Same Mistakes

“Whoa Jazmin, didn’t expect to see you here,” Jesy said sarcastically upon seeing me on the couch as she came in. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here at night in the last 2 weeks since Liam came home.”

I rolled my eyes, “Not true. I’ve slept in my bed like… 3 other times.”

She snorted a laugh, “Only because he was out of town. Where is he tonight?”

I avoided her eyes, “He went to see his family,” I blushed. “He’ll be home tomorrow.”

“Knew it!” She dropped her purse on the other couch to the left of me, “Have you had dinner? ‘m starving!”

“Nope, do you want to get something?”

“Let’s order in and have a girl’s night!”

*****

We had pizza and ice cream and were watching Pride and Prejudice. The miniseries one, with Colin Firth, you know… the good one.

“So tell me, how is Liam Payne in bed?”

I couldn’t contain the flat laugh that escaped me, “So tell me, how’s George Shelley in bed?”

“Sod off! It’s not like that!”

“Isn’t it?” I scoffed.

She was quiet, picking at a left over, half eaten piece of pizza. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “We’ve been… we’re… I don’t know.”

I smiled softly at her. I knew the position she was in very well, “Well do you like him?”

“Of course I do. What’s not to like?” She sighed, “But he’s barely 20, and I’m 22 and just… I hate what people say and-”

“Jesy!” I cut her off. “Are you really second guessing this because people are fucking twats and like to talk shit?” I reached over and grabbed her hand, “You were the one that told me not to listen to people when I started getting an influx of hate when Liam and I went public, so I’m going to do the same. If you like this guy, then don’t let other opinions stop you! Listen to what your tattoo says bitch!”

She chuckled and looked down at her thigh where the ink lay deep in her skin. ‘A wolf doesn’t lose sleep over the opinions of sheep.’ “You’re right,” she sighed, “But I don’t know if he wants to be anything more than what we are.”

“Then talk to him! He’s stuck his peen in you, he already likes you!”

“Jazmin Medina!” she shrieked, “Where’s your modesty?”

That ship as sailed years ago,” I scoffed. “But really Jes, if you want to be with him, then you should.”

She nodded slowly looking down at her hands, “Maybe.”

“Call the boy Jessica!” I shoved her playfully.

“Now? It’s almost 10!”

I gave her a flat look, “So?”

She sighed, “But-”

“Stop making excuses!”

She scoffed, “Alright! I’ll call him!” She huffed as she stood up and stomped up to her bedroom.

I watched her go before turning my attention back to the tellie. I loved the story of Pride and Prejudice, no matter how cliché and over done it was, it was that timeless beauty that pulled me in. And Collin Firth was so fit for an older man. I got lost in the story for a bit longer before I decided to start cleaning up the living room. If all went well, Jesy wouldn’t be coming down anytime soon unless it was to go see that cheeky little twat from Union J.

I cleaned up, turned off the tellie and the lights before I made my way upstairs. As I passed my cousin’s room I heard her giggling. Yeah, I probably wouldn’t be seeing her again tonight.

I laid myself across my bed haphazardly and sighed contently. My mind wandered to Liam. I hadn’t talked to him since this morning because he was busy spending time with his family and I didn’t want to bug him. We’d exchanged a few texts but that was it. I reached around and grabbed my phone. It was only 10:30, not exactly late so before I could talk myself out of it I called him.

“Hey love,” he said when he picked up. I could hear a thud in the background.

“I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

He scoffed, “No. I was just watching a movie with my sisters. I’d rather talk to you though.”

A warm feeling spread through me when he said that. He’s turned me into this giddy little school girl with a crush and it was infuriating! “You should go back to your sisters, you’ll see me soon.”

“Tomorrow,” he confirmed, “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“No, just I know you miss your family so I don’t want to take that time away.”

“It’s fine, I can talk for a few minutes. How was your day?”

I sighed getting comfortable against my pillows, “It was fine. Got some editing done, then spent the majority of my night with Jesy. Until she ditched me for George Shelley,” I scoffed sarcastically.

