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 5: Fallin’ All In You
Cathy walks through the campus on her way home after a busy day at the hospital but Liam keeps popping up in her head, making her smile. Although she tried to stay away from him, she can’t ignore the fact that nobody has ever made her feel the way he does — whenever he looks deep into her eyes and smiles, he makes her want to give herself completely to him; his scent has something intoxicating and makes her feel safe and turned on at the same time; the warmth of his body is so inviting it makes her wish to drown in him.
After a short trip to the supermarket, Cathy arrives home and goes straight to Meg’s room. She knocks at the door and opens it slowly.
„Hey, how are you guys feeling?“, she asks.
Meg sneezes a couple of times before saying, „Not good… This is the worst cold I have ever had“.
Cathy walks into the room and Drakes starts coughing before saying: „You shouldn’t come in here. If you get sick and can’t go to that concert, Liam is gonna kills us!“
She giggles and puts a hand on their forehead trying to feel their temperatures, „I’ll be fine. I’m going to cook a chicken soup for you, meanwhile you both should take your temperature“, she takes the thermometer on Meg’s desk and hands it to her, „And drink a lot of water!“
„Ohh, you are an angel! Chicken soup sounds like heaven right now…“, Meg says, putting the thermometer under her armpit.
„Alright, you two try to sleep a little and I’ll wake you up once the soup is ready“, Cathy smiles and leaves the room.
After taking a shower, she goes to the kitchen and get’s all the ingredients on the counter. Cathy turns on the radio and starts cutting the vegetables, when her phone rings.
„Hi there“, she smiles, holding the phone with her shoulder while she slices some carrots.
„Hey Cathy, I’m on the field and practice is gonna start in a bit but I wanted to know how you’re doing“.
She giggles, „Gosh, you are sweet sometimes…“, on the other side she hears Liam chuckling, „I’m fine, just tired. And you? Oh, before I forget this, Drake is going to spend a few days here. He and Meg have a really bad cold and we don’t want our QB to get sick“.
„Ohhh but what if you get sick? We have a concert to go to in the end of the week…“, he says worried.
„I know, I promise I’m taking care!“
„No, no, no! I am not taking any chances…“, he pauses for a short moment, „Why don’t you come stay with me?“.
„Erm, I don’t think this is necessary. I could still stay in my room and have no contact with them at all, if I wanted!“, she smiles.
„Yeah, as if you would do that! You’re a med student, I bet you keep going into their room to check up on them… am I right?“, he chuckles.
„Maybe… but whenever I go in, I have a surgical mask on!“, she smiles.
„I’m serious. You can stay in my room, I will take Drake’s… you will have your own bathroom with bathtub and all, plus I promise to not disturb you“, he tries to persuade her.
„Aren’t you afraid I could go through your things?“, Cathy giggles.
„Hmm, you can go through my things if you want“.
„Li… you know I am kidding, don’t you? I’d never do that“, she says.
„You can do whatever you want… as long as it’s you, I don’t mind. What do you say? It will be fun“, he smiles.
„I don’t know…“, she stops for a minute to think about it, „Okay, but I am not the one telling Drake that you are moving into his room!“, she laughs, „Listen, I’m cooking a chicken soup for them but I could meet you after practice…“, she says.
„Sounds great! See you soon, Cathy!“
——————
When Cathy arrives at the football field she sees Liam talking to his coach and waves at him. She puts her duffle bag on the floor and waits for him, noticing not far away from her, some girls talking about him. She reaches for her phone in her bag and writes Meghan:
„I didn’t know Liam Thompson was so popular. He has a fucking fan club waiting for him after practice!!!!“
She puts her phone back into her bag and watches as Liam runs in her direction — he doesn’t even realize that these girls were trying to get his attention. She smiles, enjoying the sight of him in his uniform.
He picks Cathy up and spins her around, „Oh, how I missed this smile!“, he puts her down and hugs her.
„Eww, you re all sweaty!!“, she giggles, „Now I need another shower, Li“, she puts her arms around him.
Liam laughs, looking into her eyes, „Don’t pretend you don’t like it!“, he brushes a strand away from her face. „I gotta go take a quick shower, do you mind waiting another 10-15 minutes?“
„Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere“, she picks up her duffle bag and he walks her to the bench before leaving. She watches people slowly leaving the field for a couple of minutes before grabbing a school book from her bag and reading it while waiting — so concentrated that she doesn’t realize the time passing.
