Summary: As the spare to the throne, Liam leaves Cordonia to University in the States. Hoping for some normalcy in a life outside the spotlight, he leaves his comfort zone embarking in new adventures and falling in love for the first time until fate strikes.
Chapter 3: Heartbreaker
Almost two weeks later, Liam walks into the living room apparently nervous. Drake looks at him and starts laughing.
„I was already wondering where that smell came from“, he stands up, „This is too much perfume and you look like you are going to meet the mayor…“. Drake stands up, walking up to Liam, „You are going to see Cathy, right?“.
Liam looks at Drake, „Yeah, is it that obvious? We are going grocery shopping“.
„But I already bought groceries for the week!! And what kind of date is this?“, Drake crosses his arms, chuckling and leaning against the wall.
„Not really a date… Long story short, we were talking on the phone, she said she had to go groceries shopping and I said ‚me too‘ and she offered to pick me up so we could go together. I couldn’t possibly tell her that I lied to be relatable“, he walks back to his room and Drake follows him.
„Okay, so you are going with her just to be relatable or does it has anything to do with the fact that you like her?“, Drake smirks and Liam blushes but he doesn’t say anything, „Alright then… you better take another shower and dress something more age appropriate, like jeans and a polo shirt“.
Liam looks at the time, „Fuck, she will be here in 10! I gotta get ready“, he disappears into the bathroom.
—————
Cathy parks the car in front of the supermarket. She looks at Liam and smiles, „You look nervous. Are you nervous? Is it your first time?“, she giggles, making fun of him.
Liam chuckles, „To be honest… yeah. Drake has been handling our grocery shopping“.
„And have you never bought groceries in England?“, she asks surprised.
„Nope. The truth is that my father and his wife handled basically everything for me… it’s my first time living away from them, on my own“, he looks into her eyes and smiles, „It’s also the first time in my life I feel I can do whatever I want“.
„Yeah?! And what is it you want the most right now?“, she smiles coyly.
Liam stays a moment in silence thinking of how much he would like to say ‚I want to kiss you…‘. Every time he looks at her he discovers something new and if he could, he would stay like this forever, admiring her beauty. He then looks away, „Something to eat… I’m starving!“. He opens the car door and says: „Let me get this for you“, he steps out of the car and walks around it, opening the door for her.
„Liam, thank you but I’m more than capable of opening the door alone!“, she giggles.
„I know but what can I say… I’m a gentleman!“, after it comes out, Liam shakes his head thinking ‚argh, I sound like an idiot…‘.
Each one of them get a shopping cart and go through the aisles, chatting and flirting with another. Suddenly, Cathy stops and looks at his cart: „How do you keep such a body eating so much junk?“, she looks at him and laughs.
„To be honest? I mostly eat takeout because I can’t cook… actually I don’t even know if I can because I never tried!“, he looks at her cart, „But you seem to be a pretty good cook!“.
„I manage… Do you wanna try? We can drive to my place and cook together. Meg said she would go stay with Drake tonight…“, she blushes.
„Yeah, they have been ‚hanging out‘ quite a lot… and quite loudly, I even had to buy earbuds“, he looks at Cathy red cheeks and he chuckles, „You are adorable when you blush“. She feels her cheeks flame even more and he brushes his knuckles on her cheeks. „What do you say? Let’s get out of here and cook something together?“, he smiles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and she nods.
After a short ride, Liam carries the groceries to her apartment and put the bags on the counter, organizing the items with Cathy, „So, what would you like to eat? Pasta with salad and some garlic bread?“.
„This sounds delicious but it also sounds like a lot of work!“, he sighs.
„Not at all. We will do it together and I’ll give you some instructions. Soon you will be cooking it yourself“, she smiles brushing a hand over his strong arm, „Why don’t you start chopping some onion… finely please cause I actually hate onions! I’m gonna go change and I’ll be right back“, she hands him everything he needs to get it done and tells him exactly what to do. Liam smiles unsure but he tries to do exactly how she explained.
After a few minutes she walks in the kitchen to Liam crying cutting the onion. He looks at her, „What the hell are theses things made of?“, brushing the tears away.
