AN: This is just a silly little idea that wouldn't get out of my head after Holiday Madness aired. I had to write it just so it would stop nagging me and I could get on with Who Will You Run To. Which is not to say it wasn't an entertaining distraction. ;p I hope you enjoy and look for Chapter 4 of WWYRT tomorrow!
Holiday Hangover
Annie emerged slowly from unexpected slumber convinced she was still dreaming. Curled into Liam's side, her cheek pressed against his warm bare chest and her hand curled loosely over his heart, she felt far too relaxed and happy for the moment to be real. Determined to make the sensation last as long as possible, she squeezed her eyes shut and focused on the slow, steady pulse of Liam's heartbeat. In a few minutes, she'd have to wake him again, but in the meantime she pretended that they could stay like this forever.
The sudden opening of the front door yanked Annie out of the fantasy far sooner than she'd planned. The last vestiges of sleep evaporated in an instant and her eyes flew open. One floor down, the door slammed again with enough strength to echo through the entire house. She gasped, the breath frozen in her lungs. Dixon was home. And she had just had sex with his best friend in his bed.
Panic proved a tremendous motivator. Pushing the covers aside, Annie scrambled for her clothes. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment over the mere thought of her brother walking in on her and Liam all cuddled up and naked together. She wasted a few precious seconds to shudder. "God, no. Just…no."
A tangled heap of clothing lay discarded on the carpet on Liam's side of the bed. Annie quickly found her cami and sweater and pulled them on, immediately reaching for pants that weren't there. With a frown, she dug through the pile again, but Liam's jeans and t-shirt weren't hiding anything. Another sound came from the first floor, closer than before. The tell tale creak of the banister as Dixon began to climb the stairs.
"Oh, crap," Annie muttered, crawling on her hands and knees around the foot of the bed. Now she could hear her brother's tread on the thick carpet. Just as she was about to give up and attempt a last minute suicide dash to her room, she saw the rolled cuff of her jeans sticking out from beneath the bunched up corner of the comforter that had slid off the end of the bed. Desperately, she dove for them and had them halfway on before she realized they were backwards.
"Seriously?" she whined softly, straightening out the errant pants and trying again, her eyes darting every few seconds to the landing. The top of Dixon's head appeared between the bars of the banister, just as Annie jumped to her feet, pulled the jeans over her hips and zipped the fly. Safely clothed, she let out the breath she'd been holding and tried to shake out her disheveled hair. Surveying the room in the few seconds that remained, she kicked Liam's clothes under the bed with her bare foot and yanked the comforter up to hide the messy state of the sheets.
"How's Sleeping Beauty?" Dixon asked from the doorway a split second after Annie succumbed to the urge to trail her fingers down the side of Liam's face. Upon hearing her brother's voice, she snatched her hand away and tried to school features into a mask of innocence.
"Uh, he's um…still living up to the name," she said airily and shoved her hands in her pockets. Her gaze glued to the floor as she padded silently over the thick carpet. Afraid to look him in the eye, she settled for just over his shoulder. "How was the party?"
"Um…interesting," Dixon offered vaguely. The barest hint of hesitation piqued her courage and she dared a glance at her brother's face. Studiously, he avoided her gaze, suddenly fascinated with the ceiling in his own room.
Annie frowned. "Did something happen-?"
"Nope. Not a thing," he declared with a quick shake of his head. Annie blinked in surprise.
"O-okay, then," she replied, eyes narrowed. Dixon had nearly caught her with his best friend and he was the one who seemed nervous.
"Have you…noticed anything different about Teddy?" Dixon asked, glancing at her for one instant before his gaze darted away.
"Teddy?" Annie repeated, groping for words. Gradually, her pulse had returned normal and she expelled the first full breath she'd managed to take since hearing the front door open. "Not really. I mean, he's been kinda down since he had to quit tennis, but honestly, I haven't talked to him much. Why, was he-."
