Study of Life and Love

I nervously tugged on my skirt and waited in the foyer with what felt like the entire Grace house waiting with me. Just because I couldn’t see them all didn’t mean I couldn’t feel their eyes peering around every corner and their ears aimed towards every door.

It was only making me more nervous and I began to pace back and forth in front of the door. Liam was supposed to have picked me up two minutes ago. What if he decided I wasn’t worth all this?

The doorbell rang and I almost blacked out, my hands shaking and smoothing my dress down one last time. The doorbell rang again, I still didn’t move.

“Answer the door,” Caydance called across the foyer. I grew red in the face knowing that Liam had heard that. I shot her a glare before finally taking quick steps towards the door.

I opened it up and carefully looked at a smiling Liam. My eyes went wide and my hand shot out, without thinking, to brush his bruised jaw.

“What happened?” I demanded, stepping closer and forgetting about being nervous. Liam was hurt.

His smile only grew and he shrugged but didn’t pull away from my left hand as it carefully moved along his jaw.

“Got caught in a little fight today. Nothing serious.” He said softly, one of his hands coming up to rest on my hip, pulling me back into the real world. I shivered and looked Liam over properly. He had a leather jacket thrown around his shoulders and I decided right then and there that I never wanted him to take it off.

“You okay?” I asked, pulling my attention back up to his jaw.

“Yes, sweetheart.”

My knees wobbled at his tone of voice and I flushed under the nickname.

“Are you ready to go?” He asked, gesturing behind him. I nodded and glanced around him to the motorbike that was standing proudly in our driveway.

I paused and stared at it then back at Liam.

He jutted his chin out proud. “Bought it back with me from Christmas holidays. Had to fix up a few things before I could drive it though.”

I stepped towards the bike and inspected it. “This is a Ducati Panigale right? Probably like three years old? 1199cc V-twin engine?” I asked innocently as Liam’s jaw dropped.

I laughed happily. “My father and brother both ride bikes. I have a motorbike license.” I informed the shocked Liam and grabbed the spare helmet he had been carrying in his hand. I put the strap of my bag around myself before lifting the helmet up to fit snugly on top of my head.

Liam was still standing there. Eyes following my every movement.

I grinned, happy to make him speechless for a change. “Are we going anywhere tonight? Or just going to hang around here.” I teased.

Liam snapped out of his trance and stepped forward buckling up my helmet under my chin.

“That was really hot,” he grinned down at me. “I’d kiss you if you weren’t wearing a helmet.” Liam lightly tapped the top of the helmet and I immediately lost my smile.

“I can take it off,” I insisted, blushing at my boldness but at least Liam couldn’t see it. He was too busy laughing, throwing his head back to show of his muscled neck. I swallowed dryly before he swung one leg over the bike and pulled his helmet on.

I was glad I wore a loose fitting dress with tights as I swung onto the bike behind Liam, wiggling around until I was comfortably snug across his back.

Liam pushed up the kickstand and balanced the bike, revving the engine a couple of more times and I took that as my clue to grab onto his waist. One of his hands came down to pull my arms tighter around his stomach so both my hands settled somewhere around his belly button and my chest was pressed directly against his back. His leather jacket rubbing against my denim one.

I couldn’t hold in the smile and wished that I wasn’t wearing a helmet so I could better bury myself into Liam’s back. I pushed away the thought as Liam directed the bike out onto the road and took off instantly, at breakneck speed. I squealed and grabbed on tighter, realising that Liam was not a slow Sunday driver.

He easily maneuvered himself through the mostly empty streets of the city that surrounded our University. It was a Sunday night and that meant that most people weren’t out and about. It was therefore easier for Liam to slide from one lane to another, most of our lights always green as he took corners fast and laughed loudly as he did so. I shook my head and held on tighter, enjoying myself a little.

We pulled up behind a large building and Liam parked in the almost empty car park.

I climbed off the park and stood on unsteady feet while I tried to gain my balance back. “You’re insane.” I hissed at Liam as I pulled the helmet off my head.

He only grinned at me, his eyes lighting up as he tucked his own helmet under his arms.

Before I could further criticize his driving he leant forward, quickly, and pressed a quick kiss to my already moving lips. I froze; eyes wide as he stepped away before I could even decide what just happened. An even larger grin filled his face.

“Told you I would kiss you if the helmet wasn’t on.” He said smugly before taking my hand and dragging me towards the dark building.

I followed, speechless for a moment, my lips tingling before the curiosity of no knowing what the building was, won over.

