School Days

Fleeting Kisses

Liam POV

I watched Claire as she took a bite of her cupcake. Her story was heartbreaking to say the least. She was so strong for enduring all that she had. At least to me. I know I probably would have crumbled ages ago under all that stress.

I took the proffered cupcake from her with a fond smile. Fond. I was really, really fons Claire. Perhaps even more.

“What kind is it??” I asked her before taking a bite.

“Vanilla bean cupcake with strawberry buttercream.” She said wiping her lips lightly.

“Hmm, pegged you as more of a triple chocolate type of bird..” I said thoughtfully.

“Nah,” she laughed. “I don’t really like chocolate cake much.” She shrugged.

“Of course you don’t.” I said shaking my head. “Should’ve seen that coming when I found out you don’t like milk all that much..”

She rolled her eyes at me in an endearing way and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Hush and eat the cupcake. These are my favourite that Spence makes. She changes her selection daily but always sets some aside for me. It’s glorious.” She smiled.

I took a bite of the dessert, eyes widening a bit. It was probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Ever.

“Damn, this is amazing.” I said with my mouth full.

She nodded eagerly. “Right?! They’re so good!” She laughed.

I nodded in agreement and checked my watch. We had five minutes until classes would start.

I stood up and pulled Claire into a hug. “Thanks. Just thanks for telling me all this.” I said letting go of her. “We still on discussing our days at Mike’s with everyone?”

She smiled and nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it for anything. Do you still need a ride?”

“Yeah, if you could that’d be great. If you could actually take me to the garage so I can pick up my car, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Not a problem.” Claire smiled, her dimples peeking out for the first time all day.

“See you at five then.” I said getting ready to leave. Maybe it was the first day flutters, maybe it was just a spurt of spontaneity, but I leaned down and kissed her cheek before exiting.

I left before I could see her reaction, but I was smiling widely as I scurried across the hall to my own room.

Claire POV

The next few weeks flew by quickly. We celebrated Liam’s birthday, Lou’s football team won their first match, and next thing I knew it was the end of September.

I most definitely did not think about how Liam kissed my cheek and how we never talked about it. I did not. No matter what Pez says.

“Claire? Claireeeeee.” Suddenly Perrie’s hand was in front of my face.

“What?” I asked, blinking heavily.

She shot me a knowing look, looking quite smug before adding “I asked if you could chaperone the Fall Ball next Saturday.” She repeated.

I thought about it. There wasn’t a swim meet at all, and I probably didn’t have anything else going on. “Sure, why not?” I asked more to myself than her. “Yeah, I’ll do it.” I told her with a smile.

“Excellent.” She squealed. She looked happy, a little too happy.

“Pez… What did you do??” I demanded.

“Nothing.” She sang. I was going to press further when Liam appeared next to us.

“Hello ladies.” He smiled. “What’s up?”

“Oh nothing. Claire bear just agreed to chaperone the Fall Ball next Saturday.” She basically chirped.

I noticed that Liam perked up a bit at that. “Really? Excellent. Pez just asked me too and I figured why not, y’know?” He was smiling full force now and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Hmm, she didn’t mention that at all.” I said with a pointed look at Perrie, which she carefully avoided.

“Well, you’ve already said you would and now we have all the chaperones we need so it’s a win-win situation really.” She replied.

I didn’t have the energy to tell her that logic was terrible, and hey, more time with Liam is always a plus. Over the past few weeks I have [kind of] accepted the fact that I may, [definitely do] have a small [painfully huge] crush on Liam. And Pez acting on her best friend instincts is not helping the fact that I’m trying my best to keep our relation professional.

“Who else is chaperoning?” Liam asked, sending me a wink when Perrie wasn’t looking. I felt myself flush a bit.

“Just Margaret and Ian, then the two of you, and of course Derek.” She replied breezily.

“Ace.” He smiled. “We’ll have a blast, right Claire?” He looked so hopeful, like the dance was for us and not for the 200 kids we’d be looking after.

“Right.” I affirmed. “We’ll have so much fun embarrassing the couples that are a bit too close.” That was the best bit from my old school. All the other kids got a kick out of it as well.

Liam positively beamed at that. “Where have you been all this time?” He asked dramatically.

“Er, Wisconsin?” Came my ever-witty reply. Seriously, why can’t I think straight around him??

“Hmm, this Wisconsin place sounds interesting.” He said smoothly. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked. I noted that Perrie had slipped out unnoticed and silently thanked her.

“You’ll have to take me there some time.” He said casually. But my heart rate increased. He wanted to go to Wisconsin with me?

I managed to play it off as cool. “I doubt you want to go there. The weather’s shit. Literally, on the day of my junior prom it snowed four inches. My prom was May 21st.” I said looking up at him.

“Hmm. That does sound even worse than London, but I still wanna go back there. See where my little Clairecicle grew up and stuff.” He teased, poking my side, causing me to squirm and giggle. Curse my tickleishness.

“Shush.” I mock scolded him. “No you don’t. There’s a reason I moved overseas you dork.” I teased.

“Whatever.” He replied with a smirk. “Usual tonight?” He asked, hip checking me lightly.

It was Thursday, our self proclaimed hangout night. Fridays and Saturdays were usually spent at Mike’s or someone’s flat as the whole group but Thursdays were just time for Liam and I to chill. Usually with some pints or wine, pizza, and movies.

“You know it.” I replied cheerfully. “You get the pizza, I’ve got the movies. See you at seven?”

He nodded his affirmation and gave me a quick peck on the cheek before darting off into his room, waiting to start the day.

Him and his damn cheek kisses.

A/N: Hey guys!! Guess who turned 18 last Tuesday?? ME :))) hehe I am an adult, which is probably a very bad idea, but oh well! Hope you like the chapter! I'm not sure if I'll be posting next week or not because I'm going on band tour so idk if I'll be able to but I promise I will try my best to!! Also I played in an alumni basketball game with Alphie and she had a point guard moment but totally tripped and ate it [sorry alph, you know I had to say something!] Speaking of Alphie, go read her book Nacho Average One Direction Story #shamelesspromoting #bestiesforlyfe anyway sorry this A/N was really long but I hope you all have a fabulous week!! :)) ~Tori xx