"H-he's fine. It's nothing," he cut her off and Annie would have sworn he turned red. Backing toward the stairs, he finally met her eye. "I'm gonna go to bed. You've got this, right?"
"Uh, yeah…Yeah, I've got this. I think Liam's starting to feel better anyway," Annie nodded, trying not to blush herself. If by 'got this' her brother meant had she channeled Florence Nightingale and completely fallen for her patient to the point where only moments ago she'd been naked and wrapped up in bed with him, then yes, she was all over it. She cleared her throat. "Night, Dixon."
"Night," he called absently as he rounded the banister. He'd only descended a step when he paused. "Hey sis…Is your shirt inside out?"
Annie's stomach plummeted to somewhere around her feet and she automatically glanced down. For the first time she noticed the exposed seams running along her inner arm and over her shoulders. The flush of mild embarrassment morphed to a full blazing fire as she vividly recalled the way Liam had stripped that sweater and cami over her head at the same time, his touch searing her bare flesh. "Yeah, I-I guess I wasn't paying attention when I got dressed."
She glanced up, hoping that Dixon would take her no doubt beet red face as a sign of her mortification over a fashion faux pas, rather than somehow miraculously guessing she'd been scrambling naked for her clothes only moments before he'd arrived. Fortunately for her, her brother had already disappeared.
Sighing with relief, Annie closed the door with a soft click and leaned her forehead against the cool wood. Her pulse continued to thunder in her ears and the tell-tale sweater suddenly felt far too hot and itchy. With a shrug, she pulled it over her head and let it fall heedlessly to the floor. Running her hands through her hair, she looked at a still sleeping Liam. Exhaustion hit her like a freight train as the last of her adrenaline fueled freak out drained from her system. In the past forty-eight hours, she hadn't slept more than four altogether. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to climb back into bed with him and rediscover that blissful cocoon of warmth in which she'd awoken.
First, however, she needed to wake him up again. Crawling up from the foot of the bed, Annie stretched out on her side next to Liam, propping her head on her fist. Briefly, she closed her eyes, a small smile playing at her lips as she tried – and failed – once again to believe everything that had happened in the past two days. Unable to resist, she followed through on her earlier desire to touch him and lightly smoothed the hair off his forehead.
Building on that instinct, Annie pressed her cheek to his, brushing her lips against his warm skin. The idea to kiss him awake was too delicious to resist. Placing a hand gently on his chest for balance, she leaned further over him. A few seconds after her lips closed over his, Liam stirred. His hand came up to cover hers, then as he kissed her back, crept up her bare arm until eventually he buried his fingers in her hair, pulling her closer.
"Hey," Liam murmured a few moments later when they came apart, his gaze still lingering on her lips.
"Hey, yourself," Annie returned, loathe to put any distance between them, but afraid of hurting his bruised ribs. Liam had other ideas, slipping his free arm around her waist and keeping her firmly tucked against his side when she tried to shift away. She bit her lip and offered a token protest. "What about-?"
"I'm fine," he interrupted. She lifted one doubtful brow and he sighed. "Okay, I still feel like I got mowed down by the entire West Bev defensive line and John Bonham is playing Rock and Roll in my head."
"I have no idea who that is, but I'm guessing that's bad," Annie said, tapping him lightly on the chest for emphasis.
"Bonham was the drummer for Led Zeppelin," he replied with a wan smile, scrubbing his face with his hand. He sighed and regarded her steadily for a moment. "He's…intense."
"You should have stayed in the hospital," she said pointedly, her fingers tracing lazy circles on his skin.
"I like the nurses better here," he said with a slow grin that made her pulse race.
"I'm pretty sure I broke every rule in the nurse's handbook," she said, trying for levity and failing miserably as Liam reached up to brush her hair over her shoulder. It felt so good, touching and being touched by him. After all the months of fear and false starts, her body craved it. He ran his fingers along her jaw, dragged his thumb across her lips and she nearly purred.
