Elodie's POV
“Heyyyy, you guys made it!” Harry says, approaching us when we get to the club. He’s well on his way to being drunk by this time and tries to put an arm over my shoulder which I easily evade. He was a nice guy and all, but since the ‘incident’ the only person who I’d really had any physical contact with was Liam and he was so overly cautious about that it was almost funny. I’m not sure Harry even notices though, quickly slapping an arm around Liam’s shoulders as we get into the VIP section. “Where’s Louis and Lauren?”
“They went back to the hotel,” Liam says while I take a seat on the couch next to Michael, taking his drink from his hand and finish it off.
“Lame…” Harry responds while Liam goes to the bar and gets himself a drink. I half expect him to come back and take the seat next to me, but instead he stays up near the bar talking with the group of people over there. So instead Michael and I talk about Australia and his life before touring with the boys. I tease him about changing his hair color for the hundredth time while he jokes about the fact I’d just gone to see a Disney movie in theaters at 18 years of age. As we talk and drink, I’ll glance around the room and occasionally Liam will catch my eye from wherever he is in the room and give me a smile. Maybe about an hour later, he takes the seat next to me and I halt mid-conversation to look over at him.
“Here, give me that flask thing I got you,” he says, sticking out his hand. I grin, realizing what he’s doing and pulling it out of my pocket. He takes it and tries to pour one of the shots he brought over into it, spilling about half of it onto the table. I hold back a laugh as I watch as he screws the cap back on and hands it back with a proud grin.
“There,” he announces, proudly presenting it back to me.
“Thanks,” I say with a laugh as I take it, wiping the excess liquor off on my jeans before sticking it back in my pocket. He grins before turning his attention to the people on his other side and I look back at Michael.
“What was that?” he asks with an amused grin, having watched the exchange.
“He got me a keychain flask earlier today,” I explain with a laugh.
“Nice,” he says with a laugh. I nod with a smile, our conversation shifting back to whatever it was we were talking about before Liam sat down. I had a nice, familiar buzz going by now. It felt weird to just be sitting down in the club and not out on the floor dancing, but it was weird in a good way. I was having fun sitting here, talking with people I knew, not hooking up with anything with a penis. I nudge Liam’s knee with my own, like he had done in the theater, trying to ignore him and keep the smirk off my face when his eyes dart over. Instead of nudging it back like I’d expected though, he smirked and, without looking over again, rested his hand right above my knee, giving it a light squeeze before just leaving it there. It stays there for another 15 or so minutes before I stand up, excusing myself to the bathroom.
Liam’s POV
Today had been a good day. A much needed break. I’d hung out with the lads in the morning, went out for a bit of shopping with Niall. And Elodie seemed in a much better mood. When we’d first left for the movie, she’d been a bit standoffish, but had quickly warmed up again when I’d given her the keychain. It had just been a joke gift. I’d seen it and thought she’d get a laugh out of it, which she had and that made it worth getting. When we got to the club, she started talking with Michael so I figured I’d give them some space. No need to do anything to spur angry Elodie. So I talked with some guys who helped with the songwriting from our last album. They were cool guys, but eventually I made my way back over to the couches and took the seat next to her. I liked the contact. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I’d found myself reaching for her all night. My hand slips off her leg as she announces her need for the bathroom and I watch her slip out of the VIP section, heading towards them before resuming my conversation. Ten or so minutes later, she’s not back yet so I glance back over, stilling at the sight before me. At first, I think she’s just back to her usual club tricks when I see her with some guy. But it doesn’t take long to see it’s unwanted attention. She looks so uncomfortable, trying to brush off his touches as he leers over her. I jump up, abandoning the conversation mid word as I push through the crowd, out of the VIP section and over to her.
“C’mon babe, I know what you’re like. I’ve seen the articles. Lets get out of here,” I hear him say to her as he blocks her way back to where we’d been as I approach. She sees me before he does and I see relief flash in her eyes. I grab him, slamming him back against the wall, the sound of his head cracking against the wall drowned out by the sound of the music.
“You think it’s fun to harass girls?” I growl, fisting his shirt as I hold him against the wall.
“C’mon bro, we were having a good time,” he says with a laugh, looking over my shoulder at her. I feel the anger boiling up. He didn’t have the right to even look at her.
“Stay the hell away from her. Don’t even look her way.” I threaten. He wasn’t laughing anymore. He just looked pissed.
