Starting Over

It’s been two days since Christmas. Liam and I are on our way back to London at the moment. We had done the Twitcam on Christmas day and since then, the fans have taken to Twitter with their opinions on our relationship. Most of them were not surprised, especially after that stupid pap tweeted pictures of our first date months ago. The fans are really good at figuring out who is dating who, I would know, I used to be one of them. Of course there have been some nasty comments and even some threats made towards me but I’ve been ignoring them. I mean, people can say what they want but in the end we have each other, we’re happy, and that’s all that matters to us. I have everything that I could ever need and I know that he would never let anything happen to me. Liam, of course, has been upset over the threats but I keep reminding him that nothing they do will make me run away from him. That seems to calm him down a bit.
It’s been snowing all day and the roads are starting to become questionable at best but to me everything is perfect. Snow is one of my favorite things in the world. It’s magical, it’s peaceful, it’s beautiful. I love winter. It’s nature’s way of killing of the old memories of the year before and clearing the way for new opportunities and new beautiful things to come. In my opinion, Pennsylvania doesn’t get enough snow (though most of its residents would beg to differ on that). Liam is focused intently but peacefully and happily on the road trying his best to avoid the crazy London drivers as we near my apartment when I see his expression change suddenly into one of pure anger and aggression. I’ve never seen this side of him before and it catches me off guard.
“Liam? What’s wro…”
I can’t even finish my question before I notice the 20 or so paparazzi and 150 fans sitting outside my apartment. I can tell you right now that the fans are not the ones that Liam has a problem with. I can see the anger boiling over in Liam and I’m almost afraid to touch him.
“Liam,” I say touching his arm, it’s tense and burning hot with fury, “Liam, calm down. It’s not a big deal. They’ll get a picture and go away. Don’t cause a scene, please. It’s ok.” I say as calmly and soothingly as possible trying to diffuse the situation before it starts.
“It sure as hell is not ok, Samantha.” He’s never used my full name before. Now I know that he is pissed. “This is not safe for you or for my fans. You do not need to be bombarded like this and the fans should not be out here getting sick” he snaps at me.
“Ok. Obviously, you cannot handle all of this right now. Clearly you need to be away from all these people so just drop me off and drive away. I’ll be fine” I say sternly but assuringly.
“Not a chance. I’m not leaving you to deal with all the paparazzi alone” he says protectively. We pull up to the front of my building and park. Liam jumps out and grabs my belongings as I hop out of the car and start walking up to the door of my building. The paps are yelling questions and the fans are crying and yelling trying to get our attention. Liam ignores everyone simply pushing his way into the building with my suitcase in one hand and his arm around my waist, pulling me close and guarding me. He immediately pulls the door shut behind him so that no one can follow us into my building.
“You could have at least said hi to your fans or waved” I said with a bit of attitude.
“I will when I leave. I needed to keep you safe and get you inside. You’re my first priority” he responds with more attitude than I gave.
“Fine” is all I can manage to say in response.
Liam hangs out at my flat for a few hours, helping me unpack and talking about how amazing Christmas was. Finally, he decides that it’s time to head home. He gives me a quick kiss and heads for his car. I walk to the window and peek out. I see him stop and take pictures and sign autographs for the 10 or so fans that are still outside. Good. I’m happy that he isn’t ignoring them. The paps seem to have gone away, for now. I turn on my computer and log on to Skype. Immediately I notice that I have several missed calls and messages from my friends at home. Luckily everyone is on now and I decide to start a group session. After talking to everyone from home for over 2 hours I look at the clock and realize that it’s now 215am. I get ready for bed and climb in.
I’m awoken at 430am by screaming and banging on my door. I run over and look through the hole to see a girl, about 12 being beaten up by some older girl who is probably about 17. They seem to be fighting over a piece of paper and some clothing. I immediately throw the door open
“what the hell are you doing?!?!?” I scream at the older girl.
“Oh my god! You’re Samy! Liam’s Samy!” she about cries with excitement as she releases the girl from her grasp.
“Yeh, but that’s not the point. Tell me why the hell you’re beating up this girl!” I yell angrily. The older girl just stands there speechless. “Tell me what’s going on or I’m calling the cops” I say. Finally the younger girl speaks, her voice trembling as tears run down her face.
“She was trying to steal Liam’s autograph from me. He signed my CD and this snapback” she said crying “plus he gave me a hug and now she is trying to steal my sweatshirt because he touched it.” What the hell is wrong with this girl? Beating someone up over something that someone touched? Really? What did I sign up for? I know they’re not all like this, but the ones that are terrify me.
“Oh really?!?” I say in an angry mother tone while glaring at the older girl. “Is that true?” I confront her full on.
“Yeh, I wanted it.” She says in a smart ass tone.
“Get out of my building, NOW, or I’m calling the police” I say. The girls both turn to leave but I catch the younger one by the arm as the older one starts to run, not bothering to look back for fear of her parents finding out about her whereabouts.
“Not you, you come with me” I say to the young girl. I bring her into my apartment and start making water for hot cocoa. I set the cup in front of her and get out some supplies to take care of the cuts on her face and arms.
“Thank you” she says. I look at the clock at realize that it’s already 615. Liam should be getting up by now. He usually heads to the gym early so that the fans won’t hound him. I grab my phone and dial his number, making sure that the girl doesn’t hear my call. He answers right away, concerned. I quickly calm him down by explaining the situation to him and we come up with a surprise. By 700 there’s a knock on the door. I ask the girl, Lily, to open it. When she does, her heart drops. Liam, Louis, and Niall are there with breakfast and Niall has his guitar. The three of them sing a few songs for Lily and sign more things for her. After breakfast, I decide to drive Lily home. Her parents thank me for taking care of her and scold her for sneaking out. It’s cute. She reminds me of myself when I was her age. I giggle thinking about it.
I return home and spend the rest of the day doing all of the work that I had neglected during break. Classes start again tomorrow and I am nowhere near ready for a new term. I honestly just wish that I could skip Graduate school. Who needs it? But, I have to keep my Visa for the UK. No school, no work, no Visa, no Liam. Yeh, better get back to that work. I wake up suddenly to my phone ringing and realize that I have fallen asleep with my head on my keyboard of my laptop. It’s 945 at night. I had been working nonstop since 1045 this morning when I got back from dropping Lily off and who knows what time I dozed off. I look at the phone and see Liam’s gorgeous face smiling up at me while my phone sings “Truly, Madly, Deeply” by One Direction. It’s my ringtone for Liam. Corny, I know, but he set it himself and you can’t argue with Liam. He can really be quite stubborn.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Hey” he says too quietly. Something’s wrong. I can tell by his voice.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, now panicked.
“Management just called, we are leaving for tour next week” he says almost in a whisper.
“How long?” I ask, not really wanting to know the answer.
“8 months” he says. I can tell by his voice that he is on the verge of tears.
“Liam, it’s ok. We knew that this would happen eventually” I say, trying to remain calm for his sake but holding back tears.
“I know but damnit Sam, we just got back! Why do they have to keep working us so hard?” I hear him yell.
“Liam, calm down…”
“CALM DOWN?!?!??! HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!?!?!? IT’S 8 MONTHS AWAY FROM YOU! AWAY FROM MY FAMILY! MY HOME! EVERYTHING!” He is screaming now. Undeniably and uncontrollably screaming.
“I’m coming over.” I hang up before he answers. I grab my keys and head to his flat, he is on the verge of doing something stupid. I just have that feeling in the pit of my stomach. The one that tells you that hysteria has set in and irrationality is now controlling his every action. This is not going to end well.

Notes