"Thank you so much for cleaning out my pencil case. I would have absolutely died if you hadn't."

My best friend, Gemma, laughed as we stood at our lockers, putting away our pencils, pens and erasers that we had just used in our English exam.

"There were like a thousand random bits of paper. It was like a mini stationary bomb went off."

I gave her a pointed look. "It wasn't that bad, Gem."

She smiled. "Really, Ella? Was it really not that bad?"

I laughed. "You make me sound like such a slob."

Gemma rolled her eyes. "That's because you are, babe."

"I'm not that bad." I said, half jokingly, half defensively.

Gemma laughed, closing her locker door. "I'll see you at dancing tomorrow." She strode off down the hall to find her younger brother, Harry, calling out "love you!" behind her as she did.

I laughed, taking my bag out of my locker. Just as I was about to close it, a pair of hands covered my eyes. "Guess who is now free this afternoon?"

I smiled. "Practice is cancelled?"

Liam took away his hands, turning me around with one hand while using the other to close my locker door. "Yup, I'm all yours."

"Guess it's my lucky day then. I'm thinking movies and junk food at my house?" I grinned, walking backwards towards the exit.

He took my hands, steering me away from anything I could potentially crash into. "Sounds perfect."

I turned around, releasing one of my hands from his grasp. We walked to my house, stopping at the corner store on our way.

In the candy isle of the store, Liam automatically reached up for the strawberry licorice, my favourite. I smiled; remembering the little details about me was something he was way too good at.

As we turned into my street, I spotted my neighbours out in their yard. Louis, the eldest and only son, was a couple of years older than Liam and me and was like a brother to me. Two of his younger sisters, Daisy and Lottie, ran up to us.

"Louis has a school play on tomorrow night that Mum and Dad are going to watch, and they wanted me to ask you if you could pretty please babysit Daisy, Felicite and Phoebe." Lottie asked as Daisy gave me a hug.

I grinned, nodding. "Sure, that's no problem. What time do you want me over?"

Lottie smiled thankfully. "Like, five thirty?"

Liam started playing with my hair before poking at my waist. "Liam, stop fidgeting or I'll send you home" I said disapprovingly.

"You love me." He smiled, throwing an arm around my shoulders. "Can't get enough of me."

I rolled my eyes at him, his only reply a satisfied smirk.

"You make a cute couple" Daisy said approvingly.

I went to explain to her that we weren't a couple, but then gave up. I was sick of correcting people.

"Yup, that's us. I'll see you guys tomorrow night. Come on, Liam." I took his hand from around my shoulders, leading him to my front door and inside.

He closed the door behind him, turning around to face me with a confused expression on his face. His admittedly gorgeous face.

"Why did you say we were together?" He didn't seem mad, just confused.

I shrugged, sitting down on the couch. "I didn't feel like standing there for two hours explaining why we weren't together."

"Oh okay" he said, sounding almost disappointed.

He sat down next to me on the couch, leaning back and stretching. His shirt rode up a bit, leaving me unable to not notice the sliver of chiselled abs that he worked so hard to maintain.

He sat up straighter, putting an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his side.

The weird thing was, we acted like a couple even though we weren't. Daisy wasn't the only one under the impression that we were a couple. And I knew for a fact that I was the reason that at least ten girls hadn't asked him out.

Not that I had a problem with that. I didn't want him dating some brainless girl who only liked him for his looks, anyway.

"So, I heard a rumour today about Paul Tatum today." I inwardly smiled, he was such a gossip.

"What about?" I didn't really care that much, Paul Tatum was a prat; I only cared because Liam was telling me.

"Him liking you" he sounded disapproving, almost angry.

"Calm down, it's not like I would ever like him anyways. He's a complete and utter prat."

He seemed relieved, which was weird. We had both hated Paul since we were six, why would he think I would start liking him now.

"You'd tell me if you liked someone though, right?" I didn't want to answer that, so I chose another angle instead.

"Why are you all of a sudden interested in my non-existent love life?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. I just don't want you dating some douche."

I rolled my eyes, slightly disappointed. "Don't worry, Liam. You're the only guy in my life."

He smiled, seemingly satisfied. "Good. Let's keep it that way."

I laughed. "It works both ways too. I don't get a boyfriend, you don't get a girlfriend."

He smiled. "Deal."

I held out my pinkie. "Pinkie promise?"

He linked his pinkie with mine, something we had been doing since we were toddlers. "Pinkie promise."

My parents were away on a work trip for the next week, so Liam invited himself over for the night. It wasn't unusual; my parents were out of town most of the time, so Liam was over all the time.

