Sydney

"What do you like on your pizza Syd?" Liam asks as he tries to hold his phone out of reach of Zerrie's slobber.  

"Umm... all meat preferably. But I'll eat anything but mushrooms, or like, anchovies. That's weird." 

"Did you catch all that?" Liam asks Harry. 

He laughs in response to something Harry says. 

"I think we're close, stuff looks familiar. Do you mind if we bring a horse with us so we don't  have to stop back at her house?" 

I laugh with him this time, turning down the radio so he doesn’t have to yell.  

"Is the horse going to be hungry too? I don't think they like pizza much." I hear Harry's voice over the phone. 

"She's packed food for her, she should be alright.... hey what's your gate code? My phone is dying." 

"Oh, it's 1224. I'll see you soon." 

"See ya.." Liam says, hanging up the phone.  

"You know, that probably wasn't very smart."  

"What?" 

"Giving a crazy stalker fan the  key code to Harry's house." I say, winking at him.  

"I'd be more worried if it were Harry that you were crazy about, but, we both know that's not the case." He says, squeezing my hand in his before brining it to his lips. 

All momentary fantasies of sneaking into Hazza's house and trying on his underwear are pushed aside by the butterflies making their way through my body. I do my best to ignore his inviting eyes and focus on the road. I untwine my fingers from his and turn the stereo back but, but he immediately pulls my hand back to hold it within his.  

"How about you just leave it on shuffle, that way you don't need to keep changing it?" He suggests.  

I blush at the flattering implication, and then grin as I recognize the beginning of the next song.  

"Whenever I see someone, less fortunate than I..." 

"And let's face it, who isn't, less fortunate than I?" I join in.  

Liam makes a face and I start to crack. 

"My tender heart tends to start to bleed" I sing, laughing this time, 

"What in the world is this?" He finally asks. 

"And even in your case." I point at him, "though it's the toughest case I've yet to face.." 

He raises one eyebrow and smirks at me. I finally give in.  

"Have you really never seen Wicked?" 

"That's a musical, right?" 

"Yes!" I laugh.  

"So you like musicals? Is that one your favorite?" 

"I don’t know. I've read all the books and know the songs, but, I haven't seen the show." 

"Why not?" 

"Cause I'm obsessed with some stupid boy band and I can’t afford anything else." 

It was Liam's turn to laugh.  

"You found this way too easily, maybe I do need to be worried." Liam comments as I pull onto Harry's street. 

"Oh shush!" I say, winking at him as I roll down the window to type the security code in.  

"You can just park out here." Liam says as the gate closes behind us. "There's not much room in his garage anyway." 

Liam grabs Zerrie's leash while I grab her bag and my purse. I stop half way up the drive way and Liam looks back at me. 

"What's wrong?" 

"I'm in smelly wet clothes and I'm walking into Harry Styles house..." 

He laughs and backtracks to grab my hand and walk me up to the house. He slowly cracks the door open, choosing not to knock. I hear shouts from down the hall and the smell of pizza fills the walk way.  

"Hey guys!" Liam yells out. 

"Liiiiiaaaammmmm!" 

"Liam is that you!!!!"  

Voices come from the next room over and Liam leads me towards them. 

"Hey, I want to introduce you to my new girl!" Liam says as we enter the room. My heart stops as I take in what he just said. "This is Zerrie, she's the love of my life!"  

A couch full of guys all look up at me and a body crashes into my side, nearly knocking me over. Liam drops Z's leash and she bounds up the stairs. 

"Sydney!! I'm so glad you're here!" Brittney says excitedly. Her presence further adds to my disappointment. I hadn't given it much thought, but I had assumed I was going to be the only girl here with the boys tonight.  

"Brittney! What are you doing here?" I say, faking kindness.  

"You left me here, remember!" She points out. Fuck! Does that mean she's been here all day? "I'm so glad you're here! You can only handle so much of video games and futball! Where have you been all day? Tell me everything, I want to hear all about it!" 

And for the first time, I realized, that I did want to tell her. She's my best friend, she's the one I want to share everything with, but, how can I gush about a romantic kiss, with a guy that she's had sex with. The truth is, no matter how badly I want to confide in her, she's ruined my ability to enjoy sharing this. I glance up at Liam and take note of the annoyance in his eyes before turning back to her.  

"Maybe later, it's not polite to gossip in front of others." I say with a smile and nod towards the group of guys on the couch." 

"Ah Liam - come take my spot. I'm rubbish at this!" I hear my favorite Irishman say. . I look over to see Niall, Zayn, Mikey, and an older long haired man that I don’t recognize, all with controllers in their hands. 

Liam 

I squeeze Sydney’s hand and pull her towards the couch.  

“Mikey, Julian, I’d like you to meet Sydney. Julian is our producer." I explain to Sydney, not knowing whether or not she knew this already.

Sydney reaches her hand out to both of them and I can’t help but beam at her politeness. Julian must notice too because he catches my eye and gives me an approving nod.  

“Eh Syd, how was your day out?” Niall asks, jumping up and hugging her. I take his seat on the couch and gently pull Sydney towards me, but she lets go of my hand to hug Niall instead. I ignore the slight sting in my chest and pick up the controller. 

