Hey guys! So finally the beach house! I don't know how many chapters I'm gonna have with them here, but it's definitely going to be more than one!
I'm dedicated the last chapter to PrettyBookWorm07 for suggesting Tonight Tonight, but it's not exactly what I want so yeah. I'm most likely gonna use Please Don't Stop The Music, but I might change it if I find a better song. :)
And I'm going to dedicate a chapter to everyone who made me a cover! That is going to be a lot of chapters, but that's okay because there are going to be a lot of chapters of One and Only. Possibly 30 or so. Wow, I never knew I'd have so many! And I'm at 20 right now! Okay, so more than 30, but still in the thirties! Wow!
I'm really exited now because I made it to Chapter Twenty! This is the first story EVER that I have stuck through until now. Usually they stop at chapter three or so, but that's probably because they never leave my room!
I'm dedicating this chapter to MiniAngelGurl because she gave me this picture. I love it! Do you like it?
The cover to the right is of AriaM467's and since she gave me a few, the next chapter will be dedicated to her!
I want to thank all of you who made me covers. And I want to thank you guys for reading, voting, and commenting!!! I really really appreciate it! :D
Anyways, I'll stop my rantings and let you guys read the story!
_________________________________________________
One and Only
Chapter Twenty - Sweet Reunion
··Emily··
"So it's Me and Alex, Jade and Noah, and Emily and Liam!" Rose hollered. "After dropping your bags, come back out! Campfire!"
I gulped and looked at Liam's face. His already clenched jaw clenched further and his furious eyes landed on me for a brief second before stomping to our room. It hurt that he was so angry that he had to spend more time than necessary with me.
"Wow, he's such a pissy pants." Alex remarked and everyone else besides me laughed.
I forced a smile onto my face as I tried to fight my tears. Why did I have to make such a big mistake? I wish Liam still liked me like he did all those years ago. If only. I sighed. I could only wish.
As I walked into the room with my bag, I noticed Liam had already set his bag on the bed. When he turned around he noticed me. He pushed me into the room further and closed door shut behind me. He stepped closer to me and I stepped back, but a thrill ran over me as my back hit the door with a soft thud and he pressed himself against me. I knew he was angry, fiercely angry, but I knew he would never raise his hand. He was still Liam, my Liam, inside the indifferent exterior he showed me and the world. He changed after that dumb mistake I made four years ago. This was my fault. I pushed him away, and now I expect him to come back to me just like that.
His cold, even voice brought me back to reality, "Tell your stupid friends and my idiotic cousin to stop trying to put us together cause it's not going to work."
The close proximity made it hard for me to focus on what he was saying, but I still heard every word. The bitter tone in which he had said, "Cause it's not going to work," pulled the last string and my already injured heart finally gave in and shattered. I nodded and stepped away. He walked out the door and slammed it behind him.
Why am I so speechless when it comes to him? I used to be the school bitch...so where did it all go when I need it the most? I can't even talk back to him. I can't tolerate being mean to him.
My eyes caught tears again as I remembered what he said yet again. It ran through my head in a loud, bold voice. Cause it's not going to work. Cause it's not going to work.
This time, I didn't stop myself from crying. He hates me. He hates me as much as I love him.
I ran to the bed and fell face first onto the bed, sobbing into the sheets. Letting all of it out. I'd been holding it in for a while. I had to drive with Alex and Rose since I didn't have a car of my own and Liam had been in it too. Not one word was exchanged between us and he sat as far as he could from me, shoving himself into the door. I'd turned away, watching as the sky turned to black slowly. Alex and Rose had tried to keep the mood light, but even they gave up after a while. And when our hands had touched for the shortest second, he had jerked his hand away and rubbed it against his jeans as if I was a filthy creature. And I was. No denying it. I slept around, no, I was tossed around and I didn't argue. No, I wasn't driven by need, I was driven by the motivation that maybe Liam would notice and maybe be the slightest bit jealous? No one knew except him and me that we had lost our virginities to each other. We'd been so young, but so close. But just two weeks later my mom died, but Liam didn't know. And that's what scared me, why I ran away from his loving arms. Because I had been afraid that he'd leave me too, but in running away from him, I realized that it was the opposite that happened, I left him. And that had been my biggest mistake when I ran away and then followed it by embarrassing him just to save my reputation. I'm filthy inside out. He could never harbor feelings for me again.
