"I think this dress looks better than the pink one." Perrie gushes, twirling in front of the mirror with the yellow dress she was wearing. "What do you girls think?" she asks us.
"Yeah, I agree." El says, turning her attention away from the clothing rack to look at Perrie.
"But I also like the pink." Perrie says, giving out a sigh.
"Then just buy both." I suggest, half-jokingly.
"That's a great idea!" Perrie beams, grabbing the pink dress that she placed on the chair. "You're the best, Lexi!" she says, smiling widely at me. She takes off the yellow dress in a hurry and puts on her casual clothes. "I'll go pay." she says, skipping out of the dressing room.
Both El and I sigh in relief. We've been in Zara for two hours tops just because Perrie couldn't find the "perfect" dress. She surely is a fashionista. El and I follow Perrie out of the dressing room and head over to the cashier where Perrie's paying for her new dresses.
"They should at least give you a discount for buying almost all their clothes here." El says, as we walk out of the shop.
Perrie giggles, taking a look at the two shopping bags she's holding. "Well what can I say? They've got the best clothes." she says, smiling.
"I've got to admit, I'm quite hungry." I say, as I hear my stomach grumble despite the noisy mall.
"Starbucks!" El says excitedly, pointing at Starbucks which was just nearby. "I'm cravy for some Starbucks right now!" She runs inside, leaving Perrie and I behind. We hurriedly follow after her, hoping that she didn't order everything from the menu. We never know what could be going on El's mind whenever Starbucks is involved. "What would you want?" she turns back to look at us as we approach her by the counter.
"Vanila Cream Frappucino." I reply, smiling.
"Same for me." Perrie says, as she walks over towards the table at the very back. El nods in reply and I decide to follow Perrie to the table.
A few minutes time, El comes with three drinks in hand with a huge smile plastered on her face. I tell you, only two things can make El smile this wide: Louis and Starbucks. "Here you go girls." she says, handing us our drinks. She sits beside me and starts talking about this new movie coming out soon.
Before I know it, I completely zone out on their conversation. I stare out the window, drinking my favorite frappucino. As I look outside, I see a guy wearing a familiar looking Batman jacket with a matching snapback. He's walking with his head down, eyes on the floor. As if he's scared that someone might notice him. As if he's scared that someone might realize who -
"Lexi?" El says, cutting me out of my wild thoughts. "Are you in?" she asks as I mentally slap myself for zoning out.
"I ... umm ... in for what?" I ask, stuttering as I play with the cup of my frappucino.
"Sleep over. Tonight. My place." she replies, with a smile on her face.
I really don't feel like going. I want to go back home and sleep in my comfy, loving bed. I want to sleep in my own room with cheesy, romantic songs playing in the background. But I can't say no to El. Especially when she sporting that smile of hers.
"Sure." I say, trying to sound excited.
El looks at me worriedly. She knows something's bothering me. But before she could ask, she's interrupted by Perrie. "Meet up in your place at 7?" she confirms, receiving a nod from El.
I look out the window once again, trying to see if the guy I saw earlier was still in sight. I search the crowd, hoping that I'd catch a glimpse of him again. To my disappointment, I could no longer see him. But what made me so sure that it was him? There are thousands of people who have Batman jackets and snapbacks that are just like Liam's. It probably wasn't even him. It's not like he's even in this side of the world. Right?
But what if it was him?
What if he is in this side of the world?
And why does my heart hope that it was him?
~
After ringing the doorbell to El's flat for at least four times, someone finally opens the door and I am engulfed in a Horan hug. "Lexi!" he shouts in excitement.
"Niall?" I ask, finding it quite hard to breathe and speak due to his very tight hug. It is a Horan hug, after all.
"I missed you!" he says, finally letting me go.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, stunned by his presence.
He pouts and crosses his arms, "Did you really not miss me at all?" he asks, sounding quite hurt.
"You're kidding me, right?" I say in disbelief. "Only a psycho wouln't miss you!" I say, giving him a hug.
He chuckles, "I knew you missed my awesomeness." he says, making him earn a smack in the arm from me. He steps aside as he opens the door wider, "Come in. We've been waiting for you."
"And I've been waiting for someone to answer the door." I say, sounding rather quite annoyed at the fact that I had to stand outside with the neighbors looking at me as if I was crazy due to my chidlish choice of clothes.
Yes, I'm wearing my pyjamas.
And they're pink.
With teddy bears imprinted on it.
Hey, don't blame me. El said it was a sleepover. And what I'm wearing is appropriate for a sleepover. Oh, and Perrie also sent me a message earlier that I had to wear a pyjama of her choice or else I couldn't join in. Of all the colors she could pick, it was pink. It's not that I loathe the color. I just don't particularly like it.
As I step in El's flat, a delicious smell fills the place. I immediately walk towards the kitchen to see Harry working his magic by the stove. That guy can surely cook. No doubt about that.
"Lexi!" Louis says once he lays his eyes on me. He gets up from the stool he's sitting on and walks towards me to give me a hug. "Glad you could make it!" he says.
"Love the outfit." Zayn says, rather quite teasingly.
