Captivated

004

Alyssa stood in her kitchen, flipping through the newspaper when Aimee finally trudged in at quarter to two in the afternoon. “I made you coffee,” she told her roommate, who looked every bit as tired as she probably was. The other woman was a bartender at a popular place downtown, and since it was summer now the hours were extended and she worked even later than usual. Alyssa hadn’t heard her come in until four in the morning, so although she got a good amount of rest, Alyssa knew Aimee was hurting.

“Thanks,” she rasped out, her voice still thick with sleep.

“Do you have to work late again tonight?”

“Mhm. Until three A.M. again,” she nodded, sipping the black coffee. Alyssa gave her a sympathetic look before turning back to the newspaper, and Aimee took the moment to look her over. She saw Alyssa’s phone on the counter right next to her newspaper, keeping it in sight.

Ever since the night Liam had slept over and said he’d call her, Alyssa never let her phone out of her sight. That was over a month ago, though, and he still hadn’t called. Aimee never revealed his boy band identity to her, because quite frankly if Alyssa hadn’t noticed by now she probably never would. One Direction was one of the hottest acts in music these days, but Alyssa seemed totally blind.

Aimee knew she recognized their songs, because Alyssa sang along to What Makes You Beautiful whenever it came on the radio. And sometimes, when Liam would sing his verse, she would see Alyssa cock her head to the side and get this look on her face, like she knew the voice.

Of course, she did know the voice, but then his part would end and Alyssa would shake her head, the moment having passed. Aimee wondered how long it’d be before she saw him on television though, or on her computer or on a poster somewhere. It was literally only a matter of time, and Aimee wondered how her friend would take it.

“So, any interesting phone calls lately?”

Alyssa glared at her best friend. “You know the answer to that,” she droned out. She felt pathetic keeping such a close watch on her phone all the time, especially after a whole month. But she kept making excuses for Liam in her mind.

He was a really sweet guy, he wouldn’t say he was going to call and then leave her hanging.

He had made such a ruckus about getting to know her, he wouldn’t just let all that effort be for nothing.

He did say he traveled around the world, so maybe he was just really busy and hadn’t had the chance to call yet.

Excuse after excuse entered her mind, all of them briefly satisfying her but none really giving her peace of mind. She didn’t want to think about the “What if’s” though.

What if he had really been only after sex, and was just trying to be polite about not getting it?

What if he did really like her, but after he went home and had space to think, realized she wasn’t worth the hassle?

What if he had every intention of calling her, but he had met some exotic woman on his travels that made him forget about her?

“Lyss, you can’t do this to yourself,” Aimee stated, practically reading her friend’s mind. “It’s been a month, move on. Even if he does come back around, he can’t blame you for not waiting around. It’s not like you made promises to each other or anything. Hell, it’s not like you guys even had a relationship. You knew him for like, twenty-four hours. I wouldn’t even wait up for a guy I knew twenty-four days.”

“He just…he made me feel so…”

“I know. Special, right?” Aimee asked. Alyssa nodded. “Some men are snakes like that. They make you think they are these genuine, charming, good guys, when all they want is a good lay. I work at a bar, sweetie. I’ve seen them all. I’ve fallen for a few. It sucks, because they make you so sure that they are not like the others; that they are different. And then they go and reinforce your original opinion that men are pigs.”

Aimee felt bad speaking about Liam this way, because from what she could tell (now that she had a few years of experience scoping out the bad ones), he really did seem like a great guy. The fact that he was in a band should have helped Aimee play up a “ladies man” persona for him, but the bastard literally wasn’t like that. Although Aimee knew him on sight the night Alyssa brought home, she had gone into her room to do some in-depth research on him. All he could find were videos and articles about him being adorable and intensely appreciative of the fans. She couldn’t find a speck of dirt on him. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to share all that information with Alyssa. It would probably just make her think that she must be the problem then, and Aimee was not about to let that happen.

