Dedication to emma1direction! Thanks for the comment, lovely :)
Chapter Nineteen:
It was pretty much empty in the house. A fifth of the girls were out with Harry and the others went Christmas shopping at the shopping complex just a short ride away. I guess the producers were tired of the girls complaining about having nothing to do when they weren't out with the boys.
I don't know what they were talking about though, why leave the house when we had Netflix, food and wifi? Tumblr all day. Okay, not quite. I was getting antsy, being cooped up with girls was exhausting. I wanted to hike.
Which was the reason I was currently filling up a bottle of water, while wearing running shorts, a tank top and hiking shoes. I had talked to the people in charge (There was a guy with a goatee. He was chill.) and managed to convince them to let me go. I found a good hiking spot and bribed them into having one of the drivers take me there. Oh, the wonders that chocolate chip cookies will do.
The sound of a cupboard slamming scared the gummy bears out of me, I literally jumped five feet in the air while assuming a ninja fighting position.
Liam grinned sheepishly at me. "Sorry for startling you. I thought you knew I was here, just not acknowledging it."
"I thought I was the only one here. Everyone else is out. Why are you here?" I grabbed a few paper towels to wipe up the little bits of water that had spilled when I had jumped. Liam snatched a few as well, leaning over to help me.
"Interview. Had to talk about my feelings," he smirked just a bit, as he took the wet paper towels from me to throw in the trash.
"Sounds lovely. Well, it was nice talking to you. But I'm off for a hike.." I informed him, capping my water bottle and hooking it onto the waist belt I was wearing.
Liam paused for a second, before speaking up. His features held a slightly hopeful expression. "Seriously? Can I come with?"
"Uh.. In that?" I motioned down to the button up plaid shirt and jeans he was currently in.
Liam blushed, just a tiny bit. His shoes scuffed against the hardwood floors. "Maybe we could stop by the boys and I's rental.. I could change real quick?"
"Actually.." I prepared myself to tell him no, but his face fell just a bit. He expected that answer. I thought about the chocolates he had given me just a few days prior. I sighed. "Yeah, I'd like the company."
I swear it was like I just told a four year he could have the last piece of pie. Liam's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yeah, cool, uh.. We can take my car then?"
After I gave my consent and we were headed out of the house, I spoke up. "You drive?"
Again, Liam grinned sheepishly while he shook his head. "Nope, not yet. I meant I have a driver.. Wow. I sound like a snotty rich person."
"You're not quite snotty. I don't see any snot hanging out of your nose. But you are rich," I laughed as he led me to the van.
It was such a lovely, normal car compared to the limos we had been taking everywhere. Such a beautiful contrast.
"There's a difference between being rich and acting rich," Liam chuckled.
"Speaking of which.. Do you know why Zayn was in such a pissy mood yesterday? It wasn't fun to deal with."
We climbed into the backseat of the car, while the driver looked at me with uneasiness. Apparently he didn't like girls. Me neither, dude.
Liam hesitated, having an internal battle about whether or not he should tell me. "You can't spread gossip about this-"
"Me?" I snorted, interrupting him.
He shot me a smile. "Okay, you're not very likely to spread the story. But he and his girlfriend had a rough break-up the other day. He's been irritable lately, which is completely understandable. I mean, he'd really been thinking she was the one."
Suddenly, I had a revelation. Duh. Am I an idiot? "Oh. Girlfriends. I kind of forgot that you guys might actually be in relationships. I blame the girls in the house. They all act as if you're all completely single."
"Ah, yes." Liam laughed. "They'd all like to believe that."
"So which ones of you have girls?" I nudged him playfully, laughing just a bit. It was almost like teasing Nick or Caleb.
"Well, Zayn did. But he's single now. Louis has a girlfriend that he's been dating for a long while now. She's a keeper, considering she can deal with how big of flirt Lou is. Harry goes on and off with a few girls, although he's always declaring adamantly that he's not serious about any of them. They're just all good friends. Niall takes a really long time to decide if he truly likes a girl or not. For the most part, he has to get to know them really well. You're actually one of the only girls that he-" Liam stopped, as if catching himself.
I raised an eyebrow in question of what he was about to say.
"Anyways. I'm single, it's too hard with traveling all the time." He finished off, completely skipping over what he was about to say about Niall and I.
I nodded, my eyes wandering out the window. I had no clue where we were going. From what I could tell, the boys' house took a lot of long, weaving roads to get there.
When I looked back to where Liam was, he was looking at me strangely. As if he was calculating something about me, and he was confused about it. I prompted him with a simple, plain-out "what?"
"You're just really easy to talk to. I really shouldn't have given out all the information about our personal love lives, but it just came out when I was talking to you. You didn't even ask for the full story." Liam said, but it sounded more like a question.
"I'm just a fantastical creature that weeds everyones deepest, most hidden, secrets out of them." I smirked.
"That's great.." Liam mocked worry.
"But in all honestly, I won't tell anyone anything you tell me. Because I don't really care." I shrugged.
"Blunt. Ah, we're here." Liam nodded out the window, as he pushed the door open.
I saw the house, that looked more like a mansion, and gasped. Just a tiny bit. I thought celebrities only lived in this big of house in movies. But I guess not. It was three stories tall, surrounded by shrubbery, and had huge, black double doors at the entrance.
Zoning out, I realized that Liam was already at the door. I scurried up to him, as he opened the doors. He turned to me. "Now. No one is to know you were here. We aren't supposed to take anyone here. Oops."
I nodded, confirming my confidentiality. He ushered me in, and I almost gaped in shock at the gorgeousness of this house.
"Yeah, I know. It's huge. We really don't need all this room, considering we're hardly ever here. When we're not out for the show, we try our best to get home to spend time with friends and family. The space is not necessary," he narrated as we walked up the stairs and to the left.
