist and leads me to the table. He pulls me down to sit next to him but I move to sit across from him because I would much rather be able to look at him.
"What are you getting?" He asks.
"I don't know, I think I'm gonna go change the song though." He nods but I sit there. "Do you have a couple quarters?" I ask while leaning across the table like a kid asking to go play an arcade game. He laughed and pulled out his wallet to hand me some change. I stood from the table as he handed it to me and then made my way to the opposite end of the diner where the old, yet still properly functioning jukebox sat. I put the change in and then slowly started to pick something good out, that Liam would enjoy too. As I flipped through the songs I felt a presence behind me. Then it moved to my side, in between a counter and myself. I looked up hesitantly to see Tyler; him and Liam never had a good history. As I continued to tutor him he started to come onto me more and more, even more so now that Liam is my best friend. It's not like I'm choosing to tutor him, I just need the service hours for college credit. I groaned to myself and continue to look.
"Hey (y/n)." He says thinking he's sparking my interest.
"Hi." I speak, keeping my tone harsh and my eyes on the names of the songs.
"So who are you here with? That loser Liam again?" I looked up at him.
"He is not a loser, he's my best friend. Which is a lot more than you'll ever be."
"Well later I'm gonna take you to the movies, so you can see what it's like to go out with a real man." He tried to convince me, yet terribly failed.
"And during what part of that involves a real man, because right now all I see is an annoying douche bag." The audience in my head cheered tremendously for my come back. He moved closer and placed his hand on the small of my back as I continued to try to pick a song.
"Ouch, that's not very nice baby." He says in my ear as he pressed his body against mine. He then brought his other hand to my cheek and gently stroked my face, I attempted to move away from him, causing him to tighten his grip on my body by wrapping his arm around me. I turned around to look for Liam but didn't see him because of the amount of people in the small diner. This jukebox is in the worst possible place, Liam couldn't possibly see me right now. I thought to myself.
"Liam's not going to come to save you this time." He said as his hand that was on my cheek reached around to grope my crotch. I gasped at his contact and pried his hand away while turning to face him.
"It's not like you're going to get anywhere with me ever. You're just jealous because Liam has what you don't." He laughs and throws his head back evilly.
"Like what?" His eyes narrow on me.
"He has me." People pass us and he acts like he's looking for a song as I hide myself behind his body. We live in a small town and this is the last thing I need.
"Well would you look at that. I just protected you from the whole town's rumors, and you allowed it. Looks like I'm good for something after all." I scoffed, rolling my eyes as I tried to get around him but he blocked my way.
"Just let me show you what you're missing out on." He slid a hand onto my butt and squeezed it. I moved his hand off of me and tried to back away from him even more; I don't even want to know what he's trying to refer to. I scrunched up my nose and shook my head.
"No thank you." He leaned in closer, bringing his face to mine. I put my hands up to his chest in attempt to keep distance between us. He then spoke into my ear.
"Don't say no to me. You know you can't. I always get my way (y/n), alw-"
"Leave her alone." I heard the oh so familiar voice say. His voice is much more intimidating now then I've ever heard. Tyler stiffened as his mouth stayed by my ear for a moment, before he moved he let his lips graze my neck. I froze as my heart rate quickened. Tyler then grabbed me by my waist and turned around. I was disgusted by the contact that he was forcing me into and tried to push away from him.
"Why should I listen to you?" Tyler questions.
"Because, she obviously doesn't want you or anything to do with you. She only tutors you because it looks good on college resumes. If you don't let her go I'll beat your ass." I'm not going to lie, this side of Liam is extremely hot.
"Really, you think you can beat me up? This is coming front he kid who needed a little girl to defend him just months ago." Liam stood his ground though.
"Any day, you won't even be able to get a hit on me."
"Well, if you're just so confident why don't we test your skills out then. Meet me at the field near the river at eight and we can settle this then."
"I'll be there." Liam speaks, his voice dark and full of anger. "Now leave her alone."
"I'll see you there babe." Tyler spoke to me loud enough for Liam to hear. I groaned and rolled my eyes. Tyler kept his grip on me for a moment more, tightening it and then slowly releasing, he slid his hand down my ass and gave it a light squeeze before I could walk away without looking back. Liam put his arm around my shoulder as we walked away.
"Can we go somewhere else?" I asked, feeling extremely violated. Liam looked down at me but I didn't move my stare from my feet.
"Sure. How about my house?" He asked and I nodded.
He opened the door for me to get into his car and helped me in. He jogged around to the drivers side and started his car. He then pulled out and onto the main road. He leaned his weight on his right arm on the middle console, leaving his hand to fidget with the stitching on the gear shift. I sat and stared at my hands in my lap.
