Charlotte's POV
"So, first show is over... What did you ladies think?" Lauren asked.
After the show had concluded, we had made our way to the Sorin home for a quality girl's night out. We all figured that some girl time was better than going over with the guys. Even Amalia had denied Niall's puppy dog eyes and escaped through the crowd of fans to get home.
I sunk into the pillow on Amalia's bed and took a deep breath, "I don't even know."
"Yeah, same," Marisa grinned.
"Marisa," Lauren addressed her with a certain look in her eyes, "Why did you tell Zayn you wanted to be friends? I'm just curious."
"You told him what?" I sprang forward towards her.
She shyly looked away, "I... I well okay, I lied to him. Of course I want to be more than friends, but I feel like it'd be stupid to come right out and start hooking up. I had so many crappy relationships in high school that I want to set my standards higher now."
We all looked at her confused, "Because a member of the hottest boy band in the world isn't good enough?"
A small giggle escaped from her mouth, "That's not what I meant. What I mean, is that, well, okay stick with me here. I don't just want someone to make out with when I'm bored."
Amalia and Lauren doubled over in laughter, "You think that's who Zayn is?"
"That's the problem! I don't know! I don't know him well enough at all! We've known each other for a few weeks but it's nothing like what Charlotte has with Liam. I mean you are always texting him! With me and Zayn, I just want to get to know him better so I can be sure he isn't playing with me."
Marisa's honesty struck us all, but Lauren was quick to defend Zayn.
"He isn't like that, Riss, trust us."
"I don't believe he is, however I want to figure that out for myself."
"Understandable," I told her trying to be a good friend.
"What about you lover girl?" Marisa made kissy noises.
"Yeah, you better kiss and tell," Amalia taunted.
A smile played my lips.
"Now if that doesn't say..." I cut Lauren off before she could finish.
"If you say hot steamy make out session just like Louis, I will smack you."
"Sorry," her shoulders slumped, "he's rubbed off on me. What can I say?"
Amalia nodded, "But really? What went down back stage?"
My mind wound through past events, reliving the moments that had just happened hour earlier.
"Well, let's see. It started off with him getting upset because he thought that the press was going to ruin everything. I hate seeing him like that –he gets so nervous that I'm just going to leave him. He told me that he didn't want to get hurt." I took a deep breath, "I told him that I just needed to adjust to it all because it was mind blowing for me. He calmed down and was comforting me, which might have led to a little bit of flirting and possibly some kissing. That might have led to him asking me to be his girlfriend, which probably led to more kissing," I recapped awkwardly.
"Like just kissing?" Lauren spat.
I nodded.
"That's okay," Amalia gave her sister a dirty look. "Give them time."
"Awkward," Marisa coughed lightening the mood.
"Well then he accused me of, well basically trying to seduce him.... WHICH I WASN'T!" They gave me non-believing looks. "Well then we kissed again and he gave me a giant hug. Then he said he was happy..."
"I knew it," Amalia grinned. "He just looks so much happier now. He was just so...."
"Out of it," Lauren finished her sentence. "So that was before sound check," she pushed farther, "what about after sound check, right before the show?"
"Well, after sound check... he was changing into his outfit for the show...." I slapped my face with my hand, "This is so awkward to talk about....."
"Oh just go on!" Marisa waved her hand in the air.
"Anyway, when he like took his shirt off I looked away... he saw me do that and accused me of being shy?"
"Then you got it on." Lauren muttered.
"No... he came and kissed my cheek before sitting next to me and pulling me to him."
"Against his bare little chest," Amalia wiggled her nose.
"Then you got in on," Lauren tried again.
"We didn't do anything so you can stop jumping to that conclusion..." I told her causing her to slap her leg in frustration.
"Then we just talked.... I told him that it was fine if he told everyone about me and he went into this spiel about how being famous can ruin everything sometimes. Then the mood was lightened once again with more flirting which caused him to tackle me onto the sofa.... Then we kissed and that was it."
"That's still a nice amount of kissing and flirting," Marisa approved.
"I think it's cute," Amalia told me. "You guys are adorable."
I chuckled, "Thanks guys. I just wanna spend more time with just him. I love the other boys, but I love being with just Liam."
As I finished my sentence my phone started to ring.
