Love Me

“Liam! Your mom’s on the phone!”

Nathan’s voice echoed through the whole apartment, and Liam swore that he would’ve killed him if he wasn’t as tired as he was. Working nights from Wednesday to Sunday always ended with him passing out on the couch by 6 p.m. every Monday. Working in a bar to 3 a.m five nights a week wore him out. For fuck’s sake, he was 22, he was supposed to get through that. When Liam didn’t move from his current position in the couch, Nathan kept yelling, “Come on, man! She misses you a lot!”

Liam let out a loud groan before slowly getting up from the warm, and very comfortable couch. He grabbed the phone from his flatmate and pressed it lazily against his ear. “Good morning, mum.”

“Honey, it’s afternoon. But it’s nice to talk to you again. How’s America?”, her sweet voice said through the phone. Liam knew that she secretly wanted him to hate America, so he could take the first flight back to London. And Liam was right, because Catherine Miller was missing her youngest son to death. She even regretted letting him become an exchange student. What if anything happened to him while he was so far away and she couldn’t help him?

“America’s good. Stop worrying, mum.”, he replied.

“Okay, I will. Have you found a nice lady yet?” Liam sighed. He spoke to his mom over the phone at least once, sometimes twice, a week, and during every single phone call she asked the same question. “No, mom, I haven’t.” Truth was, Liam had actually tried to find a pretty girl to take out. At the age of 22, he actually felt ready to at least have a serious relationship. He was definitely not ready to get married and have kids, not even thinking about it, but it would have been nice with a steady relationship. But none of the girls he took out caught his eye, and they just ended up being one of his many shags. If the girl wasn’t right, he shagged them, then he went home in the morning before the girl had woken up, leaving no phone number behind, making sure they would never contact him again.

“Promise me, Liam, that when you find a girl you’ll bring her here for me to meet her.” Liam sighed again before responding, “Yes. I promise. But I really have to go, okay?”

“Okay. Have a nice day, sweetheart. Your father says hi.”

“Yeah, say hi to him from me. Love you, mum, bye!”, he hung up and placed the phone on the small table in the hallway, then he turned to Nathan. “And next time you fucking yell at me in the morning, I’ll bloody murder you.”

Nathan chuckled at the threat before heading off to the kitchen. Liam followed and opened the fridge to find it empty. “It’s your turn to go grocery shopping.”, he said casually.

“Uh uh.”, Nathan responded. “I did that last week.”

“Yeah, and I did it like three days ago!” Nathan didn’t move from where he was casually leaning against the counter, which basically meant he wasn’t going grocery shopping within the next hours. Liam groaned loudly, just to piss his flatmate off. “Whatever! I’m going out for breakfast.”

Before heading out he put on a pair of black skinnies, a loose t-shirt and his favorite beenie, too tired to style his hair. The fresh New York air hit him in the face as he stepped out of the apartment building and out on the crowded pavement. Seeing people run back and forth and the yellow cabs almost bumping into each other in the hectic traffic made him smile. This city was alive, and it surely made him feel like he was in the right place. London was nothing compared to this. The young man happily strolled down the street, a few blocks, to his favorite breakfast diner. It had everything a diner should have, in Liam’s opinion. The cliché 50’s interior, really nice workers and the best breakfast he could ask for.

“Liam!”, a familiar voice sounded from the counter as he made his way inside. And of course there was Maria, and older woman who adored Liam, like he was her grandchild or something similar.

“Good morning, Maria!”, he exclaimed happily and walked over to give the smaller woman a hug. “How are you this morning?”

“Oh, I’m good. You want your usual table?” Liam nodded in response. Let’s just say, he ate breakfast here rather often. He followed Maria to his usual booth in the corner of the diner. It was the perfect booth to sit in. From there he could see the whole diner, including the customers who came and went.

“I’m the cashier today, so I will send someone over to take your order, hun.”, Maria said and gave him a pat on the cheek before making her way back to the counter.

“Thanks, love!”, he yelled after her. Soon enough a pretty brunette came up to his booth asking what he would like to order.

“I’ll take one poppy seed bagel, some scrambled eggs and a cup of black coffee, thanks.”

“Is that everything?”, the girl asked, giving him a slight wink.

“Yeah.”, he replied. He buried his face in his hands as the girl walked back to the kitchen with his order. The girl was clearly trying to flirt with him. But just like with every other girl he had bumped into... She didn’t catch his eye. The girl was hot, but it wasn’t someone he could see himself being with in a relationship. She could be a nice shag, though.

It only took about ten minutes before she returned with a plate and a cup of coffee. She leaned down to put it down in front of Liam, giving him a clear view of her cleavage. He smiled widely at her before saying thank you.

“Just tell me if you want something else.”, she replied before walking away again. Liam ate his breakfast in silence, just studying the people in the diner. He was the kind of person who was calm, and enjoyed all the little things. Just studying people and figuring out who they might be was something he loved to do while eating alone. Across the diner sat an older man with a suit. Probably a businessman who was enjoying his calm breakfast before he had to go to work.

By another table sat a girl and a guy, maybe in Liam’s age. The girl looked the distant, and the guy looked like he was ashamed. Liam guessed that they had been fighting. And by another table a small group, including four girls, sat. They all wore a little bit of strange clothes, no one looking like another. Liam guessed that they all probably were involved with fashion. Liam knew enough about fashion, thanks to the afternoons he had spent in the couch watching Project Runway with Nathan and his girlfriend, to know that everyone who was designing clothes always wore strange clothes themselves.