“She finally admitting she’s dating him then?”

I shrugged, “More or less. How was your day?”

“Good. It was nice just being home with my family. I’m just sad I only got a day with them. Why do we always have so many meetings on our time off?” he groaned.

“That’s the life of a pop star I guess. Jesy always has a busy time off too. I live with her and yet I rarely see her.”

“It’s bollocks.”

I laughed, “I agree. I never get to see my friends.”

He hummed, “I miss you,” his voice had dropped to a deep murmur that set my skin on fire.

“I miss you too.”

“I’ve gotten so used to you sleeping next to me that when you’re not I just feel empty.”

I could feel the blush stat from my face all the way down to my feet. He was always so open with his thoughts and feeling that it still shocked me sometimes. “I know,” I whispered, “I was thinking that last night after you left.”

“Do you have to work tomorrow?”

I sighed, “Yeah, I have to go in to the office and help Jason with a spread. But I should be done by 5 at the latest.”

“Feel like going to Funky Buddha?”

“I guess I could do that for you,” I sassed. I hated the club scene, but I’d go for him.

“It’ll be fun. The lads should be going too. Tell the girls to come,” he offered.

“I’ll pass on the invite.”

He sighed, “I wish you could have come with me. My mom and sisters are dying to meet you.”

Anxiety crept down my spine. I’ve never met anyone’s family before, “Oh?” I choked out.

“Don’t sound so scared Jaz,” I could hear the smile in his voice. “They’ll love you. You make me happy, that’s all they care about.”

I smirked at that, “Oh, I make you happy?” I sassed.

“You know you do,” he said seriously taking the joking tone out of the conversation.

I bit my lip, “You make me happy too. I-” I heard a female voice call his name.

He sighed, “I gotta get back in there or my sisters will take my phone from me.”

I giggled, “That’s fine. I’m tired anyway and should shower.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he sighed. “Sleep well yeah? Text me before you fall asleep.”

“Okay.”

“Night love.”

“Night.”

*****

Take a break. Meet me for lunch

I smirked at his texts before I texted him that I was busy.

Pleeeeeeease Jaz? I want to see you.

Jason sighed from next to me as my phone beeped again, “Just go. I can handle the rest of this on my own.”

I thought he was mad, but when I looked up he was smirking at me. He rolled his eyes as I blushed, “Are you sure Jas? Because-”

“Yes,” he insisted, “The puppy love look on your face is making me sick.

I scoffed, “Now you know how I felt when I walked in on you and Lea making out in the loo at the bar a few weeks back.”

“Oi, you agreed to never bring that up again!”

I tisked, “Woops, just slipped out.”

He scoffed, “Get out of here before I change my mind.”

I closed my laptop, shoving it in my tote bag and grabbed my camera bag as well, tossing it all over my shoulder as I called Liam.

“Hey beautiful.”

I held back a snort, “Well aren’t you the sweet talker today. I’m done with work early, do you want to meet me at my house, then we can get food or whatever?”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there.”

*****

I decided that it would be easier if I just met Liam at Funky Buddha and got a ride with Jesy. Though when I made that decision, I didn’t know I’d really be riding with Jesy and George. I felt like I was crashing a date, but Jesy assured me that she didn’t mind me riding with them.

I sat in the back of George’s mustang as he drove down the London streets. I’d met him a handful of times at this point, you know, since he was friends with my cousin. I liked him, he was a nice lad, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to give him a hard time, “So, Georgey,” I chimed as I leaned in between the seats, “Are you old enough to drive this thing?”

“I knew it,” Jesy shot as she turned around and smacked my arm. George was laughing and she had a massive smile on so I knew they both knew I was kidding.

“Actually I am Jazmin,” George smirked, “I just have to get it back from mom and dad before my curfew.”

“Cheeky. Bit lame, but I think I like you.”

“Thanks.”

“So you like my cousin?”

“Jazmin!” She shrieked.

I scoffed, “What Jessica, someone had to ask!”

I watched as George glanced at Jesy from the corner of his eye and blush. Adorable. He caught my eye through the rearview mirror, “What’s not to like?”

