That One Summer...

Chapter 7

"Liam, are you ready yet?" I hollered from the kitchen as I finished setting out the food.

I still hadn't decided whether I wanted to wear shoes yet with my dress or not, so I went to ask Liam. When I walked into his room, I immediately stopped, and my eyes went wide.

We matched. He was wearing nice black slacks with a button down black shirt and a gold tie. He looked so handsome. His eyes popped out when he saw me.

"Emma....you look....wow." He struggled to knot his tie.

I bit my lip and laughed. "You don't look half-bad yourself. Here, lemme help you with that." I walked over to him and tied his tie for him.

He grinned. "Want to know a secret?"

I tightened the knot and smiled. "Of course."

He got close to my ear and whispered, "I saw your dress hanging in your room and decided to match you."

My heart kind of jumped, and I whispered back, "Well I'm glad you did. You look so handsome."

He put his hands on my waist and sighed. "Why did we have to get so dressed up?"

I rested my hands lightly on his shoulders and kind of put distance between us. "Because, we're all going out tonight for dinner and fireworks."

He raised an eyebrow. "Fireworks?"

I nodded and smiled, playing with his collar. "There's something going on downtown. It's like a 25 year celebration for something, and the girls and I thought it would be fun."

Liam nodded and looked me up and down again. "You're going to break hearts tonight."

I looked away from his stare and blushed, not sure how to reply.

Thankfully, the ringing of the doorbell distracted me, and I excused myself from his room. The doorbell rang again, and I quickened my pace to reach it faster.

The smiled disappeared from my face when I opened the door and saw who it was. She was absolutely gorgeous, and I knew instantly I could never compete with her. Her hair was so dark, it was nearly black, and her curls were subtle, yet defined. I could tell from just looking at her that she was about as tall as Liam, but I'm sure the two inch heels helped with that. Her eyes were so green, they were almost electrifying. But what surprised me the most was that she was wearing the dress that I almost bought for the wedding, the one that was fitted and black with off the shoulder white sleeves with black polka dots and a big bow on the neckline. A part of me was so thankful I hadn't bought the dress because she rocked it so much better than I did, but another part of me knew that if I had gotten the dress, she probably wouldn't be wearing it now.

She stuck out her hand and smiled. "Hello, you must be Emma. I'm Hadley. Liam's told me all about you."

Yeah. I'm sure I was the hot topic of their seven hour night together.

I shook her hand and forced a smile. "He's said wonderful things about you, too. Come on in. I've got refreshments in the kitchen. I'll go get Liam for you."

After I led her to the kitchen, I went into Liam's room and saw him staring at the memory board of us. I cleared my throat and got his attention, causing him to jump around quickly.

I tried to keep my voice calm. "Hadley is here. She's in the kitchen right now. I just thought you should know." I turned to leave his room, but he ran to me and gripped my arm, making me turn and face him again.

I waited for him to say something, but he didn't, so I yanked my arm away and retreated to my room to grab my highest pair of heels.

"And then one time, she got stuck in one of those red and yellow Little Tikes cars! It was the greatest hoot ever!" Zayn said to everyone around the table. He and Hadley were sharing embarrassing stories of each other when they were younger. I don't think anyone had said a word to me besides when I let them into the house. They were all too busy adoring Hadley.