„Sulfenic acid…“, Liam looks at her confused, „That’s what makes you cry. All you have to do against it is to soak the onion in cold water… Sorry I forgot to tell you that! Now, go wash your face and hands and I’ll finish it here“, she smiles and he leaves the kitchen on his way to the bathroom. When he comes back she says: „For someone who never chopped an onion you did a great job, Li!“
„Thanks!“, he walks to her side sweeping his eyes over her body discreetly, noticing her sexy curves, „So do you cook often?“
„I do! Mostly on the weekend to get my food ready for the week“, she says concentrated on seasoning the ground beef.
„And does your boyfriend help you sometimes?“, he says nervously.
Cathy looks at him giggling, „Sure…“. Liam feels his heart sink for a moment. „My invisible boyfriend, you mean?!“, she laughs loudly, “Yeah, he is a dear!”
„How a beautiful girl like you is still single is beyond me…“, he says flirtatiously.
„Well, thank you for the compliment“, she looks at him shortly and back to the meat, „I don’t know. I have never been in a serious relationship actually. I have dated, yeah but nothing too seriously. I guess, maybe the fact that I don’t have much time in my hands scare them off or they just feel intimidated somehow… either way, guys don’t get too close“. Liam cups her cheek with a hand and turns her head to look at him. „What are you doing?!“, she asks.
„Showing you that I am nothing like those fools…“, he looks into her eyes, staring into her soul, noticing he is making her nervous. He enjoys the way he makes her feel as he knows he feels the same way around her.
„What do you mean, Liam?“, she turns to the side to face him.
Liam lifts her up onto the counter quickly, „I’ve been wanting to do this for a while…“, he places his hands on her lower back, placing himself between her legs and slowly closing the distance between them.
Catherine puts her hands on Liam’s chest, feeling his muscles flex under her touch. She feels the warmth of his body and it makes her even more nervous, she cups his face gently, whispering „You are such a dork sometimes…“, she giggles, kissing his cheek and hugging him. „Now, let’s focus on the food, you can tease me later!“. Liam looks at Cathy totally confused, but playing along, trying to laugh it off.
They cook a meal together and spend sometime talking about school and life but Liam changed towards Cathy, he was more reserved and less chatty. After they cleaned the dishes he didn’t want to stay — giving her an excuse, he left.
——————
A couple of days later, Drake walks into the apartment and finds Liam in the living room getting ready for his football tryout.
„Hey Li!“, he says sitting down on the couch in front of him, „So, you are really going to too this?“
„Yeah, are you guys coming to watch?“, he sits back at the couch and takes his phone out, checking his messages.
„Meg is coming a little bit later. Did you talk to Cathy? Is she coming?“, he lays back, letting out a yawn.
„I haven’t talked to her in a couple of days and it’s better this way!“, he shoves his phone into the duffle bag.
„Li… When will you ask Cathy out on a proper date? Tell her the way you feel? Because it’s written all over your face that you like her“, he looks at Liam.
„I tried, Drake. I either didn’t follow through with it or she mocked me. I think she is playing games with me, especially after that dinner we had… I mean, you have no idea how I felt, like a complete idiot“, he closes his eyes and rubs his forehead.
„I don’t think she mocked you. You said yourself that she never had a real boyfriend. Perhaps she freaked out… because she likes you too, don’t you get it?!“, Drake stands up and sits down by his side.
„Perhaps… I don’t know. But right now I gotta go and focus on something else“, Liam stands up, picking up his duffle bag, „See you later!“.
„Okay then… Good luck! See you in a bit!“, Drake says and waves Liam goodbye.
————
The tryout is full speed when Cathy and Meghan arrive at the field. They look around trying to figure out where Drake is seated but unable to find him in the crowd. Finally, Meg takes her phone out to call him, leaving Cathy alone for a few minutes. She looks at the field and see Liam is his Football gear, she bites her bottom lips thinking about how sexy he looks right now, in such a tight uniform, showing off his athletic figure. She blushes, smiling sheepishly from her own thoughts. Meg comes back, noticing her staring at Liam, „A penny for your thoughts…“.
She turns to her friend, embarrassed, „Oh, erm… nothing actually. Do you know where he is?“.
„Yeah… sure!”, she winks at her, giggling, “I do now, follow me!“, Meg takes her hand and leads her to the stands where Drake is waiting. They sit there chatting for a while and watching the guys sweating for a position in the team.