At last, when I thought I should be going to the campfire already since it had been roughly twenty minutes after Liam left. I got up and much to my embarrassment, there was a large wet stain on the bed. I quickly put my bag over it and hoped it'd dry when we came back. I didn't want Liam to think I had been crying over him because Emily Trent does NOT cry over anyone, with the slight exception of Liam Brody.
I washed my face and walked outside to the small fire that my friends and Liam were surrounding.
"Glad you decided to join us, Emily," Jade smiled up at me and I smiled back.
"I was just a little tired and didn't realize when I fell asleep." I yawned for good measure. Thank god they couldn't see my puffy eyes due to the darkness.
I saw Liam's eyes turn to me from the corner of my eye, and I faced him. His eyes stared into mine almost disbelieving, and a little guilt? But before I could make sure, he looked away.
I looked around and found four logs surrounding the fire. Alex and Rose were cuddled on one while Jade and Noah sat closely in another and Liam sat alone on the third one just looking into the fire. I sat on the fourth one grateful yet disappointed that there were four.
Across from me sat Noah and Jade. I smiled, they looked so much like a couple. Alex and Rose were little lovebirds. Rose was reddening as Alex said something into her ears. I felt a pang of jealousy as I saw these two couples. I wish I could have a romantic love life like they do. My eyes travelled to Liam on their own accord. I yearned for just a simple touch, a glimpse of his former self, a nice conversation exchanged between us.
My heart leaped when his eyes met mine, not angry, but...intense and confused as if he's trying to make a decision. But as I kept looking back, I realized that I had been right, there was guilt in his eyes. I stared back, not breaking contact because I knew that if I did, the spell would be broken and he'd turn irritated again. My eyes burned but I dared not close them. I couldn't have looked away from him even if I had wanted to. His brown eyes captured mine. Then he blinked, and just as I thought, it was all over. He went back to frowning into the fire and I went back to watching it too.
The hot fire was twisted with a different assortment of similar shades. All the shades between a pale, almost white, yellow to a dark, vibrant orange that was only a couple of shades away from being red. The flames curling up as it danced around the stack of wood it lay on. The loud crashing of water against water was heard to the right of me. It was unnaturally calming, like I could tell the fire everything I wanted to just from my eyes. And I found myself surfing through memories of Liam and me before high school. At my neighbor's pool where I had warned him from going in too deep, but he hadn't listened to me and I had ended up saving him. I found another of when I fell of my bike and scraped my arm against the pavement roughly, causing it to peel and bleed. Liam had wiped all the blood off and rubbed it with alcohol as I cried loudly at the pain. He had said soothing words and rubbed patterns into my back. We had been middle schoolers at the time and only met on the first day of sixth grade, but we'd instantly clicked.
"Oh, oh, oh! I almost forgot!" Rose got up and ran into the house.
Everyone just stared after her and her excitement. She came running back a few seconds later with something in her hands. "Marshmallows!" she bellowed.
"I love roasting marshmallows!" Jade jumped happily and ran over to Rose to get a marshmallow while Noah and Alex watched them chuckling to himself.
"Marshmallow, Emily?" Rose asked me, holding out the bag to me.
"Yeah, thanks!" I pulled out one of the jumbo-sized marshmallows and stuck it on the edge of the stick.
Rose went to Liam, "Marshmallow, Liam?"
Liam opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off by blurting, "Liam can't eat marshmallows. He's allergic to something in it." The name had been too long to remember.
"Oh, well you're missing out on a lot!" Rose told Liam and bounced away.