"I'm not complaining," he murmured, the last word nearly lost as their lips met. Annie sighed, physically relieved to be kissing him again. Before tonight, she'd convinced herself she could do without the connection they'd inexplicably forged, especially as it seemed that's what Liam wanted. His confession had changed everything and she knew as the kiss deepened her days of pretending were over.
The magic Liam worked with his lips and tongue short-circuited Annie's brain and for an indefinite amount of time she couldn't string two coherent thoughts together. Vaguely, she was aware of the tangled sheets beneath her back and then his hand pushing her shirt higher and higher, the exposed flesh begging for his touch. Slowly, her mind acclimated to the overpowering desire claiming the majority of her focus. Errant ideas swirled at the corners of her consciousness, registering briefly before eroding under the landslide.
A weight she hadn't noticed before had lifted when Liam told her he loved her, but if she were honest, that confession only reinforced what had already changed. During the agonizing trip to the hospital, she'd made Dixon go over every scant detail so many times they'd been fighting when they pulled into the parking lot. Annie hadn't cared. Her brother could be upset with her for the rest of the school year so long as Liam was okay.
That was themoment when the depth of her feelings finally cut through the fear and denial that had kept her safe for months. Long before their first kiss, before the boat, all the way back to the fountain when her uncharacteristic moment of spontaneity had flipped a switch and she physically felt things change, she'd been hiding. From herself, from him and from the heartbreak of falling for her best friend's boyfriend all over again.
From there the reasons to stay away continued to stack up, one on top of the other, until she was buried beneath them. Naomi, the Girl Code, and Liam's penchant for danger made it so easy. When it got harder and he fought to win her back, there was Charlie, but more than that was her fear of letting another guy, one that really mattered, make her vulnerable when the previous year it had led to such disaster.
The uncomfortable truths pulled her out of the moment with Liam, so she kissed him harder, determined to go back to the mindless bliss of only moments ago. With agonizing slowness, he'd been working her shirt higher, exposing her to the cool air of the room inch by inch. Now, he abandoned that pursuit and his deft fingers found the button of her jeans. Flipping it open, he eased the zipper down and slipped his hand inside to curve around her bare hip. The contact melted Annie from the inside out. Moaning softly into his mouth, she settled deeper into the mattress so she could feel more of his weight pinning her down.
For awhile, the distraction worked and her jeans were halfway down her legs before the sheer ease with which she and Liam had come together – and were about to again – reminded her of the awkward mess that had been her attempt with Charlie. All at once the nagging truth she'd buried deepest burst through. Her stomach heaved and dropped to her feet, an odd sensation to feel lying down, half naked on her brother's bed as his best friend worked her into a lust fueled frenzy.
"Mmm, Li-Liam, stop," she managed to tear her lips from his long enough to utter the few words. Her body betrayed her and even as she tried to speak again, her mouth sought his. With each passing second, however, her conscience soured the moment and when she came up for air a second time, her voice was stronger. "Liam, no. We have to…Liam, we have to stop."
The conviction in that command had the desired effect. While he didn't let her go, he broke the kiss, leaving them both panting for air. "Why? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she gasped, her eyes still closed and forehead pressed to his as her hand around the back of his neck kept him close. The sudden influx of oxygen made her dizzy and she ached to kiss him again. Why had she stopped them? "D-Dixon's home. He's…he's downstairs."
"Right," he said simply. Annie's lashes fluttered and she found herself looking directly into Liam's icy blue eyes. Staring at him while she waited for her racing heart to slow down, she tried to read the inscrutable thoughts lurking behind them. All she could think about was how badly she wanted to finish what they'd started and avoid the conversation they had to have.
Realizing perhaps that she lacked the strength to do it, Liam released her and rolled onto his back. With deliberate focus, Annie pulled up her jeans. Slowly, she sat and straightened her cami back into its proper position. While she wrangled her jumbled thoughts, she bent her knees to her chest, one at a time, and rested her elbows on them. As her pulse slowed, the strength of her guilt increased.
