When Liam approached Zayn’s door, with Louis and Harry following behind him, the sound of music playing filled his ears. Liam tapped his fist loudly against the door, and after only a moment, it opened in front of him. Standing in the doorway was Niall, with a large grin plastered across his face.

“You guys have gotta see this,” Niall said, motioning for the boys to come inside.

The moment Liam stepped through the door, he spotted Clara Soto standing in the corner. Her blonde hair was pin straight, but the last time he saw her it was curly. She ran her fingers through it, as she laughed with her friend. He hadn’t seen her in years. She looked the same, but still so different.

Clara Soto had all of Liam’s attention until Niall stomped in front of him, with a large, cheeky grin on his face. He looked at his band mates, moving his eyes between the three of them.

“You’ll never guess what Zayn is doing.” Niall shook his head quickly, waving his hands in front of him. “I’ll just show you.”

After taking one look back at Clara, Liam followed Niall into the kitchen. A small group of 3 girls stood around the kitchen counter, giggling very loudly. Niall tapped the blonde on the shoulder, and she turned around quickly.

When the girl stepped to the side, Liam found Zayn lying on the counter top, with his shirt pulled up over his chest. One of the girls pulled out a can of whipped topping and spread it across his body. Zayn shuddered at the cold, until the girl proceeded to quickly lick it off of him.

Niall was laughing so loudly it caused Liam to laugh, even though the scene was only mildly funny. The Irish boy’s laugh was just contagious.

Rolling his eyes, Liam turned away from the group and began heading out of the kitchen. When he reached the door, he immediately stopped in his tracks. In his momentary laughter, he had completely forgotten that Clara was in the living room. Just a few feet away from him was the girl who had made him hate Valentine’s Day all those years ago, and she was crashing his Anti-Valentine’s Day Party.

There were two things Liam could do in this situation. He could walk up to Clara and thank her for coming to the party – after all, without her, this party wouldn’t even be happening – or he could walk up to her and promptly kick her out.

With a deep sigh, Liam pushed open the kitchen door. The room had somehow become more crowded since he had left it, and there were a few dozen people standing in Zayn’s living room. The majority of them were girls.

After looking quickly around the room, Liam spotted Clara in the same spot she had been before. She was chatting with her friend and the two were laughing very loudly, but the sound could barely be heard over the many noises of the party.

Liam ran a hand through his hair and began walking over to the pair of girls. As he took each step, he felt the dull edge of the arrow rub against his leg. For a moment, he thought about taking it out to show Clara, but thoughts of his Valentine’s card raced through his mind. He rubbed a hand against the arrow, but didn’t pull it from his pocket.

It was as if Clara sensed him coming, because when he was just steps away, she turned around. Her blonde hair whipped behind her, catching Liam’s eye.

“Liam,” Clara said, a large smile on her face. “How have you been?”

Smiling back at her, Liam spoke. “I’ve been good. We just finished our tour, so we’re relaxing a bit before we start recording. How are you?”

“I’m great! I just started my second year of nursing school, so that’s a bit rough, but other than that, things are good.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Liam said, taking his hands in his pockets. The smile on Clara’s face looked genuine, and her eyes roved over his face as she thought of a response.

“So, I’m guessing you don’t have a Valentine?” Clara said, more of a question that a statement. She smacked her hand against her forehead, shaking her head. “I don’t mean because you’re a troll or anything. Just said that because you’re here, at this party, instead of on a date. You know what I meant.”

Clara shook her head once more, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. Liam nearly laughed at the sight, but he bit his lip and succeeded in stopping himself. She looked far too cute when she was embarrassed.

Next to Liam, the clock’s tower chimed 6, and Niall came running into the room. The blonde boy was shouting.

“It’s time! Everybody kiss!”

As was custom at the Anti-Valentine’s Party, every guy in the room grabbed the nearest girl and kissed her, just like they would, every hour, on the hour. All around him, boys were kissing girls, so Liam’s body reacted.

Leaning forward, he wrapped his hand around her neck, pulling her closer to him. He inched his face forward, until he could feel her warm breath on his lips. Just before their lips met, she smiled and he could feel it when they pressed together.

Liam could have ignored Zayn and just kept talking to Clara. He could have ducked behind a table to hide from all the girls. He could have run upstairs and kissed Zayn’s poster of Taylor Swift.

Liam could have done any number of things, but in that moment, he did the only thing he could think of.

He snogged Clara’s best friend.