“Where are we?” I asked, as Liam somehow found the entrance to what seemed like a deserted building.

Liam just grinned and tugged me closer and into the building behind him. It got colder as we walked in and I moved closer to Liam myself this time, happy to use him for body warmth.

We walked up a set of stairs to double doors that Liam threw open wide and we stepped into an indoor ice skating rink. I gaped out at the brightly lit and freezing room.

Liam took my surprise as a good thing and pulled me over to hire some skates.

“Can you skate?” Liam asked. I nodded, speechless. This was a cute first date idea. Liam had actually decided to take me to the cheesiest place in the world for our first date. I looked at him as he paid for our skates. Maybe he wasn’t as tough and unreachable as I always thought he was. He seemed good at putting on the persona of the older guy with adorable qualities but definitely out of my league. But right now, he seemed like the cheesiest guy I had ever met. I was ecstatic.

I blushed when he knelt down in front of me to slide the black and red skates over my feet. He climbed onto his feet before pulling me up into a standing position. He didn’t let go of my hand as we made our way towards he ice rink. The place was empty. Only other people in the place were workers.

Liam stepped out onto the rink confidently and skated further inwards, turning to skate backwards so he could better see me.

I slowly stepped onto the ice and wiggled for a moment, catching my balance. My fingers grazed the sides before gaining confidence and pushing away, my feet sliding across the ice easily. I moved with my balance and found myself slowly making my way to Liam.

“I haven’t done this for years,” I admitted feeling the joy creep up my spine.

“Neither have I, actually.” Liam’s boyish grin lit up his face before he spun, arms out trying to balance but they failed and he didn’t even make the spin all the way around before he topped over, ass smacking against the ice.

I coughed before doubling over in laughter, Liam frowned, he seemed shocked at where he laid.

“What like you can do better?” he asked with a teasing flicker in his eyes.

I took his challenge and brace myself for my own spin, only just making it back to face Liam, wobbling as I went. I found the courage to wink at Liam and wobbled into a curtsy.

Liam conceded defeat, holding his hands up for me to pull him back up. I attempted, my feet sliding across the ground more than I actually helped.

“Let’s see what other tricks you got going on,” one of Liam’s hands briefly brushed across my cheek, strands of blonde hair being pushed behind my left ear before he was gone again. Sliding away and grinning over his shoulder.

I pushed the feel of his fingers out of my head and moved after him like an invisible string was keeping us together, close. And I didn’t mind it at all.

Later, as we sat in the café connected to the rink and sipped the hot chocolates I bought; I focused once more on Liam’s jaw.

“What happened?” I asked again, “seriously this time.”

He consciously drew his hand up and rubbed it lightly against the bruise before frowning. “Zayn got in a fight today. Louis and I had to pull him away. We got caught in the cross fire a little.”

I stared, open-mouthed. “Why would Zayn be fighting?” He didn’t seem like the type of guy who would.

Liam stayed silent, his eyes hesitant as they swept from me and down to the cup that sat nestled in his hands. He didn’t trust me enough to tell me.

“It’s okay,” I said quickly, cursing myself for just expecting him to tell me. “I was being too nosy, sorry.”

“Hey, hey. I don’t mind you being nosy.” Liam said quickly, his hand reaching out to grab onto mine. I froze slightly as his thumb rubbed across the back of my hand. “Not if it means you care.”

“Of course I care,” I couldn’t stop the blush that warmed my cheeks.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you it’s just that it’s not really my place to tell you. It’s someone else’s story you know? I can tell you it’s to do with Indiana but that’s all.” Liam looked apologetic, his mouth pulled into a frown. He seemed generally upset that he couldn’t tell me.

I squeezed the hand that was holding mine and sent him a smile. “That’s okay. I understand that. I’m just glad you’re okay then.” I tried to reassure him. Earning a smile in return for my troubles.

I froze when his other hand reached up so his thumb could gently wipe along my cheekbone. His eyes were lit up and a small smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked, leaning forward.

I let out a breath quickly, laughing slightly. “Do you really need to ask?”

“It is generally polite to,” Liam shrugged moving closer until his nose brushed against mine.

My eyes fell closed instantly and I felt a slight touch of Liam’s lips against mine before they were gone, only to swoop back in to barely press. I huffed in annoyance and opened my eyes to glare at Liam.

He chuckled, his hand now more secured around my cheek so his fingers dug into my blonde hair. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

“I wished you would hurry up.” I teased a lot more confident then I was. My hands shook in my lap.