The clock was only 9 a.m. when Liam had finished his breakfast. What was he supposed to do until 6 p.m when he had to start working? It was nine hours until then. He had to entertain himself for nine hours. Then he saw the brunette walk past his table, taking orders from someone else. “Hey!”, he exclaimed. Her attention turned to him. “What’s your name?”

Her lips turned into a small smile before replying, “Angie.”

“Angie, nice name. I’m Liam. When do you get off?”

“Uh, I quit at 12.”

“Great, I’ll pick you up then.”, Liam said, wearing a smug smile on his face, before standing up and leaving his table. He walked over to the counter.

“I guess you’re paying for the usual.”, Maria said. It was more a statement than a question.

“Damn right.”. Liam handed her the money. “Keep the change.”

“Don’t swear, young man. And stop hitting on the workers.”

He let out a small laugh. “Hey, both you and my mom wants me to find a pretty bird, can’t blame me for flirting then.”

“What kind of british slang is bird?”, she chuckled.

“It means girl. See you another morning, love!” He shot her his usual charming smile before exiting the diner. Liam now had three hours of spare time before he was going to pick this Angie girl up from work. No, he wasn’t going to take her out on a date. He didn’t feel like buying dinner for a girl he already knew would be nothing more than a simple fuck. It was way easier, and cheaper, to just bring her back to his place then leave as soon as he could without her noticing.

During those three hours, Liam went from one men’s clothing shop to another. He needed a new white shirt, since his other was ruined last night when some dumb chick had decided to spill her glass of red wine all over him. Working as a bartender at the club he was working at, Club Tequila, required wearing black pants and a white shirt. All the regular white shirts he found were either expensive or really shitty quality. But when he finally decided to try H&M he found the right one. He paid the cashier and grabbed the shirt, leaving the shop.

When the clock turned 12, he already stood outside of the diner with the H&M bag in one hand and a blood red rose in another. Angie came outside only a few minutes later, a bright smile creeped up on her face as she saw him. The smile grew wider when she saw the rose in his hand.

“This is for you, love. Wanna head back to my place?”, he said happily giving her the rose.

“Sure, that’d be lovely.” Before he knew it she had grabbed his free hand. They looked like a couple when they walked down the street, heading to Liam’s apartment, and he wasn’t sure if he was comfortable with that or not. But he decided to shrug it off.

The first thing Liam did when they entered the silent apartment was making sure Nathan was nowhere to be seen. To his fortune, he wasn’t. He shot a glance at Angie, who had just taken off her shoes. “It’s a nice apartment you have here.”

“Thanks. Want a small tour?”

“Sure.” He grabbed her small hand and led her to the direction of the bedroom. “I think we should start here. This is the bedroom.” They both walked into the rather big room and Liam mumbled a small “that was easy” to himself before shutting the door behind them.



Quiet snores made him open his eyes and wake up from his deep thoughts. He glanced down at the brunette next to him who was dead asleep. When he was done fucking her, she mumbled something about being up since 3 a.m and now she had finally fallen asleep. Even if she was tired, she couldn’t shut up about how amazing he was, how good he was in bed and how she wanted to do this again. Carefully, he moved her arm, which was resting around his waist. Then he quickly got up and started to dress. When he left his bedroom, he found Nathan snuggled up in the couch with his girlfriend, Roxy.

“Cover up for me, yeh?”, Liam asked, catching their attention.

“Fuck no. Cover up for yourself.”, Nathan shrugged.

“Please, Nat? I’ll do the grocery shop this week?”, Liam pleaded, using his puppy eyes to convince his flatmate.

A loud sigh escaped Nathan’s lips. “Fine. I’ll do it this time.”

“Thank you!”, Liam exclaimed and left the apartment.

Liam poured the water looking liquid into the shaker and shook it hard. Then he grabbed a martini glass and poured the liquid in it before topping with a green olive and pushing it forward on the bar. “One martini ready!”

After Liam had left the apartment earlier he had gone grocery shopping and when he came back to the apartment Angie was gone. Nathan had told him that she was very upset when she woke up and she had told Nathan that she would kill Liam if she ever saw him again. Now, Liam was at the club, bartending. He loved his job. Shaking drinks all night, interact with drunk people and dancing along with the music that blasted through the club. It was perfect.

A blonde girl approached the bar, he couldn’t see her face, but she had wings on. He could hear her tell someone that she was out on a bachelorette party, and now the wings suddenly made sense. “One rum and coke!”, she yelled over the music, still not looking at the bar.

“I got it.”, Liam told his co-worker, Mark, who was bartending along with him. He grabbed the flask of rum and mixed it with some coke.

“Yeh, one rum and coke for ya’”, he spoke holding the glass firmly in his hand. He froze as the girl turned around. To say she was beautiful was an understatement. Her blue eyes seemed so innocent, her plump, pink lips stood out from her pale, smooth skin. The glass slipped out of his hand, and he couldn’t stop staring at her perfect features. Her eyes looked right into his, and it almost felt like she could look right through his soul. Then he heard the glass shatter and he broke the eye contact. The liquid poured down her legs and she had the drink all over her shorts. “Shit, I’m so sorry.”, he blurted out.

The girl’s attention turned down to her soaked legs and shorts. “It’s okay.”, she mumbled awkwardly.

“No, it’s not. Come on, I’m gonna help you.”, Liam blurted out, surprised by his own words. He stretched out his hand for the gorgeous girl to take, and that was what she did.