Wingman ⇝ {Ziam}

Chapter 18: The Liam POV

a/n: this chapter long af. Prepare yourselves for longness I apologize.

Thanks again for all of the support, and I'll try to update more often, promise!

Hope yall enjoy anyway!

It's 5 o'clock in the morning, and Liam can't sleep. It's been an hour since Zayn's walked off and Liam broke his heart, thirty minutes since Liam's last phone call to Zayn, and twenty minutes since Sophia called him saying she was coming over so they could talk.

It's only been an hour and Liam misses Zayn.

He grabs his phone, settling on sending Zayn one last text message. Through all the confusion, heartache, and anger, he decides on sending a message on what he's worried about most.

To: Zaynie

please be safe

He jumps at the sound of knocking against his door. His face falls as he opens the door, revealing a nervous-looking brunette. There was some gullible, optimist part of him that had hoped to see hazel-eyes and raven hair instead.

Sophia pushes past him without so much as a hello. She sits on his couch and eagerly waits for him to join her, and he does because he's missed her, he's missed feeling loved.

"You felt something tonight, right?" she asks, taking his hands into her own and looking into his brown-eyes.

"Well... yeah, I've missed you, Soph," he responds. He slides his hands out of her grip and looks away from her. "But things are different now. Me and Zayn are..." He hesitates for a few seconds before continuing, "We just can't be in a relationship. That's what you want, innit?"

She cups his cheeks and forces his eyes on her again. "More than anything, and I know that's what you want, too. So why are you fighting it?" She leans in and places a gentle kiss on his lips. "Why are you fighting what we have?" She starts to lean in more, ready for a passionate kiss.

Liam pushes her away and hastily gets up, his conscience eating away at him. "Zayn told me he loved me tonight... And I broke his heart. Him and I... we have to move past this together. Seeing us together will only hurt him more."

Sophia takes a deep breath before she leans forward and takes his hand, guiding him back into the seated position next to her on the couch. "Remember what I told you the night Zayn moved in?"

He nods; it's buried somewhere in the back of his mind, somewhere far enough to make itself go unnoticed, but still somehow present. "That no one would ever love me like you loved me."

She smiles, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. "And I meant it. Liam, Zayn doesn't love you."

"He told me—"

"He's afraid, that's all it is, Liam. He's afraid he's going to lose you because he's selfish. That isn't love, Liam. I know what that is because I feel it for you. Ever since he moved in I knew he'd try and take you from me, and that's why I told you those exact words that night." She caresses his check and brushes her thumb against it as a tear escapes her eye. "No one will ever be able to look past all of your flaws and love you like I can. I swear it."

"Sophia... He cried—"

"Because he saw us together, and he knew he was losing. You didn't think he spilled that drink on me by accident, did you?" She takes his silence as a no and continues, "I've met people like Zayn before. They'll do whatever it takes to manipulate people into staying with them forever. He cries, and he runs away knowing you'll chase right after him, and you would, wouldn't you?"