Tales of the Hearts

T̆̈W̆̈Ĕ̈N̆̈T̆̈Y̆̈ F̆̈Ŏ̈Ŭ̈R̆̈✨

LIAM

Friday morning. The first playoff game was just hours away. I was leaning against Zayn's locker, waiting for him to show up.

"Hey." he greeted, confusion on his features as he approached me.

"Hey." I said, moving out of his way. "Are you coming tonight?" I asked.

"To the game?" he asked. I nodded. "I don't know. Maybe." he shrugged.

"If I ask you to come will that make up your mind?" I asked, smirking. He rolled his eyes.

"Possibly." he answered.

"Zayn," I started, making him look over at me. "Will you come to the game tonight? For me?" I asked, my voice low. He dropped my gaze and nodded, a blush forming on his cheeks.

"Sure. I guess I can stop by." he said, trying to play it cool.

"Cool. I'll see you there." I smiled, satisfied.

"Oh, Liam wait!" he called before I'd turned around.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Good luck tonight" he said, smiling. A soft smile formed
on my lips.

"Thanks, Babe. But you know I don't need it" I winked at him before waving and heading to my first class, seeing him sigh and roll his eyes before closing his locker and heading in the opposite direction.

The bus ride to the field was loud and chaotic. Harry had already started blasting pre-game hype music and a lot of the underclassmen were buzzing with nerves for their first playoff game.

Niall was joking with Zach who was sitting behind us. I added to the conversation every once in a while, but my mind was somewhere else. Niall nudged my arm, making me look over at him.

"You okay?" he asked. I nodded, taking a breath.

"Yeah. Just ready to get this started." I said. Niall nodded, agreeing before laughing at something Zach said. The field was bright and well-manicured. I couldn't help but let my eyes wander the stands as Harry and I warmed up, throwing the ball between us.

"Payne! You look distracted, what're you looking for?" Harry called. I shook my head and threw the ball back to him.

"Just thinking. Let's keep going" I said, the buzzer going off a few minutes later signalling the beginning of the game. As soon as I got in a huddle with the team, my mind felt sharp, and focused. I was ready to go, ready to show what I could do.

We started off strong, the team atmosphere increasing ten fold as we headed to the locker room during halftime. I still hadn't been able to find Zayn among the crowd, but he'd sent me a text saying he was here earlier so I knew he was watching. Coach let us mess around most of the halftime before yelling at us to shut up before we ran back onto the field, making Niall and I exchange glances and roll our eyes before putting our helmets back on.

The other team came back strong after halftime, but not nearly as strong as they needed to in order to win. We beat them 35 to 14. Niall slapped my helmet as we jumped up and down in a team huddle, celebrating our first win in the playoffs.

I saw people running onto the field to congratulate us and my eyes immediately locked on Zayn, a wide smile on his face as his friend, Mae, pulled him down onto the field. He yelled as she nearly made him fall, making both of them laugh harder.

"Go ahead" Niall said, nudging my arm.

"Hmm?" l asked, looking over at him.

"Go see him. I'll cover for you." Niall elaborated, nodding his head in Zayn's direction. I thanked him and made my way through the crowd towards Zayn, smiling and thanking all the people who congratulated us on our win.