"You okay?" He asked, snapping me from my thoughts. I looked up at him as he stopped the car in front of his house and looked at me. His arm still rested on the middle console but he wasn't completely leaning his weight on it. I nodded my head.
"Yeah." I spoke quietly. He unbuckled and reached his hand out to my hand. It was limp in my lap, I didn't want to move. He held it anyways and brought it to his lap.
"You don't seem like it. What did he do?" He asks softly. I just looked at our hands. He leaned closer to me to try to get me to look at him.
"(Y/n)," his voice is strained and laced with concern. His nose was just centimeters from my face, it took everything in me not to give in. "Please talk to me." He ran his thumb along the back of my hand. I let out a sigh that I didn't know was existent.
"Can we go inside?" I asked quietly, tired of being trapped in the small confinement of his car. He nodded and got out of his car then jogged to my door to open it, but I already had it opened and was stepping out. He reached out and grabbed my hand gently, helping me out of the car. Once I was completely out he got rid of our contact and shut the door as I walked up the driveway. I stood in front of his front door, waiting for him to unlock it since we were the only ones here. He unlocked it and I step inside, I went towards the kitchen. When inside I grabbed a water bottle from their fridge and then turned to walk out, he was standing in the doorway.
"Did you want something?" I asked as I cracked the seal on the water bottle.
"No, I was just waiting for you. Where do you want to talk?" He asked sweetly.
"Your room I guess." I shrugged. He turned and walked towards the staircase with me following behind him. I take a sip of my water as I enter his room behind him. I close the door slightly and go to sit on his bed while he lays on the mini couch that his parents bought him. His room is pretty big considering he can fit a full size bed, a couch and a desk. He lays with his hands covering his face.
"Are you really gonna fight him?" I ask hiding my worry with my sincere, intrigued curiosity. He looks away from the ceiling to me and runs his hands through his hair as he sits up and leans back against the couch.
"Yeah, I'll get even more shit from him if I don't, plus I can take him. I have been working out, a lot." I nod and stare at the floor. He gets up and walks to the bed making me look at him standing in front of me at the edge of the bed. He pushes my hair back behind my ear. He's standing in between my legs now. I wrap my arms around his torso and hold my head to his abs. His arms hold me tight against him as he rubs my back.
"He didn't hurt you did he?" I look up at him and shake my head.
"No" I squeak. He looks down at me with his deep brown eyes that always make me happy.
"What did he do then?" He furrows his eyebrows. I stay quiet for a moment, hesitant to speak. I looked away from his face and he gently directs my attention back to him with his hand under my chin. "Please tell me." He speaks, his voice barely audible. His eyes were soft with compassion. I sighed and spoke.
"H-he kept trying to touch me a-and he tried to kiss me." I explain quietly. I watch his features as his jaw clenches and his whole body shifts in front of me. "I know it's silly, and I shouldn't make a huge deal out of it, but-"
"Shhh. If it made you uncomfortable then it's a big deal. I will fix this." He interrupts and grabs my hands. He never takes his eyes off of mine. "I promise."
"I don't want you to get hurt though Liam. I've seen him hurt people really badly before. I don't want that to happen to you." I spew out. "This isn't even worth a fight. Im not even worth it. Don't worry I'm fine." I say trying to get him to change his mind.
"(Y/N), you are more than worth it." He gently brings his hand up to my face to make sure I keep eye contact. "If I didn't care, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't even think about it. You are my best friend," he sighs and closes his eyes for a moment only to open them again revealing his brown puppy dog eyes. "I would do anything for you."
I smile at his words. I can't help but feel compassion towards him in this moment.
"Besides, I still owe you from the beginning of the year." He squeezes my hands then releases from his grip. He smiles at me and holds his arms open for a hug.
I wrap my arms around his torso. He makes a sound and I look up.
"I want a real hug." He pouts slightly. I sigh and giggle. I stand up in front of him, and his smiles grows. I only am as tall as his shoulders. He bends down and embraces me tightly, turning his face towards my neck. I wrap my arms around his neck and smile into his neck. This is one of my favorite things. He then lifts me off the ground ever so slightly so he's completely holding me up.
After that we hang out at his house. He changes into clothes that allow him to move easier around 7:00. We leave his house at around 7:40 he tells his parents that we're going to a movie and then we leave.
I get in his car and instantly get nervous. I know everything will turn out okay but I can't help but picture the little dork I saved at the beginning of the school year. I pull out my phone and pull up Twitter. Bad decision. Everyone on Twitter from our school are talking about Liam and Tyler. I lock my phone and stare out the front windshield. Liam notices my tenseness and turns the music down. I look at him and he glances at me.
"What's on your mind?" He says.
"Nothing." I lie.
"Yeah okay." He laughs. "So what do you want to do this summer?"
