Two Way Street

Liam didn’t follow me out of his apartment and I was extremely relieved. He seemed to think that just because he was able to get into my pants that he could just go on and play with my feelings.

I don’t regret this, he said.

Yeah, well. I did.

I was in shock as I walked down the street to Harry’s apartment. My legs hurt and I just wanted to sleep for the next to weeks. It felt like I’d run a marathon and then decided to play an entire football tournament. Of course, last night I didn’t think about the pain.

Well, the Payne, I definitely thought about.

I knocked on Harry’s door and he opened it, frowning and looking generally perturbed, “Where the hell were you last night? I stayed up all night waiting for you to come home and you didn’t. I thought you’d gotten mugged or kidnapped or something.”

“Calm yourself, Harry. I went drinking, okay?”

“Then why do you look radiant and absolutely glowing?” he asked suspiciously.

I shrugged casually, not wanting to play up my ‘glow,’ “A good couple of shots does a person well, Harry.”

He eyes widened and a grin spread across his face, “Oh my god, you got shagged last night, didn’t you?”

“Keep your voice down!”

“Why? There’s no one here but me. Unless, god forbid, you didn’t like it,” he raised an eyebrow.

I bit my lip, “It was excruciatingly dreadful, Harry.”

“Who with? Some random drunk at the bar? Someone in the street?”

I shook my head, “I’ve got loads more self respect than that, Harry. No, it wasn’t a drunk or someone on the street.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, “You’re giving me absolutely nothing to go on, Mar-Bear.”

“Fine. I’ll just it was probably the biggest mistake of my life. As a disclaimer, I was completely drunk out of my mind and I wasn’t thinking rationally. Obviously, if I’m here talking to you about. Where’s the aspirin?” I asked, rummaging through his kitchen cabinets.

I heard a snicker, “Please don’t tell me you and Liam...”

I turned around and frowned at him, “Aspirin now, Harry. Talking can wait.”

“No no no. No, talking first. Did you and Liam do the naughty?” Harry stepped over to me and closed the cabinet door. “Please tell me it wasn’t Liam.”

I bit my lip again, “And if I say it was, what will you do?”

“I’ll laugh hysterically because I know it wasn’t him. First, Liam doesn’t drink because he’s too responsible. Second, Liam doesn’t drink and he’s too responsible. Try again, Mara,” he laughed and handed me the bottle of aspirin. I took two and downed them with an entire glass of water.

I swallowed, “What if I told you that he was getting drunk because he was upset about me and I was drunk because I was upset with him. We both got drunk and I was leaving and he pulled me to his apartment and things happened?”

Harry eyed me suspiciously. His face grew pale and grim, “You’re completely serious, aren’t you? You’re not just making this up to give me a premature heart attack, are you? You’re completely serious that you and Liam...”

I frowned and hung my head, “I was drunk out of my mind, okay?”

Before Harry could respond there was a knock on his door. Harry opened it without looking to see who it was. Liam stormed into the room, his face a mask of determination as he nearly sprinted at me.

He cupped my face and kissed me forcefully.

I wanted to push him away, but something inside me disabled me. I couldn’t push him away because I didn’t want to. He pulled away and stared at me with those wide brown eyes.

“Fuck, this isn’t good,” I whispered.

“What?”

“Everything. Why’d you do that?” I asked. I didn’t even wipe my lips after he kissed me.

He let his hands drop, “I like you. Not like a friend either. And when you left, I realized that. Mara, I like you and I’m sorry that I told Louis that even though it wasn’t true and I didn’t know for sure. I just put the pieces together wrong and made a mess out of everything.”

I turned around and breathed deeply.

“God, I’m sorry, Mara. . .I should go,” he whispered.

I turned around, “No. No you shouldn’t go. Want to know why, Liam?”

“Why?” his face was drown down into a sad expression. He shouldn’t be sad.

I took a deep breath, “Because I liked that.”

“What? The kiss?”

I nodded, “I don’t know why I’m saying this because I think I’m still mad at you, but I don’t know anymore. I’m all confused inside. I want to be mad at you and I want to hate you right now, but I can’t. I can’t hate you and I don’t know why.”

He sighed, “That’s confusing. But I don’t want you to hate me no matter what.”

I filled the glass of water and took another aspirin, my head throbbing from the terrible hangover, “I don’t want to hate you anymore, Liam. And I’m sorry for shouting at you this morning. I was really confused about everything.”

Harry snickered, “This is rich.”

“Can it, Styles,” I hissed as I looked around Liam’s shoulder.

“So now what?” Liam asked quietly.

I frowned, “I don’t know. I just pray that Louis doesn’t find out.”

Liam sighed, “Where does that leave us?”

“Somewhere between complicated and nowhere,” I grinned.

“It’s better than in the middle of Hate City,” Liam grinned back at me.

I shook my head, “Nice try, but that was terrible.”

He shrugged, “So what do we do now?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. You’re growing on me and I’m starting to like you. It’s really terrifying me,” I frowned and hopped onto the counter, taking another sip of water.

Liam’s eye glinted. He stepped forward and kissed me again, softly this time. “I think this could be a do-over for us. What if we just started here and forgot all the anger from before?”

I nodded and fought the urge to kiss him again, “I think it could work.”

He smiled and kissed me again.

“Um, guys. Bad news.”

We both looked at Harry and saw Louis standing in the doorway, ashen faced and seething with anger.

“Looks like you’re right, Zayn,” Louis hissed. He turned around and stomped out.

I hung my head, “Fuck...now I have to deal with that?”

Liam grasped my hand, “We’ll deal with that together, okay?”

I nodded and smiled, “I’m liking this new beginning thing, Payne.”

He grinned, “Me too, Beckett.”