~~~~~Side note: I know I said that I wouldn't put up the alternate ending, but I feel like I disappointed some people who really wanted Liam to be the guy. Really, I think that friendships with the guys are a bit underated, and that's why I didn't have Liam and Emma end up together. BUT here's the alternate ending for anyone who cares. It's basically the same ending as the story except Liam's name replaces Greg, but not completely the same :D KTHXBYE
Sage started out the night by going up there and singing, quite passionately, Can’t Fight the Moonlight, and Niall followed her by singing one of her favorite songs, I Won’t Give Up. A group of Niall’s friends went up and sang E.T. Before I knew what was going on, Aden shoved the microphone in my hand and threw me up onstage.
“Guys, I don’t sing. I don’t even have a song picked out! C’mon. This is embarrassing.” I covered my face as the deepest blush filled my cheeks.
Sage called out, “We already picked out a song for you! Sing!”
They started chanting my name. “Em-ma! Em-ma! Em-ma! Em-ma!
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut before I laughed and said into the microphone, “Cue the song.”
The entire bar was filled with an uproar of cheers, and I heard Greg’s voice the loudest as he shouted above the rest about how awesome I was.
The music started, and I recognized the song immediately. I was hesitant at first to put the microphone up to my mouth as I sang one of my favorite songs, Don’t Hold Your Breath. “You can’t touch me now; there’s no feeling left. If you think I’m coming back, don’t hold your breath! What you did to me, boy, I can’t forget. If you think I’m coming back, don’t hold your breath!” By the end of the whole fiasco, I was dancing around the stage, twirling the microphone cord this way and that way, and I think I even kicked my shoes off my feet into the guys’ tables. I wasn’t completely sure; the alcohol was starting to get to me.
I bowed and curtsied when I finished, and the bar again rose with cheers. I made my way back to my seat, and as I passed people, they held out their hands for high fives, which I graciously gave. By the time I found my seat, the next singer was onstage complaining about how hard it was to go after that.
I cheered when I saw that it was Greg, and he pointed at me and said, “This one’s for you, babe!” And he began singing the most off-key, adorable rendition of Every Time We Touch. I must say, I was very, very attracted to him as he swung his hips all around the stage.
But my mind went back to last summer, the day after Liam and I confessed our love for each other. The day we had missed our dance lessons, so we instead stayed home and carelessly swung around the room. The song playing was the very one Greg just sang, and my heart recoiled, unwilling to let go of the summer eight months ago. Liam and I were so in love and so free, completely trusting of each other like best friends are. As much as I wanted to deny it, I missed those days of sweet nothings with Liam.
Greg came over and kissed me when he was done, and this caused the bar to go crazy yet again. Greg went back to his seat, and the next person went up.
Liam carried his guitar with him and positioned the microphone on the stand. He spent a moment tuning his guitar before he looked out to the audience and said into the mic, “I thought I’d slow things down a little for right now and share with you all a song that I wrote not too long ago for someone in the audience. Your ears are the first to hear it, and I hope you enjoy it.”
He started gently strumming his guitar and began singing with his angel voice, “Over, I can’t believe it’s over. I can’t believe the love I lived to show some other day. Listen, I hope that you can hear me as I kneel down and pray with the love I meant to say.” I closed my eyes, trying to convince myself that the song wasn’t written for me. He continued with, “Shadows, you took away the shadows before your life was black and white. Though, tonight, the room’s gone gray. Golden, all the love you gave was golden. Golden, I would gladly pay to show the love I meant to say.” I opened my eyes and saw him squeeze his eyes shut as the song reached its climax. “Oh, music, you made me hear such music. Without you here to guide me, I feel as though I’ll fly away.” He opened his eyes and searched for me in the crowd. His eyes locked with mine, and his voice broke as he sang, “Sorry, that’s the word I want to sing to you. The other word is stay to hear the love I meant to say.”
A single tear fell from my eye. Liam wrote a song for me. Liam still loved me. Liam didn’t want to just be friends again. Liam wanted me back.
What scared me the most was that I had a feeling I wanted the same from him.
Sage put her hand on my back, knowing as well as almost everyone there that the song was for me. “We should talk later,” she whispered.
Aden heard her from the other side of me and nodded. “Before we get on that boat.”
“What boat?” Sage asked.
Aden and I glanced at each other and laughed.
“You’ll see,” Aden said as she took a sip of wine.
My stomach was uneasy. I wasn’t sure I would be able to last on the boat rocking back and forth, this way and that way, up and down. I took another swig of my beer to try and relax my nerves.
I could feel eyes penetrating me, and I tried so hard not to look over at the guys. If it was Liam, I didn’t want to be reminded of how he felt for me. If it was Greg, I didn’t want to see him hurt.
