I Cannot Hide This Even Though I Try ~ A COMPLETED One Direction Fanfic

6 - Go Time

As I step out into the parking garage, I check my pocket for what feels like the hundredth time. I pull out my keys and unlock the car, then lean against it while I wait. Minutes later a smiling Liam walks over to me and pecks me on the lips.

"Ready to go?" he asks as I open his door for him.

I make my way around the car to the driver's side and get in quickly. "As ready as I'll ever be," I say. Am I really?

"Where are you taking me?" my boyfriend inquires.

"Just this great little cafe I went to once," I tell him. "Don't worry, I know you'll love it."

"As long as you're with me, I'd love going just about anywhere," he says.

I can feel my cheeks heat up a bit, not in a blushing sense, but more like I'm... Glowing? That sounds about right. "I would love that, too," I murmur.

We sit in comfortable silence for the rest of the ride to the cafe. As soon as I've parked, I jump out the car and run to open Liam's door again. As he steps out, I watch his expression closely and see realization hit him as he looks at the building in front of us. "This is where we went on our first real date," he states.

"I know. Now come on!" I rush him, hurrying ahead to open the door for him once again. We get in and get seated in the table we sat at two years ago. There are only two other couples in the restaurant, both seated at the farthest tables from us.

I smile knowingly to myself as I pull out Liam's chair to allow him to sit. I go around the table and take my seat, gaining more confidence by the minute. We take our orders and sit there, chatting away about anything and everything. By the time our meal is finished, my nerves are almost completely gone. Everything seems to be going well.

"I just need to go to the loo a moment," Liam warns me as he stands and heads to the restroom.

I can't help but grin because he's going along with my plan so perfectly. I look to where the dark haired boy and his brown-haired girlfriend are sitting, then over to where the brown haired lad and his curly-haired date are. I signal to each of the couples before standing up, waiting for Liam to come back.

When my boyfriend returns from the restroom, I pull out his chair and make sure he's seated before walking around him and taking his hands in mine. He raises an eyebrow as I lower myself to his eye-level.

"Liam, I have been in love with you for close to two years now. I have spent most of two years trying to gather the courage to show you how I feel and by now, I'm not sure of much other than that I've fallen hard.

"And I know that I want to be with you. I want to be able to call you 'mine' whenever a waitress winks at you and I want to be able to tell people off for flirting with you in front of me. And I want to be yours, too. So what I'm trying to say is this: I want you to be more than just my boyfriend. Will you, Liam Payne, be mine?" I ask, pulling out the black velvet box from my inside pocket and opening it to reveal a small band that is gold on the inside with a thinner silver band around the outside and a tiny little diamond in the middle to keep it from being too feminine. On the inside of it is an inscription that says 'To infinity and beyond' in minuscule writing.

After a few seconds, Liam seems to realize that I basically just quoted his words from when he first asked me out two years ago. He smirks at me and I feel my heart palpitating in response. "Ni, I've liked you for the majority of two years as well. And because of the way I treated you before, part of me is telling me that you deserve better. But then there's my heart, screaming at me because I would hate myself if I let you get away again. So, yes, Niall Horan. Yes, I will be yours, if you'll be mine," he replies, copying my response to him as he pulls out a velvet box of his own and opens it to reveal a nearly identical ring, but with the silver and gold reversed.