“I took her for a romantic walk on the beach.” I say proudly.  

“He threw me into dirty polluted water, it was hardly romantic.” Sydney says rolling her eyes and winking at me. Why isn’t she bragging about spending time with me? I want her to tell Niall how great of day she had and how happy I made her. Not really, I wouldn’t want her to say all that in front of everyone, it would be awkward, but I want him to know…. What? What do I want him to know? That she likes me more than him. It’s not like this is some sort of competition, why am I even worried.  

Because if it were a competition, you might lose. My subconscious answers itself back.  

But that’s not true. She spent the day with you today. She kissed you. She has your name on her license plate. She asked you to stay in bed with her. 

But she spent the night with Niall last night.  

And she’s spending the night with you tonight!  

“Liam! Pay Attention! That’s the second time you’ve been shot!” 

“Sorry” I mumble before pausing the game. 

“What the hell man?” Mikey asks. 

“Sydney, you need a change of clothes right? My bags should have been brought over from the hotel this morning, did you want me to grab you something of mine to wear?” 

“Can’t it wait?” Zayn asks. 

“Don’t worry mate, I’ll take her up!” Niall says. I grip my controller a little tighter and grit my teeth while pressing the play button again. Why the fuck does he have to be around. My eyes follow them as they make their way up the staircase, Brittney trailing behind.  

"God damn it Liam pay attention!" Michael yells at me and I look back to the screen to see that I've died again.  

"Aww give him a break, this is the happiest he's been since...." My glare cuts Zayn off before he can finish where he was going with that statement.  

"Dinners ready!" Harry announces as he enters the room wearing an apron and oven mitts. 

"Cooking dinner, how domestic of you." Comes Brittney's voice from the stairwell as her and Sydney make their way back down.  

"Oh would you shut up." Louis says, appearing behind Niall at the top of the balcony.  

The sight of Sydney descending in my undershirt and boxers blocks out all else around me. I can feel the grin growing across my face as my eyes focus only on her. It's not as though I haven't seen her in bed clothes before, it's just different when they're mine.  

"I hope you don't mind me wearing you're boxers, you're basketball shorts just kept falling off." She says loud enough for only me to hear.  

I wrap my arms around her waist and cradle her out in front of me, taking in the full picture of the woman i'm holding on to. 

"I don't mind at all." I say as I tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear and kiss her forehead. "Your hair smells though." 

"Shut up! It's your fault!" She says hitting my chest. I don' t budge and she tries to hide her smile as she recognizes my strength. I give her waist a final squeeze, causing her to squirm and giggle beneath my fingers, and then let her go.  

Harry's last minute decision to make his own pizza rather than ordering out was genius. He's a great cook and every body enjoyed themselves. Seeing Sydney get along with all the people important in my life just makes me want things between us to work out even more. I'm even less annoyed by her friend today, though seeing them get along and laugh together helps that.  

"Hey Harry, what have you got to drink here?" Julian asks. My chest cramps as the thought temps me.  

"I have some scotch if you'd like?" Harry says, leaving the room. 

We're all in the living room, the game still on pause in the background. Mikey, Zayn and Louis are on one couch, Julian is in a recliner, Brittney, Syd, and Niall are on the couch behind me, and I'm seated on the floor in front of them. Harry returns with a stack of plastic cups and a bottle under each arm, which he places on the intable in the center of the room.  

"I brought some champagne in case anyone doesn't like the scotch." Harry barely finishes before 4 pairs of arms are reaching across the table to pour themselves drinks.  

"Would you like anything?" I ask Sydney, rubbing her knee to get her attention.  

"Oh, um." She looks around the room as if she's unsure, "I guess I'll have a bit of the champagne, yeah."  

I pour her a cup and pat the floor next to me, asking her to join me. Louis glares at me and I hand the cup off to Syd, doing my best to ignore his watching eyes. I didn't plan on drinking tonight anyway, but I didn't want him to think my choice had anything to do with him. I just don't want to do anything to mess things up with Sydney.  

"So Sydney, how did you and Britt become such good friends?" Niall asks. 

The girls go on to tell the story of how they met in middle school, and fought often over the years but still remained friends through everything. They were accepted to the same college and moved out here together after high school. Sharing their memories seemed to warm Sydney up to Brittney again, but made me feel terrible. If only I had known, I wouldn't have, I couldn't imagine being in her position. If one of the boys had ever slept with her, I wouldn't have been able to even pursue anything with her knowing that. I'm suddenly very aware of how close Niall is to Sydney. Constantly putting his hand on her leg, messing with her hair, saying her name every time he talks to her. Why does he have to say her name? She knows her name, we all know her name. 

I reach up and pull the cup out of Niall's hand. "How much have you had tonight buddy?" 

"Hey man what are you doing? Why are you worried about it?" Niall snaps at me. 

The room goes quiet and all eyes are on us. "Because I can't help but notice where your hands keep wandering to..." I murmur to him under my breath, doing my best not to embarrass him.  

