Chapter 31: Would He Say He’s In L-O-V-E? I Would.
(Zayn’s POV)
“Listen—”
“No, Zayn, it’s okay.” Grace sighs. “I don’t mind you going to Harvard.”
“I wont leave you Grace—I don’t want to have to spend any more time away from you.”
She looked at me worriedly. “This is a big thing Zayn. You might not want to go but I think it’s a good idea.”
“Is this because my mother told you?” I was sitting up now, looking her in the eyes. Her beautiful eyes…But I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was she actually okay with being away from me? Would she not feel the pain that I would feel when we both wake up in different beds every morning? “If you’re trying to get my mom to like you, Grace, you don’t have to agree with whatever she says.”
“I’m not trying to get her to like me Zayn!”
“Then what?” My voice rose. It was bad enough my mother was nagging me about this. “Grace. What is it,” I said. “Do you want us to be away from each other?”
And that’s what I stopped talking. Grace had quickly caught a tear from sliding down her cheek. She didn’t want me away…And it pained her to convince me to…
“Grace… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for—”
“I just don’t want to be the reason why you skipped a good opportunity.” She forced a smile, but her eyes were filled with pain. “This is your life we’re talking about.”
In times like these, Grace didn’t like to be held. She said it would only make her cry more. So I held her hand. I squeezed it tightly and loosened up again as I looked at her. No matter what state she was in, she was still the most beautiful girl to me. For a moment we stayed quiet while she tried wiping more tears away with her free hand.
I said, “You are my life.”
She stared at me for a moment. Grace bit the bottom of her lip. “Zayn, look I didn’t know how to tell you, but—”
“No. I wont go. Not without you—”
“Zayn!” She said again, cutting me off.
“What is it?”
“I had gotten accepted too.”
And it was my turn to smile. “Why didn’t you tell me? You didn’t even mention you applied!”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to be away from you either. I guess…I don’t know.” She looked at me meekly. “I mean I was accepted into a number of the colleges I applied for, I thought Harvard would be too unreasonably far if you went—And then your mom called. I went to talk to my mom too—She said Harvard was still willing to accept me, I have three days to say ‘yes.’”
I pulled her in for a tight hug. “Then I would gladly go to Harvard if you’re there.”
(Katia’s POV)
My eyes glanced up at the small clock on the screen of my phone.
5:30 pm
It’s been a couple of hours since Liam and I had arrived home from the beach. We had spent most of the time sitting down, talking more about how One Direction was and their management issues with Simon and Paul. It turned out I didn’t have to do my shift today since Brenna had offered to cover for me. She had met Liam. She knew about my past so she wasn’t very open to him at first. Eventually they got along after I pulled her aside to tell her about what exactly was going on with my late sister and our other friends.
“Do you…like Liam again?” Brenna had asked excitedly, giving me a knowing look.
“What? No! Brens, I have a boyfriend!” I nudged her and looked over my shoulder at Liam who sat alone on the sand, waiting for me to come back. The sun seemed to make his skin glow. He, without a doubt, still made my heart ache—
“A boyfriend who doesn’t know you as well as Liam does.”
I had turned to look back at Brenna who smirked at me. “What do you mean?”
“Kats, you always used to tell us about Liam and how you two were before. From what I’ve observed, you miss him. And you said it yourself, had Liam only known about Noah really being gay, he wouldn’t have agreed to hang around your cousin and you wouldn’t have had to see them in Harry’s room—Yes, Ms. Brisbane, I listen to all your rants.” Brenna finishes off with a wink, leaving me speechless.
I hadn’t thought about it in months. And I definitely hadn’t been thinking about it when Gabriel and I had gotten together—
“Do you still sing?” He asked me suddenly
I was now aware of where I was. I was sitting on my couch with my phone in my hands. Liam was next to me with a piece of paper on his lap. He was looking at me, his warm brown eyes meeting mine.
I straightened up before I spoke. “Um…I haven’t really touched my guitar in a while.”
“Why not? You sing beautifully—I mean, you know… no hints intended.” His cheeks turned a shade of red while he looked down at the piece of paper he held.
“Don’t worry, I don’t like you like that either.” I smiled.
He chuckled. “Can I hear you play?” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Nope.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because I’d forgotten most of the chords!” I lied. In truth, the only song I remembered was the song I had first played for him in London and I was afraid to feel what I felt that night.