I smirked, “You want a list?”

“Shut. Up,” Jesy reached back and pinched my arm. “Remind me to never let you ride with us again.”

“Oh, so there will be a next time? Are you guys dating?” Both of them were silent, bright red and avoiding all eye contact, “Well it’s about fucking time yeah?”

“I hate you,” Jesy sighed. “Just for this, you’re so telling me how big Liam’s di-”

“No, no! Nope!” George cut in, “I don’t want to know how big anyone’s anything is! Thanks!”

His outburst caused both Jesy and I to roll into hysterics. He was even redder than before, and I wanted to see if I could make him even more bashful, “Oh Jesy. Liam’s massive! He’s about the size of a-”

“Stop, stop, stoooop! I don’t,” he cut off again, “I don’t want to know how massive he is! I’m going to have to be around him all night, stop talking!” Jesy and I laughed it again, our laughter filling the tiny space of the car. “You two together are dreadful.”

“Oh, you love it!” Jesy said as she leaned over and pinched his blushing cheek.

*****

Halfway through the night, the club started to get really crowded. I guess word was out that One Direction and half of Little Mix was in the house.

Even in the VIP section it was getting to be a bit too much for me. I hated clubs anyway, but this was a whole other issue. “Are you okay?” Liam said into my ear over the music. He’d been drinking, I could smell the alcohol on him, but he wasn’t too drunk. Just a bit tipsy I think.

“Not really,” I said honestly.

His arms circled around my waist protectively as the crowd pushed into us, “Do you want to go? You’d have to drive though I’m a bit drunk.”

“Do you mind?”

He gave me a pointed look before he nuzzled into my neck, “Of course I don’t mind. If you’re uncomfortable we can go.” I felt like the music was getting louder and I had to press myself against him to hear what he was saying.

He grabbed my hand and stumbled his way through the crowd to find our friends. When we said we were leaving, Perrie and Zayn decided to leave with us at the same time. “It’s a metal in here,” Perrie said into my ear as we tried to move as a unit, Liam and Zayn on either side of us, through the chaos.

“I know, this was a bad idea I think.”

Once we were outside I thought I could breathe again, but that only lasted a second before I was blinded by flashes and loud yells. I glanced up and there was a sea of paparazzi, taking a 100 pictured a minute and yelling all of our names trying to get our attention. Liam growled in annoyance, and his hold on my waist tightened, “Keep your head down and just walk.”

Perrie and Zayn went first and Liam guided us behind them, holding on to my hand as he led us. I kept my head down and tried to hide behind a curtain of hair, but it didn’t matter. They were coming from all sides. As we walked down the street they got more excited, calling out more and running ahead and around us to get a picture. “Lads, can you give us some space?” Liam asked. He was trying to be kind but his voice was clipped.

“Relax,” I said softly so only he could hear. I was trying my best to walk with my head down and not run into anyone or anything, but it was making me dizzy. Then I lifted my head up a bit, just in time to see the pap next to me trip as he was practically running sideways, and fall right into me.

It was like I was watching it in slow motion as he fell into me and completely took me down with him, my hand ripped from Liam’s.

I was only on the ground for a second before Liam pulled me back up, his face tight with furry. “It’s fine, it was an accident,” I tried to calm him, but he ignored me.

He placed me behind his back as he roared at the paparazzi around us, “See? You need to fucking back off!” I shank back from his outburst even though it wasn’t directed at me.

I felt someone grab my hand and turned to see Perrie looked at me concerned, “You alright?”

All I could do was nod as my attention was pulled back to Liam who was still screaming, “Why can’t we just go out without all of you stalking us? You run down my girlfriend and that’s completely unacceptable!” As he yelled, I felt anger bubble up inside of me. He was making a scene and nothing good could come from this. He knows that! Zayn grabbed Liam’s shoulder, whispering something to him as he pulled him away from the photographers. “Get a real fucking job you assholes!” he yelled one more time before he finally turned around.