He opens his mouth to say something but suddenly two large hands are on each of our shoulders and we look up to see Julian looking down at us.  

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but there is a large beast on my bed and I think I would like to sleep soon." 

"Zerrie!" Sydney exclaims, overhearing Julian.  

The guy's all begin teasing her but Brittney jumps to her defense.  

"It's a cute name, really!"  

"Our love is as big as your dog!" Zayn slurs, attempting to be funny. I think Zayn likes Sydney the most, next to Niall of course. He's quiet but her support of Perrie means a lot to him.  

"Come on, let's go take care of my girl." I say, reaching my hand out to Sydney.  

She stumbles over the bottom step and I stop to steady her.  

"Sorry, you were moving just a little too fast." She giggles. 

"My fault." I reassure her, leading her up the stairs more slowly this time. I poke my head in each of the rooms until I find a plain white room with Zerrie sprawled out across the bed.  

"Z! Z come on now!" Sydney calls out, patting her knees while her monster dog perks her ears and slowly rises from sleep. She hops down and makes her way over to us, looking up with her head cocked side-ways as if to say 'What next?' 

"Come on girls." I say, lightly tugging at Sydneys hand as I make my way back to the room I slept in last night.  

I flip the light switch while Sydney walks past me and flops herself onto the bed. Zerrie jumps up and lays right beside her and I wonder wear I'm going to fit.  

"Liam...." Sydney says, rolling over onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. 

"Yes babe?" 

"Eeeeekk! You called me babe!" she squeals, before covering her mouth.  

I laugh at her and flip the light switch back off.  

"Are you staying?" She asks, barely above a whisper. 

"I'm staying." 

"And tomorrow?"  

I swallow as the dread I've been ignoring all day plants itself in my throat. I sit on the floor beside the bed and hold her hand in mine, running my thumb across her fingers at an attempt to comfort us both.  

"Tomorrow I leave to Arizona." I choke out. The silence in the room is suffocating as I wait for her to say something.  

"Oh." she finally mumbles.  

"I don't know what to say Sydney, I, well, this is my job... this is what I do." I try to explain. 

"I know." she says robotically as she pulls her hand away and tucks it under her side. 

I sigh, and try to chose my words carefully. 

"I don't want this to be the last time I see you. I want to know you more. I, I just don't know what to do about it all you know?" I say, pushing my fingers through my hair and squeezing the back of my neck.  

"It's fine. I understand." She says stiffly, before turning over and facing the wall.  

I stand up and walk out of the room. What am I doing? I barely fucking know this girl and here I am... all hung up on unrealistic fantasies. I go next door to Harrys room and step out on his balcony, taking a seat in a hard wooden chair. 

She makes me happy. Not the type of happiness I find at the bottom of a bottle or beneath she sheets of a strangers hotel room. She makes me feel like I'm not a fuck up. Like I could live the life I wanted and forget about the past. She doesn't make me feel new, she makes me feel old. Old, and comfortable, and safe.  

I pull my phone out of the pocket and scroll through my contact list until I find the name of the person I need right now. I hit send and wait, hoping it's not too early.  

"Liam! Is everything okay? I haven't heard from you in ages!" Comes the voice from the other end of the line.  

"I know. I'm sorry about that." 

"You've just been busy, I know. I keep up with things. Whose the new girl? She's pretty." 

I smile at her approval. "I think so too." I laugh, "That’s actually what I was calling about." I confess. 

"Oh no, what is it?" 

"Well... it's just that I really like her! I know I've barely known her a couple of days, but I like her." 

"So what's the problem?" 

"I leave to the next city tomorrow and... well, I don't know what to do?" 

"What do you mean you don't know what to do?" 

"I know how this is going to sound, but, I'm scared to give her my phone number or anything you know? I mean, I don't think she's untrustworthy, but I don't want to be wrong." 

"Liam James Payne, are you really calling to ask me if you think you should give a girl your phone number?" 

The ridiculousness of the conversation is apparent in her voice and I know the answer. 

"You're right. I'm being dumb. Thanks mom! I love you, and I'll call you when I get to Arizona." 

"Love you too baby, talk to you soon. And don't let her go!" 

I hang up the phone and take a final look at the city lights spread out in front of me before turning back inside of the house.  

I enter the room to see that Zerrie has now made herself a spot on the floor, leaving room for me on the bed next to Sydney. I shut the door behind me and take my shirt off, placing it on a chair near the bathroom. I crawl in bed beside Sydney, whose still facing the wall.  

"Don't worry Syd, I'll come back for you. I've got a plan." I whisper in her ear as I run my fingers through her hair.  I plant a small kiss on the back of head, cupping my body around hers, I slip my fingers into her hands and rest my head above hers.  

"Night Liam." She mumbles.  

//So kind of a filler chapter to get to the real drama of Liam leaving LA! 29 days till WWA Pasadena! I'm getting super excited! And I've got tickets to the VMAs! Like always - please share, I love getting new readers! I love hearing your guys' thoughts and reactions. If you happen to read this before I go back tomorrow and make any corrections I apologize now for missing anything. This chapter was a bit sloppy. X.x\\