He told me I could explore while he changed real quick. So I did. I wandered around the humongous house, and I was able to confirm that five teenage boys lived there. There was laundry scattered across the halls and little trinkets littered everywhere. I started back down the stairs. I noticed a framed picture of all five boys at some sort of red carpet at the top of the living room's table.
It was kind of sweet. They obviously all cared for each other. It reminded me of my friends back home. Dang, I missed them.
"Okay, I'm ready!" Liam appeared as he descended the stairs in basketball shorts and a t-shirt that had 'Don't Think' written across the front of it.
After making sure we had all the essentials for a five mile hike, we headed out.
~~~
It was truly beautiful. California sure held some surprises. The sun was low in the sky, so the heat wasn't at its height. A wind also blew against my skin, so I wasn't dying of humidity.
"It's gorgeous," Liam commented as we both went to sit on the rocks at the very top of the peak.
Grass and dirt surrounded us, but the view was spectacular. A few houses were spottable, the wide, green fields went as far as I could see.
I calmed my breathing, my heart pounding against my chest at the pace we had gone up the hill. "Definitely."
It was perfect and exactly what I needed. To get out of the house and just be alone. Well. Sort of. Liam was there. But it wasn't all that bad.
"Thanks for letting me come along. I didn't realize how much I needed a break from everyone."
"Yeah, no problem." I replied, never once looking towards him. Instead I focused on the scenery surrounding me.
Neither of us talked. Occasionally, one of us would take a sip of water, but it was completely silent between us. There was the howling of the wind and the chirps of a few birds.
"I have a question for you," Liam broke the silence after at least ten minutes of simply sitting there and soaking in the beauty.
I nodded. "Shoot."
"Do you actually hate us as much as you say you do?"
I turned with surprise towards him. "I don't hate you! I honestly don't hate anyone. Unless you count Daleks. Or Weeping Angels. Or the cliffhanger in the season finale of Sherlock. But those aren't people. I don't hate people. Well. I do hate people, generally. Just don'thate specific people."
"That wasn't confusing at all," he chuckled. "But I mean, do you really dislike us?"
I paused, thinking about how to answer his question. "No. You guys are actually really cool. I dislike the circumstances, some of the other girls, the cameras.."
"The fame?" Liam inputed.
I shook my head. "The fact that you're famous doesn't really change anything for me. I mean, sure, it must be weird to go out with paparazzi's everywhere. But from what I can tell, you haven't let fame change you. But I dislike the pressure you guys seem to all have on your shoulders. You're just teenage boys. I dislike a lot of things about being here, but I don't dislike you."
"That's a relief. Why won't you let any of us get to know you, though?" Liam continued to question.
"Would you want to spill your life to five popstars while cameras pan out around you, catching everything you say?" I raised an eyebrow, a small smirk playing at my lips.
Liam eyes widened just a bit, as if realizing what I said was true. "Ah. Understandable. Well, hey, no cameras around now. Care to talk?"
"Just so long as you know I know literally nothing about you, except from what I've heard.. And I'm not all too sure I should be trusting the girls. So yeah. I'll answer your questions if you answer mine."
"How about we talk on the way down?" Liam stood up, his hands reaching over his head and stretching upwards.
His t-shirt lifted up, so I could see a tiny sliver of stomach. I forced myself to look away. Wow, shocker, I'm actually a girl who has hormones. Don't be too shocked, now.
Liam stuck his hand out for me to take. I furrowed my eyebrows at him and frowned. "I'm not a weakling, I can stand up without help."
"Wasn't saying you were. It's just a common courtesy. There's no one around to comment or laugh. C'mon, just let me help you up." Liam smiled at me, his hand still looming in front of me.
I hesitated a nano second before placing my hand in his. Holy crap, Liam has huge hands. I mean, I'm not exactly a tiny, petite girl.. But his hand literally enveloped mine. He tugged me upwards, lips still pulled upwards.
"Got everything?" I asked, pulling my hand out of his the second I was firmly planted on both of my feet. Liam was still grinning.
I busied myself, double-checking around me for all the items we had brought along. I didn't want to think about the fact that my heart was beating just a bit faster than it had been previously, and it wasn't because of strenuous activity.
"Yeah, we're good. So.. I get to ask you a question." Liam pondered for a bit, although he seemed to already have an idea. "Past relationships?"
"None," I said shortly as we started down the hill.
"Woah, really?"
"Yup. And, if you want to know a secret, never been kissed either." I laughed a bit uneasily. Not exactly a fact I go around bragging about.
"Hey, that's not a bad thing." Liam's attention was solely on getting down the rocky area and not sliding, but his tone was uplifting.
"What about you? Past relationships?"
"A few. One before the X Factor, but she dumped me for some guy with a motorcycle. One during the X Factor, but she couldn't handle the attention. That was the worst, she was a really sweet girl and had a great personality.. Then one just a few months ago, but she was just.. Uh. Using me. Apparently she could handle the attention," Liam chuckled, slightly bitter.
I was silent, unsure how to comfort him. I wasn't used to this. I don't comfort people.
"But it doesn't really matter. I mostly focus on my career, the boys and my family. That's all that really matters right now," his tone was much lighter than it had been seconds earlier. He seemed convinced of his words too.
"That's good," I stated awkwardly. I jumped over a rocky area, coming close to falling. "Be careful, it's a bit slippery-"
Before I finished my sentence, Liam had landed on his butt. His face was priceless. His mouth slightly agape and his eyes wide. I burst out in laughter as he sat there in the dirt. It was absolutely hilarious.
A blush spread across his cheeks as he tried to clamber back up. "No one is to know of that."
"Fine. I'll just say 'hypothetically, if Liam had fallen on his butt while hiking, how hard would you laugh?'"
~~~~~