Chapter 9 ~ Darcy

My phone goes off and I take it out of my pocket to see my mum’s picture on the screen telling me she wants to FaceTime, so I put aside what I’m doing and pick up her call. I’m getting ready for when Liam and Harry come for us to go to the zoo, I’m trying to convince myself that I’m not nervous and that this is just a friendly date among friends, including my little sister. I’m going just because of her, it has nothing to do with my silly feelings towards a certain international popstar. Yeah, because I totally feel nothing every time I get a message from him or when he calls me.

God, I’m a terrible liar. Even in my mind.

I decide to ignore all my conflictive thoughts and I concentrate on my mother. “Hello, Darcy,” she says when I pick up her call with a kind smile and soft look.

Lizzie resembles a lot to Mum, both share those green eyes and the dirty blond hair with big curls. They also share the same sweet look though Mum looks older and wiser now than my little sister, obviously. Lizzie also got her cheeky personality from Mum and as for what she tells us, she was as joyful and hyper as a kid as Lizzie.

“Hi, Mum. How’s everything going? You look tired,” I reply, taking notice of the dark bags under her eyes and the new wrinkles in the corner of her eyes.

“Long day, but I’m okay. Don’t worry for that, Darcy. Now tell me what you two are doing today. Where’s my little Lizzie?” She asks me and I smile as I walk out of my room and go for my little sister.

“We’re going to the zoo with some friends,” I tell her whilst I get closer to Lizzie’s room. I told Mum about meeting One Direction, but she has so many things in mind that she forgets some details quite easily, that’s why I tell her general things so it’s easier for her to remember.

“But I thought you hated the zoo,” she muses and I sigh.

Yes. I’m not fond of zoos because it’s just heart-breaking and I hate seeing all those animals trapped there instead of in their natural habitat. Mum took me to the zoo when I was eleven and since then I haven’t gone after I begged her, crying, to never take me to that place again. I have never taken Lizzie to the zoo and every time she’s asked me to go, I’ve come up with a lame excuse, but when Liam proposed going to the zoo and she heard him, I couldn’t refuse. I guess I have to let her make her own decision, I can’t just assume that because I hate the zoo, she will feel the same way.

“Lizzie wants to go and she’s the only one from her class that has never gone to the zoo. She has asked about that a lot recently and I’m just letting her decide by her own, I guess,” I explain it to Mum and she nods, understanding. I know it’s not going to be a great day for me.

I walk into Lizzie’s room and she’s on the floor tying her shoelaces very concentrated until she sees me there. She smiles and then she notices I’m face to face with my iPhone. “Is that Mum?” She asks and I nod.

In a matter of seconds she rises from the floor and runs towards me and demands for the gadget, which I hand her immediately. Mum is grinning like crazy by the time she sees Lizzie and I understand it. She barely sees Lizzie due to her work and she’s growing so fast. Every time she comes back from one of her trips she has to catch up with so many things and I can see in her eyes how much she suffers for the things she’s missing. I think that’s another reason why I tell Lizzie to live her childhood to the fullest instead of rushing things like other kids her age, so Mum doesn’t have to miss so many things.

“Mum! Guess what, guess what!” Lizzie tells her overly excited, almost jumping like a little bunny. I hear Mum’s laughter and I smile as well. “Today we’re going to the zoo with Liam and Harry!” She replies before our mother can even try to guess.

“Liam and Harry?” Mum asks and I just shake my head slightly. She’s terrible with names. Lizzie looks at her like she just forgot her name. “Oh, the boys from that band you love. Same Direction, right?”

Close enough, Mum.

“One Direction, Mum! And yes, with them. They are about to come for us. I bet we’re gonna have so much fun and Darcy is going to spend time with Liam! Did she tell you about that?” Lizzie asks and I open my eyes wide open.

Oh no, please no!

In the past few days Lizzie has grown even fonder of the idea of Liam and I getting together. She says there’s no one better for him than me. I try to tell her that it’s foolish to believe such a thing, that Liam and I are only friends and we’ll stay like that because he’s famous and I’m just a regular girl, but she argues that love doesn’t care about that. My little sister is a hopelessly romantic girl.

“You have to meet him, Mum. I’m sure you’ll like him, he’s really nice and he’s good with Darcy. But don’t worry, I’ll take care of her until you get here and if he tries something, I’ll ask him about his intentions as you taught me to do if someone tried to get closer to Darcy,” Lizzie trails off and I shake my head again.

“That’s good. You have to take care of each other while I’m not there,” Mum says and Lizzie nods enthusiastically. “If things go right I should be there in two weeks. Are you excited?” She asks, and my little sister starts jumping again, this time even more excited.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! I’ve missed you so much! I have so many things to tell you and show you. I’ve only got A’s, Mum!” The little girl says, proud of herself. She loves when Mum comes and she has to update her with all the things that have passed.