Liam looked at me, bewildered and slightly flustered that I remembered. I had always had a weak memory and Liam knew that, but I remembered everything about Liam, and that wouldn't change.
I shied away from his gaze and my eyes met Jade and Noah's. Noah just smiled at me appreciatively, but Jade had a smug smile on her face and a raised eyebrow. It kind of looked like they were proud of me for remembering.
I looked away from them, too, and stared up at the sky. I found the star that was my mom. When I was a little girl, my mom had pointed to Sirius, the brightest star at night, on a clear night in Alabama and told me, "If anything ever happens to me, I'll be standing on that star right there and watching over you. Don't ever forget that, Pumpkin." I had smiled brightly because at the time I didn't realize that she'd been fighting cancer. I hadn't known that one day she'd be truly gone.
I firmly believed that my mom was watching over me, if not on that star, but somewhere. I just knew.
"Emily, what're you staring at?" Alex asked me, following my gaze to the sky.
"Mom." I whispered, my voice choked from the lump in my throat from my mom's memory.
"What?" Liam shouted from beside me. I think he was the only one who heard.
I cleared my throat, "Uh, um, I s-said the m-moon." Lucky for me, the moon was fairly close to it today.
Liam narrowed his eyes at me and I knew that he knew I was lying. I could only hope he wouldn't question it further when we were alone and away from everybody.
"You like the moon?" Jade asked.
"Not just the moon," I felt excited as I started to talk about this since it had always been my favorite subject, "I like the whole night sky! There's so many mysteries just ready to be solved!"
I heard a faint chuckle and I looked to Liam to find him smiling into the fire, showing the dimple on his right cheek, and shaking his head. I smiled. Did he still remember how much in love I am with the night sky? He'd saved up his allowance for a year just to buy me one of the best telescopes that was available. I still use it to this day.
"Wow, that was deep," Noah said after a while.
I couldn't help it, I laughed gleefully. Laughed not at what he said, but that Liam had smiled after listening to me rant about my obsession. I noticed that everyone had joined in, even Liam was softly snickering.
I tore of a piece of my marshmallow still smiling. I chewed the fluffy treat for a little bit before I gobbled the whole thing down and asked for another one.
Liam shook his head at me again, still smiling. The thing he can't eat just happens to be my favorite treat. Sometimes I feel bad for him because marshmallows are a must have.
I ate six more before it was time to go to sleep. The part I had been dreading the most, and after putting out the fire, we walked in. Actually I trudged like I was going to meet my doom, which I probably was.
When I walked in, Liam was walking into the bathroom. I quickly walked over to the other side of the bed where my bag lay and lifted it slightly, checking to see if there was any wet stain. There wasn't, but I heard Liam's voice from right behind me, "I know you cried," he reached and removed the bag from the bed, there was nothing, "so there's no point in hiding it."
"N-no, I d-didn't cr-cry." I was stuttering more than usual since how close Liam was to me was leaving me breathless. And now he didn't have a shirt on, but he had a pair of full-length, soft blue checkered pj pants on. Liam always slept like that. I could see the hard planes of his chest, but he was the slightest bit chubby around his belly button. It suited him and looked fine, so fine that it was hard to control my teenage hormones.
"Don't lie to me," he warned and stepped closer and I found myself sitting on the bed, "I can see it in your eyes." he looked down embarrassed and put his hands on either side of my thighs, before looking up at me with guilt-ridden eyes, "I-I'm sorry for hurting you."
This is my Liam, the one who'd apologize right away if he hurt you or your feelings. My Liam. I smiled weakly, "It's nothing compared to what I've done to you."
"No, it's not." his face turned hard and I scolded myself for reminding him. We were having a civil conversation, too!
"Um, if you want, I can sleep on the ground," I offered.
He turned his cold eyes to me, "I'm not that big of a jerk. You can sleep with me on this bed. Besides it's not my house that I should be making the rules."
I nodded and smiled a small smile. "Can you move a bit so I can go to the bathroom?" And slap myself silly so I know this isn't a dream?