Liam walks behind her, putting his hands on her shoulder, „Missed me?“, he smiles, „Of course not, whenever you have a book you forget about the world!“.
Cathy stands up and laughs, „Are you jealous?“
„Always… Now, that you found out my secret, it’s time to go home!“, he laughs, taking her duffle bag from her hand and they walk to his car.
„So… do you wanna cook together?“, she smiles when he puts his arm around her shoulders.
„I remember you telling me on the phone that you were tired and you already cooked soup for Drake and Meg… so I thought I’d surprise you with take out“, he pulls her closer to him, „Did you get Drake’s keys?“, he looks at her and she nods. „I’m gonna drop you off in front of the building and go pick up our food. Meanwhile, why don’t you take a bath and relax? You deserve it!“
Cathy stops for a moment and he looks at her, „Liam… you don’t have to do this for me!“
„You take care of everybody, just let me take care of you for once“, he turns to her and brushes the back of his hand over her cheek. „If you don’t have to study tonight we could watch a movie together, what do you say?“
„Sounds lovely“, she hugs him, resting her head on his chest for a moment and she sighs deeply.
„Hey, what is wrong?“, he says stroking her back.
„Nothing is wrong, Li. It’s just… you are being so nice to me“, she looks up at him and their eyes meet.
„You deserve more than I could ever give you, sweetheart“, he kisses her forehead and closes his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her body close to his.
„I like you too“, she whispers as a late answer to his confession on that Saturday evening.
Her voice and these words pull him out of his thoughts and he smiles, „Did I really hear what I think I heard?“
Cathy giggles and pushes him away, „I don’t know what you are talking about…“, she taps Liam on his shoulder and walks a few steps away from him, „Catch me if you can!“ and runs to his car parked on the other side of the street.
„What are you doing to me, baby?“, he chuckles and runs after her. It doesn’t take long for him to reach her. He picks her up and they laugh together, enjoying this unbelievable feeling they only feel when they are together. „Now, I’m gonna cary you to the car so you don’t run away from me again!“, he looks shortly at her and shakes his head with a smile on his face.
A couple of hours later, after dinner, Liam and Cathy were watching a movie until Liam realized that she was hiding under the blanket.
„Are you scared?“, Liam pauses the movie and chuckles, pulling the blanket off her head, „Why did you suggested a horror movie then?“
„Oh, I do like horror movies but I am still scared of them… Pet Sematery for example, keeps me awake for two days but I’ll never say no to watching it!“, she smiles.
Liam shakes his head, chuckling, „Catherine, you are something else!“, he stares at her for a moment, „Come here, I’ll protect you“. She moves little closer to him and he wraps an arm around her, pulling her even closer. She nestles into his arms and smiles, enjoying his scent and his warmth.
—————
The week went by so fast and soon enough it was Friday. Cathy walks into the apartment after her morning run and goes straight to the kitchen. From the hallway she could already hear Liam mumbling something but she couldn’t make it out. She walks slowly into the kitchen, trying not to get his attention and cover his eyes with her hands „Guess who?!“, she giggles.
„The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen!“, he smiles, taking her hands off his eyes and kissing them.
„You are such a flatterer…“, she leans on the counter, shaking her head and he turns around handing her a cup of coffee.
„I mean it“, he smiles, „Did you sleep well? How was your run?“
Cathy drinks a sip of her coffee, „I had a great night of sleep and the run was good. Did you sleep well? Are you missing your bed already?“
Liam chuckles, „I slept… I’m not a fan of waterbeds…“.
„Li, you can have your bed and I’ll take Drake’s. Why are you so stubborn?“, she puts her cup on the sink, getting close to Liam and he puts on a hand around her waist.
„Because I want you to sleep in my room… your scent is already everywhere in there and I like it“, he looks into her eyes and kisses her forehead gently.
Cathy puts one hand on his chest, moving it up to his neck, whispering, „I gotta go take a shower…“, she smiles and looks up into his eyes. „I can’t wait to go to the concert with you“
„I can’t wait for it either“, he chuckles.
Cathy laughs, „Good joke, Thompson! Do you even know one of his songs?“
„To be honest… I know a few lines from one song. But don’t get too excited now because I will only show it off once he sings it on stage!“, they laugh together for a moment, „I gotta take a shower too. See you later after your class?“, he places a kiss on her nose.
