Chapter 6

I was sitting at my vanity slowly swiping blush onto my face when the doorbell rang. I heard muttered conversations downstairs. Liam was sweet-talking my mother. She loves him. Liam’s mom, Louis’ mom and my mom have been friends since high school.

“Honey you almost ready?” my mother called up the stairs. I wasn’t close to being finished. My hair was done, my make-up half done but I was still in sweats.

“Yeah, I’ll be down in a sec” I lied. I dreaded this dance. I hated who I was going with. There was a light knock at the door. I rolled my eyes. My mother was so impatient. I pulled the rest of the dress up my body. “Mom, I’m almost-” I hugged the dress tight on my body being that I almost dropped it seeing who was the door.

“You clean up nice Chambers” Liam said eyeing my up and down.

“Not so bad yourself Payne.” I, too, checked him out from head to toe. He was in a black suit with a white button up underneath and a white tie. Who knew he would look so nice. My dress was slowly slipping from my grip. I spun around. “Help me please.” I stood there waiting for him to zip up the rest of the dress.

“You know I’d rather see what’s under there.”

“Liam” I groaned. He huffed but then zipped up the rest of the dress. I turned around and posed for him.

“I mean it Kellie, you look beautiful.”

“Thank you” I smiled and led him downstairs where our mother’s were waiting to take pictures of us together. It was quite embarrassing. “Can we go now?” I begged after taking probably over 300 photos. Pictures of something I would never want documented, me going to a dance with Liam. “Tori’s waiting, we have to go.”

I practically dragged Liam out the front door and into his red mustang.

“We’ll meet you at the Malik’s for more pictures” my mother cheered as I got in the car. Zayn’s family always had pre-parties for all the dances. The first thing I saw when I entered was Nikki and Louis. Louis looked good, like really, really good. He was in a similar suit to Liam’s but his hair was done up in a quiff and he had a little scruff. I was mentally drooling over him. I had to admit Nikki looked gorgeous, like she always does. She was a light pink dress that clung to her perfect body. It was low cut showing off just enough cleavage.

“Hey don’t even think about them” Liam broke me out of my daze. I guess I was that obvious. “You look ten times better than she does. Plus you could do so much better than Tomlinson.” Liam always made comments on how he hated us together. Most of the time he was defending Louis and not me. See, the three of us grew up together. We were pretty close until freshmen year. Then after Louis and I started dating, Liam and I stopped talking all together. We became more like enemies than old friends. Liam constantly told Louis that he could do better than me, another reason I have so many confidence issues.

We took more pictures together and with friends. Louis’ mom came up to me when I was standing alone. “You look gorgeous Kellie.” I thanked her. “It’s such a shame you and Louis broke up. I miss having you around” she nudged my arm.

“But you have Nikki now” I said sarcastically.

“Oh honey, I can’t stand her. They’ll break up sooner or later. Don’t tell Louis but I’m praying for sooner.” I laughed nervously.

“Is my mom bothering you?” Louis asked from behind me.

“Not at all.”

“You look great.” I nodded and walked away.

We walked into the dance and stopped to take pictures by the professional photographers. I saw Niall standing by the food table. I take back what I said about Liam and Louis. Niall in a tux was by far the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I wanted to take him outside and do him in his car.

“Do you want to dance?” Liam asked.

“Not yet. I’m thirsty.” He put his hand on my lower back and guided me towards the punch table. This is the nicest we’ve been to each other in about five years. It was kind of nice. I do miss him.

Niall came over to the drink table. “You kids having fun?” I cringed at the fact that he said kids. Is that really how he saw me, as just a kid?

“Yes Coach Horan” Liam answered.

“Good game you played Thursday.”

“Uh thanks.”

“You too, Kellie. You could give these boys some pointers.” I let out a quiet giggle. The girls know how much better we are then them. We win all our games. They win about half.

“Oh please” Liam groaned. “I could beat her with my eyes closed.”

“You sure about that?” I shot back.

“Positive.”

“Fine” I said folding my arms across my chest. “Challenged accepted. Boys versus girls, that’s if you’re not too scared.”

“I wouldn’t want to hurt that pretty face of yours” he said cupping my cheek.

“Oh trust me” I said pushing his hand away. “You won’t. Sunday afternoon?”

“You’re on.”

“Don’t forget to wear a cup” I said looking down at his pants. He laughed and went to find his teammates. I winked at Niall and ran over to Tori. “Hope you’re not busy Sunday.”

“Why? What did you do?” she asked when she saw the look on my face.

“Umm.. I challenged the boys to a friendly game where we’re going to kick their asses.”

“Kellie” she whined and I just stared at her. “Ugh, fine.”

Liam came up behind me and grabbed me around the waist. “We’re dancing.” I laughed and followed him out to the dance floor. I didn’t want to dance to close to him. One, I wasn’t that comfortable being so close to him. Two, I knew Niall was watching me. And so was Louis… and a lot of other people. What were they all staring at?

“You’re blushing” Liam said.

“I am not” I covered my face. “Why is everyone looking at us?”

“Because we’re the hottest couple here. How it should be. Now that you’re finally over Louis, you can be with me.”

“Excuse me?” I asked offended and took a step back from him.

“What? You guys were a cute couple. It was sickening. Why do you think I pushed him so hard to go after Nikki? You two weren’t meant to be. It was going to end sooner or later. I just sped up the process.”

“Why would you do that?” I asked almost screaming. Luckily the music was loud enough no one could hear me.

“I didn’t do anything. Louis’ was naïve to listen to me but I’m happy he did. You’re hot Kellie.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. I pushed him back just in enough time to see Niall storming out.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I shoved him away from me.

“I want you. I’m much better for you than Louis.”

“Stop it Liam!” I screamed, people definitely noticing now. “I can’t believe you broke us up on purpose. After all this time I never felt good enough for anyone, not even my best friend. You’re a jerk!” I stomped my heels out of the place.

“Kellie, wait!” Louis yelled, running to catch up with me.

“Just leave me alone.”

“Kellie, I’m sorry. I made a mistake listening to him. I’m an idiot, but you are good enough. Too good. Especially for me. I never deserved you.”

“Okay” I nodded, not being able to find the words to say. I wanted to cry but I couldn’t. I was too mad to cry. Louis and I could have still been together if it wasn’t for Liam’s meddling. “I have to go.”

I started walking around aimlessly. I didn’t know what to do. I found myself walking in the direction of Niall’s house. I called my mom and told her I was staying at Tori’s. I kept walking towards Niall’s not knowing if he would even want to speak to me. I tried calling but he didn’t answer. I knocked on the door. I heard some rustling and he told me to wait. I turned the knob and flung open the door. “Niall?!”