Liam blushed and moved aside without a word. I picked up my pj's and rushed into the bathroom. That's when the smile I was willing to stay back broke through. I'm going to sleep with Liam! But the bed being queen-sized was a bit of a letdown considering that meant more space between us.
When I was done brushing and changing, I walked out of the bathroom. The lights were turned off and when my eyes adjusted slightly, I saw a lump on the bed. I frowned when I realized the lump was as far to the left as it could get without fall off.
I slipped under the covers and lay there, watching the ceiling fan rotate. The only evidence of it actually moving being the faint sound coming from it and the nice wind.
"Emily?" My heart leaped when he called me that. For the first time in so long.
"Yeah?" I asked cautiously.
"When we were outside, and Alex asked you what you were looking at and you answered 'Mom,' what did you mean by that?" He asked genuinely curious.
Oh no. "I said moon not mom." I denied because that's all I knew how to do.
I heard a rustling and the bed moved slightly. I realized that Liam now faced me. "Don't give me that crap. Tell me the truth."
I bit my lip, and then deciding that I should tell him because he knew how to comfort me like no one else. I gulped and began, "When I was younger, my mom would tell me that if anything happened to her, she would always be watching over me from Sirius." I tried to control my emotions, to stop myself from crying for the second time today, "She was fighting c-caner..." My voice broke and I swallowed the lump and it went down a little. There was silence other than the small gasp that came from him, so I continued, "She died three years ago." I blinked trying to keep the tears away but one leaked, "And that's why I ran," I sobbed, not being able to handle it any longer, "away from you."
I could still remember the day I'd come home only to be rushed to the hospital because my mom was breathing her last. The pain, the sorrow was still fresh. When she'd saw me come in and a small, happy smile lit her face while she murmured, "I'm so proud of you, Pumpkin. I love you..." Those were the last words she'd ushered to me before the life from her left. And I'd cried, shouted, screamed, begged, pled with her to come back. Because I needed her with me always.
I cried louder, not caring if anyone heard. I wanted to cry and cry and cry. For losing my mom and losing Liam.
Warms arms enveloped me. "Hey, sh, it's alright." Liam soothed, while stroking my hair softly.
"I n-never wanted to leave y-you! I hadn't m-meant to! I'm so s-sorry!" I looked up at Liam through my eyes full of tears. I wiped them and saw that he was genuinely concerned for me. And I could tell that he still cared. "I-I love you, I always have." I murmured bravely.
I felt him tense from beside me. "I-It's fine if you don't-"
My words were interrupted as his soft lips crashed into mine, massaging them. It wasn't demanding, but gently and passionate. I'd only ever been kissed like this once before, and that had been with Liam too. He broke away too soon, "I love you too."
"I-I don't want you to be with me out of pity." I told him.
"You of all people should know that I'd never do such a foolish thing." Liam told me and I smiled because I knew he'd never do such a thing no matter how bad he felt for the other person.
"I want you to be my girlfriend." Liam declared.
"And I want to be yours." I smiled shyly up at him.
"But you have to promise me something," he said.
"What?" I frowned and my eyebrow creased slightly.
"Don't run away from me ever again." he commanded seriously, "Pinky promise?"
I wrapped my pinky around his and reassured him, "Pinky promise."
This time I led the kiss as our pinky's lay intertwined.
--§ξ§--
So I'm sorry that this had practically no Noah and Jade moments! But this chapter has to be about them. How do you like it? Please comment and vote? I don't know if it was well written? My weak point is writing sad stuff unless I truly feel it. Well actually I did feel it, but you know?
200 votes and 60 comments. You guys did pretty bad about that. Last chapter only had 140 votes and 34 comments. :(
But once again, check out the cover to the right made my AriaM467!!! Thanks!!
Quote of the Upload:
"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." ~Morrie Shwartz
Song of the Upload:
You Make Me Feel by Cobra Starship
Vote/Comment/Fan