Masquerade (Liam Payne)

Chapter 37 ~ Liam

“Can’t you forgive her?” She asks me and I can’t believe she is actually talking. Finally, she is speaking… just to tell me this. “She is so sad, too. She always cries when she hugs me.”

I take a sharp breath as I hear her saying those things. I’ve always thought Tammy was doing better. Tammy doesn’t break in front of other people.

“I— it’s complicated,” I say and I see the other kids approaching.

“You two were so happy together,” Ricky, one of the kids there says.

“When I looked at you I thought: That’s all I want when I grow up, to be that happy. And now you look so sad without her,” Susan says, she is the oldest girl in the charity.

I feel a lump in my throat and my mind keeps asking me why I can’t put behind what happened. She made a mistake, and she was sorry, she regretted. Why can’t I forget what she did?

“Be happy,” Rose tells me pulling me for a hug. “When you are happy, we’re happy.” I hug her tightly, closing my eyes, overwhelmed because she has spoken and because she only wants me to be happy, but I can’t put behind what happened. My pride is holding me back and I’m starting to get tired of that. Really tired.

+ + + + +

We’re finally at VMAs and we’re all pumped up. The girls are already inside, waiting for us and we have to walk down the red carpet. So many celebrities, so many cameras, so many questions I’m surprised we don’t get dizzy, but we’ve done this many times already, we know how to handle it.

I hear people getting really loud and when I look at the right while a reporter is asking us questions I see why and I feel my heart clenching in my chest: Prodigy has arrived. They look amazing, all of them. Leanne is the happiest and she looks incredibly beautiful. It’s no lie when I say the cameras love her and I can see this is her favourite part. Sky and Emma also look amazing, smiling and taking pictures, but Tammy stays behind. She tries to smile, but it looks fake, it looks forced. You can’t see the fierce, rude Tammy anymore and I hold my breath when I see her like that.

This is not Tammy. Tammy would never show weakness to anyone, even less on a read carpet. No matter what’s going on, she would smile cockily and walk with her head held high, but she only looks like she wants to run away.

Holy shit!

My heart stops, too shocked by what I’ve witnessed. This is so weird that I don’t even process that this is the first time I see her in over a month and that my whole body seems to push me to go to her and help her, to protect her from the flashes and all the questions they are throwing at her.

But then Zayn grabs my shoulder and makes me come back to reality. “You okay?” He asks me and I nod, blinking a couple of times to recover from the shock.

“Yeah, I was just… I’m okay.” Zayn still looks unsure, but we have to keep moving. We’re live, and I can’t show weakness now.

So we go inside and follow instructions. We’re nominated in four categories this year and we’re against Prodigy in one of this, so I’m not sure if we will win everything this time. That makes it a bit more exciting, though.

We patiently wait in our seats as the show goes on. I don’t know exactly where Prodigy is, but I know it’s not near. Although they will perform soon and I know everyone is excited, dying to see them live. And I kind of smirk with pride because I know how great they are and I know they will steal their breath away. But I’m the most shocked when they are announced.

I know there’s always been a fight between Emma and Tammy on the stage for which one stands out the most, but this time there’s nothing. Even Sky shines more than Tammy. She stays in the shadows, playing, singing and doing her part, but she doesn’t lose herself like she used to. Like I saw her doing so many times. It’s like she is not really feeling the music and Emma steals the whole spotlight. The performance is amazing, but Tammy wasn’t her anymore. She lost her sparkle, she lost her vitality and I can’t believe it.