Liam's POV
He started throwing a few punches that should've been well placed, however I rolled and slipped through them, but the last couple hit me in the jaw and just below my eye. He also proceeded to throw three quick punches to the chest and stomach that I didn't see coming, inevitably, causing me to get hit. I stumbled back, groaning in pain, but regained my balance and started moving my position, putting what I had learnt from martial arts to good use. I landed a few punches to his gut around his liver, as he was considerably taller than me and going for the head wouldn't be as effective. Along with a well placed pushing kick, he landed in the wall. He got back up relatively quickly and started charging me.
He was charging me full speed, however it was not well thought out, as I simply moved out of the way and held my leg out. He tripped and landed face first in the wall of lockers, knocking himself out-cold and leaving a considerably large dent in the lockers where his thick skull had hit.
However, I had more things to worry about. His gang started going at me, however a lot less skilled than Garth.
I managed to evade his gang's wild haymaker punches, dodging them and running past them, grabbing my keys and Charlotte off the ground, running out of the building. We exited the building and got to the car, jumping in and starting it, revving it off it's tits and leaving swiftly. I saw shortly after his gang running out to the parking lot, only to find we were long gone.
As we were driving away, I decided to evaluate what the damage Garth and his gang had caused was. None of my possessions were massively damaged aside from my locker key, which I had realised had bent from being yanked out of the keyhole. I looked over at Charlotte and noticed a bruise forming on the side of her face.
"Are you alright Charlotte? You've got a bruise coming on," I said, still worried for her. She nodded her head and proceeded to speak.
"Yeah I feel alright. I just hit my head when I fell. You don't look so hot yourself," She said, a worried tone in her voice, also pulling out her phone to reveal a new crack on the screen, "Oh for fucks sake," She muttered out, looking down at the phone.
"Does anything else hurt?" I asked, receiving a shake of her head and a sigh. I looked in the rear-view mirror and surely enough there was a bruise showing up under my eye and just above my lip, along with a couple small cuts that I still don't understand how I got, but I wasn't worried about that. I was just worried about getting Charlotte home safe.
The rest of the ride home was relatively quiet. We were relatively close until out of nowhere, Charlotte started quietly sobbing, so I pulled over and stopped the car.
"What's wrong Charlotte?" I asked, putting my arm around her.
"I don't want to lose you, Liam," She said, bursting into tears and throwing herself my chest, me bringing her into a hug.
"What do you mean?" I asked again.
"Garth put Humphrey in the hospital, I can only imagine what he would do to you," She said, my chest muffling most of the words, "You took his place on his one chance of getting a scholarship, he's going to kill you!"
"Charlotte, it's gonna take more than a douche like him to put me six-feet under. I'm not going out that easily," I said, chuckling.
"Bu-"
"Don't worry about me, okay?"
"Okay," she said, bringing herself up from my chest, "I just don't want to lose you."
"I know you don't, and I don't want to lose you either, but trust me. I'll be fine," I said, "Now, do you want to get home or not?" She giggled slightly and we headed for her house. After a couple turns we arrived at her house, she was about to get out until she stopped herself.
"Do you want to come in? I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind," She asked. I just nodded my head and turned the car off and we both exited the car, me locking it and putting the keys in my pocket.
"I'm home," Charlotte said, opening the front door to be greeted by their cat, which I still didn't know the name of, "Why, hello Mark," She said, looking down at the meowing cat and picking him up and stroking his back a bit, putting him back down, him scampering off toward the living room.
"Hey honey, how are... what happened?!" Linda said, coming down the stairs and seeing the bruise on her face.
"Liam might be able to explain the ordeal better," She said, both of them turning to me.
"Ah, well..." I said, starting the recounting of what had happened while we were walking down the halls of the school. Once I finished the story, Linda's eyes looked like they had been replaced by dinner plates.
"Oh my god! Are you okay, sweetie?!" Linda asked Charlotte, checking the bruising on her cheek.