He went to sleep in the guest room, which he frequented so often that it was pretty much his. After midnight, I felt him slide into the spare side of my bed.

"What are you doing?" I mumbled. It wasn't uncommon for him to sleep in my bed, but lately something had changed between us and it felt like it signified something other than two best friends having a sleepover.

"I couldn't sleep," he murmured. Instinctively, I moved closer to him, letting him wrap his arms loosely around me.

I woke up like that, as usual, but this time it felt wrong. Completely right, but wrong because it wasn't really the way it seemed.

I slipped out of Liam's arms, going downstairs to make breakfast.

Liam fell into a seat at the kitchen table, his eyes instantly closing as his head fell to rest on his crossed arms. "Pancakes?" he mumbled, half asleep.

I couldn't help the smiled that made its way onto my face. "Yes, pancakes."

He made a sleepy, half-hearted at a fist pump. "Yay for pancakes."

I ran my fingers absentmindedly through his hair as I set a plate of pancakes in front of him. He lifted his head slightly, sliding the plate closer.

After breakfast, we watched the news. A weird thing for two teenagers to do, but for some reason we always watched it together whenever he was over. Gemma said we were like an old married couple.

I went to get changed, bringing down an old hoodie of Liam's that I had stolen for him to wear.

I found an old pair of jeans that he had forgotten to take home once and gave him those too. This wasn't unusual; I was always stealing his jumpers and he generally left an item of clothing whenever we actually planned a sleepover and he brought clothes.

Liam and his best mate, Zayn, planned to play basketball at the park at ten, so I called Gemma and told her to come too.

At the park, Gemma walked over to me, linking our arms together and pulling me away from Liam.

"When are you two just going to make out already?" She whispered into my ear, winking.

I groaned, pushing her away. "Shut up, Gem."

"You love me."

I rolled my eyes. "What is with everyone and assuming I love them? "

She raised an eyebrow. "Did Liam seriously…?"

I shook my head. "No, jokingly."

She looked disappointed before cheering up as the boys got ready to play. "Yay, time for some shirtless boys."

I laughed. "I swear, you and your brother are the horniest people I have ever met."

Gemma grinned. "Don't you forget it, baby."

We sat on the swings next to the court, watching them play. I couldn't help but stare at Liam's shirtless physique. What was wrong with me?

It used to be that Liam and I were like siblings, inseparable. But lately, the thought of being his sibling just grossed me out.

"Come on, Liam. Stop staring at your girlfriend! My grandma could shoot better than that!" One of the boys taunted Liam, and I looked up to see him quickly avert his gaze from me.

"Shut up, man." Liam said sullenly, stealing the ball back of the other team.

"Why don't you get your girlfriend to come shoot for you instead? Even she'd probably get it in."

Liam looked furious, but I noticed that he didn't deny me as his girlfriend. "Don't talk about Ella like that." He turned to me. "Elle, want to come shoot and prove this prick wrong?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, confused. But I stood up, walking over to him. He glared at the other boy before handing me the ball and taking hold of my hips, turning me around to face the net. "Get this in for me, Ellie. Please."

I looked up at him, he was acting really strange. He stood behind me, taking hold of my hand and using his other hand to grip my hips. Together, we shot a three-pointer.

He looked over at the boy, triumphant. "Still say she can't shoot?"

A few hours later, we were back at my house, eating from a container of ice-cream with forks. Liam had a strange fear of spoons, and I had adapted to eating with spoons at little as possible.

Liam stood next to me, one arm around me holding onto the counter on the other side of me. He kept glancing at me, and it was starting to bug me.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" I blushed, putting my fork down.

He raised his hand to wipe away a smudge of ice-cream from the corner of my mouth. I felt my cheeks redden and looked down at the floor. He sighed. "Nothing."

I looked up when I heard the tone of his voice. "Liam? Is everything alright. You've been acting strange."

He groaned, running his fingers through his wavy honey-brown hair. He pulled me closer to him, hugging me and resting his chin on the top of my head. "Nothing, Elle. I'm fine. Just dandy."

I looked up at him. "No, you're not. Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

He tightened his grip on me, staring into my eyes. "Because I don't want to screw things up."

I knitted my eyebrows together, confused. "Screw what up? Just tell me, Liam."

He refused to tell me. He just stared at me for a few seconds before raising his hand and placing it on my cheek.

I tried not to get my hopes up, but inside I was hoping that his dilemma was what I thought it would be.

I managed to murmur 'Liam' before he leant down and kissed me.