“I don’t think he was like that though…” Alyssa sighed wistfully, before becoming rigid. “You don’t think like, something happened to him, do you? Like on one of his travels?”

Aimee laughed suddenly, causing a scowl to form on Alyssa’s face. “God no. He’s fine,” Aimee waved off, moving about the kitchen to make herself some food. Alyssa nodded, accepting this information, before something suddenly clicked.

“How do you know?”

If Aimee hadn’t have been so distracted thinking about Alyssa’s situation, the fact that Liam was in a boy band, and busy cooking her meal, she would never have uttered the next words out of her mouth. “Famous people don’t just die without the whole world knowing about it.”

Aimee froze in the middle of cracking her egg against the frying pan, silently asking herself if she had really just said that aloud. A quick look out of the corner of her eye at Alyssa answered the question for her. Her roommate stood still, her mouth hung slightly open as he eyes were full of questions.

“Uh, let me go back.”

“No! No, you explain what you just said right now!” Alyssa demanded.

“Lyss,” Aimee cringed, wondering how best to break the news. “Ugh, wait here.” Alyssa did as told, watching as Aimee walked out of the kitchen. Her head was swimming. Liam hadn’t looked familiar at all. Then again, he was British, and she didn’t really know about any of their celebrities unless they made an appearance on Doctor Who.

Aimee came back, carrying her laptop with her. She set it down, opened iTunes and pressed play. “Them again, Aimee? Do you really think this is the time to be listening to your fucking British boy band-oh my god,” she finished, a hand over her mouth. Alyssa had been trying for weeks to realize why the voice filtering through her speakers sounded so familiar. And now she knew. It was fucking Liam. “You knew! You knew the night you met him who he was. You played this damn CD, and…oh my god.”

Alyssa collapsed at one of the chairs in the kitchen and put her head in her hands. “For what it’s worth, I think he did genuinely like you. One Direction is just super busy with their tour right now, and he seems like the kind of guy who wants to wait until he can devote a little time to someone before he-”

“No, you know what? He’s an ass, okay?” Alyssa finally looked up, rising from her seat and throwing her dishes into the sink, making them clatter loudly. “He was probably playing me the whole time. You’re right; some guys are just good at hiding the fact that they’re complete dicks.”

Aimee willed Alyssa’s cell phone to ring. She needed Liam to call Alyssa right now, at this exact moment, before he lost her for good. Aimee thought it was really weird, to be thinking this way, as if Liam was just some regular guy she knew personally. What really unsettled Aimee though was the absolute irrefutable certainty she felt that Liam would be in their lives again. It was a matter of when, not if, and Aimee just had to keep Alyssa’s mind open to him long enough to give him a chance. She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to do that either, as if somehow she knew Alyssa and Liam were intended to be together. She just had this gut reaction though, and it didn’t hurt that Liam had left Alyssa happier than Aimee had ever seen her.

“But look at this face,” Aimee tried, quickly bringing up a picture of the group online and showing Lyss her computer screen. “You can’t be mad at this face.”

Alyssa begrudgingly looked over at the laptop, the frown on her face instantly melting away. “Oh my god, look at them,” she nearly whispered. “They are all too fucking cute.”

“I know,” Aimee groaned. “But that’s not the point. The point is I think you should give Liam the benefit of the doubt.”

“Five minutes ago you said I shouldn’t wait for him and that I should move on,” Alyssa argued.

“You should,” Aimee agreed, confusion clouding in Alyssa’s eyes. “But you should also drop whoever you’ve moved on with like a hot potato if Liam ever comes back.”

“You’re terrible,” Alyssa laughed, her friend relieved that at least she wasn’t sulking any more. “I’m sure Liam had good intentions, but he probably realized how hard it would be to make it work. Especially for someone he had just met. I don’t blame him.”

But a tiny little part of her did. She recalled his words to her the night he slept over. “I look forward to working hard for you, because you deserve someone who will.”

