I finished the conversation with my mother before slamming my phone to the night stand. I could feel tears weld in my eyes as my body heated with anger. I fell back on my bed and smacked my hands to my face feeling incredibly dizzy, but I couldn't take just lying here. I shot up onto my feet and replaced my phone into my palm. I let an ugly grunt escape my clenched teeth as I hurled my phone across the room at the door. I ripped a pillow off of my bed and forced my face into it letting out a loud scream. When that didn’t satisfy my anger, I threw the pillow, with two wet spots from my eyes, to the floor and began storming around the room. The tears fell harder as my anger increased, I let out an angry scream and kicked the pillow that I had just thrown. I paced even harder around the room before turning to see Kristina's worried face in the door. I ran to her and threw my arm around her neck letting the sobs come. I wanted to tell Kristina all of my feelings of what was going on, but I couldn't talk through the heaves that were choking me. After about a minute, my sobs slowed and I was able to hold a steady breath. I pulled away from Kristina seeing large water and mascara stains on her blue and yellow stripped v-neck.
"Okay to talk?" She knew me too well. I hated it when people ask me 'What happened?' five million times when I clearly am incapable of clearly communicating through words.
"Yeah," I whispered.
"Okay, You okay?"
"No, neither will you be." I tried to look at her through my blurred vision.
"Huh? Tell me."
"My Mom's coming in tomorrow, to help us pack. Kristina We are leaving in less than two weeks." She stared into my eyes waiting for me to tell her I was kidding, but I wasn't. I saw the tears form in her eyes and she engulfed me into another hug. We were both sobbing into each others shoulders, comforting each other with our embrace.
Eventually, our breathing slowed. With our tear-stained faces and puffy eyes we descended the stairs to find Niall and Liam staring up at us with eyes full of worry and concern. Kristina held my hand tight in hers as we stopped on the last stair, "Um," her voice was shaky. "We are uh… the school program is over the 28th, and uh, we are leaving that morning." Liam turned his back to us putting a hand on his forehead, and Niall remained staring into our sad faces with a look of hurt and disappointment.
"Liam," my shaky voice cracked. "Can you do something for me?"
He turned to face me and I saw hints of water encompassing his lashes and lower-lids. "Anything," he stared deeply into my eyes for any kind of hope.
"My mom is flying into the airport tomorrow to help us get our stuff packed up, could you maybe pick her up?" I innocently asked.
"Of course love." He kissed my forehead. "Just text me what time she wants me to get there, but uh, I gotta go."
"Me too," Niall proclaimed. They both walked out the door without another word.
***
The next morning I looked in the mirror only to find a distraught girl with red puffy eyes and dark circles underneath staring back at me. My lion mane of hair was a huge mess, and black remains of mascara were left in vertical lines down my cheeks. I looked at the dark room that I had just left and it seemed incredibly empty and uninviting, so I opened the adjoining door to Kristina's room and found it just as gloomy as mine. I didn't even attempt to awaken the sleeping zombie, I simply slid into the bed next to her and let my heavy eyes close.
I didn't realize that I had fallen back asleep until I was jolted awake by the sound of knocking at the door. I looked at the clock and it read 12:23p.m. My mother was supposed to arrive 23 minutes ago and had completely overslept, my appearance was one of a girl that had just been hit by a bus and I couldn't let my mother or Liam see me this way.
"Kristina," my hoarse voice scratched as I groggily nudged her leg. I saw her turn to me, her eyes already open, and I wondered how long she had been awake. "My mom's here."
"I heard, you look awful," her scratchy voice emulated mine.
"Thanks boo," I sarcastically replied. "Well, you're no prom queen either. You kind of look like a zombie." Her raspy laugh was different than her normal cheery one, and my giggles were almost silent because my voice seemed to be completely gone.
"Get a shower and I'll go meet your mom," Kristina offered.
"Thanks," I smiled before offering her a hair tie that had been secured around my wrist.
I quickly showered being sure to thoroughly cleanse and condition my tangled curls. My eyes were still red and puffy, but the dark circles seemed almost completely gone. I threw on a pair of casual jeans and a Kentucky crew-neck sweatshirt before putting on a pair of soft, cotton socks - I always have to have socks or shoes on. It's an obsessive thing that I must have something between my feet and the floor. - I hurriedly ran down the stairs to be greeted by my mothers warm embrace. Her bright blue eyes sparkled as she greeted me, "Hey honey! I've missed you so much!"
"I've missed you too mommy!" I squeezed her small frame into a tighter hug before letting her go. "Kristina you can go shower up now," I directed to her. She saluted me and giggled before running up the stairs.
"Honey, I think your uh, friend… the guy who drove me, he's really nice by the way, but he is waiting for you outside. Go talk to him." My mother flicked her head toward the door.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I like him. He is super cool, and he talked to me the whole time."
"Okay." I gave her a smile before walking out the front door to find Liam leaning against his Audi.
"Hi," I whispered when I reached him.
"Lexi, stay." His eyes were focused and his tone persistent.
"I… I can't," I stuttered.
"Yes, stay with Caitlin, Grae and Lou, me. Please." He grabbed my shoulders as he begged me. I tried to open my mouth but no words came out. I didn't know what to say. I had to go, I had no choice.