The look on his face was unmistakable anger. His face was red, his eyes tight and you could see the veins in his neck. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along, Zayn and Perrie trailing behind and the paps not fall behind them. As discretely as I could I ripped my hand from his and crossed my arms over my middle.

I felt his eyes boring into the side of my face but I couldn’t look at him. He sighed and placed his hand at the small of my back as we neared the car. We said quick goodbyes to our friends before I walked around the side of the car to the driver’s side. I wasted no time starting it and driving before Liam even put his seatbelt on. “Jazmin-”

I reached over and turned the radio up to drown him out. I didn’t want to talk, I was pissed off.
He only let the music play for a couple of blocks before he turned it off, “You’re bleeding,” he said tightly.

I glanced down and sure enough, my knee had a scrape. It was tiny, I wouldn’t even say it was bleeding, it was just red. “I’m fine.”

He scoffed, “Are you mad at me?”

“Of course I’m mad at you!” I snapped, “You made that situation so much worse by screaming at everyone!”

“What was I supposed to do? Let them push you to the ground and get away with it?”

“He didn’t push me, he tripped. It was an accident. An embarrassing one!”

He scoffed, glaring out the windshield, “It wouldn’t have happened if they would give us some space!”

“You realize that the media is going to have a field day over that? You’re going to get so much shit for that! We both are! God Liam, why’d you do that?”

He scoffed, “I was protecting you! I wanted to do far worse than yell at them when I saw you on the ground. When I saw the guy fall on you, all I saw was red. I wanted to hit him. I’m so sick of these leeches stalking around like they own us!”

I pulled into his driveway and threw the car into park, “I get it okay? I know you’re angry and you hate the paps and the intrusive fans but that comes with your career choice Liam.” I was exhausted from this night and I just wanted to forget it ever happened. But I also knew that I need to say some things. “We have to deal with it, I have to deal with it, but I’m trying not to let that get between us, but you have to stop letting it get between us too.”

“But-”

“I’m not her Liam!” I shot. I’m not sure how long I’ve been waiting to say that, but as soon as the words left my mouth it was like a massive weight was lifted off me. I know this outburst was about her and how his relationship with her was torn apart by all this. “I’m not Danielle.”

There was a long, thick heavy silence between us as my words hung in the air. He looked ashamed, looking down into his lap. Like a kicked puppy, “I know you’re not,” he said after a long time.

I sighed, “Then stop this. Stop letting the outside world affect us.”

“I’m trying,” he ran a hand across his face. “I know you keep saying the fans and the media won’t affect you but I’m still paranoid you’ll wake up one day and realize it’s not worth it. I know I pushed you into this relationship, but that was selfish and-”

“Liam! Stop talking.” I didn’t want to get into this again. I was tired, tired of the same conversation, tired of tonight, all of it.

He rested his head back against the seat, “I’m sorry,” he sighed.

“Don’t apologize,” I said softly.

The silence between us was still heavy, and I didn’t like it. “Are you coming in?”

“If you want me too.”

“I’ll always want you.” The intensity in his voice hinted that he meant more than just me coming in.

We got out of the car and he met me by the front bumper, lacing my fingers with his as we headed inside.

We went up to his room and we changed into stuff to sleep in. Me, in one of his shirts and just my knickers, he in just his briefs. He disappeared into the bathroom as I changed and came back with a wet nap and a Band-Aid. “Come here,” he said patting the bed next to him. I sat down and he pulled my leg around his to get a better angle of my knee.

The wet nap stung a bit at he cleaned the (seriously tiny) scrape before placing the bandage over it. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to it before he sat back up and rubbed my thigh, “I’m sorry for my outburst. That was wrong, I just-”

“It’s okay Liam, stop apologizing.”

He sighed but nodded. We stood up and he pulled the covers back before we climbed in. He pulled me close against him as he leaned in and kissed me. His hand came up and cradled my neck to deepen it.

“Am I forgiven?” he asked against my lips.

I sighed contently, “Yes.”

He pecked my lips once more before he pulled me in against his chest, “Night love.”

I hummed contently, “Night.”