Aden took her turn up at the microphone, and Harry joined her as they sang some Indie song by some Indie band I had never heard of.
I excused myself to go to the bathroom and instead went back to my room. I needed some time to collect myself before I got on that boat.
I was putting my keycard into the door when I heard someone call my name. I hesitated as I turned, not sure whether I wanted to see who wanted my attention.
My heart jumped and fell in both excitement and disappointment when I saw Liam walking my way.
He stopped a safe distance away from me and smiled shyly.
As much as tried to stop myself, I couldn’t help but smile at him. Tears started brimming in my eyes as I reflected on Liam’s way of apology. “That was…That was beautiful, Liam.”
The corners of his mouth twitched up. “I guess you know that it was written for you.”
I bit my lip, my feelings conflicted. “Why did you lie last night? About still having feelings for me?”
His eyes darted up at me, and he smirked. “Why did you?”
For that, I had no reply, and I turned to go into my room.
His hand grabbed my arm and twisted me back around to face him.
His gentle eyes looked up into my nervous ones, and he took a deep breath, as if he was mustering up the strength to get something off his chest. “I’m sorry I didn’t chase you.”
My confusion worsened. “Excuse me?”
He took my hand, and all of his words came out in a rush. “That day at the lake. I should have chased you after you found out. I shouldn’t have pushed you away when you came back. I should have gotten over my ego and gone after you. I should have called you to try and mend us. I should have gotten on a plane and flown to you and begged for you to take me back. I’m sorry, Emma.” He paused and stepped a little closer. “And I’m sorry for embarrassing you tonight and lying to you last night. I thought I could be okay with you and Greg. I thought I could get over you. But I can’t Emma. I should have done it eight months ago, but I’m doing it now. I’m chasing you, Em. I want you.”
Tears started to refill my eyes as the words I waited eight months to hear finally reached my ears. I couldn’t find the words to say anything. So we just stood there and stared at each other.
He pressed his hand to my cheek, and I silent berated myself for not pulling away.
“Emma…I know that we’re both really good at fighting with each other, for holding grudges and pushing each other away. But you know what else we’re good at?”
I shook my head slowly, not wanting him to say it. It was easier if he just didn’t say it.
Liam took my other hand and pressed up against me. He smiled kindly and rested his forehead on mine when he saw I wasn’t resisting. “We’re absolutely amazing at loving each other through the ups and the downs.”
“Liam…stop…please. I can’t do this. Not now.” I slowly pulled away from him and quickly escaped to my room, leaving him dazed out in the hallway.
I collected myself half an hour later and finally left my room to head back to the party.
Greg was leaning up against the wall across the hallway. He smiled when he saw me and took my outstretched hand.
“Are you okay?” he asked as we started walking down the hallway to the elevator.
I glanced up at him. “Of course. Why do you ask?”
Greg somewhat smirked. “Liam came back to the party with the saddest expression on his face. And you’ve been gone awhile.”
I pulled him to a stop. “Greg, I didn’t…I don’t…” I sighed, not sure how to explain it.
He shook his head and smiled at me. “You don’t owe me an explanation, Emma. You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
I bit my lip. “Even if it hurts you?”
He shrugged. “I can get through it. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t tell me something because it might make me mad or sad or disappointed. That’s a part of being in a relationship. Trusting each other.”
I winked. “I thought a big part of it was because I’m super hot.”
Greg laughed and leaned down to kiss me. “That too.”
I could have stood there in the hallway kissing him for the rest of my life, but I had to get back to Sage’s party.
We broke apart and continued back down to the bar. As Greg pressed the button on the elevator to go down, I squeezed his hand and said, “I love you.”
And nothing made me happier than hearing him echo those words back to me.
“So are we gonna talk about what the poop happened back there?” Sage asked as she took another sip of her beer as we floated in the water.
I sighed. “Let’s not talk about that. You’re getting married tomorrow, Sage! Enjoy your last night as a single lady!”
She shook her head and smirked. “You are not just going to change the subject like that.”
Aden nodded. “You need to get this off your chest, Emma. Our ears are here to listen.”
We were in the back of the boat all by ourselves while the rest of the girls partied loudly at the stern.
I looked from one to the other, and they both had anxious looks on their faces. “You both already know he wrote that song for me.”
Sage grinned. “Of course I already know. I helped him write it, and I convinced him to play it tonight.”
My mouth dropped. “Pardon?”
She sighed. “This whole situation between you and Liam has been difficult on me, so I can only imagine how it feels to you. But both of you are very close friends of mine. And I’ve never seen either of y’all happier than when y’all are together.”
I threw my head into my hands. “Sage, you meddle too much.”
She hesitated. “I know, and I’m sorry.”
Aden put her hand on my back and rubbed it gently. “What’s going through your mind?”