"He can't leave you alone can he?" Marisa groaned.
I took out my phone. Checking the caller ID, I realized it was Meghan.
"Hi Meg," I answered, "How are you?"
Her voice came in short burst. She sounded either panicked or annoyed, "Dear lord Charlotte! What are you doing over there?"
"What are you talking about?" I questioned her.
"You just go about making out with one fifth of the world's hottest boy band and you don't bother to tell me?"
I sighed, "That hasn't been confirmed."
"Well it sure as hell hasn't been denied. You go girl!"
Chuckling I thanked her.
"That's not why I called though. I mean I saw you on E News last night but then today, you were all over tumblr."
"What the..."
"They have your name, birthday, hometown.... Hell I'll just send you the link." She told me to check my email.
I pulled the phone away from my mouth and called to Amalia, "Can I use your computer?"
"Who's that?" Meghan asked.
"My friend Amalia," I answered.
"Like as in Amalia Sorin. Like Niall's girlfriend? Is she nice? What's she like?"
"Meg, calm down. Can I call you back when I get home?"
"OHMYGOD IS LIAM THERE?!?!" she gasped.
I heard someone scream on the other line –probably one of her friends who knew what was going on.
"Meghan, I have to go. I'll call you back. Bye." I hung up the phone before she could say anything.
Amalia handed me her laptop, "What's wrong?"
"Apparently my info is out or something?" I said quickly. They were hardly able to comprehend what I had said.
I logged onto my email and clicked on the link from Meghan. It took me to a tumblr post which made my jaw drop.
Filling the screen in front of me was my senior year picture. I scrolled down to see my full name, birthday, hometown, high school, university information, twitter link, Facebook link, family members names, home phone number and a whole bunch of family pictures.
The amount of notes and reblogs on the post was astonishing.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," I managed to whisper.
Marisa took the computer from me and looked over everything.
"My home phone number? Picture of my little brother and sister? Why do people want that?"
Lauren came and sat by my side, "Shhh," she stroked my back. "It's okay. It will die down. Right Amalia?"
Amalia sat across from me, placing her hand on my knee.
"You are new. You give them something to talk about –say both good and back things about. Give it a few days. They will leave you be. Then, when you announce it, it'll go over just fine. I promise. It did for me and Niall."
"Don't you think the sooner the better?" Lauren's question was directed at Amalia.
She took a deep breath, "It would cause rumors to stop spreading. But I also believe that if you give it a few days, things will settle down. I think that people are excited because you aren't famous. You are just a normal person. It probably gives them hope that they could end up with One Direction...."
Despite the efforts to comfort me, my stomach remained in a knot. My head was pounding as I clawed for my phone.
I quickly pulled up my twitter and scrolled through my mentions
@CharMac26 Is it true you are dating Liam?
I wish that @CharMac26 would just come out and say she was making out with @Real_Liam_Payne in her free time
Until @CharMac26 confirms these rumors I will hate her
I think @CharMac26 is really pretty but I hate her dating MY LIAM
Liam is mine not @CharMac26's
WTF who does @CharMac26 think she is? Just taking 1D boys. No American can have them.
The tweets were coming in by the second, and those were the decently worded ones. Many were filled with profanities that I didn't deserve to have said at me. I hadn't done anything wrong. However, the top tweet in my mentions made me cringe.
TOP TWEET: If @CharMac26 and @Real_Liam_Payne would just come out and say they are dating the world would be a much happier place.
The tweet had 100+ retweets. I copied the tweet and texted it to Liam along with the message: We need to talk.
He texted back about ten minutes later: I can't sleep. Did you know ice cream tastes better at 1Am?
I told him to meet me at the place we had gone for ice cream a few weeks back. I grabbed my purse and Marisa grabbed her keys. We thanked the Sorins before heading back into town.
"Have fun," Marisa said when she dropped me off. "If you need a ride back just call me."
I waved goodbye as her car pulled away from the curb.
I was about to head inside when two arms wrapped tightly around my waist as wet kisses were being places on my bare neck.
"Hi Liam," I whispered. "Sorry if I woke you up."
His breath was warm against my skin due to the chilliness of the night.
"It's ok," he breathed against the sensitive skin of my neck. "Let's go inside."