What a load of shit that turned out to be.

He’d almost had her fooled though, she’d give him that. She had woken up the next morning with his arms wrapped around her, a soft smile on his face as he ran his fingers through her hair. They had spent the whole day together, and he had kept his promise about taking her out to dinner. He had wined and dined her, and like a gentleman he walked her to her door and kissed her goodnight after tucking her phone number into his pocket and vowing he’d speak to her soon.

And what a load of shit that turned out to be as well.

Alyssa spent the next few days in an aggravated mood, and swore that if she heard One Direction on her car radio one more time, she was going to drive straight into a tree. She wasn’t sure if it was her mind playing tricks on her or if it was fate’s cruel joke, but it seemed like now that she knew the truth about who Liam was, she couldn’t escape him. Everywhere she went, One Direction was featured in one way or another. She refused to admit that part of her sought him out, blaming it on being second nature after so much One Direction saturation.

She came home straight from work one night, having not stepped foot in the gym since she was half naked in the sauna. She dropped her bags on the floor and slipped off her heels, only to be bombarded by her roommate. It was a rare night off of work for Aimee, and the only thing keeping Alyssa sane at her own job was the thought that she’d have her best friend to unwind with once she got home. “Alyssa, what the fuck took you so long?”

“What?” Alyssa replied, looking at the clock. If anything, she was home earlier than usual. Aimee grabbed her arm and dragged her to the couch, Alyssa barely having time to balance herself as she was roughly pulled down to sit.

“Look. Look!” Aimee commanded, turning her laptop screen to face Alyssa.

“It’s Twitter,” Alyssa said blankly.

“No, it’s Liam’s Twitter,” Aimee corrected.

“Oh my god, Aimee, I don’t have time for this,” Alyssa spat, beginning to rise. Aimee grabbed her arm and yanked her back down, hard. “Ow,” Alyssa grumbled, rubbing her shoulder.

“I did some investigating and went back through his timeline to around the time you guys met. This tweet is from two days after he left Chicago. Read it.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes but complied, knowing Aimee wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“A., I’ve looked everywhere, but I’ve lost your number. If by some miracle you see this, contact me please?”

“I don’t have his number to contact him with. And besides, we don’t even know that he’s talking about me. ‘A’ could be anyone,” Alyssa pointed out, despite her heart hammering in her chest.

“Or, he could be talking about you and trying to protect your privacy, like a hot ass motherfucker,” Aimee countered.

“Aimee-”

“Sh! Keep reading. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“A lot of time for what?”

“Ugh just read! This one is from a few days after the first one,” Aimee explained.

“A., I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but I hope you’ll give me the chance. Hope to talk to you soon?”

The tweets went on in a similar fashion after that, Liam tweeting many times but at least two a week were always specifically devoted to Alyssa and contacting her somehow again. “And now, the piece de resistance,” Aimee wiggled her eyebrows, showing Alyssa his most recent tweet.

“A., I’m coming to town tomorrow. I’m off for a week & want to see you. I’ll be at the place we first met, same time, hope you'll meet me.”

Alyssa sat slack-jawed and staring at the computer, not sure what to do or how to react. “This tweet is from yesterday,” she noticed, reading the time stamp.

“Yup,” Aimee stood up, swiftly bringing Alyssa with her. “Which means he is at the gym right now, waiting for you. Which also means you are going to put your shoes back on, drive your ass down there, and fuck his brains out.”

“Aimee!” Alyssa tried to protest. But it was already too late. Aimee had effectively pushed her all the way to the front door, where her shoes and purse were waiting for her.

“Adios, I won’t wait up.” With a final shove, Alyssa was out of the apartment and the door was closed behind her. She sighed and glanced at the time on her phone, seeing that it was already almost eleven o’clock. She stood in the hallway, completely unsure of what to do.
♠ ♠ ♠
Sorry for the cliffhanger!

One chapter left!!

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