"Your girlfriend told me to wear it or else she threatened not to let me in if I didn't." I explain, taking a seat on one of the stools by the island. Niall decides to sit next to me as he places a stool beside me.
Harry turns his hear around and a wide smile is seen on his face once he sees me. "Lexi!" he practically shouts, dropping the pan he was holding and hugs me very tightly. "I missed you." he says.
"I missed you too." I tell him, smiling. "Now go back and finish cooking. I don't want to eat burnt food." I say.
"Gee, and I thought you really did miss me." he says, with the smile still on his face. He walks back to the stove and continues on cooking.
"Where are the girls?" I ask, looking around in search of them.
"They went outside to buy a few drinks." Zayn replies, looking at his watch worriedly. "They've been gone for more than five minutes." he adds.
"Zayn, it takes about eight minutes to get there. And with them girls being chatty and slow in walking, it'll probably take them fifteen minutes. Stop worrying." Harry says, making me laugh.
Before Zayn could muster up a reply to his defense, we could hear El and Perrie walking in with their loud laughs. Once they enter the kitchen, I'm glad that they too are wearing these pink ridiculous pyjamas. Both girls smile warmly at me as they walk towards their boyfriends.
"Hey love." Louis says, smiling as El sits on his lap.
"Glad you made it home safely." Zayn says, with relief clear in his voice.
Perrie scoffs, "I can take good care of myself." she reminds him, squeezing Zayn's cheeks. "Even if I can be a total klutz sometimes, I can manage to go and buy drinks without being run over by a truck." she adds, making us all laugh.
The door bell suddenly rings, making us all stop laughing. From the look on everyone's faces, it doesn't seem like we're expecting anyone else. Unless -
"We're not expecting anyone else, right?" Niall says. El nods, getting up to go see who it is. "Not even him." Niall whispers in my ear, making my body relax.
El doesn't come back to the kitchen so Harry volunteers to go check it out. A few seconds later, we hear footsteps approaching the kitchen. "You might not want to go in there. I don't think - " we hear Harry say, with his voice getting louder as he comes closer to the kitchen.
And that's when I see him.
Someone call the doctor cause my heart definitely stopped beating.
= Liam's POV =
And there she was.
I almost forgot how beautiful she looked. I mean, up close and personal as they may say. She just sat there, staring at me as if she had seen a zombie. Did I really look that bad?
Happiness swirled inside me. She's right there in front of my eyes. Not just some picture from a gossip site, but the real her. The person I love. The person who loves me.
Loved, I must correct myself.
There was that dead errie silence in the room. Awkard silence. I could everyone's eyes shifting from her to me. Who would make the first move? I could hear their thoughts pretty loud. Most probably because I was thinking the same thing too.
Do something. Say something.
Before I could process what was happening, I started walking back towards the door. I tried fighting with myself. Don't be such a coward. Go up to her and say something.
Slamming the door behind me, I give out a loud sigh. Here comes a chance for me to win her back and I completely blew it. I stand in the hallway with my back against the wall.
"What in good heavens?" Harry shouts as he storms out, slamming the door behind him too. He glares at me, fuming. "Liam! You may be the most mature one among the five of us and I respect you. But at this very moment right now, I am this close to punching you in the face."
"I feel the same way too." I say, looking down at the floor. "Not that I want to punch you. I want to punch myself too, clearly." I correct myself.
"That was your chance to go talk to her, lad. And you just walked right out! Imagine the pain she's feeling right now." he says, clearly angry at me. He takes in a deep breath. "I'm sorry lad. I don't mean to lash out on you. It's just that what you and Lexi had was something great. Something that not everyone gets to have. If I were you, I wouldn't let it go. I'd fight for it."
I smile up at him, getting this new sense of hope. "You know what, you're right. It's never too late."
"Hey, as they say, true love has no expiration date, right?" Harry pats my back. "But please tell me that we are not going to do one of those corny moments where we cry and hug each other. Like what they usually do in chick flicks right?" he jokes, almost sounding serious.
"Nope. Certainly not." I assured him, giving out a laugh.
The door to El's flat opens and Zayn's face pops out. "I think I might have the most brillant idea." Zayn says with his signature smile on.
This better be good.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-
HEY LOVES
First of all, I am truly sorry. It's been forever since I last updated. I'm sure a lot of you hate me by now. I truly am sorry. I got caught up with work. I moved to a new country so I had to make some necessary adjustments. Who knew that moving in to a completely new place would be so hard eh?
But anyways, spare the useless details, I would like to thank you all for your continuous support. Even though I haven't uploaded in ages, you guys still keep coming back to check if I did. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT.
To my editors, I'm sorry I can't open my email right now cause there are some problems with it. I really appreciate all the effort you've been doing for this story.
I will try to reply to ALL of your messages when I have the time. My main priority would be finishing this story. If you noticed, I have a new story coming out. "BROOKLYN". But don't you worry. I'll make sure to finish "Last First Kiss" then "Summer Love".
THANKS AGAIN. LOVE YOU TO BITS AND PIECES.
Katie xoxo