Chapter 9 Date him

I would have no idea how long I lay in my arm chair like that but it felt as though seconds later my doorbell went.

Swinging it open, I found none other than Liam on the door step. "You're early." I say glancing at my watch. To this he just shrugged, and I stepped aside, inviting him in. "So," He said turning to me as I closed the door. "You ready to go." I shook my head, walking down the corridor to my room.

"I'll be ready in a sec." I said as he followed me into my walk in robe and sat down in the armchair I had in the corner. I could feel his eyes follow me as I pulled my Louis Vuitton suitcase down and filled it with a variety of skirts, dresses and a few pants. I slid open a mirrored wall revealing my collection of shoes. I grabbed a few pairs, putting them in my suitcase, before slipping on some red, Tom Ford heels.

A quick trip to the bathroom, I grabbed my toilet bag and just before leaving, I picked up my bridesmaid dress which I had picked up yesterday from the bridal boutique.

"Ready." I said looking at my watch. "In fifteen minutes too." Liam only rolled his eyes as he took my case and carried it into the hall. I pulled my coat on again and grabbed my keys. "We can take my car." I said as I flicked off the lights and checked the heating was off. "Mm mm." He said shaking his head dismissively as he held the door open. "We'll take mine so you can sleep." I crossed my arms stubbornly. "I. Am. Fine." He nodded as he put my suitcase in his boot. "You can be fine and I'll be driver. Now, did you lock your door?" I turned around and slipped my key in my door, looking it before tucking the key in my pocket.

"I have now." I said as I slid into the passenger seat.

We drove from my house to the freeway in silence and I was happily watching the world zip past. "You okay?" Liam asked and I turned to him to find him looking ahead but occasionally throwing me a concerned glance. "Fine. Just a, a tough day." I shrugged and returned to looking out the window. We settled into silence once again and I soon had my forehead pressed against the cold glass, fast asleep.

It was just over a two hour journey from my place to my parents country house and I awoke to find we were only half way there. Not moving though, I just stayed still and silent, hoping the week wouldn't go too harshly.

"Katherine?" I turned to see Liam looking at me. "Mm?" I asked with a little yawn as I stretched my legs out as much as I could. "We're here." He smiled at me as he pulled the keys out of the ignition and unclipped his seat belt. "Oh." I said, looking around to find that we had unfortunately arrived.

Looking at my watch, I found it was now almost six o'clock. The lights in the house were however on and it was quite clear there was some form of celebration going on in there.

"Okay, I'll unlock the door and we can sneak in." Biting my lip, I knew that would be impossible. "Or, you should just brace yourself." He nodded with amusement and we got out of the car. Our shoes crunched the gravel as we walked slowly across the yard. When we reached the steps though, I took a deep breath before rushing up them and slowly opening the door, Liam close behind.

I peeked in to find the place crowded. Breathing a sigh of relief, we slipped in silently. I grabbed Liam's hand and we rushed up the stairs without anyone noticing us. I dropped his hand and he followed me down the halls to the bathroom.

"Wait here." I said without looking at him as I slipped into the room, closing the door behind me. After using the toilet, I shook my hair out of it's now messy bun. I then touched up my make-up, swiped on some more red lipstick and clung to my remaining hope.

"Okay." I said to Liam as I came out into the hall. He then followed me back the way we had come and down stairs. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I decided it would be best if he meet my dad first, so I navigated my way through the crowd and into the lounge room. I couldn't see dad anywhere so after checking Liam was still behind me, I turned towards the kitchen.

"Katherine?" The voice spoke above the crowd and I could feel a few people close by look over. I clenched my fists and spun around, forcing my face into a smile.

"Michael." I said coming face to face with one of my few exes. "How are you?" He asked kissing each of my cheeks. "Fine." Was all I could manage."Fine? You look better than fine. You look stunning." He said looking me up and down. Feeling as though I was drowning in my worst possible nightmare I was thankful when I felt Liam slide his arm 'protectively' around my waist.

"Michael, This," I looked up at Liam hoping this was convincing. "Is Liam." Michaels green eyes left me and studied Liam. "Liam this is Michael, one of my exes." I was watching Michael carefully, "The boyfriend? Oh I've heard alot about you." He said as they shook hands and I cursed my mother for being such a gossip. "And I've heard nothing about you." Liam replied with a shrug as I rested my head on his shoulder. Michael looked shocked and returned his gaze to me. "Really?" I just weakly smiled. "Well, Katherine and I went out for six months-" "Five." I said cutting him off with the truth. "And we were quite the couple." You wish, I thought wanting to run away. "So, how long have you two been together?" Biting my lip, I let Liam answer. "Since April." he said looking into my eyes. "So, eight, yeah, eight months." I just nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

"Wow. That's quite an achievement Katherine." Michael exclaimed making me cringe. "Katherine is scared of commitment." Michael explained to Liam. "I find Katherine to be very committed." Liam said with a little frown. Michael however was chuckling. "I'm not talking about work Liam." I felt Liam tense and I was unsure of why. "I find Katherine to be very committed to me. Maybe it was just you." With that, something flashed across Michael's face. "Maybe. So do you two live together?" I couldn't help but cringe again. "Gosh no. We've only been dating eight months." I said trying to add some laughter to my tone. "No, we agree we should wait a year." Liam said tagging on.

"Um, Michael asked me to move in after dating for just over four months." I said with a little chuckle, explaining to Liam. Michael was now seemed very angry so I smiled at him. "I need a drink." I said grabbing Liam's had a dragging him towards the kitchen.

I pulled him through the crowds and into the butler's pantry, pulling the door closed behind us. "That was awful." I said as I stuck my head in the fridge. "I think it went quite well." I threw Liam a filthy look at that and shoved my head further into the fridge looking for some alcohol.

"Why, um, did you date him?" My head hit the top of the fridge as I jumped in shock. "Same reason I'm with you." I said not turning around to look at him. "You're on contract though. That way you won't end up like him." Giving up on finding alcohol, I slammed the fridge door closed to find Liam watching me closely.