„Yeah, have a nice day, Li“, she leaves his arms and turns around to go to her room.
„You too, Cathy“, he watches as she leaves.
——————
They arrive at the concert hall not too long after the concert started. Liam holds Cathy’s hand while they walk through the crowd, looking for a good place to watch the show.
„Are you sure, you don’t want to go to our seats. You will be able to see better from there!“, he says into her ear, “They are really good seats!“.
Cathy smiles, „Maybe later, let’s just enjoy it down here for a bit… at least from here we can dance!“
Liam chuckles, „As you wish but you can’t see anything from down here, can you?“, he tries to watch it from her height for a couple second, „Okay, hop on!“, he takes a knee in front of her.
Catherine looks at him surprised and lowers herself to him, „Li, please stand up! Don’t worry too much about me, I’m fine“.
He looks at her and says, „How long will you leave me here in this position? Hop on, Cathy. Now who is being stubborn?!“
She giggles, „Alright! Alright! If you insist!“, she climbs on his shoulders. They watch the concert like this for a while. She doesn’t know but this is Liam’s first concert ever. Back in Cordonia, he would never be allowed to go into a place like this — too much noise, too many people, too many chances to be attacked and impossible to know where it’s coming from. He holds Cathy’s hands and is so happy he can share this moment with her.
After a few songs, Liam takes the knee again and Cathy hops off his shoulders. He takes her hand and they walk through the crowd looking for a food and beverage vendor.
„Just so we are clear here, it’s my treat!“, Cathy says in his ear.
„Not a chance! It was my idea, I’m paying!“, Liam shakes his head smiling.
„You already bought the tickets, Li. Please, let me get this… please!“, she looks into his eyes and smiles.
‚How can I say no to that smile‘, he thinks. „Okay, if this makes you happy, why not!“. Cathy gives him a peck on the cheek.
After having a snack, they walk back to the place where they were before. Cathy stays in front of Liam and he places his arms protectively around her. A slow song is being played and Liam whispers into Cathy’s ear „May I have this dance?“. She turns around with a big smile on her face and nods, wrapping her arms around Liam’s neck. She looks into his eyes for a moment before resting her head on this chests. He kisses the top of her head, swaying to the music and she looks up at him, smiling — Liam leans in and whispers in her ears the only lines of the song that means something to him:
‚Every time I see you baby I get lost
If I’m dreaming, baby, please don’t wake me up
Every night I’m with you I fall more in love
Now I’m laying by your side
Everything feels right since you came along
I’m thinking baby
You are bringing out a different kind of me
There’s no safety net that’s underneath,
I’m free falling all in you‚
After Liam declared his feelings for her, Cathy buries her face in his chest for a moment, blushing terribly. Then she looks up at him and smiles, placing both of her hands on his cheeks. There are some things she would like to tell him too but this moment feels so perfect, as if there were only the two of them in the world… as if the song was being played only for them.
Liam leans in and whispers: „May I kiss you?“, he lingers waiting for an answer.
„What took you so long?“, she whispers into his ears and he shakes his head smiling like a fool.
He pulls a few inches away to look into her eyes for a moment. His hands move from her waist to her cheeks, one of his thumbs brushes over her lips. His heart is beating faster and faster as his face slowly comes down to hers, so close that he can smell the sweet fragrance with notes of jasmine she has on — he knows that when his lips meet hers there will be no turning back for him, his heart will be forever hers. He brushes a strand of hair away from her face and smiles gently. A shiver runs down Cathy’s spine when she feels his warm breath touching her lips and she holds her breath, closing her eyes for a couple seconds before she finally feels his soft lips touching hers for the first time. So gentle, so electrifying and intoxicating that even the background sound disappears. Liam wraps his arms around her, pulling her closer as if he could never let her go — this indescribable feeling is so powerful and unique as if he could see and taste every color of the rainbow, almost as if they could catch a smile in a bottle. It’s soft. It’s sweet. It’s love.
After what felt like minutes, Liam’s lips leave hers… He is breathless and has a smile on his face. Liam leans his forehead on hers, staring deep into her eyes and feeling this soul connection that he has never felt before, it’s like levitating off the ground and floating with her in his arms… no words necessary anymore. Cathy smiles coyly and gives a peck on his lips, turning around and leaning against his body. She puts her arms over his, enjoying the safety of his warmth. He kisses the top of her head and they smile, enjoying this moment of bliss.
To be continued…