"I'm fine, mum, don't worry. If anything Liam took a lot more hits than I did," Charlotte said, chuckling nervously a bit.
"Are you feeling alright, Liam? You've got a nice bruise coming up under your eye..." Linda said, pointing to it.
"Yeah I'm fine. A little sore but otherwise completely fine," I said, sighing a bit, "A way to end a day, isn't it?" I continued, chuckling a bit.
"Not how I expected it, nor wanted it," Charlotte replied, "You wanna go watch some Netflix or something in my room?"
"Sure, why not," I said, following her up the stairs and to her bedroom, flopping on her large bed the second I entered the room, causing her to giggle.
"Somebody must me tired," She said, still giggling a bit. I just groaned, agreeing with her, causing her to giggle as she turned on the TV, connecting to the Chromecast that was set up in her room. She sat down on the bed while I got up and got comfortable on the bed. It didn't take that long though because the bed was heavenly comfortable. I felt like I was gonna fall asleep just laying my finger down on it.
"This bed is so comfortable. I need it," I said, chuckling.
"Yeah, it really is. Sadly, you cannot have it though, unless you move in," She said, giggling and flicking through Netflix, "What do you wanna watch?"
"How about Bojack Horseman? I watched that show a little bit a while ago but I never finished it. It was a hilarious show," I suggested, her nodding and turning it on. We proceeded to spend the next hour or two watching a few episodes of them, also remembering how funny it was. Charlotte decided to snuggle up to me while we were laying down, wrapping her arms around me and resting her head on my chest, me wrapping my arm around her.
Soon enough it was 7pm, and it only felt like a few minutes had past. I looked down and surely enough Charlotte was fast asleep on my chest, which caused me to smile. I kissed her forehead, gaining a smile from her too while she slept. I turned the TV off and just sat there for a while, zoning out and just thinking, until I heard a knock at the door.
"Come in," I said quietly, trying not to wake up Charlotte. Surely enough the door creaked open and Linda's head popped through the door. She was about to speak until I pointed to Charlotte, signalling she was asleep. She nodded her head and walked up to the side of the bed.
"Dinner is ready if you feel like staying for it. You're more than welcome to," She said and I nodded, a little upset I'd have to wake up Charlotte.
"Let me just wake up Charlotte and we'll be right out," I said, smiling. She nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind her. I looked back down at the sleeping Charlotte on my chest and smiled at her peacefulness, the smile fading when I realised I'd have to disrupt said peacefulness.
"Charlotte... Wake up Charlotte..." I said in her ear, gently shaking her. She started stirring awake and yawned with a large stretch, "How was your sleep?"
"It was amazing. One of the best I've had," She said, looking up at me.
"That's good. Now, dinner is ready, so we may want to get up before we end up having a cold one," I said, chuckling a bit.
"Do we have to?... I'm so comfortable right now," She said sleepily and laying her head back down.
"I'm afraid so," I said, "Plus, I don't feel like having a cold dinner."
"Liam?" She asked, looking up at me.
"Mhm?" I mumbled out.
"Do you want to stay the night? I just don't want to be alone tonight," She asked, putting on a pair of puppy eyes.
"I would love to, but where would I sleep?" I asked.
"In here with me, obviously. We don't have a guest room and the couch isn't that nice to sleep on. Trust me, I'd know," She said, my face turning red.
"A-are you s-sure? I'm not sure your parents would approve," I asked, a little nervous.
"I'm sure," She replied, smiling.
"O-okay," I said, weakly smiling, "Now, I think we should go have dinner." She nodded and she slowly got up off of me, stretching and a couple joints popping. I got up and went over to the door, opening it and to be met with a delightful smell that could only be recognised as steak.
