Last Girl Standing

Despite the fact that Liam’s hand was wrapped comfortably around her waist, Jenna still shook, as they stood in front of Tanisha, with Harry and Sadie next to them. She was twelve different flavors of nervous, as she should be, because there was so much riding on this challenge. It was the last one – the one that would decide who the winner was – and they had worked so hard to get there that Jenna wasn’t ready to give up. She wanted to prove to Liam, the world, and herself that she could be a winner. She wanted to prove that she was good enough.

“First of all, I’d like to say congratulations on making it this far,” Tanisha said, as she smiled out at the four of them. “I know it wasn’t an easy road, but you made it, and that is quite the feat, so give yourselves a pat on the back.”

Liam wrapped his arm more tightly around Jenna and pulled her closer to him, before placing a small kiss on the top of her head. A smile fell to her face and she was happy that his simple kiss could get rid of at least a few of her nerves.

“Now, of course, you haven’t reached the end of the road yet, and only two of you can be named the winners. So, let’s get started with the next challenge, shall we?”

Tanisha smiled at them again, before moving to the table to the left. From behind it, she pulled out two acoustic guitars and some pads of paper, and Jenna realized immediately that this challenge wasn’t going to be as easy as the rest.

“For the final challenge, each couple has to write and perform their own song,” Tanisha continued, grinning as she knew how much work the challenge would entail. “Each of you will be judged based on lyrics, tone, and stage presence, and you will be judged by the eliminated contestants.”

At that, Jenna felt her lungs tighten up in her chest. If they were being judged by the girls who had left, she was certain that she and Liam would lose. Sadie had been friends with nearly all the girls, while most of them hated Jenna. There was no way they wouldn’t vote for Sadie.

“Oh, and there’s one more thing,” Tanisha said, with a wicked smile. “You have thirty minutes. Starting now.”

Liam looked down at Jenna with wide eyes, before a small smile fell to his face. He latched onto her hand, grabbed the guitar and paper from Tanisha, and took off towards the opposite end of the pool, with Jenna following closely behind him. It was no wonder he was in a hurry, because they only had thirty minutes, and thirty minutes wasn’t nearly long enough to write a full song.

Sitting on top of the soft grass, Liam pulled Jenna down next to him, and sat the guitar on his lap while he passed her the paper. He seemed confident enough, and Jenna had no idea why.

With a smile on his face, he leaned over and pressed a small kiss on her cheek, before grabbing her hand.
“Let’s get to it then,” he said, as he rubbed his thumb over her soft skin. She loved that, even though they were on a time crunch, he still took a few seconds to make her feel more comfortable. It was one of the wonderful things that made him Liam. “Where do you think we should start?”

Jenna chuckled, as she shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. You’re the one who does this sort of thing for a living.”

“Right,” Liam said, a large grin covering his face. “The chorus, perhaps?”

Jenna nodded, and the two were quickly hashing out the details of their song as quickly as they could. They knew that, with the amount of time that they had, the song wasn’t going to be perfect, but luckily, it didn’t have to be. It just had to be better than Harry and Sadie’s.

A quick thirty minutes later, which seemed like only seconds, Tanisha was shouting that their time was up, and they needed to perform their songs for the judges, who were waiting on the front lawn.

Jenna let out a worried sigh, as Liam lifted to his feet before helping Jenna to hers. He kept one hand on the guitar, and the other Jenna’s, as they followed Tanisha out to the front of the house, with Harry and Sadie behind them.

When they reached the front lawn, they were met with a very small wooden stage, which looked like it had only taken an hour to put up. In front of the stage was a series of white, plastic chairs, where all the eliminated contestants sat.

Jenna forced herself not to look at them, because she didn’t want to see their angry eyes, and it wasn’t until she reached the stage that she realized Niall, Zayn, Louis, and each of their eliminated girls were sitting in the very front row, with small smiles on their faces.

If nothing else, the boys’ faces looked reassuring enough. Jenna didn’t really know how any of them felt about her, but she was thankful that they were smiling at them, even if it was only to help Liam and Harry.

“Alright, contestants, each of the judges have been given an anonymous score card, on which they will rate you from one to ten, and the results will be calculated after each couple performs. Now, which of you would like to go first?”

Jenna squeezed Liam’s hand more tightly, both out of nerves and to signal to him not to volunteer. Luckily, Harry slowly raised his hand in the air, and just as slowly made his way to the stage, with Sadie following behind him.

It was obvious that Sadie was nervous, as her cheeks were red and her face was practically blank, but Harry placed a small kiss on her cheek, held her hand, and it was like she forgot all about the rest of the world.

Like Jenna, Sadie was a terrible singer, but Harry’s smooth voice made up for it. He sounded brilliant up on that stage, even though his guitar playing was subpar, but Jenna could hardly focus on their song, lyrics, or stage presence, because she was too worried about her and Liam’s performance.

When the song ended, and the judges clapped for Harry and Sadie, Liam looked down at Jenna with a small smile. One hand running through her hair, he placed a sweet, gentle kiss on her lips, and Jenna almost sighed when he pulled away.

“No matter what happens,” he said, whispering to her while he ran his thumb over her cheek. “You’ll always be mine.”

Jenna smiled back at him, as her stomach fluttered inside her. That, coupled with her nerves, was almost enough to send Jenna passed out on the floor, but luckily Liam’s hand kept her grounded, and she followed him to the stage, her knees knocking the entire way.

When her feet hit the stage, she tried to drown everyone else out. She tried to forget that she couldn’t sing, that they had practiced the song nearly enough, and that everyone that was judging their performance hated her.

She tried to pretend that it was just her and Liam, sitting on the beach, playing guitar, and singing their problems away.