“Why don’t you mind your own business,” he spits. I jerk him, making him hit the wall again.
“Liam come on…” Elodie says quietly, tugging lightly on the arm I was using to hold the douchebag against the wall.
“Yea, listen to your whore,” the guy snarls and my grip on his shirt tightens as he insults her.
“Now Liam,” she says a bit more firmly until I reluctantly release him. He smirks as I turn around and put an arm around her to bring her back to our group.
“Be careful. Who knows what kind of disease she has,” he calls. Before I have a chance to turn around and punch him, she’s ducked under my arm, spun around, and jabbed him in the throat. His eyes widen as his collapses to the ground, clutching his throat as he gasps for breath. I’m left standing wide-eyed, gaping at him, as she turns back around.
“Can we just go back to the hotel?” she asks. I nod my head, finally tearing my eyes away from the choking guy to look at her. We have to head back to the VIP section to get our security to take us out and outside they do their best to keep the flashing lights of the photographer’s cameras at bay while we get into the car. Neither of us say a word as we’re driven back to the hotel or as we go up the elevator to our floor. I follow her to her room, but instead of saying goodbye like I’d expected, she opens the door and walks in, leaving me standing in the doorway wondering if I was supposed to go in also. She doesn’t turn around, pulling off her shoes and rooting through her suitcase and pulling out a pair of sweats and a tank top. After a brief moment of hesitation, I step in, letting the door close behind me. When she starts stripping, changing into the other clothes, I quickly avert my eyes to give her some privacy. From there, she moves over to the mini fridge and pulls out two bottles of water.
“Here,” she says quietly, handing me one of the bottles before walking back over to the bed. I follow her over, sitting on the edge next to her and take a drink.
“Are you alright?”I finally ask. She nods her head as she stares down at the water bottle in her hand. She looks like she’s thinking something over but I don’t want to ask in fear she wouldn’t tell me. So instead I just wait there, watching her watch her water bottle. She finally looks up at me, her eyes hesitantly roaming over my face. She sets the bottle down on the bed next to her and her hands lift slightly, hesitating between the two of us.
“Can I…” she says softly, her hands hovering there. My eyes drift shut and not long after I feel her fingertips tracing over my face. It’s a feather light touch that starts near my hairline and slowly moves down, over my eyes, over my cheeks, lingering over my lips. I felt stone-cold sober now, my heart thumping in my chest. I reach up, the water bottle slipping from my hand and dropping to the floor, and I cover her hands with mine as she cradles my face, turning my head slightly to press my lips against her palm. When I release her hand, I open my eyes and look up at her to see how she was going to react. “Why me?” she asks quietly. I’m not sure if she’s talking about the rape, or why that twat was harassing her at the bar, or possibly even why out of all the girls I’ve met, she’s the one who’s always on my mind. And I don’t have an answer to any of them. So what do I do? I put a hand on the back of her neck and gently pull her to me. If she didn’t want to, it would be easy for her to pull away, but she doesn’t resist. Even still, I pause, hovering a couple centimeters from her lips.
“Is this ok?” I ask, half nervous she’ll react like the last time we were in this position. My breathing is shallow, anxious and even though I only have to wait a second, it seems to last forever. But then she leans in the last bit and her lips are on mine. My hand moves from her neck and wraps around her, slowly laying her back on the bed. I’m braced over her, resting on one elbow while the hand that was under her back gently rubs her side. And that was it. I wasn’t trying to get into her pants. This was perfect. Holding and kissing her. When the kisses start trailing off, I worry she’s going to push me away. And for a moment she does. But only to move back up the bed so she can get under the covers. Once she’s under, she turns back to look at me as if waiting to see what I’d do. The answer is obvious and I bend over to pull off my shoes before slipping into the bed next to her, wrapping my arm around her and bringing her back flush to my chest. She turns around so she’s facing me though and I find myself playing with the ends of her hair as I search her face to find out why she’d turned.
“Don’t go, ok?” she asks. “No matter how big of a bitch I can be?” I can’t help but smile at her choice of words.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” I murmur, my lips pressing to the top of her head as she uses my chest for a pillow.
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Soo.... what do you think? :) How do you think she'll react tomorrow?
Picture on the side of an angry Liam because it's hot as hell.
Dedication goes to ninaweber.