Two weeks later . . .

Chloe

"Don't you kinda want him to get caught?" Liam asks.

"Little bit." I nod, not looking away from the TV screen.

We're nearly at the end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, watching him race to beat his parents home. God, he really is a smug little git, isn't he?

"I've definitely came to the conclusion that I'd never get tired of punching him in the face," I add, and Liam bursts out laughing. He winds an arm around me and pulls me in for a kiss as the credits start to roll.

"I'd better go," he says, with obvious reluctance. "I still need to get ready for the wedding."

"It's not like it's your wedding," I point out, not wanting him to leave.

He smiles. "I actually need to make sure I'm presentable for a change," he replies. "And I should probably shave."

"Wow, a clean-shaven Liam . . . I don't think I've ever witnessed that," I ponder. "I guess I've always believed you came out of the womb with stubble."

"Nah, it didn't start to grow in until I was six months old," he jokes, winking at me and standing up. "Come on, walk me to the door."

When I get back to my room five minutes later, I throw myself back on the bed, my face aching from smiling.

After we left the subcrawl group two weeks ago, me and Liam went on our first date and I was surprised by just how great it was. We chuckled over the nightmare of both our exes being on the subcrawl with us. Straightened out our many misunderstandings over the years. Shared our interests.

Weirdly, it turned out we had more in common than I could ever have imagined. We just hadn't realised because we'd never really bothered to get to know one another before now. Conversation and laughter just flowed so easily. I've never had a date like that before. So when it drew to a close and he asked nervously if I would be willing to try a second date, I could hardly say no. I didn't want to.

He wasn't lying about having a lot going on in his life though. His gran is out of hospital now thankfully, but he is obviously part of a very close knit family and spends a lot of time checking in on her and his dad, as well as helping to look after his sister's two kids. And that's on top of a full time job working for a charity.

He definitely is not the guy I judged him for being. I felt bad for my assumptions; I even apologised to him for it, but he shrugged it off.  "It's not like I went out of my way to tell you anything about my life. And we only ever met at random nights out. As long as you know me now, that's all that's important to me," he said.

He's very wise.

Despite everything that's going on, we've still managed to go on a few dates since then. He wiped the floor with me at pool. I kicked his arse at ten pin bowling. We've shared a cheese fondue, and attended a gig.

And tonight we of course finally watched Ferris Bueller together while eating a Dominos.

We haven't, y'know "done the deed" yet. I know you're probably wondering. Been pacing ourselves, trying to take it slow. But I'm fairly sure it's going to happen tomorrow after the wedding, when we're going to share a hotel room for the first time. And, weirdly, I don't even feel that nervous about it.

Although, now I come to think of it, I probably have some shaving prep of my own that I should do. I wince, grab a new razor and head to the bathroom.

The day of the wedding dawns clear and sunny, much to everyone's relief, and the ceremony itself goes off without a hitch. Well, I think it does anyway. Liam and I spend most of it looking at each other.

True to his word, he's shaved. Turns out he does know what hair product is. He scrubs up amazingly in a suit. I feel like I'm crushing on a whole different guy.

But I have to admit I'm actually missing the stubble. It's just so . . . him. Part of the package I fell for.

And I am falling.

Which is ridiculous as it's been a couple of weeks, after years of being at each other's throats. Plus we haven't even defined what we are yet. Are we boyfriend and girlfriend now? Do we need to put a label on it?

But I know my feelings and they're telling me that this could be it. The Real Thing.

We're both seated at the top table at dinner, so I can't even perv on him as we're in a long line facing the rest of the room. I forgot about that part . . . everyone gets to watch me eat. Oh the joys. I nibble at my food, my stomach an anxious mess, and hope that people are more interested in the sight of Becky and Luke feeding each other.

And then it's time for speeches. I'm very glad that's not something I have to do . . .  I would be a wreck! I know Liam is nervous about doing his, or "shitting a brick" as he put it oh so eloquently last night. I think his obvious nerves endeared him to me even more. But I know he'll still smash it out of the park, which he absolutely does - he's a lot better at hiding his shy side than I am.