I took a moment to gather my thoughts. “I’m stuck. I feel like…like I’m in love with two very different people. It’s been eight long, long months, and I still can’t get Liam off my mind. But when I’m with Greg, all I want to do is be with him. Greg just…makes me feel like myself again.”
Aden smiled kindly. “I know you didn’t come here this weekend to figure all this out.”
I glanced at Sage. “I am so sorry, Sage. I didn’t mean for this weekend to turn into an Emma fest.”
She put her hand over mine and smiled. “Life happens. I understand. Besides, just as long as nothing tragic occurs tomorrow, I’ll probably forget all about it.”
I scrunched my nose. “You’re totally going to jinx that.”
Aden laughed. “It all falls into God’s hands.”
Sage nodded in agreement. “Now spill.”
I sighed. “Instead of going to the bathroom tonight, I went back to my room to relax for a while, which I’m sure you already knew. Liam followed me and stopped me before I entered my room. And he told me that he was sorry and that he was going to fight for me and that he still loved me. But I couldn’t handle it and spent a while in my room. When I came back out, Greg was there looking all happy and cheery, and he told me that he trusted me and that he knew I would tell him what was going on when I was ready to.”
Aden sighed. “As much as I love Liam, I am officially Team Greg now.”
Despite the serious moment, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Sage winked. “We all know I’m Team Liam.”
Aden brought the attention back to me. “But it doesn’t matter about us. Whose team are you on?”
I shrugged slowly. “I just…I don’t know. I’m not sure that my choice is the best choice.”
“I think the obvious thing here is that there is no obvious choice,” Sage said assuredly. “But we are here to help you figure it out.”
I shook my head, deep in thought. “You know that thing where like your heart is telling you one guy, and your head is telling you another? You see, my decision is even harder than that. Half of my heart and half of my head is for Liam, and the other half of my heart and head is for Greg.”
Aden shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you, love.”
Sage smiled. “There’s this one movie called This Means War, and it has to do with this lady who really, really likes these two totally different guys, and she just can’t decide who to choose. And her best friend tells her that it’s not a matter of which of them is the better guy, it’s which guy makes her the better woman. So Emma, all the advice I can offer you is this same advice. Which guy makes you the better woman?”
I locked eyes with Sage and then Aden as I went with my first initial instinct and said with conviction, “I have to talk to Greg.”
“You should go to sleep, Sage! Enjoy your last slumber as a single woman because tomorrow, you’re getting hitched for life!” Aden yelled into Sage’s room before she gently shut the door.
We looked at each other and laughed.
“It’s a good thing she didn’t drink that much or else she’d have a massive hangover on the biggest day of her life,” I asserted.
Aden nodded as she started making her way down the hall towards our rooms. “Just watch, though, she’ll go crazy at the reception.”
I hesitated to follow her.
She stopped and glanced back at me. “You coming?”
I looked back at the elevator. “Actually, there’s something I need to do before tomorrow.”
Aden winked and replied, “Go get him, tiger” before she continued walking to her room.
I hurriedly pressed the button for the elevator, but it wasn’t coming fast enough, so I walked to the very end of the hall and headed up the stairs.
I rushed to his door and pounded on it repeatedly, anxious to see him. But he didn’t answer. I waited for a few minutes, banging on the door and calling his name over and over again, but he either didn’t want to talk to me or he wasn’t there.
So I gave up and decided that I would talk to him tomorrow, and I opened the door to go back down the stairs and get some exercise.
And there he was, sitting at the top with his knees up to his chest, his arms folded and resting on his knees, and his head resting on his arms. He heard me and opened himself up when he saw me.
“When did you get here?” I asked.
“I just got here.” Liam said bitterly.
I didn’t reply and sat down on the stairs next to him.
“So now you want to talk to me?” He started to move like he was getting up, but I stopped him and put my hand on his arm.
“Wait, Liam. I just need to get something off my chest,” I said earnestly.
His dark brown eyes stared at me intently. “Don’t I have the right to run away if I don’t like what you say?”
I sighed impatiently. “I’m trying to apologize. I’m sorry for running away from you, Liam.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah whatever. It’s not like I’ll ever get through to you.”
I didn’t say anything, but instead entwined my hand with his.
He looked down at it, perplexed. “I don’t understand.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to cry as I poured my heart out. “I don’t know how to say this, Liam. I am desperately, hopelessly in love with Greg. I want to marry him and have his kids and grow old with him and love him for life. I want it so badly with him. I want that easy life in some small suburban town. I want to fall more and more in love with him every passing day. I want to be with him, but, Liam Payne, I can’t. As much as I want the love of my life to be him, as much as I hopelessly crave for it to be him, it’s you who I love more. And I know this doesn’t sound like I’m willing to be with you, but Liam, I’m still angry. I’m still angry that we just let our relationship go because it’s been eight months, and I’m still struggling to get over you. I’m still…I’m still desperately in love with you after spending forever being angry at you.”