"I don't know. I'll probably end up doing nothing, like usual."
"We should go to an amusement park!" He exclaimed, tightening his grip on the wheel. I laughed and nodded my head.
"Yes please! Can we?" He chuckled.
"Yes, of course." The car fell to silence after that. I brought my stare back to the front windshield. My anxiety began to grow again. After minutes of silence Liam cleared his throat, catching my attention.
"Are you gonna be okay?" He glanced at me with a concerned look. I smiled sweetly.
"I guess I have to be. I can't tell you what to do."
"I'll be fine. I've been working out; I can hold my own."
"You know there's gonna be a lot of people there." I squeak. He shrugs.
"Good more people to witness me beating him." He smirks as we pull up to the field that already had many trucks and cars that brought the many high schoolers here to see what would happen between Liam and Tyler. I immediately see Tyler with his group of friends sitting in the bed of his truck. He turns around and watches as we pull into the field and closer to the crowd of high schoolers.
"(Y/n)" Liam says and I look at him as he pulls the car into a good area to park. He opens his mouth to speak then closes it. He sighs then speaks. "Just, please stay close to me." Concern laced through his words.
"Of course Liam. I'm you're number one supporter." He chuckled and got out of the car. He jogged around the root of the car as I opened my door, he helped me out. He held my hand as he guided me to where the majority of the teens were. My stomach churned at the thought of the possible outcomes of this as I tried to stay focused on what was actually happening.
People stared as we made our way to where Tyler was. As we enter the circle that they made out of the cars. Tyler hops off the bed of his truck and makes his way to the center with his friends following in suit. Tyler's eyes glazed over me, making me want to crawl out of my skin. The two finally came face to face, the anger and tension radiating off of Liam was dizzying.
"Didn't think you were gonna show." Tyler says as he puffs his chest out, trying to feel superior to Liam. Even though Liam makes Tyler look so puny.
"The only reason I wouldn't have shown up is so I could spare you the humiliation." Liam chuckles, I try to hide my smile. Tyler's eyes turn dark and beady as they narrow on him.
"That's cute. Let's just do this." He says, obviously annoyed. I squeeze Liam's hand making him look down at me.
"Be careful." I squeak out, he smiles and nods. He's confident in himself so I have to try to be. Tyler's friends back off to let them do their thing and I do the same. I stand in the front of the circle and watch, trying not to rip my hair out from my nerves. It was dark out so all the cars that were facing the circle turned their lights on so everyone could see clearly. Someone turned on their radio and turned it up; they played some rap song that I hadn't heard before.
The two boys in the circle got in their stances and circled, trying to see who's going to throw the first punch. They turned so Tyler happened to be facing me; we made eye contact and he smirked. He looked back at Liam and leaned in closer. Liam swung, trying to get him right in the nose. Tyler moved out of the way and tried to counter his swing but missed. Liam took his chance and slammed his fist into Tyler's face. He stumbled backwards as blood dripped from his nose. Liam moved closer to him and got another hit on him. Tyler moved back and to the side so my view was now on both of them and not just Liam's back. Tyler moved in quickly, as the high school students who were watching cheered and shouted out. Liam anticipated his move and easily ducked his shot. Liam, while standing up, hit Tyler right in the stomach. He keeled over and fell onto his knees. I laughed, I really didn't have anything to worry about. I blocked out the kids around me and focused only on Liam and Tyler. Liam stood over Tyler and spoke to him; I strained my ears to hear what he said.
"Don't get up. You won't be helping yourself at all." He laughed. Tyler glared up at him and slowly stood. They were now face to face. Tyler fisted his hands and clenched his teeth.
"I'm just getting started." Tyler gritted his teeth. And before Liam could counter his trash talk he hit Liam right in the side of his face. My breath caught in my throat as I watched the sight unravel. Liam didn't seem very fazed but rather more energized. Liam took a few shots on Tyler right to his face and then one in the gut to finish. Tyler clutched his side while he kept his eyes on Liam. Blood dripped from his face and onto his t-shirt. After a moment Tyler straightened up and put his fists up. I watched as Liam's body rattled as he chuckled at him.
"You don't know when to give up." Liam spoke coldly to him. Tyler was facing me, his eyes went from Liam to me, he smirked when we made eye contact.
"I've gotten further with her than you have though." Tyler chuckled, glancing from Liam to me. "Man, she may have acted like she didn't like it, but she was wet and can't deny it. She wants me." My jaw dropped slightly and anger boiled within me, I clenched my fists and willed Liam to kill him right there. Liam's muscles tensed as if he cringed at Tyler's words. I hope he knows that's not true.