“I’ll teach you?” Liam smiled, already getting up to grab my guitar from its stand next to the TV. “Here.” He gave it to me and I held it, ready to play.
“Now play…. This.” He positioned my fingers on the neck of the guitar and I strummed. He guided my fingers to switch to another chord, then another. Quietly, I played and he hummed. It was only then when I realized what the song was.
“If we could only have this life for one more day…” I continued for him with the lyrics. He paused, giving me a knowing look, then grinned.
And Liam Payne, of One Direction—My ex boyfriend, began to sing. “If we could only turn back time…You know I’ll be you’re life, your voice, your reason to be my love, my heart, is breathing for this, moment in time, I'll find the words to say, before you leave me today—”
“Not bad.” The voice didn’t belong to either of us.
I hadn’t realized that Liam and I were so close until he had straightened up, all the softness and happiness in his face had drained out, leaving him expressionless. I turned to look over my shoulder. Gabriel stood, leaning against the wall of the living room.
I smiled and got up, dropping my guitar on the couch. “Hey! What are you doing here? I thought you said you had plans!” I hugged him quickly.
“I was going to go out and grab early dinner before heading over to Amy’s house.”
I paused, frowning at him. “Amy? Amy… Sebastian’s sister, Amy?” I asked curiously.
“Yep. She invited me over.”
“Yeah? For what?” I didn’t want to be the jealous type of girlfriend but I didn’t like the sound of Amy Fisher inviting my boyfriend to her place in the evening.
(Liam’s POV)
“Calm down, it’ll be me, her, and Sebastian.” Gabriel Jones kissed her cheek. “Now, as I was saying, I was thinking of grabbing a quick dinner before I head out, would my beautiful girlfriend care to join me?” he winked at her.
Katia glanced over to me, and all I could do was smile helplessly. “You go ahead. I have things to take care of anyway okay?”
She smiled and nodded.
“And besides, I’ll drop you home right after.”
“Alright, let me just go change into presentable clothes.” Katia pulled away.
I didn’t see anything wrong with her plain T-shirt and trackies. Nothing seemed to ever look bad on her, but that was just me. She turned around to make her way up the staircase. As soon as she did, Gabriel rolled his eyes and dropped down on to one of the armchairs in the living room, immediately pulling out his phone and ignored my presence.
“What was that for?” I frowned.
“What was what for.” Gabriel answered, not bothering to look up.
“You rolled your eyes.” I stated.
“Did I?” Was all I got as a response. Then he faced me. “Listen, I don’t really care if you’re from some famous boy band that just got lucky, you will not be able to win Katia back, you got that?” He said calmly, looking at me like I had no right to be around him at all.
“Excuse me?” My eyes widened.
“You heard me Payne. There’s a reason why she left you.” Gabriel looked at me with satisfaction in his dark eyes.
My fists were in balls now. Who did he think he was anyway? “Hey, you don’t know what she and I went through—”
“I know enough. She’s mine now. All you can do is sit there and watch me stick my tongue in her mouth—”
“Ready!” Katia called out from upstairs. And Gabriel smiled devilishly at me. God I could have punched him had it not been for Katia reappearing.
I stared at Gabriel, my face stoic, as she hurried down to where we were. She greeted her boyfriend and held his hand, smiling like the happiest girl on the planet.
“You’ll be alright here Li?” Katia asked.
“Mhmm.” Was all I said and I stood to leave for the kitchen, glaring while Gabriel smirked at me. “I’ll see you later Kats.”
Gabriel was wrong, I knew. I could get Katia back if I wanted to. Couldn’t I? But would she still want me back?
HEY GUUUUYYYSSSS!!!
WWWEEEWWWW GABRIEL YOU JERK! :O
So who are you guys rooting for? Still Gabe? OR LIAMMMMM? :P
I wanna see your predictions down there in the comments! What could possibly happen next??
ANYWAY, hope it was a good enough chapter!
AND THE CONTEST IS STILL RUNNING! REMEMBER COMMENT YOUR FAVORITE PART! YOU MAY COMMENT EITHER HERE OR THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER!
Love hearing from you all!
Message, comment, vote, PROMOTE! :)
xxx KATS