I'm looking forward to the dancing part of the evening though, I think as I raise a toast at the end of the speeches and drain the rest of my glass of fizz. That's the part of a wedding that's my favourite really...Once all the formalities are out the way. Then I can relax.

"Want to dance?" Liam asks me ten minutes or so later, appearing beside me with his pierced eyebrow raised in question. His smile is infectious, and I'm sure I feel my heart skip a beat as I remember what's probably going to be happening later.

"Definitely," I grin back, letting myself be pulled into the dance floor, feeling content in his arms.

"You look beautiful," he whispers in my ear, his breath tickling my neck. "I don't think I got a chance to tell you that."

I feel like I could burst with happiness in this moment.

A quick blast of feedback from the mic interrupts my bubble, making me jump. "Sorry guys!" We turn to see Becky standing next to the DJ booth, holding the mic. She is absolute radiant, and can't seem to stop smiling.

"If I could just have a moment of everyone's time," she begins. "I have my own small speech to make."

The DJ turns the music down low and Becky clears her throat. "Obviously, the speeches at a wedding are usually about the bride and groom but this one is going to be a little bit different . . . Please indulge me though since I am the bride after all."

I glance at Liam, confused, as if to ask if he knows anything about this. All he does in response is shrug and smile.

"Once upon a time," Becky continues, "There was a girl and a boy. They were thrust together at various points over the years because two of their friends were ridiculously in love. But the girl and the boy . . ." She laughs. "There was no love lost between them."

It starts to occur to me that she's talking about us. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so as I can see other people looking at us too.

Weirdly though, I'm not freaked out or embarrassed at being the centre of attention. With Liam's arms firmly around me, I feel safe, and merely curious as to where this speech is going.

"Two weeks ago though, that all changed." Becky walks towards us, leaving me in no doubt she's talking about us.

"Chloe." She stops in front of us. "There's not many people I would let upstage my own wedding, but Liam has a question to ask you." She passes the mic over to him and I look at him suspiciously. So he was in on this all along too?

"What's going on?" I ask him.

He winks at me. "Chloe West, I know it's only been two weeks but . . . I was hoping you'd do me the honour of becoming my girlfriend?"

"WOOHOO!" I hear Lola whooping in the background. Taking me right back to the moments just before our first kiss.

"She hasn't said yes yet," I hear Colin mutter to shut her up. A ripple of laughter drifts around the room.

Liam is looking at me anxiously now since I still haven't answered. "Chloe?"

"Sorry," I wink right back at him. "I was just trying to remember if this was one of the dares on my bingo card."

He laughs, disbelief shadowing his features as he and Becky exchange glances. "What?" I ask, worriedly. I was just trying to lighten the mood!

"Either you were onto us all along, or you and Liam are way too similar," Becky says, shaking her head as she extends a dare bingo card out towards me in one hand, and a pen in the other. It looks like it was my original dare card as it has "kiss a stranger" crossed off. But a sticker has been placed over one of the other boxes with a new dare written in.

The new dare is "agree to be Liam's girlfriend".

Seems Liam and I are indeed very alike!

I don't hesitate this time. "Yes." I say to Liam. I swipe a cross through the dare with the pen before passing card and pen back to my cousin.

There's a brief round of applause as he leans in to kiss me. Then all three of us take a bow.

"I would have said yes even without the dare," I inform him as the music starts up again and we melt into each other.

He kisses me again, chuckling against my lips. "I hoped so . . . but I needed some insurance just in case."

I can't help but laugh. A dare was where it all began, after all.

In life, you often have to do things you don't want to do. Thankfully, agreeing to be Liam McCall's girlfriend was something I definitely wanted to do.

However, I'm sincerely hoping that I never have to do another subcrawl . . .

___The End___

I hope you enjoyed the story, and enjoyed meeting Chloe and Liam! Please like, comment and share if you did. 💜

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