Time Skip: After Dinner
Charlotte's POV
That was one of the more pleasant dinner's I've had to be honest, and my parents surprisingly let Liam stay the night. I was expecting a big, fat no from them but I guess they were in a good mood. The steak was also cooked to perfection, it was delicious. With the side of mashed potatoes and it was absolutely fantastic. Granted, it's not one of the more difficult things to cook but it is still one of my most favourite meals. Liam and I excused ourselves from the table and Liam took our empty plates to the kitchen, rinsing them off and putting them in the sink.
"Thank you for dinner Rob and Linda. It was absolutely amazing," Liam said, as we were heading toward my bedroom, "I should come around more often. Also thanks for letting me stay the night," He continued, chuckling a bit.
"It's no problem, Liam. You're always welcome to stay for dinner, and you remember the talk I had with you about sleepovers with my daughter," Rob said, chuckling.
"Thank you and I'll keep that in mind. I don't feel like ending up in my grave prematurely," Liam said, laughing a bit.
"Now let's get back to Netflix. I was enjoying that show," I said, grabbing Liam's hand and dragging him up the stairs.
"Enjoying it? You were asleep for half of it!" He said, chuckling. I just rolled my eyes and kept dragging him along until we reached my bedroom, throwing him on the bed jokingly, and me heading over to the other side of the bed, grabbing the remote and turning the TV on. I connected my phone to the Chromecast again and got comfortable, Liam beating me to it.
"So, are you gonna watch it this time or just fall asleep again?" Liam said, laughing, however didn't see the pillow hurtling towards him that made a direct head-shot, his laughs stopping and being replaced by a subtle, "Ow."
"Yeah, that's what I thought," I said, giggling. I jumped on the bed and we started playing the show from where we left off earlier. It was pretty funny and I actually managed to stay awake this time. We made it through another few episodes until I realised it was coming up 10pm. I paused the episode and was met with a whine from Liam.
"Awwhh I was watching thaaat," Liam pouted, trying to get my phone off me, however his attempts made no success.
"It's nearly 10pm and I'm tired. I wanna sleep," I said, giggling. His eyes widened and he looked at the clock on the wall, it showing the time being 9:54pm.
"Jesus, I'm usually asleep by now," He said, a large yawn escaping his mouth.
"Well lets get some sleep then," I said, hopping off the bed, "Now, I'm gonna get changed," I continued, him nodding and going to leave the room, before I stopped him, "I didn't say you had to leave..."
"Um...I uh..." He stuttered, then finally got his words together, "N-no I'll wait outside. I don't want to invade your privacy," He continued, leaving and shutting the door behind him. I sighed, disappointed he didn't want to stay. I quickly got dressed into some Pyjama pants and just an oversized t-shirt, my usual sleep wear. I walked over to the door and opened it, motioning Liam to come in, and he happily obliged.
"Wait, what're you gonna wear?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.
"I'll just wear my pants and my t-shirt that I'm wearing. It's usually what I wear anyway. I don't have many different clothes," He said, taking off the grey hoodie to reveal a Three Days Grace shirt. I wasn't particularly fond with the band but they did have a couple good songs. I just nodded and climbed in the bed, however Liam was a bit slow to get in, and I noticed he was blushing a bit and shaking too.
"Aww is someone nervous?" I asked, giggling and he just climbed under the covers and got comfortable quite silently, "Are you okay, Liam? You don't have to be nervous."
"I'm sorry, I've just never done this before..." He said, embarrassed.
"Really? I find that hard to believe..." I said, facing him and smiling, he smiled weakly and closed his eyes.
"Goodnight Charlotte," He said quietly.
"Goodnight Liam," I said back, closing my eyes, however not being able to fall asleep. A few minutes later I opened my eyes again and surely enough Liam was asleep, laying face up. I decided to move closer and cuddled up to him, wrapping my arms around him and laying my head on his chest, the slow rhythmic heart beat pulsing from his chest was more than enough to cause me to drift off into slumber, however before I fell asleep, I felt his arm wrap around me and a light kiss on my forehead.
"Goodnight Char," He whispered sweetly and quietly into my ear, leaving a smile on my face as the void of nothingness known as sleep overcame me.