"Morning" Liam smiles as I enter the jet.
"Good morning" I smile back.
"Where would you like to sit?" he asks, showing me the different seats there are
"I don't mind"
The plane takes off and I remain silent as I watch Liam gazing outside the window through his sunglasses. The green fields get smaller below us and a couple of minutes later, we're flying over a sea of clouds.
"Well, I guess you'll be wondering why have I asked you to come to Miami with me" Liam says taking his sunglasses off and looking at me.
I say nothing, but I guess the way I look back at him gives him the answer.
"I owe you an apology" he starts, "we've all been quite hard on you since you arrived and I don't think that's fair. We judged you without knowing your story; that's why I wanted to talk to you. I looked through our schedule and this seemed an appropriate moment so I asked Sam if you could come and, well.... Here you are" he chuckles.
I smile.
"Thanks for being honest" I say, "I understand that you didn't want to speak to me or have anything to do with me. That doesn't mean I liked it though. I just wanted an opportunity so you could get to know me"
"You're absolutely right. I'm sorry"
"It's okay"
"So... please tell me all about yourself"
I laugh.
"It's a long story"
"We have a nine hour flight ahead of us so..."
I laugh again and sigh, ready to tell Liam my story. I speak trying not to be boring and skipping unimportant stuff; but when I finish, Liam wants to know more.
"What do your parents think about this?"
"They weren't sure about it at the beginning; but they understood that I was going through a hard time and I needed some time far from home"
"The best way to get over your problems is to confront them. You shouldn't run away"
"You don't understand, Liam" I sigh.
"Explain it then"
"There was... this boy, Daniel" I sigh again, mentally preparing to tell a story I have never fully told any boy; "I dated him for three years. He was not just any boy, you know? He was also my best friend. And during the time we were together, I thought he was the one. But we changed. We changed a lot in little time, but when we were together.... We acted like we hadn't changed. Like everything around us was going little by little, when everything actually was spinning around at an unbelievable speed. Everything was changing, but we refused to admit it. After our first year in college; not seeing each other every day... we decided to break up. We just didn't know how to make it keep going. A week after, we decided to go back together: summer was about to start, everything was possible... but it was not. We were different. We had changed so much we didn't know each other anymore. He was going through a lot of things and felt lost, so at the end of summer he broke up again." I look at Liam who is staring at me not even blinking.
"Go on" he encourages me, "or is that the end of the story?"
"No" I answer, and continue; "We decided to start a relationship together, as friends. But we had this 'Something' between us. Call it 'sparkle,' 'sexual tension,' any term that suits you best. And in the end, this 'something' brought us back together one last time" I keep quiet and look at Liam directly in the eyes for the first time since I started talking; "But you can imagine it didn't end well"
Liam gives me a sad smile.
"Besides, it got hard" I say, "After we broke up, Dan kept treating me as if I was the person he went out with, and I just wasn't anymore. I wasn't sure who I was, but I was not my old self. And treating me as if I were, didn't help me move on." I sigh, blinking so the tears that have formed in my eyes disappear.
"Shall we stop talking about this?" Liam says.
I nod.
"Please"
"So" Liam says slapping, "have you ever been to the States?"
"I was in New York four years ago, but that's it. It was one of the reasons I accepted this: I got to see a bit of the world"
"You know what? That is one of the main reasons I love this job"
We chat for a little while and after having lunch, we sleep for the rest of the flight.
I open my eyes a couple of minutes before landing. We stand up and leave the plane. A security guard leads us through corridors and elevators and stops us before opening the doors to the arrivals terminal. Liam sighs and smiles.
"Well, here we go"
The doors open and we hear a roar of excitement. I can feel my stomach shrinking, the same way it did in the premiere.
Hundreds of fans scream and try to reach Liam, who stops and takes pictures with some of them. I stay close to him, but not too close so I don't appear in the pictures.
"Who are you?" a girl asks while Liam is taking a picture with the boy next to her.
"I'm Victoria" I smile.