"You're a fucking prick." Liam spoke before connecting his fist with Tyler's face, knocking him out. Tyler's body fell to the ground causing dust to fly with the impact. His friends rushed to his sides as Liam stood over him. I squealed with excitement as I ran to Liam. His back was facing me so I called his name, making him turn around. His eyes sparkled as I grew closer to him. When I reached him I wrapped my arms around his neck and his arms slinked around my waist. He smirked at me as I examined his face. He had a cut in his eyebrow but nothing much more serious than that.
"I told you I would be fine." He smirked and I slapped his chest playfully. He laughed and pulled me closer to him.
"Let's go get you cleaned up." I say with a smile. He nodded and pulled away from me. He grabbed my hand and pushed past the crowds of people. Many of which would congratulate Liam as we passed. I noticed most of the attention from people was on us as we made our way to Liam's car. When we got to his car he opened my door for me and then got in on his side. He pulled out of the lot before speaking.
"Where am I going?" He asked, glancing at me in the process.
"Well, I am kinda hungry." I say sheepishly. He laughed and grabbed my hand, holding it as he leaned on the middle console. I watched as he entwined our fingers together. Eventually he pulled into the parking lot of five guys. We took our food to go and headed back to his house. When we got inside his house we saw his parents had left a note that they were out on a date. Liam was relieved because he didn't want his parents to worry. We brought our food into the kitchen and ate at the island.
"We really should get you cleaned up." I break our silence as I notice the dried blood on his knuckles. I grabbed his hand and examined his knuckles with concern. The skin had been broken in several places, blood was all over the back of his hand and fingers.
"Are you mad at me?" He asked, causing me to look up at him. I examined his features. His eyebrows were furrowed and filled with blood. The blood had dried in a line down the side of his face. His eyes were visibly tired but filled with love and concern. I grinned and brought my hand to the side of his face.
"Of course not. Why would I be?" He closed his eyes and leaned his head into my hand. He sighed then spoke.
"Because you saw me like that. I know you didn't really want me to fight Tyler." His eye contact with me made me melt.
"It's not that I didn't want you to fight him. I didn't want you to get hurt." I paused. "But I didn't know you were so good." He chuckled and looked down.
"Well, I gotta be." He spoke, still looking down. "I gotta be able to protect you." He looked up causing my breath to catch in my throat, and my heart to stop beating. I felt myself blush uncontrollably, causing me to look away. He rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb, catching my attention; I had forgotten I was still holding his hand.
"Oh, we really need to clean your cuts." I said hopping off of the bar stool I was sitting on. Still holding his hand, I guided him to his bathroom upstairs. When inside the bathroom he leaned against the counter as I wet a washcloth. I gently rubbed his knuckles, causing him to wince.
"I'm sorry." I said pulling away.
"It's okay, it only makes me tougher." He chuckled. I smiled in return and continued to clean him. He watched as I finished cleaning the last of the blood off of his hand. I then started cleaning his face. I stood in front of him as I gently wiped his eyebrow and the side of his face. His eyes never left mine the whole time. As I rubbed his cheek he wrapped his arms around my waist. I looked in his eyes and he pulled me slightly closer. My breathing deepened as my heart rate rose. I continued to clean his face as he continued to watch me.
"I love you." His words made me freeze. His voice was shaky and soft. I finally made eye contact with him and pulled my shaky hand away from his face, setting the washcloth on the counter. His eyes were filled with hope, he had taken a leap of faith to say that to me. I smiled as tears filled my eyes and I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Oh Liam," I blinked causing a tear to fall down my face. "I love you too." His eyes lit up and he pulled me closer.
"Really? Because I really really love you. I've never felt this way about anyone else before and I don't want to feel this way about anyone else ever. I don't know if you feel this way but this is how I feel and I-" I cut him off by placing a soft kiss on his lips.
"Liam, I love you. I've felt this way for a long time, I just didn't know how to express it and I wasn't even sure you felt the same way about me and didn't want to jeopardize our friendship." I blinked away more tears causing them to fall. This is what I've wanted since the first time I stood up for him. He brought a hand up to my cheek and gently wiped away my tears. He leaned in, pausing right when his lips brushed against mine. I felt him grin against my lips, then he connected our lips. My hands tousled his hair as he pulled my body into his. One of his hands was on my back and the other was on my neck as he deepen the kiss. When we pulled apart he leaned his forehead against mine. Still out of breath I smiled uncontrollably. My hands were on both sides of his face as we stood there, staring into each other's eyes. I rubbed my thumbs gently across his face. He kept his hand on my neck and stroked the nape of my neck up to my hairline, sending chills down my spine. I closed my eyes and let out a soft moan as he continued and pulled me closer to him. He kissed my forehead and then embraced me in the most comforting hug I've ever experienced.
"Be mine." He mumbled as I nuzzled my face in his neck. He pulled away then and stroked my arm, never breaking eye contact.