"Is this really about Dixon?"
His tone was neutral, but underneath it held an edge of accusation that made her wonder how clearly the guilt was displayed on her face. She ran her hands through her hair and stared at the jumbled sheets. "No. I mean, he is home and I'm sure he doesn't want his best friend and his sister having sex in his bed...again."
The mattress shifted and Liam pushed himself to a seated position, doing his best to mask the lingering pain. "Do you regret it?"
She could have played dumb and made him spell it out to buy more time, but no amount of procrastinating would make this any easier. "Liam-."
"Hey, it's fine, I get it," he interrupted, cutting her with the hostility in his voice. Pushing away the sheet pooled at his waist, he swung his legs to the floor and groped for his jeans. "You can save the speech."
"What are you doing?" she cried, scrambling to her knees as he quickly tugged on his pants and stood to button the fly. "You've got a concussion, Liam. Slow down."
"I know you're still with Charlie," he continued as if she hadn't spoken. Angrily, he plucked his shirt from the floor. "Nothing I said or what we did...changes that. I'm not...I'm not an idiot."
"Oh, my god. Yes, you are," she argued, grabbing his arm. The sudden change from reclining to standing would have made anybody a little dizzy, but Liam was actually swaying. Kneeling on the bed gave her a few extra inches and enough leverage to physically pull him back. "Will you sit down before you pass out?"
"Annie, I'm-."
"Don't tell me you're fine or you'll be an idiot and a liar," she warned, her own temper stoked by his stupid pride. Cursing darkly, Liam sank back to the mattress and pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. Concern outweighed her exasperation and she sighed. "If you would have let me talk I would have told you I don't regret sleeping with you. I should, but I don't."
Liam tossed his shirt back to the floor and looked at her wearily. "What does that mean?"
Annie swallowed, her heart lodged somewhere in her throat, but if he could be brave, so could she and she was too tired to censor her feelings. Scooting closer until her knees nudged his hip, she ran her fingers through his hair and held his face so he couldn't look away. "It means I'm in love with you, too."
Liam's expression told her nothing, but she felt him catch his breath. "You are?"
"Oh yeah," she promised, her heart breaking at the naked hope and longing in his eyes. "But you're right. Our timing sucks. Technically, I am still with Charlie. Before I wasn't thinking about that. At all. Now, I would be and I just…I can't. Not until I end things. But I will. So don't go doing anything stupid like trying to run out of here just so you can pass out half way down the stairs and get another concussion."
"I probably wouldn't even make it out the door," he admitted wryly. Annie grinned. More confident now, she swung a leg over his and settled onto his lap. His arms slid around her automatically and at that simple gesture the tightness in her chest loosened. Liam regarded her intently. "Are you sure about this? Because I won't let you go again."
"Good," she smiled. "Because I'm not letting anything stand between us anymore."
"And that, my friend, is the sound of you owing me a hundred bucks," Dixon chortled, pushing the door all the way open and holding up his cell phone into the room. Annie gasped and would have scrambled off Liam's lap if not for his unbreakable grip.
"Oh my god, Dixon!" she cried, her face aflame. "Don't you knock?"
Her brother snorted. "It's my room!"
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Navid interrupted them, his groan tinny but unmistakable emanating from the small device. "Annie, I thought you were better than some Florence Nightingale fantasy."
She scoffed. "Hey!"
"And Liam," Navid continued. "Come on man, I thought you were more chivalrous."
"Have you met me?" he snorted.
"Whine all you want, dude, it's not going to change anything," Dixon crowed, practically dancing in the doorway. "That's one hundred dollars. I prefer small bills and I do not accept checks."
"That's…just…whatever, man," Navid's protests sputtered off weakly. "I'm hanging up now. Annie, Liam? I'm very disappointed. Goodbye."
