Imperfection~ A Liam Payne Love Story (Watty Awards 2013)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Ashley's POV

I walked through the gate of the apartment pool, and heard people squealing and shouting. "Bestie!" I heard a female voice shout. It took me a minute to insure I had all my belongings, and I stopped when I heard, "Hey, Liam! Catch!" I stood frozen. I heard the girl laughing, and she stopped laughing long enough to say, "You can catch." I snickered quietly as I opened the gate.

A girl, about 16 with purple eyes and brown hair danced over to me and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Alsyon!" I smiled. "I'm Ashley. I hope you don't mind me crashing your party." Alyson shook her head. "Nah, not at all. Hey, Lou! She didn't question my accent." She giggled. I looked up to see who Lou was, and I saw these beautiful blue eyes. I totally forgot where I was, and I felt Alyson grab my wrist.

She walked me over to this Lou character, and introduced me. She grinned ear to ear. "I'll let you to get to know each other, kay? Kay." She turned around and dived into the pool like she's been doing this her entire life. I turn around to Louis, and ignore the people shouting in the pool.

"Ello, love. I'm Louis Tomlinson, 1/5 of One Direction. Liam, Niall, and Zayn are in the pool, and Harry is talking to the small girl with brown hair over there. Her name is Hannah." My eyes widened. "Are you a fan?" Lou asked in a baby-voice. I blushed and ducked my head. "Yeah, but I'm not a huge fan when you compare me to my friends." I looked up, and he smiled. Wow, he had a pretty smile, and beautiful eyes.

I blushed again, and I heard Alyson scream, "Cannonball!" and I looked over my shoulder. "How are things with you and Eleanor?" I asked, then immediately regreted it when a sad look appeared on his face. "Sh-she broke up with me. She came by earlier today and broke up with me." I saw tears about to overflow his beautiful eyes. "I'm sorry. Don't cry. Please." I ignored the shouted aimed at Zayn.

Louis looked up, and started to grin. I looked up, and I saw Liam rushing out of the bathroom as Alyson said, "He wanted to take his jeans off, but I know he goes commando often. He never has any underwear to wa-" She was cut-off by Liam who jumped into the pool, pulling her to the bottom. His face was beat red, and I glanced at Louis. "Is this normal?" I questioned, truly curious. He nodded his head. "Yes. Alyson is the life of the party. She's my best friend. We are so alike and so different at the same time."

I looked over at Alyson who was talking to Liam about something. She giggled, and his eyes widened. "Hey guys! Remember when I saw that slug on Friday, and Liam had to borrow some sweats? Yeah, the reason I didn't want them back wa-" Liam wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and shoved her under the water. "No- no reason at all." He stammered. Alyson's head popped up, and she took a few deep breaths. She shouted out in a long word, "Wasbecausehehadtogocommando." Liam flushed a bright red, and the blonde, Niall, I think, shouted, "Go get married already!"

Alyson's head popped out of the water. "What?" Her face flushed, and she glanced at Liam, who was treading water with an even redder face, as if that was even possible. Blondie said, "I said, go get married. You two already act like a married couple." "Nuh-uh!" She protested. "I think Alyson and I will be great friends." I whispered to Louis, and he nodded. "Example, please!" She demanded. Niall laughed, "Why are you washing his clothes? Why do you two always leave? Why do you two always hang out together? I could go on..." He stated simply.

She flipped him off, then winked at him. "Question 1- Dirty clothes on the bathroom floor bug me. Question 2- Liam knows too much about me. I'm just trying to get him comfortable around me, so I can kill him later." She shot a glance at Liam, who had paled, and winked. "Question 3- Like I said before, I'm trying to get him comfy around me, so I can kill him. But now I can't because he heard our conversation." She grinned, then dived gracefully under the water.

"Do you like carrots?" Louis asked. I nodded. "They're my favorite food. Well, carrots and gummy worms." I grinned. I heard someone shriek, and I looked over Louis' shoulder. I saw Alyson holding Liam's foot in the air, causing him to fall backward. "She's...um, charming." I said, nodding in Alyson's direction. Louis rolled his eyes. "She's not used to having friends. I don't know why, she has a great personality. Can I tell you something" I nodded. "Promise me you won't tell Liam I told you?" I nodded, and held out my pinkie. He twisted my pinkie as Alyson shouted, "Adious, mis ami-"

"Well, you know how Liam and Alyson have been, well..." He gestured towards them, and Alyson was shouting at Liam to give her her foot back. He dropped her, and I giggled. She started to whisper to Zayn, and Zayn smiled and nodded. I nodded my head in Louis' direction. "Yeah, what about it?" "Well, Liam recently told me," he scratched his head, "that he likes Alyson. Like more than a friend. I needed someone who I could trust, but wasn't very close to Alyson yet." I nodded thoughtfully, but my thoughts were scattered by Alyson screaming various things, including but not limited to, "Rape, murder, help me."

I watched intently as Alyson and Niall interacted. I saw Alyson smile, and Niall flush red. Niall looked at the ground, and told her something. She reached over, and gave him a huge hug, murmuring things in his ear. She pryed herself away, and started doing everything she could. "What's up with her relationships with... everyone? She's a giant flirt, nice, loud, serious, and goofy at the same time. It doesn't add up." Louis and I began discussing this topic, and I pointed in her direction. "Look, a minute ago she was flirting and playing with Liam, then she was hiding behind Zayn, then she was understanding Niall's pain over something, and now she's helping Zayn swim. I guess he wasn't a strong swimmer. But she's joking around with him, making it fun for both him and her. I don't understand!" I threw my hands in the air.

"Love, don't stress over it. It's just her. Zayn does the same thing. He analyzes every single detail, trying to make it add up, and he kills himself. Just don't worry about it. This is who she is. Her personality does weird things. Watch. She got Zayn comfortable in the water, and he's doing well enough that he wants to jump into the deep end. The only issue with her is that she doesn't open up easily. She talked to Niall and he told me a bit about what they were discussing. He started to play 20 questions with her, and he asked why she moved to London. She started to cry, because her mother didn't want her, and only kept her for her father, who loved her to pieces. Her father died in a fire a little over a month ago, so she left to live with her aunt. Niall said that she heard Liam shifting in the living room, and she dried her eyes, washed her face, tried everything she could to get her eyes to look less red. She placed a fake smile on her face, and left to see who woke up. She hasn't talked to anyone else.

"...and THREE!" She shouted from across the pool. Zayn made a move to jump, but didn't. She sighed, and replied, "Again. One...tw-" Zayn started to scream and Liam was laughing his head off from where Zayn was standing 3 seconds ago. She held her breath, watched the water, and let her breath out when Zayn resurface. She asked him a question, and he shook his head. He smiled, and Liam whispered into her ear. She grinned, and it looked almost as if she was about to peck him on the nose. Instead, I blinked and I saw her flip Liam into the water. "Take that, Mr. Payne!" She giggled.

He glared at her, and Louis asked for my number. I grabbed his phone, and he took mine. I grinned, and Alyson invited me, Hannah, and the boys to spend the night. "This'll be fun." I said under my breath, and Louis laughed, wrapping his arm around me.

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If you look closely at a tree

you'll notice it's knots and dead branches,

just like our bodies.

What we learn is that

beauty and imperfection

go together

wonderfully.