Never Been Kissed || Liam Payne (Editing)

~22~ The one with pasts and old friends

~Kritika~

I heard him blurt out something, causing my eyes to snap up to his. I had been subconsciously staring at the picture all this time.

"Uh.. What?" I said in a dazed tone.

"I'm sorry." he repeated. I opened my mouth to say something but he beat me to it.

"It's just uh personal stuff and uh I shouldn't have pried into it. Well I didn't exactly pry into it. It was all an accident. It was in the book you gave me. Which reminds me, you're right. The movie didn't do justice to the book. It was just.. yeah. And.." He rambled on and on and after several failed attempts of speaking myself I had the urge to pinch him.

And this time, I didn't stop myself.

"It just flew out of the book and landed at my feet so I had no option but to pick it u--Ouch, the f*ck what that for?" He squawked, rubbing his stomach where I'd pinched him.

"First of all, ." I warned "second of all, enough with the rambling. You sound like me."

He gave a hearty laugh at that. "And third of all.." I trailed, lowering my voice "It's okay. I mean, really. I don't mind. It wasn't really much of your fault."

He nodded timidly looking at the picture in my hands and back at me and I immediately knew of the unspoken question lingering on the tip of his tongue.

"Aayan." I said softly "He's my brother."

He just nodded in reply and his eyebrows scrunched up for such a short span that I thought I'd almost imagined it.

Then without warning, he pinched my arm and I let out a loud scream half out of surprise and half out of pain.

"That freaking hurt." I yelled, rubbing my arm.

"Payback's a f*cking bitch." he said simply causing my jaw to drop in disbelief.

Okay seriously, is he bi-polar?

"Firstly, I said no swearing in this house. And secondly" I narrowed my eyes at him "..you're dead." I stated before lunging for him but he twisted sidewards at the nick of time

I advanced towards him and he took off towards the door, laughing and yelling a quick bye.

I huffed in annoyance, watching him slow down to a walk and open the front gate.

He had the nerve to wave at me before he entered his car and revved the engine. I watched his car speed off and I shook my head at it allowing myself to smile. Idiot.

I walked towards Stacey's room, fearing the chaos had woken her up. After we came back home she'd announced she was off to bed for a nap. She'd said, and I quote.

"If you wake me up I'll stab you with a spoon, I swear I will."

I reached for the door and opened it up just a crack. Her loud snores eliminating any doubt.

Heading into my room I plopped onto my bed kicking off my socks. I wasn't much of a napper so I grabbed my phone and plugged in my headphones. I idly pressed shuffle and snuggled into my blanket.

The soft music that wafted a second later made me smile. It was his favourite song.  Ayaan's.

He would twirl around doing a funny little dance whenever it played. No matter where he was, be it at home or in the middle of an airport terminal. Nothing and nobody could stop him.

My smile faded a tiny bit at that thought. I missed him. He was never the same after.. That day. He no longer danced around acting all goofy.

My throat constricted in a painful way. The day we almost lost him. The day everything came crumbling down.