Liam’s eyes widened in surprise before he surged forward and pulled me closer, my chair squeaked across the ground as it was moved forward. Liam’s lips met mine this time with less gentleness and a lot more pressure. I gasped against his lips and was rewarded with his tongue pressing insistently through my lips and across my tongue sending a shiver of delight up my back.

My hands rose, ripping onto the front lapels of Liam’s leather jacket and tugged him closer. His tongue swiped up and across the top of my mouth. A small moan slipped from my throat before I could contain it. I felt the blush rise up my neck as Liam pulled back, an almost triumphant look in eye.

“That’s definitely a sound I could get used to. I blushed even darker and tried to release his jacket but Liam grabbed onto my hands and held them there. His eyes searching mine for a moment.

“I like you being more demanding.” He said, squeezing my hands.

I paused a moment before pulling him closer to me this time, fingers still entwined with his jacket. He moved without resistance, stars shining in his eyes. This time I pressed my mouth to his, wanting to do the exploring.

His lips gave way within seconds, large hands rested on my waist and I took that as encouragement, moving closer to explore his own mouth, tongues sliding against each other sweetly, chocolate flavours bursting through both of our mouths from the drinks we had been sipping.

I released the jacket from one of my hands and let it roam upwards until it was tangled in the back of Liam’s hair.

I pulled away after not too long, needing to breath and still aware that we were in public even if there were only a handful of people in the entire place.

Liam’s head moved to the side, his nose gently sliding across my cheek until his lips were pressed against my ear, teeth gnawing on the bottom of my lobe lightly sending goose bumps rocketing throughout my body.

He pulled back, his hands still wrapped confidently around my body and I found my hands comfortably resting against his muscled chest.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to let you go, anymore.” He admitted and I lost my breath at the sincerity that shone through his words. I honestly didn’t want him to let me go.

-

I ignored Nina as she nudged my shoulder; she had dropped her pen on the table long ago. I ignored her and kept reading my own textbook.

“Come on Riles, the game already started.” She reached out to flip closed my textbook.

I glared at her and tried to find my page again.

“Why on Earth are you not wanting to go? You said your date went well. More then well if we point out the fact that you didn’t get home until one this morning and with the biggest grin on your face.”

I flushed harder and tried to forget what it felt like to be wrapped up in Liam’s arms as he held me against the bike. Promising to let me go after one more kiss, constantly pulling me back in.

“I just don’t know if he wants me there.” I said staring down at the desk in front of me. It was littered with everything from pens, empty candy wrappers and spare pieces of paper.

“You think after taking you on a date last night that Liam doesn’t want you at his football game today?” Nina asked. “You’re insane, and we are going. Come on, Luke’s been texting me and unlike you I didn’t have a date with him last night so I would really like to see him.”

I gave into her pushing, helping her pack up the rest of our stuff before heading out of the library and down towards the football fields. There was already a large crowd of people around. Some sprawled across the ground, under the sun.

Nina wormed her way through the crowds of people towards where Luke sat with a few people from both our house and other houses. Nina fell down into a sprawl next to him, her smile blinding everyone around. Luke was just as happy. I rolled my eyes at their happiness and sat down in between Harry and Leah. Both of them were watching the game, eyes distant and frowns permanent. Neither of them acknowledged me. I would feel a bit annoyed if I didn’t know that they were both going through bad relationships right now.

“Well aren’t you two just the happiest people I know.” I teased, stretching my legs out in front of me and looked at the field, I found Liam almost instantly; him and Louis were talking in one corner before running onto the field.

“Sorry,” Leah mumbled and Harry nudged my shoulder with his.

“How are the both of you?” I asked.

“Just great, I’m going to head back to the house.” Leah stood up and I gaped, ready to chase after her but Harry held me back.

“You should just leave it. Olivia walked past before and completely ignored her, I think she was just finding the courage to get up and head back.” Harry told me, a frown on his boyish features.

I watched my friend leave until the crowd swallowed her up. “God I wish I could do something to help them, but I don’t really know how.”

Leah’s parents didn’t know she was dating a girl and Olivia couldn’t accept that. I understood both sides. Olivia couldn’t force Leah to admit anything but Olivia shouldn’t have to be a secret.

“How was your date with Liam?” Harry asked. “Louis was teasing him this morning about being back late?”

I smiled, eyes searching for Liam once again. “It was pretty amazing, I gotta say.” I grinned goofily and Harry chuckled.

“I’m glad you’re happy Riley. You were pretty miserable when you were trying to figure out whether it was okay to date him or not.”

“Hey,” I said indignantly, pushing his shoulder away from me. “I was not that bad.”