He shook his head, not understanding.
I squeezed his hand and looked him in the eyes. “It’s you. You’re the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with. Now I’m telling you the love I meant to say.”
He didn’t say anything for awhile. I waited and waited for him to reply, to say anything, but he looked at me closely, a pained expression on his face.
“Liam, please. Don’t push me away,” I begged.
Liam’s face was only inches from mine when he finally replied, “I feel the need to ask you for a kiss.”
I bit my lip, the excitement of having my true love back. “Ask me nicely.” He smiled, and I put my hand on the back of his head and brought it the distance to mine.
I had forgotten how much I missed his lips against mine, how much I missed the taste of his succulent lips and tongue, how when I kissed him, I had to control myself and not rip off his clothes.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Liam staring behind me at the door to the floor level.
I followed his gaze, and my heart broke at the sight of Greg’s betrayed eyes.
I jumped up and away from Liam and called, “Greg, wait!”
He simply shook his head and turned around and walked away.
I looked back at Liam and said, “I’m sorry.” And I ran and followed the man whose heart I was about to rip out of his chest.
“Greg, wait, please!” I yelled as he rushed into his room. I gently closed the door behind me and saw him staring out the window next to his bed.
“So here I was, alone in my room five minutes ago, thinking of nothing but you and wondering whether you were back from the bachelorette party. So I thought that maybe I’d go down to your room and see if you were there and wanted to hang out with me. But of course, the elevator wasn’t working properly, so I went to use the stairs. And what do I see?” He shook his head in anger. “Is that what you’ve been doing with him this whole weekend?” he asked quietly, but sternly.
I shook my head quickly. “No, Greg. No.”
He glanced back at me. “Then what the hell was that?”
I bit my lip. “Eight months ago, Liam broke my heart, and I broke his. Eight months later, my heart still wasn’t repaired, and I couldn’t bear to see him at the wedding. So my brother suggested I get a date. That’s when I called you. Greg, I only expected you to be a rebound. I didn’t anticipate falling so deeply in love with you in such a short amount of time.”
He clenched his jaw. “So you’re still in love with Liam.”
I avoided a definite answer. “Liam was the first guy I fell in love with, and even more than that, he was my best friend. It’s so hard to let go of that. When we got here, I thought he was over me, but he wasn’t as his karaoke song obviously explained. I was angry at him for lying to me. I was angry at him for embarrassing me in front of everyone. And I was angry at him for forcing me to choose between the two of you because it was supposed to be you. I wanted it to be you, Greg.”
He folded his arms and sighed. “I don’t know what to say, Emma. I feel like an idiot for forcing you into a relationship with me.”
I shook my head. “There you go again being my chivalrous knight. Greg, stop. You are not taking the blame for my actions.”
He looked around the room and swallowed loudly. “It’s okay, Emma. It’s okay if you love Liam more. I can…I can let you be together.” He walked past me into the closet and took out his suitcase and set it on the bed.
I stood in front of him and made him look me in the eyes. “Greg, I’m so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I do love you. I love you so much.”
Greg debated in his head whether or not he wanted to believe me. His eyes stared into mine earnestly, trying to put the puzzle together. After a few moments, he put his hand over mine on his cheek and smiled sadly. “I know, Em. I know.” He wiped the tears from my eyes gently and rested his forehead on mine.
“Can I ask you for one last kiss?” I asked quietly, my heart breaking at seeing him in so much pain.
He stared at me for a moment before he gently placed his lips on my forehead. “Goodbye, Emma,” he whispered.
Liam was patiently waiting for me outside Greg’s door.
I smiled when I saw him open his arms, ready to comfort me.
He brought me back to his room, where I cried for a solid hour and a half before I fell asleep.
When I woke up, Liam was simply staring at me.
“Hey.”
I smiled and reached for his hand. “Hey.”
“We have a lot of catching up to do.”
I winked and moved closer to him. “Especially with our lips.”
He placed his lips to mine gently before pulling back from me. “Are you okay?”
I was honest with him. “I don’t know. It hurt to do that to him.”
Liam suddenly grinned and pulled both of us up from the bed. “You know, it’s been a very, very long time since we’ve danced. How horrible do you think you’ve gotten?”
I laughed, completely satisfied with my future with the man in my arms. “I love you, Liam.”
His lips touched mine again before he replied, “I love you, too.” He winked. “Let’s dance.”
~~~~~~~This story has gotten a lot more reads than I thought it ever would, so if you actually put in the time to read my lame story, THANK YOU!!! Oh yeah, and I'm sorry I attempted to be a British girl, but I'm from a small town in the southern U.S., so I dunno what I'm talking about half the time.....