"There was this girl once, her name was Danielle, and we dated for 4 and a half years. I thought gave her everything; she lived with me, and we even got a dog together. I thought I was in love with her. She was a dancer, and danced for a lot of popular people so she was always away working. I couldn't help but think that she was doing something, like hanging out with friends or something like that, without me. So, I followed her one day to work, and I knew something was weird when she pulled up in front of an apartment complex I had never seen before. I secretly followed her in, and watched to see what floor the elevator stopped at. I went back outside and made a full circle around the building scoping out every window on that floor. Finally, I saw her in one of the windows, but she wasn’t alone. She was kissing some other man with her top off, at first I tried to ignore it and pretend it for a music video rehearsal or something, but a month later, I found out. I told her I had a gig, and that I would be staying the night at Andy's so I wouldn’t wake her up when I got in late. Instead, I wanted to surprise her with flowers and her favourite movie. When I got upstairs I found her in bed with the same man I saw in the window. The truth came out and she had been cheating on me for almost 2 full years," tears began to form in his eyes. "I thought she loved me Lexi, my heart was crushed and I thought I would never be able to love or trust someone ever again. Then I saw you," a bead of salty water stung his eye just enough to fall out of the corner. "Your eyes held innocence, loyalty, and captivated me. I knew there was something about you that was different, and I had to find out what it was. Every day, I fall harder and harder for you, and I do it unwillingly, holding the fear of being hurt again. If you leave me, I will follow you to America, but I can't now. There are some reasons that I'm not allowed to speak of that are keeping me in London, but if you go back to Kentucky, I will be there in time. It may take many years, but when I'm with you, I feel like a coward for ever saying I loved Danielle. With you, I know what true love is, because… Lexi, I am madly, unconditionally, irrevocably, passionately in love with you."
Tears were streaming down my face, but I didn't care. I smashed my lips to his holding him close to me, and I never wanted to let go. I didn't believe him when he said he loved me, but I definitely believed he would do anything to get me to stay. I did develop strong feelings for the man in my arms over the past few months, and now, he has shared his pain with me, he has opened up to me, Liam has let me know that he has chosen to trust me with his darkest moments. He has put his heart at risk for me, and I would do the same for him. I would find a way to stay.
***
I had talked to Kristina about what happened between Liam and I, and she agreed in wanting to stay. She told me that she loved Niall with all her heart, and when she told him that for the first time, he cried because of how strong his love was for her as well. She wanted to stay more than I imagined, and we devised a plan.
After being in the bedroom for nearly a half hour, we descended the stairs. "Mom," I said firmly. "We uh… want to talk to you for a second. We have met many people here that we have become such great friends with, people who love us, and we love them. These aren't the kind of people you meet in high school and see only at high school reunions, these are the kind of people whom when we go back, they will try and visit all the time. We see them almost everyday, and call each other whenever we can just because we want to chat with them. Kristina met this guy, Niall, she is really in love with him mom, and I see the way he looks at her and I can tell that he is genuinely in love with her too. I guess what I'm trying to say is, here, London, is home for us now. We don't want to go back to Kentucky, at least not right now. We can take a year off before college or even just go here. We are 18 now, Kristina is almost 19, and we are old enough to make our own decisions. I love you so much mommy and I can't stand the thought of not being able to see you all the time. We will both miss everyone in Kentucky, but we have already started our young adulthood here. One of our really close friends, Caitlin, has offered us to live with her until we can rent out our own apartment. We just would really like to know that you support our decision," I was able to get out my whole speech without shedding a tear, probably because all of the tears that my body could possibly generate had already been shed.
My mom pulled both me and Kristina into a tight hug and whispered between our heads, "I love you girls so much! I know that your decisions are going to be what is best for you, and I support you 100%."
"Thanks Alli," Kristina said.
"Yeah, thanks mom."
My mom pulled away from our tight hug and clapped her hands in front of her face. "Alright, let's get packing!" she chirped.
"Huh?" Kristina and I looked at each other in confusion.
"Well, if your are moving in with Caitlin, than we have to get your stuff packed up so it can be transported. Oh, and I am still staying until the 28th. I can help decorate you rooms and get everything together! This is going to be fun," she grinned before making her way up the stair case. My mother is an interior designer and always has to add her touch to any place any member of whole family lived at.
It's bizarre how well Kristina and I managed to read each other's thoughts, because as soon as my mother had vanished up the stairs, we both flung our arms around each other. I could feel Kristina's body huff rapidly up and down as she drew in gasps of air. Her tears of joy were reciprocated, and we sprinted hand-in-hand out the door, 3 blocks down and 1 to the right, up stairs to the 5th floor, and to the front door that had become so familiar.
When I knocked on the door, a wave of shock ran through my body as Niall's bright blue eyes greeted us, "Kristina?" he asked. "Lexi? Wha… um, why are you, I mean… what?" he stumbled to get out.
"Where is Liam?" I asked as I pushed Niall aside allowing myself into Liam's perfectly neat apartment.
"Upstairs sitting…" I didn't let Niall say anything else before I was sprinting up the stairs two at a time. I arrived at the landing to see Liam slumped on the small sofa with puffy red eyes and tear stained cheeks.
"Lexi?" that was the first time I had ever heard his voice crack.
"Liam," I ran and threw my arms around him never wanting to let go. I fisted his tussled hair, and nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck.
"Talk to me Lexi," he whispered.
I lifted my face so that I could meet his gaze. His creamy, luscious brown eyes searched mine for answers, but I got the feeling that he couldn't find anything. "I'm staying, in London," my soft voice spoke. "Kristina and I are staying with Caitlin, so that I can be with you." Liam's face lit up. The red in his eyes and puffiness seemed to completely disappear. He smirked before planting his lips to mine for a short, sweet kiss. When he pulled away, his face was soft, gentle, worried, and serious all at the same time. His flawlessness amazed me every time I looked at him.
"Lexi," his perfect, raspy and silky voice cooed. "I love you."