Summer Love (A One Direction/Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

Chapter 5

“Liam?” I asked like an idiot, like I honestly didn’t know who he was. Who else had those brown, caring eyes? And who else could pull off plaid without a single issue?

“Yes?” he replied, looking confused. Obviously girls screamed his name, rather than phrasing it in a question. I got caught looking at him. His hand on my forearm made my skin feel absolutely alive, and I was aware of it very clearly. Yes, I was star struck. I’d never imagined being this close to Liam Payne, honestly. Maybe the realization of getting VIP tickets hadn’t hit me yet, or maybe it was the fact that I had met him at the most odd, irregular time of embarrassment in my life, with little preparation calming me down.

Suddenly, I snapped out of it with a jerk of my body—Liam had helped me up off of my butt when I was ungraceful!—and turned around went back to Anna, Preston, and Lou. I cringed at that—I didn’t want to seem rude—but I was just hoping Liam wouldn’t take it too seriously. Liam followed me around the corner and saw the mess. “Oh wow,” he said, and I jumped a little at the sound of the accent I’d failed to notice in his one-worded reply to me. I’d never thought I’d hear that accent so close to me, at least not until Friday.

I sighed and positioned the broom to clean, gently moving in between everyone’s flying hands—including Liam’s, he’d grabbed a rag and tried to help—and got all the glass shards.

“Liam! Get out here! Louis decided to steal some of the restaurant’s sombreros and jalapenos and he’s making everyone eat some!” I gritted my teeth and refused to even think about whose voice that was—but who else had that Irish accent? I needed to focus on the mess I’d made.

“Not now,” Liam said without looking away from the mess that was starting to be under control. I’d bought ten drinks for my mom; there was just so much liquid all over the floor.

I turned around with the strange feeling that the voice had entered the room and saw Niall standing in the door. I just about dropped the broom, but went back to dutifully sweeping quickly. I refused to go under that spell again. Niall came and stood by me. “What happened?” he asked, and I felt my body start to shake from the proximity. Maybe I just wasn’t good around boys in general.

Anna looked up at me. “Mera…slipped.” She saw how wide my eyes were and tried to give me a reassuring smile.

I smiled at her, and my tight muscles deflated. I finally realized what a situation we were in. Two of the boys, helping clean up the mess I made because of my idiocy. I shouldn’t be freaking out. I should just enjoy it; I planned to do just that. “Yeah, well, I…I’m not the best when it comes to gracefulness…”

Niall grabbed a rag and started helping. “Liam has this problem. I’m sure he’s glad you’ve done it before he did.”

I laughed. “Well, then,” I said in between my laughter, since that was all I had to say. I tried to tame my laughs; I had suddenly become worried they were too loud.

“Thanks,” Liam said to Niall, then turned his head so he was smiling up at me. He said in a lower voice, so that only I could hear, “I probably would have, to be honest.”

I watched Anna the rest of the time, as she watched Niall, stealing glances. I saw Niall looking at her too. A slow smile spread across my face, and I was having a hard time keeping the excited giggles in.

The mess was over halfway cleaned up when the other boys walked in. I felt overwhelmed—I already had two of them next to me, how was I supposed to face the other three? I decided I would step back, get a fresh breath of air, and come back totally calm, living up to my goal. I would see how everyone else responded to the situation and adjust to it. That’s what I always did.

I took the sopping napkins from the ground and got up to throw them away, taking the broom with me. I propped it up on a bright green and purple table nearby, and went to the dark green trash bin to throw away the wet mess of napkins. When I went back, I dropped to my knees—rather hard, and too suddenly—and grabbed another rag, one of the many that Lou had brought. My stomach fell as I knew how awful I looked. The sweat had dried on my face from the run. I was in sweats and a random, old shirt. My sweats, to make it worse, were drenched all down the back of my leg and on my knees from where I got wet, I could feel a bruise forming on the left side of my body, and my palms were cut everywhere, turning my rag red in places.

We were so crowded around the disappearing puddle that there wasn’t any room for Louis, Zayn, or Harry. They just stood there, leaning on the tables and helping hand us new rags when they could. I could tell they felt bad for not helping by the look on their faces. Louis talked to everyone, telling jokes about Harry and his Mexican food, but I didn’t really listen. I heard him, and I knew I would think about it later and laugh, but right now I was focusing on the floor. I just wanted to clean the mess, say bye, and die in my shame alone, and then hopefully try to rebuild my memories in a positive way later on at the concert. Even though this was probably the best memory ever, in a crazy way—I would laugh about this in about three weeks.

I got off my knees and was on my haunches. I sighed, and I almost felt like wiping my arm across my forehead, but I was afraid I’d draw attention to my dried sweat. I felt a warm—unusually warm—hand help me up. I looked at Harry—and my heart stopped again. It was like with Liam, I felt my nerves become increasingly aware of exactly where he touched me. Were his eyes really that green? I’d never seen them this close, in person. I’d seen them as so many various shades of green; I wasn’t very sure what color his eyes were. Now though…they were lovely. I melted as I imagined falling into grass. Then I snapped out of it again. I really was obsessed.

“I’m going to get more rags,” I explained quickly, and turned away. I rubbed my forearm where he’d helped me, like there was a disease he’d given me.

I walked back to the place where the employees would’ve been, had they been here. Taking deep, calming breaths, I tried to focus on the crazy colors. It reminded me so much of home. There was a Café Rio thirty minutes away from where I lived. Mostly their tables consisted of bright, exciting colors, like purple and green and blue and pink. In the back, it was a lot different than I’d imagined. You watched the people while they made the food, but actually being back here was different.

Spotting a gray bin filled with rags, I smiled and half walked, quarter skipped, and quarter jogged over to it. I piled ten rags into my arms and wanted to laugh at the situation me and Anna were now in.

“I’m such an idiot,” I told myself. It was true; I was. How could I have let every one of the bottles break? I sighed again, a little louder, since I was alone, and put my head on the wall for a moment, taking another deep, centering breath. I was ready. I could do this. I would go back out there and put on the confidence I was known to have.

I turned around and saw Harry standing behind me.