Last Girl Standing

October’s heart fell.

It fell to her feet when she found out she would be going on a date with Liam. It wasn’t that he was unattractive—because good God, he was—but the fact that not only had they come in second to last place in the challenge, but that he had been eyeing her suspiciously all day.

They had come in second to last place because she had been extremely slow when it came to figuring out the riddles. Some of them seemed so obvious once they had figured them out, but her brain hadn’t connected the solutions to the questions. October had never been the brightest girl at the schools she attended in San Francisco, but she had never been the stupidest. She could write poetry proficiently and she could draw well, but when it came to finding symbolism and themes in writing, she was close to useless.

October straightened the front of her dress. Tanisha had told all the girls participating in the date that they should dress up nice and be prepared for a nice evening. The dark haired girl flicked her hair over her shoulder and frowned as the door opened.

Niall stood, wearing a light blue button up shirt and a grimace. “Hello.”

October looked up at him and licked her lips nervously. “Hi.”

“Care to come in?” he asked as he stepped aside.

Nodding, October stepped inside and felt the contact of warm air around her. Something smelled good as she stepped further into the large house. “What’s the date tonight?”

“You cook us dinner,” Niall said simply.

October turned around to face him. “Can I talk to you for just a second?”

“Won’t Liam be missing you?” he asked harshly.

“Please?”

He shook his head. “No, I have to get back to Abelia. She’ll be waiting for me in the dining room.”

October watched helplessly as Niall angrily walked away from her, leaving her flat and frustrated. She only wanted to apologize for the first time she’d spoken to him, but it had only resulted in her feelings becoming hurt.

And October never let her feelings get hurt.

October followed the sound of laughter through the dining room where Niall and Abelia sat, smiling faintly at each other. Through the dining room, she found the kitchen where all the other boys sat with some of the other girls.

Upon seeing her, Liam immediately straightened and waved at her in the friendliest of manners. He walked over to her and kissed her cheek, much to October’s surprise. “So it seems that you’ll be cooking dinner for me. All the other boys have eaten so it’s just you and me.”

“What am I supposed to cook you?” October asked, suddenly a little scared. One of the things that October knew she was good at was cooking. Her repertoire expanded beyond any other nineteen year old girl and she knew she could make something that, merely by looking at it, would make Liam drool. The question was, what exactly should she make for him? Would he like anything she knew how to make?

Liam shrugged and settled onto a bar stool near the island in the kitchen. “I was told you have to guess what my favorite food is and make something from your own imagination.”

October sighed. “That sounds fabulous.”

“Your sarcasm is beautiful,” Liam said with a grin.

“I’d like to say you look like you would love French cuisine, but I don’t think you would. You don’t look Italian so I think that’s out. Mexican seems a bit out of your taste bud range. American doesn’t suit you, so I don’t know. I think I’ll settle with Chinese food. Are you allergic to anything? I don’t want to accidentally kill you,” October murmured as she pulled an apron from the drawer at her knees.

Liam grinned. “I’m not supposed to tell you what food I like, but I don’t think I’m allergic to anything.”

“Good then.” October clapped her hands and rummaged in the refrigerator. She pulled out the vegetable drawer and rummaged around, hoping to find something to inspire her, but she found nothing. Nothing except cabbage, carrots, celery, and some sort of red cabbage like vegetable. “Are you up for some experimentation?”

Liam swallowed hard. “You’re making me dinner. I guess you’re in charge.”

“Well, this could be interesting,” October muttered.

After rinsing off the vegetables in the huge sink, October julienned the celery into very small slivers, dumping them into the clear glass bowl. The cabbage, red thing, and the carrots followed, adding color and crunch to what she planned to make. “So why don’t you tell me about yourself, October. I don’t really know anything about you and I thought maybe we could take this time to get to know each other.”

“What do you want to know?” she asked simply as she searched the cupboards for the Thai hot sauce, sriracha as well as rice wine vinegar. “I’m willing to tell you anything if it means that I’ll get to stay.”

“Why do you say that?” he asked curiously.

She paused her work as she continued to search. “It’s like I told Zayn, I’m the underdog in this competition. I’ve got barriers and walls that push people away. I’m not social like the other girls here and it’s hard for me make friends and open up.”

“Then open up.” Liam crossed his arms on the cold island countertop as he watched her search.

October sighed in anger and frustration at the lack of sriracha, but she was victorious in her quest for rice wine vinegar. “That’s easier said than done, Liam.”

“We’ll start off with why you were so defensive at the first elimination.”

October turned and leaned against the countertop, her hands behind her. “I didn’t have an ideal childhood, I guess you could say.”

“What made it that way?”

October closed her blue eyes and took a deep breath. “My mother had me when she was fifteen years old. She was a teenage mom and my dad left us when I was little. But when he left, my mom found another man and she married him. She didn’t take time to get to know him, but he...”

And suddenly, October felt weak. Her hands started to shake and her throat grew tight with tension and sadness. Liam frowned. “It’s alright, take your time.”

A deep breath later, she began again. “There’s something about being a little girl that’s just amazing. You’ve got this innocence and this grace and this...naïveté that comes with being young. You dream about being a princess or a singer or a model and it’s just great. But I didn’t have that when I was little. I had to be constantly on guard around my stepdad.”

“Why?” Liam asked, frowning.

“Do I have to say it?” October hesitated.

Her date hung his head and sighed. “I’m so sorry, October.”

October blinked tears away. “That’s why I was so defensive when I was asked about my home life. My mom and stepdad left me with my grandmother when I was sixteen, but before that, I had to always be on guard around my stepdad and my mom always got angry at me because of what was happening. She always said I deserved it for being promiscuous.”

“That’s awful,” he whispered.

She shrugged helplessly and turned back to the food, drizzling a little bit of rice wine vinegar over the top before tossing it with a wooden spoon. In the refrigerator, she took out the Mexican hot sauce and drizzled that on top as well. Turning, she came face to face with Liam who looked down on her. “I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want it to be a crutch. I didn’t want to be the sympathy case because I’m better than that. I’m stronger than that.”

Liam took the bowl of vegetables from her hands and set it on the counter beside her. He brushed her brunette hair from her face and lightly touched her cheek, his fingertips ghosting her cheekbone. “You’re much stronger than that, October. And you’ve displayed that just by telling me about your past. I really admire that.”

She looked up into Liam’s brown eyes and saw nothing by sympathy. “I’ve been trying to tell myself that for years.”

“You’ll believe it one day,” Liam murmured.

October turned away from him and glanced at the bowl of dressed vegetables. “I’m not going to lie, but this dinner looks disgusting. It’s not something I’d normally eat, so if it doesn’t look good to you, I saw a box of Mac n’ Cheese in the cupboard over there.”

Liam chuckled and kissed her cheek once more. “Mac n’ Cheese is perfect, actually.”

It wasn’t that October knew she loved Liam. It wasn’t because he was handsome or attractive, though that helped. October didn’t think there would have been any possibility for her and Liam, but as they joked over the failure of her Asian inspired dinner and her sarcasm and his jokes, October felt a connection. A little connection maybe, but a connection no less.

Which was more she could say about Zayn or any of the others.

Maybe Liam was the one.