"Bye, sucker!" Dixon cackled and ended the call. Positively beaming, he held his arms out toward the couple still stunned and wrapped up in each other on the bed. "You two. I love you. I'm not even mad that I have to burn my sheets. You won me the bet."
"The bet?" Liam raised a brow, finally letting Annie climb off his lap to claim a more dignified seat on the bed next to him. "You and Navid made a bet? About us?"
"Hell, yeah," he explained and gleeful regaled them with the details of the wager. Knowing them as they did when Navid learned that Liam would be staying at the Wilson's until he'd recovered, he and Dixon had immediately started laying odds on what they considered the inevitable. "Navid gave you the benefit of the doubt and said a week. Me? I knew better. I gave you three days."
Annie shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe-."
"And I can't believe you two got it on in my bed," he countered. Crossing his arms, he glared at them in mock disapproval. "Oh yeah, don't act all innocent like you don't know what I'm talking about. This hundred bucks is payment for my emotional trauma."
"O-okay, Dixon? You're done now," Annie finally could take no more of her brother's gloating. Leaping from the bed she scurried to the door and tried to shove him back into the hallway.
"Hey, this is my room!" he protested.
"Too bad," she shrugged, using the door itself as added leverage. "You should have thought of that before you gave it to your best friend, who still has a concussion by the way."
"Oh, that's hysterical," Dixon crowed. "Like you're not just trying to get rid of me so you can go for round two, or three."
"Good night, Dixon," Liam said definitively, sidling up behind Annie and bracing an arm above her head to add his weight to the battle. The second the door latched, she flipped the lock against her brother's continued protesting.
"Remind me to do that from now on," she murmured aloud with a sigh. Suddenly exhausted, she turned and sagged against the door, craning her neck to look at Liam. "I can't believe my brother placed bets on my love life."
"I can," Liam smirked and crossed his bare arms over his chest. "I might even have gone in on that."
Annie tried to feel embarrassed, but all she could do was laugh. The entire evening was just too surreal to be believed. A yawn fought through the laughter and she failed utterly to stifle it.
"How much have you slept the past two days?" Liam asked.
"I'm fine," she insisted.
"Uh huh, right," he shook his head and slipped an arm around her shoulders. "That sounds almost as convincing as when I tried it. Come on."
"Really, I'm okay," she protested weakly as he led her back to the bed. Her arm crept around his waist and she leaned into him feeling the weight of every sleepless minute she'd spent the past two days.
"You haven't slept at all the past couple of days, have you?" he asked, pulling back the covers and physically placing her on the mattress.
"Yeah, I have," she insisted, scooting all the way back to lean against the headboard.
"Passing out in that chair between waking me up doesn't count," he argued, raising a brow pointedly as he flipped off the lights, leaving the room illuminated only by the glow of the bedside lamp next to the bed. Annie stared at him unabashedly as he walked back to the bed clad only in his jeans. Anticipation danced low in her belly, almost immediately soured by the technicality of her relationship with Charlie.
Disappointment was bitter in her mouth. "Liam, we can't-."
"Oh, we're not," he agreed, grabbing the sheet and pulling it up as he sat down beside her. "You need to sleep. And I'm going to make sure you do."
"No, you-you need me to wake you up," she argued, even as she succumbed to another huge yawn.
"It's been two days, I'll be okay," he promised. Sleep in general sounded like heaven, sleep wrapped up in Liam's arms even better, but still she hesitated. He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Annie. You turned your life upside down for me. Let me take care of you now."
"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?"
"Not a chance," he replied and pulled her down with him against the pillows. Even as her brain worked on another protest, her body curled into his side. Fatigue dragged her under with every passing second. Liam switched off the bedside light and her eyes fluttered shut in the darkness.
"Maybe just…a few minutes," she managed, the words barely a whisper in the quiet room.
"Shhh," Liam cautioned as he wrapped both arms tightly around her, one hand slipping beneath her hair to lightly massage the nape of her neck. Annie sighed and gave up the fight, the steady beat of his heart lulling her into a deep sleep.