“Sure, sure.” He relented, laughing. I realised that I hadn’t seen him smile that much in a couple of days now. And to not see Harry smile was a rarity in itself. Caydance must have really hurt him this time. I wasn’t told what it was about and I didn’t want to pry but from what I had heard, she had stood him up. It was bad enough to make Harry not want to talk to her and I didn’t think I would ever see that day.

“Lover boys looking over at you.” Harry pulled my gaze once again back to the field and I found Liam easily. He was focused towards us while Louis was yelling at the referee.

I grinned and gave a small wave before Liam was pulled back into the game and grabbing the back of Louis shirt to tug him away from the referee.

I found myself more interested in the game than I expected, the crowds around us cheered and yelled and brought the games liveliness to everyone else. I found myself cheering and booing with the best of them, even making sure that Harry enjoyed himself.

When King’s won Harry was pulling me by the hand and into the throngs of people that were running onto the field. I laughed and let him pulled me through, hyped up on the cheering that was going on around me.

Harry miraculously found his housemates quickly and I was pulled along with Harry into their cheering, sweaty mess. Arms wrapped around my waist and I squealed when I was pulled against a sweaty naked chest. I looked up, wide eyed, into Liam’s happy features.

Before I could even get out a word, his lips were planted against mine and my feet were lifted off the ground. I grabbed on tightly as he spun us in the circle of his mates and began to pepper kisses all over my face.

I laughed and let out a relieved breath when my feet his solid ground again. But Liam kept me closer, one arm reaching to wrap around my waist completely so I was squashed against his still sweaty chest but I found myself not minding. My hands resting idly on hard muscle.

A chant rose up around me and I heard most of the crowd join in, but it was loud amongst the boys as they cheered for their house like they had just won a war. I found myself laughing at their antics.

“Wait for me by the bleachers, I’ll get my stuff.” Liam said into my ear once we began to break from the crowd.

I nodded easily and found Nina waiting, my bag in her hands.

“You waiting for Liam?” she asked as I took the bag. “I’ll see you later, Luke and I are going to go get something to eat.”

I watched her leave and pull my bag over my shoulder, feeling the weight of textbooks and a laptop pull on my shoulder.

“Here, let me take that.” Liam was swiftly moving the bag off my shoulder before I could react and sliding it on his own shoulder, the one that didn’t have his own bag slung over it. I was sad to notice that he had thrown a shirt on.

“You don’t have to carry it, I can.” I reached for the bag but Liam moved it out of my reach. “Liam.”

“I wanna carry it.” He insisted.

I shook my head. “You just played a game and you’re probably tired. Let me carry my bag.”

“You’re hurting my manliness right now. It would physically hurt if you didn’t let me do this for you.” Liam said, mock-seriously. A smirk was still splitting his features.

I shook my head but decided if he wanted to carry it that bad I’d let him. “You’re manliness isn’t as manly as you probably think.” I said before heading in the direction of our houses.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Liam asked, a frown etched across his face.

I laughed. “Liam, last night you took me to an ice skating rink and proceeded to try and do a pirouette for like half an hour. Not the most manliness thing I’ve ever seen.”

Liam’s eyes widened. “I’ll have you know that that half hour was successful in me actually flawlessly performing a full spin, without wobbling. Something you still couldn’t do by the end of the night.”

I gaped at Liam and lightly smacked his shoulder. “Don’t be mean.”

“You started it,” he shrugged, winking at me before wrapping an arm around my waist and leaning down to kiss me, again.

I found myself enjoying being under Liam’s attention. And I was definitely enjoying the kisses that came with it.

“I’m glad you came today,” Liam said seriously, his hand slipping down to entwine with mine.

I grinned, “I’m glad I did too. I wasn’t sure if you would want me there or not.” I said honestly.
Liam quirked an eyebrow at me.

“Wasn’t sure how public you wanted this?” I gestured at our entwined hands.

Liam stopped walking, pulling me to a halt with him. “Okay, I’m only going to say this once and then I want you to understand this clearly. I am dating you, you are my girlfriend and I am your boyfriend. This is public now. We are public. I thought this was obvious enough when I asked you out officially in front of your house knowing that all the other houses would learn about it. But apparently you are still having trouble grasping it. I’m completely in love with you and I do not plan on seeing anyone else. Just you, this is me and you, that is all. I don’t know how else to explain this but to tell you that we are in a relationship. We are now an us. I will not date anyone else; you will not date anyone else. You’re mine and I’m yours. So please tell me you understand this now.”

