The Lyre: Harry Styles Fanfiction

Liam's

(Harry)

I followed Liam as he carried Cheryl to her front door.

When he reached it, he turned to me and passed Cheryl back into my arms, taking me aback.

It was clear that this guy knew how to keep his cool.
This was a man.
I found myself feeling respect for him, which is hard to earn from me.

He unlocked the door, then held his arms out toward me and I immediately passed Cheryl back over to him.

I walked behind Liam, going into Cheryl's room in case I could be of any help.

He pulled the covers of her bed down and laid her down, gently.

"Look away", he said.

Even though Cheryl was already practically naked, I turned around, my back facing them.

I crossed my arms and looked down at the floor, hearing shuffling, knowing Liam was taking the lingerie off of her and putting something else on her to cover her up.

When I heard the covers being pulled over her, I turned back around to see Liam tucking her in.
His thumb grazed her cheek, then he stood up straight and walked away.

He walked passed me and I followed him out of the room and into Cheryl's kitchen.

He opened the refrigerator door and got out a bottle of beer, holding it out to me.

I took it, then he got a bottle out for himself.

Once again, I followed him. He walked to the opposite end of the house, the furthest room from Cheryl's bedroom.

Liam sat down and motioned for me to sit in a chair close to him.

"So, who are you?", Liam asked.

"I'm Harry", I leaned over and held my hand out, "Styles", I added, as Liam firmly shook my hand.

"Harry, are you married? Or have a girlfriend?", he asked, calmly.

I immediately thought about Lila.
She wasn't mine, yet, but I decided to nod my head.
"Girlfriend".

"Okay", he said, evenly.
"Imagine seeing your girl how I saw Cheryl tonight. Practically naked. Reeking of vodka. Coming out of a car with a man I've never met".

He looked into my eyes, not with anger, but with sincerity.
"You can probably imagine the questions and thoughts going through my head", he finished, cueing me to talk.

"I can't imagine what you must be thinking and I'm sorry for the...confusion", I began.

"I've known Cheryl for years, she's my mate's fiancé's best friend", I added.

"Her best friend....Olivia?", he asked, trying to piece things together.

"Yeah. Uh. I needed some help with something, tonight. Cheryl helped me out....", I couldn't say anything else.
I went silent.

I couldn't explain anything without telling Liam things that only Cheryl should tell him.

"I know you don't know me. You're confused as fuck and I'm sorry. You seem like a solid guy....", I was struggling.

As much as this man, Liam, deserved the truth, it wasn't my place to expose someone else's indiscretions.

I took a few huge swigs from the beer and looked him in the eye.

"It's not my place to talk to you about everything, but you need to know the physical state that Cheryl's in right now", I said to him.

"Completely aware of it, she drank some Rohypnol to relieve herself of some major pain that she was in. She-"

Liam's eyes widened, then he immediately jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room.

I ran after him, finding him in a room where he clearly kept a lot of his things.
He frantically grabbed a big bag off of a shelf and ripped it open.

"Mate! What..", I started but he spoke, interrupting me.

"How much vodka did she drink?", he asked me, urgently.

He pulled out some kind of kit, then ran into Cheryl's bedroom.

"I don't know....maybe the equivalent of....five or six shots?", I said, running after him.

Liam got out what looked like a pen and lifted Cheryl's eyelid, then shined a small light at her iris that immediately rolled back into her head.

I watched as he wrapped her arm with a blood pressure cuff and immediately pumped the air bulb, then brought a stethoscope into his ears and held the other end under the cuff on her arm.

"What are you doing?", I asked, concerned.

"Checking for hypotension", he answered.

After a few seconds, Liam took a deep breath and removed everything from her.

He leaned down and kissed Cheryl's forehead.
At that moment I saw that she was his.
Cheryl was Liam's.
She'd never be Zayn's.

Neither will Lila

Liam stood and slowly made his way out of the room, gesturing for me to follow.

"Her blood pressure's ninety over sixty. That's low, but not dangerously low", he exhaled, making his way back to the room we were in earlier.

"Mixing Rohypnol with alcohol can cause dangerously low blood pressure, a person can have trouble breathing, they can go into a coma, they can die", he ran his hands over his face.

"Cheryl's pupils were responsive enough. Her breathing is steady. Her blood pressure was my biggest concern", he said, relieved.

"Oh. I...had no idea. I thought, since people use it all the time...", I trailed off.

"Yeah, I know. People aren't aware of how lethal it can be", he rubbed his eyes, then continued.

"I cannot describe how infuriating and perplexing ALL if this is right now. I've never been more confused. Please. Harry. Please just....what the hell is going on?", his eyes begged me.

"Please, please just talk to Cheryl tomorrow. I know you want answers, but they need to be answered by Cheryl and Cheryl alone. Just go to bed and she'll explain it all tomorrow", I said, actually pleading with him.
I've never pleaded with a man in my entire life.

Liam swallowed down some of his beer and looked down at his bottle after he lowered it.
"You think I'll be sleeping tonight?", he said, flatly.

This guy was level-headed.
He was no hothead like most men are.
I could tell that he was intelligent, open minded, mature.
Moreso than I ever was.

My eyes lowered, thinking about what Cheryl was going to be telling him tomorrow.
She said she decided to confess everything to him.

I took in a deep breath and raised my eyes back up to him.

"Oi, Mate", I said.
"You love her?"

Liam reached into his back pocket, then stared down at the diamond ring, gleaming in his hand.

"I've been carrying this around for almost a week, waiting for the moment that it felt like the right time".