English Rose - liam gallagher fic

32. dizzy on the comedown

I woke up at the bottom of Liam's bed once again, but he wasn't at the other end. Resting my forearms on the mattress, I propped myself up and saw where the covers had been flipped over and the still fresh dent in pillow that told me he had only recently got up.

I pulled on a pair of Liam's socks that were resting on his dresser, in a pile to be put away, and wandered downstairs. Peggy was at work, and I never know where Paul is, so it was just me and Liam in the house.

"Y'alright mate," I said with a raspy voice, placing my hands onto the worktop as Liam stood making two cups of tea.

"Alright love," he chuckled, "you looked rough so I was gonna bring you a cup of tea up."

"Aw cheers, you cutie," I teased him, stretching up to ruffle his hair.

"Dickhead, I was only being nice," he snapped, but he still had a little grin on his face.

"I know," I smiled. "Thanks. What you doing today?"

"Rehearsing at 1, if you want to come and watch? You haven't done that in ages," he said, picking up a flowery mug and standing in the doorway to the living room, and I followed suit.

"Yeah, sound," I smiled, as we both sat down on the couch and kicked our feet up on the coffee table in synchronicity. It's scary how finely tuned we were becoming as a pair. "It actually must have been since that time when Noel wrote Headshrinker."

"That feels like fucking ages ago," Liam said, furrowing his eyebrows in realisation. "It's weird how much things have changed in just a few months - like you're basically a big shot now."

I chuckled at his exaggeration, leaning my head on his shoulder as the comedown kicked in. "Fuck sake, I'm packing in smoking."

"Why?"

"Dunno, not enjoying it anymore," I said, sighing out a little laugh.

"You can't quit," Liam laughed, throwing his head back mockingly. "Honestly, if I can't quit then you can't quit."

"Why would you be more likely to quit than me? You smoke loads more than me!" I exclaimed with a laugh, slapping his shoulder lightly.

"I've got a stronger willpower," he joked.

"Have you fuck!" I said, laughing at the obvious lies he was spilling. "You're just stubborn as fuck."

-

I wish I wasn't wearing an outfit directly out of Liam's wardrobe to go to watch the lads rehearse, but I was. I couldn't be arsed to go home and change but it was too cold to go out in what I wore last night. So here I stood inside the Boardwalk wearing Liam's jeans that I had to majorly cuff around the ankles so that they weren't too long, his Stone Roses t-shirt and his flannel shirt. I knew Noel had known what me and Liam are like long enough so that he wouldn't assume anything was going on, but I knew the others already had and this was going to do nothing but add fuel to the fire.

So I sat on the mustard loveseat, already smoking a rollie after insisting to Liam I could quit.

"Thought you were packing in," Liam said, challenging me in between songs as he seen me rolling up a fag with a little grin on my face.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," I retorted, and Liam laughed as I put it between my lips and offered him one.

"Eyar right, Holly," He said, waving his arms trying to regain my attention that had gone on trying to light my fag. I looked up and he carried on. "Noel wrote this fuckin' class song the other day, called Live Forever an' that, didn'ya mate?"

"Oh yeah it is good like," Noel chuckled. I leaned back into the couch expectantly.

"Yous gonna show me it then?" I said, quirking my eyebrow and resting the hand holding my tab over the arm of the couch.

Noel lifted his guitar from over him and sat on the arm of the chair with his acoustic rest on his knee. He started strumming and I'd never heard anything so beautiful in my life. He can't have wrote that, he'll have found that in a box of old 20p records in Sifters. But it made me think of Liam, what me and him were talking about last night and I felt an almost sickly nervousness.

I couldn't bare to not have him in my life anymore, and it's so strange because when I first met him I half expected to fall hopelessly in love with him, unrequited of course, but I never in a million years would have thought the love I had for him would remain platonic and was actually reciprocated the same.

"You didn't write that mate," I said, sighing.

"Swear down," Noel insisted.

"That's so fucking good, I feel like crying for yous," I laughed, pulling my hairline back briefly before settling and sighing happily, so proud of them. "I'm gonna nip out and get a cuppa, anyone want out?"

Just like the last time I was here, I was basically given a menu on what to get. Pasties, teas, sarnies - honestly you'd think I was their waitress or something. As I took everyone's money, Noel put his guitar down and got to his feet.

"I'll help you, mate," he said, walking out of the room first and holding the door open behind him. He waited till we were walking up the ceramic tiled stairs to speak again. "I need to have a word wi' you actually."

"Oooh what about?" I asked with a joking tone, as if I was gonna be in trouble.

"I think you should give our kid a bit of a wide birth for a bit," he told me and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Fuck you on about? He's my best mate," I snapped.

"I don't mean stop seeing him, but you're breakin' his fuckin' heart man," he told me and my mouth dropped at his statement, part in shock and part in confusion. "He says he loves you, dun'he? He's in fucking love with you."

"Don't be daft, Noel," I said, my eyes going wide.

"He always has been!!! Ive always said it, he's different around you than to anyone," He insisted but I couldn't bring myself to take it on. "You've seen him wi' me and the lads, you've seen him wi' mam, you've fuckin' seen how he is wi' birds - he is fucking in love with you."

"You're just complicating things by telling me," I said, shaking my head in denial and walking fast away from Noel towards Greggs.

"Parko told me you's snogged last night," Noel said, following me into the bakery. I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face him.

"We fucking didn't," I said, my hands on my hips and my face scrunched up. My mind immediately shot to Graham; if that was true, I'd feel so guilty.

"Apparently he saw, him and this Faye lass," his voice quietened but his tone was still serious. I knew he was on about Freya, but I was positive me and Liam went nowhere near each other in that way at all.

"Well why did I still wake up top and tailing with him like I fucking do every time I stay?"

"He's not a daft lad, Holly," Noel sighed. "He won't have let anything to go down cos he's so fucking into ya that he doesn't want to spoil his friendship wi' ya for a petty shag. Which is so unlike him."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I dunno, stop staying over as much, wearing full outfits from his wardrobe, the touchy-feely-ness."