"Don't you know who she is?" another girl asks her contemptuously; "she is Niall's girlfriend"
"Oh, my God"
"Where's Niall?" I can hear someone asking.
"He is doing an interview in London with Ha...."
"Come on, we have to go" a guard takes me to the black van.
I can see Liam turning around to look at me every two-seconds. When we get in the van and he keeps staring, I can't contain myself.
"What?" I ask shaking my head.
"What you did in there"
"What did I do?" I say, scared to have done something wrong.
"You answered 'I'm Victoria' to the girl"
"Yeah, she asked me who I was" I answer not understanding.
"You could have said you were Niall's girlfriend"
Oh... I see where this goes.
"That is what I am, not who I am. Look, Liam, I know I'm here to play a part, but I'm not letting that part become who I am, because that's not how I do things. It took me a lot of time to define who I was and now I have found myself, I am not letting anything change it. Not even dating one of the boys of the most famous boyband in the planet"
Liam remains silent. Then the biggest smile appears on his face.
"I don't know how Sam found you, and I think it's too early to say you are right for him; but I know I can say they have picked an incredible girl for Niall. I've got to talk to Zayn about this"
"About what?"
"About you" Liam answers, "he has to know you"
The van arrives to the hotel we're staying at and a bell boy helps us get the trunks to the floor our bedrooms are.
"Miss Gomez, this is yours and Mr. Horan's bedroom" the manager of the hotel informs me as he opens the door.
"What?" I ask, shocked "I am sleeping with Niall? Again?"
"Again?" Liam exclaims, "What do mean again?"
"We slept together in his house in Mullingar" Liam looks at me, still quite surprised; "Long story" I answer, hiding a smile.
"You can tell me about it during dinner. Would you like to come to my bedroom to have dinner? We can order something"
"Okay" I accept, surprised but happy.
We both enter our rooms. I connect my mobile to the hotel Wi-fi and call my mum to tell her that I have arrived okay. While I'm talking, I can feel my phone buzzing. Somebody is sending messages, lots of them.
There's a knock on my door.
"I have to leave you mum, I'll text you when I can talk"
"Take care, sweetie. Love you"
"Love you too"
I hang up and open the door.
"Have you seen the texts?" Liam asks the second he enters the bedroom.
"Which texts?"
"The ones Harry sent. He keeps telling me to make sure you have received them"
Maybe those were the messages I kept hearing during the phone call.
I open the inbox and I see all of them are from Harry. There are two pictures attached. The first one is Niall with his face covered with a make-up brush. Along with it, there's a message:
Harry: Niall before the interview while Lou is torturing him.
The second one is a shot of the two of them.
Harry: This is us after the interview, I asked Sam to take a picture so I could send it to you (forgive my face).
Harry: Victoria, will you be picking us at the airport tomorrow afternoon?
Harry: Helloooo?
Harry: Okay, I'm going to sleep. I have an important interview tomorrow morning.
Harry: Why are you not answering?
Harry: Maybe you're on the plane.
Harry: I'm going to sleep.
Harry: I can't sleep.
Harry: Will you be picking us up tomorrow? I need to know.
Harry: Okay. I'm going to sleep now, for real.
Harry: Hope to see you at the airport, xx.
Liam's messages are the same but the last one says: Show this to Victoria if she hasn't seen it yet. Make sure she sees them.
"Good old Harry Styles" says Liam chuckling.
We laugh.
"At what time are we going to have dinner?" I ask.
"Does half past seven suit you? I would invite you to a walk on the beach but that might not be a good idea since there are thousands of screaming fans outside"
"It's okay. I was thinking about having a shower so..." I say glancing at my watch, "and I am really tired even though it's not even six yet"
"That's why I suggested having dinner at that time. You take a shower and do what you have to do. I'll meet with Zayn and Louis and then join you for supper. My room is on the other side of the wall" he says, pointing at the left wall behind the bed head.
"Okay, but I was thinking more about entering through the door" I joke.
Liam looks at me and it takes him a couple of seconds to get it.
"Now I understand why Harry and you get along so well" he laughs, "I'll see you in an hour and a half"
"Bye Liam"