Let's Pretend It's Love

Liam grimaced as he tasted the sour liquid and decided to dump it into a plant pot. After Rhianne had helped out her sister (sororities were sisters), she'd wandered back to him and they'd managed to down a couple more cups while discussing what they were doing over the Thanksgiving break. He knew that the thanksgiving break would be brief and wouldn't give them that much time apart but he wanted to somehow get her to try and introduce him to her parents and with her smarts, she knew this and steered the conversation every which way except for the direction he wanted to go. He sighed since he had gone to pick up some non alcoholic drinks for the two - in an effort to sober them up and he ended up throwing away his other drinks while grabbing two previously capped bottles of orange juice.

Liam brushed off the lint off his plain white shirt, shrugging back on his slick black leather jacket when he saw Rhianne shoving her finger angrily against Zayn's chest in the middle of a still raging dance floor, her curls shaking with her as she continued to talk to him in a low voice - one that he couldn't hear from so far away. He shoved through a couple of students and winced as the sound of the bass exploded as the song changed to another upbeat and mostly meaningless ballad from the 80's he assumed.

"Babe, babe," he yelled over the music separating Rhianne from Zayn although now that he was closer to her, she seemed more stern with Zayn than furious or angry.

Zayn looked to Liam a bit amusedly although his cheeks were a darker shade than the rest of his skin.

"Is something wrong?"

"Just making sure Emma got home safely," Rhianne shrugged innocently , looking up at him with her hips cocked to the side and her hair still done in a Marilyn Monroe fashion of curls although she was a brunette and had longer hair. She batted her thick lashes at him, the make-up still applied to her skin perfectly even though it was minimalistic, and lasting after shots and running through the resident house and even more than half an hour of dancing.

"I swear I didn't do anything to her," Zayn said once more, this time, a serious expression on his face as he made a mark of honor with his forefinger over his heart. His own gelled back quiff shone under some erratic strobe lights and there was a real cigarette tucked behind his ear. "Just walked her home and gave her a peck is all," he murmured, looking away this time as Liam laughed and pulled his own girl closer.

"All right. Be careful with him, mama bear," Liam teased his girlfriend as he squeezed her side gently with his palm, his other hand tousling his hair since it felt really weird to have this awkward, gelled back hairstyle. He so wasn't used to it and only let his girl comb it back since she'd looked particularly enticing with her black skirt, a zipper all the way down to her knobby knees and her form fitting pink jacket and peach pink ascot around her neck.

"Hmm," Rhianne giggled with a small shrug. She may have had a drink or two but she was the queen at having fun and staying sober. "Anyways, the rest of the girls said they'd love to go into the suburbs out by the outskirts of the uni and hunt for candy."

"I think I'll retire tonight," Zayn interjected one last time before smiling to the couple with a hearty smile before slipping off his jacket since the temperature continued to increase. Zayn and Liam slapped hands, pulling each other into a short and brief but close embrace before Zayn was smiling at Rhianne again and pulling her into a less practiced hug and a well-meaning hug. "Have fun," he said before pushing his way through a couple of zombies, a Cleopatra and a dancing PB&J sandwich as well as a rastifarian banana. Crazy things went on this campus.

"You're not too tired are you?" Rhianne asked, an eyebrow cocked, ready to retire with him as well if he was sore from the swimming & diving practice from yesterday. "It's okay if you are babe."

"I won't be so tired if you promise to give me a nice massage later tonight?" he bartered, biting down on his lip. He didn't care right now if they were having a little bit of subtle problems. They could work through things and of course they had there off times. They'd gone through it during the summer and they could get through it now. He loved her - even if he knew that she didn't want to hear anything associated with the 'l' word.

She bit back a giggle and found his hand in the dark of the club-themed massive hall. "Deal," she agreed, knowing no matter what she'd do her best to relieve Liam's pain. He did a lot to exert himself during the land practices and she could understand that especially since she knew his dreams of becoming a pilot or a firefighter. That and she didn't mind receiving the awards of her hard working boyfriend - especially when it was a perfectly built back, toned arms, muscled stomach and of course, a nice V-line at his hips.

'big time nigga yeah money flipper yeah' sang Rhianne's phone, barely sounding over the loud music as Liam pulled her past crowds of people, only chuckling a little since he knew about her secret love for rap, or daresay he, Drake. They pushed outside and the Drake song stopped playing as Rhianne quickly flipped open her phone and talked to Lola who'd managed to keep her alcohol under control enough to want to come along with the rest of the girls to go trick-or-treating.

They all met out in front and Liam towed his boys into the large Range Rover that fit them all, although they were squished tightly against each other. Rhianne could sense the discomfort of Ivy since Louis was sitting next to her and was very perky due to him practically inhaling the contents of many bottles. Ivy still rolled her eyes and scooted away from Louis even though they were the only two sitting in dis-connected seats, the other four sitting in the very back seats. Harry was pestering Elise about some insane theorem but she didn't seem to mind much and Lola was playing rock, paper, scissors with Niall who was blushing as he continued to lose to his pink lady counterpart. Liam drove easily, one hand confidently on the steering wheel and the other wrapped around his girlfriend's palm.

Liam parked in a parking lot nearby a little park with rubber tires and four newly painted see-saws when he turned around to look at his friends - even the girls he'd come to known better here and there since they were some of the people who Rhi loved the most and he could only hope he'd join that group.

"Okay guys," he said loudly, the radio dying down as the key was pulled out and Rhi distributed decorated pillowcases to every individual in the car. "Meet back here at," Liam glanced to his watch. "Thirty minutes. No streaking like last Halloween," he told his boys sternly, blushing himself since he'd been involved in that escapade.

"Let's have some fun!" squealed Rhianne at the thought of all the chocolate and candy she could rack up - especially since all the little kids were probably gone and there was enough leftover candy to fill up her custom Pink Lady pillow case for trick-or-treating.

The frat boys and sorority girls filed out and a couple ran for the closest house and through the quaint little neighborhood with still ringing doorbells Rhianne could be heard declaring: "The one with the most candy is the best greaser!"

And so the night really began.



Rhianne giggled, her sugar high still raging as she fell back against Liam's silky blue comforter and sighed, untying the short pink piece of cloth from around her neck. She kicked off her black wedged heels and threw them against the wall, accidentally causing a Star Wars poster to fall down.

"Oops," she giggled, too tired to get up and tape them back against the wall. Before she could say anything else on the subject, she fell another weight fall against heavenly soft bed.

The room was dimly light and a java lamp turned different colors in the wall on Liam's wooden desk that stood strong against the wall. She smiled tiredly, her eyelids heavy but never once closing for too long since she was too entranced by the boy sitting on the bed slipping of his jeans but for some reason not his socks as well. His leather jacket had retired and sat on a swirly chair by the door that was locked.

His back fell against the airy cotton sheets and he kissed her cheek, seeing she'd washed her face and gotten all that make-up while he'd gotten himself a quick sandwich before they both crawled up the stairs to his room.

"Well, hey there," Rhianne giggled as he only lingered shortly on her lips. She could still taste the Tootsie Roll she'd given him since he'd complained about not getting any chocolate. Their pillowcases filled to the brim now sat on his desk, spilling forward with the amount of lollipops and other treats.

"So," Liam laughed as he pulled her closer to his own body and further away from the edge of the bed. "How about that massage?" he asked, a curious lift of his eyebrow reminding her of their deal.

Her only reply was to kiss him on the lips before she pulled his clothes off.