I blinked at Liam, mouth thrown open wide as he kept talking, his free hand gesturing constantly between us. He waited expectantly when he was done and I found myself nodding, quickly, as a warm heat bloomed through my stomach.

“Great.” Liam nodded and kept tugging me towards the house like he hadn’t just declared us so public that we may as well be married.

I couldn’t fight the grin off my face as his warm hand surrounded my smaller one. I let him talk about the game, energetically telling me about all the high points and then mentioning a few points that he and the boys needed to work on. Despite the fact that I had been there, watching the game, I was happy to listen. To hear Liam talk about it so passionately and freely. It was cute. And while he was practically bouncing with new ideas I found myself looking more at him as just Liam and not Liam Payne a University senior.

“Oh no,” Liam’s groan pulled me out of my trance where I had been unconsciously staring at Liam’s mouth. I pulled my attention away, blushing darkly and realised we were almost at Grace house.

Liam started pulling me away from it, and I frowned looking to where King’s house stood. I saw a crowd out front, awkwardly shifting as Zayn and Indiana squared off on the lawn. Liam tugged me over, making me jog across the road and over to the house, not once letting go of my hand.

“You had no right.” Indiana was saying. She looked furious.

Zayn hissed something at her, quiet enough that no one else could hear. His eyes danced across the people in the crowd. He seemed reluctant to talk in public.

“He was my father Zayn. You can’t just come up and hit him.” Indiana cut over him, her hands balled into fists at her side.

Zayn’s eyes clouded over and his jaw tensed. I could see the muscles straining on his throat. “That man deserves a lot worse.”
“That’s not your call to make.” Indiana replied.

Zayn rolled his eyes and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. The hand was bandaged around the knuckles. My eyes slid to Liam’s still bruised jaw.

“Well you haven’t exactly been making the best judgment calls when it comes to him. How many times are you gonna keep going back? How many times are you gonna keep getting hurt? Huh?”

Indiana pushed her shoulders back, eyes digging hard into Zayn but no matter how much she pushed her height she was still smaller than him. “You have no idea what is going on. Don’t make assumption on something you know shit all about.”

She was furious, I had never seen her so angry before but Zayn didn’t seem to be deterred. Instead he met her glare head on.

“You have no idea what we’ve gone through. What he went through. He’s not a bad man.”

“He hit you, Indi.” Zayn yelled. Gasps ripped through the crowd around them and he faltered, for a moment. My own jaw hung open. There were ideas and rumours about Indiana but no one had confirmed them and to see them now, being yelled out in public was jarring.

Louis stepped forward from the crowd. I noticed the black eye marring his features. Thea reached out with a hand to wrap around Louis’ bicep, holding him back. She shook her head, slowly.

“He isn’t a good person. There is no excuse you can ever come up with that will excuse him abusing you. You need to realise that.” Zayn continued to growl out.

Indiana shook her head and took a step back from Zayn. “You’re never going to understand because your life is perfect, okay? You have no idea how to even comprehend what it was like to lose my sister. You have no idea what that does to people. I can’t just leave him hurting and I can’t hurt him more. He needs help and I’ve been trying.” Indiana’s voice caught in her throat and Zayn’s posture softened.

“You’re right, he does need help. Proper professional help because you being hurt, in sacrifice to making him better, isn’t okay. That will never be okay.” Zayn spat out, his voice trying to be gentle but there was fire in his eyes.

Indiana looked away from Zayn’s eyes and that seemed to be the last straw. He shook his head and turn on his heel, walking away from Indiana and the crowd straight into Kings house. There was silence on the lawn, not everyone knowing what they should do.

Indiana eventually stumbled back, moving through the crowd. Caydance took a step forward as if to follow but she faltered, turning on her heel and heading the opposite way and back to Grace house.

Liam’s hand squeezed mine reflexively as I still stood there stunned. Daniel Alston moved towards Thea and Louis and tugged on Thea’s hand that was not still tightly wrapped around Louis’ bicep. She started for a minute, looking at the taller boy before her hand gently unwrapped from Louis and she allowed Daniel to lead her away. Louis watched them go for a minute, his face hiding all emotion before he turned to head back into the house, his left hand coming up to rest where Thea’s hand had been moments before.

“Come on, I’ll walk you back to your house,” Liam mumbled, his eyes pulling away from Louis’ retreating figure and back towards Grace.

Notes

I can't thank you all enough for all the lovely comments I've been receiving since I started posting more regularly. Gotta say it's definitely keeping more motivated for all you guys! :D xx