The doorbell rings and I know that it has to be Liam and Harry. Carter, the only person who visits us, is in the shop working for the day. Lizzie looks at me excited and I stand up from her bed. “Bye, Mum. They have come for us. Sleep well and we’ll talk to you soon, okay? Don’t overwork yourself just to get here sooner,” I tell her and she nods with a smile. She tends to do that: working extra hours just to get the change to come back maybe sooner.

“Bye, Mummy! I’ll take a lot of pictures to tell you everything about today,” Lizzie says goodbye and I wait for our mum to reply before hanging up.

“Ready?” I ask Lizzie and she nods, running to grab her little purse where she has all the important things, including some money and candies. I take her hand and we go downstairs to open the door and as I suspected, Liam and Harry are there.

I ignore the little flip-flop that my heart does when I set eyes upon Liam and notice how sweetly he  smiles, in that way that makes his eyes look smaller and that lights up his whole face. He’s wearing jeans, white trainers, a white t-shirt with plaid shirt over it. He looks so handsome and simple at the same time. Harry is next to him with all his curls in that perfect mess and with a simple outfit as well: jeans, trainers, a Pink Floyd t-shirt and a grey hoodie. Both look so normal and casual standing there at my door and it’s hard to believe they are international popstars with millions of followers all around the globe. And they are at my door.

Life is crazy.

“Liam, Harry!” Lizzie greets them happily as she jumps to their arms. Harry kneels so they are at the same height as he smiles at her adorably and grabs her in his arms.

I’m so concentrated looking at the cute picture in front of me that I don’t notice when Liam gets closer until I feel his hand on my shoulder. “Hi, Darcy,” he says and my heart is beating so fast I feel like I’m about to have a heart attack. I look into his eyes and that’s a humongous mistake because I can’t look away now, I’m trapped.

“Hi,” I say, though it sounds more like I’m mumbling. “Uh, thanks for this,” I tell him just to look like an intelligent human being, but he’s smiling and I feel like my brain has decided to go on strike.

Oh, it’s a great day to be consequent with my previous thoughts and plans about Liam Payne. How am I supposed to ignore all this if it got magnified since I realised I have some feelings for him? Maybe it’s not magnified, maybe it’s just me being conscious about all these things.

This is why thinking too much is not good, it makes me overly conscious about things that I wasn’t aware of before.

“Shall we go?” He asks and I nod, but he still has his hand on my shoulder and I swear that I feel like millions of ants are running over my skin from that point to the rest of my body.

“Yes!” Lizzie answers excitedly. “I really want to see the elephants,” she adds smiling and just then I can break eye contact with Liam when I remember where we are going. Only thinking of those poor elephants makes my heart ache for them. I hope Lizzie doesn’t end up crying like I did and I really hope I won’t end up crying either.

“You okay?” Liam asks in a whisper and I nod without meeting his eyes. I can sense his worry for me in his voice. “Sure?”

“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine. Don’t worry. Let’s go, we better hurry up if you really want to see everything,” I tell him, though I can’t really feel what I’m saying. Even Lizzie notices that because she looks at me concerned, so I just smile to put her –and Liam and Harry– at ease about the whole situation.

The boys lead us to a dark grey van with tinted windows and Harry opens the door for all of us. Inside there are three other men. “Darcy, Lizzie, these are Greg, Paul, and James. Greg and Paul are coming with us today just in case we bump into some fans, so you don’t have to worry, we are protected,” Liam explains, motioning to the two men in this side of the band. James is the one behind the wheel.

“Nice to meet you,” Lizzie and I say and they all smile at us. “Thanks for coming with us,” I add really grateful knowing that they will be close if anything goes wrong. Hopefully, nothing like that will happen.

Liam takes a seat next to me and in front of us there are Lizzie and Harry. In the last row of seats Paul and Greg observe everything quietly. I try to put some distance between Liam and I, but the van is not that big to allow me so.

Lizzie is busy telling Harry all the things she did during the week and I know Liam has his eyes on me, I can feel his gaze. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He asks softly and I try to fight back the necessity of turning to see him, but I can’t help it, I’m so used to look at people’s eyes when they talk to me that it’s almost like a natural instinct for me.

“I’m perfectly fine. I just hope Lizzie will have a good time today. Thanks for coming with us, it really means a lot to her,” I tell him smiling politely.

“It’s our pleasure. The other lads would’ve loved to come as well, but the five of us going out would’ve been very difficult to hide,” he tells me and I nod pondering how annoying it must be wanting to go out but always having to worry about if the fans are going to find out or if he is going to get some peace this time. It must be exhausting to have a life like that, with so many restrictions.

I look into his brown eyes when I say: “I’m sorry.” He looks confused as every time I apologise to him. “I’m sorry that you can’t just go out when you want. It must be really hard for all of you,” I explain and he looks impressed yet so pleased at the same time.

He smiles genuinely when he says: “Thank you, Darcy.”  

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Dedication goes to @beautiful_mistakes because it's her birthday as well!! Woohoo! Birthday buddies!

Bel, xx