„Wow, Liam never told us he could throw things so well!“, Meg says watching Liam on the field.
Drake wraps an arm around Meg and says, „Yeah, he is good! For what I see, it won’t be a problem for him to get in… Do you guys watch a lot of football?“.
Cathy looks at Drake and laughs, „Nope! To be honest, I don’t get it… at all!“
„It’ll be tough for you then, dating a football player… Liam will definitely make the team“, Drake smirks.
Cathy blushes terribly looking at Drake and mumble nervous, „Erm… we are not dating…“, she looks away.
„Not yet but the way you guys look at each other… and don’t pretend you don’t know what we are talking about!“, Meg says provocatively.
„Okay, Meg! Let’s give Cathy a break and watch our golden boy playing…“, he smirks watching Cathy nervously fidgeting.
When the tryout was finally over, they headed to the field to see Liam. Drake held Meg’s hand, trying to make a way through the crowd while Cathy held her other hand. When they get to the field, Drake turns around suddenly glancing nervously at Meg, „You know what? Maybe we should wait for Li outside?! Yeah, let’s go“, as he tries to draw the attention of both girls to something else, Meg and Cathy try to see what was going on ahead of them. After a few seconds trying to see through the crowd, they get a clear shot at Liam chatting flirtatiously with a couple of girls.
Cathy looks at Meg, trying to smiley but failing miserably, „Yeah… I just remembered that I need a book for my class tomorrow, I gotta go to the library“, she looks back at Liam and sees him tucking a strand of hair behind one of the girl’s ear, smiling when suddenly his eyes meet Cathy’s and his smile fades. She gives him a half-hearted smile and waves, looking back at Meg and Drake, „Have fun you guys. Tell him I think he did a great job… I’m out of here!“, she turns around and disappear into the crowd.
„Cathy!“, Liam yells, leaving the girls without saying another word. He jogs to Drake and Meg, and they look at Liam annoyed. „Hey, why is she heading to?“.
Drake slaps the back of Liam’s head, „Why are you even asking? Will you stay here or go after her?“. Liam runs through the crowd calling her name but he can’t find her.
—————
When Cathy gets home, about an hour later, she takes a shower and lies down on the couch with a book. After a moment she hears her phone vibrating and sees she’s got a few texts from Liam:
„Hey, why did you leave? I hoped we could talk?!“
„We are at the coffeeshop at campus grabbing a bite. Why don’t you come meet up with us after you are done at the library?“
„Are you coming? I’m looking forward to seeing you…“
She deletes his text and opens her book, trying to get Liam out of her mind.
An hour later, Meghan opens the door to their apartment, noticing that Cathy is asleep on the couch. She looks at the guys, „Pssst… she is asleep“. They walk in as quietly as they can, „Li, can you take her to her bedroom? Drake, you are responsible for our drinks. I’m going to change, be right back!“.
Liam walks up to Cathy, she looks so peaceful sleeping, her hair strewn across the pillow. He picks her up and walks quietly to her bedroom. He pushes the slightly ajar door open with his foot and walks in, lying her gently down on the bed. She moves a little bit and mumbles something incomprehensible. Liam knees before her and brushes his knuckles over her cheek, whispering, „I’m sorry, princess, I really am…“, he stands up and leaves the room, glancing back at her before closing the door.
He heads to the kitchen, where Drake is grabbing some beer for them. Drake hands Liam a bottle, „That was a real dick move, Liam… I mean, I would have expected it from Leo but never from you“.
Liam takes a gulp, „I was mad at what happened the other day but I didn’t do it to hurt her purposefully… I didn’t even know she was there!“
„But you knew there was a chance she would be because Meg could have told her… I mean, yeah, you two aren’t a couple yet but you have been spending a lot of time together…“, Drake crosses his arms in front of him.
„You are right, I was an asshole!“, Liam sighs, closing his eyes and rubbing them.
„I just hope it’s not over before it even started… you should have seen her face when she saw you with those girls“, Drake walks in his direction and puts a hand on his shoulder.
„Yeah… I fucked up big time“, Liam takes another gulp and watches Drake leaving the kitchen. He sits down on a chair, resting his head on his hand, hoping it’s not too late for him to open up with her about his real feelings.
To Be Continued…