Stay: The sequel to Lost

Part 16

Penny shot out of bed. It was release day. Liam's song was going live. Grabbing her phone, she checked the time. Five minutes to six. She shook Liam. "Wake up. It's nearly time!"

Liam groaned.

"Up!" she said. "Up!"

"What if it tanks?" Liam asked. "What if nobody likes it?"

Penny shook her head. "It won't. I promise. It's what people like. You need to trust me now, okay?"

Liam nodded and sat up. He grabbed his phone, opening the app for the radio station and waited. Penny opened twitter. "Is he going to tweet?" she asked. Liam nodded again. Liam actually had a person who tweeted, intsagramed and Facebooked for him. He could tweet, too, but for important things? That was someone's job. Liam didn't even know the password to his Facebook account. He didn't even have a normal Facebook like most people their age. He had to wait for his mother or sisters to tell him family news.

Penny's phone vibrated. "Liam" had tweeted. The song was going to play at 8. The response to the teasers had been good. He'd done promo with snapchat. He was due at the radio station by 7. The station announced that Liam would be live. He took a deep breath. "Well, I guess I'll shower?" he said.

"Oh! I need to, also. Crap. I should have gotten up sooner."

Liam grinned. "You know what helps me relax more than alcohol, right?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the bathroom.

Liam was breathing deep as the car pulled up to the station. This was it, his moment. Would people be ready? Did they want him?

"Look, Lee." Penny pointed out of the car. There were people waiting.

He grinned. "Okay. Okay. Yes." he said. Jake opened the door and Penny got out and moved away from the crowd, letting Liam have his moment. They screamed and chanted his name. He glowed. He was so thrilled that it shone from his face.

Jamie opened the front door of the car and hopped out. "Let's go." She said, grabbing Penny's arm and pulling her along, after Liam. He was taken into makeup and hair, spruced up and then sent into the radio studio. Penny, Jake, Jamie and the rest of the team waited outside the booth. Penny could hear Tony muttering under his breath. He was worried. Liam had a way of saying far too much. He loved to talk. He talked too fast. One of the things they had been working on with Liam was slowing down his speech and teaching him how to answer questions. He kept telling that the he knew how to do an interview and then they would pull out some embarrassing thing he had said in the past. Penny joined Tony in prayer.

They radio went live and Liam started out great, giving all the answers he had been coached on, how to answer the "1D" question, was he taking a pot shot at his old band? He answered the way Tony had told him, that no, it was about Liam finding out who he was, away from the band. Tony sighed in relief.

Then came the questions they didn't want Liam to answer. Where had been, what had he been doing? What had taken him so long to release music? Even Penny tensed up. The world didn't need to know that the he had a drinking problem. The world didn't want to hear that he couldn't stop partying. They had told him to say that he wanted to find a quiet place to write music, needed time away from the pressures of England. And he managed to get that answer out and sound convincing.

"So, Liam," the interviewer asked. "Tell me about the girl. What's going on there? She is here? Penny?"

Tony turned red. This was not on the "questions you can ask" list. Penny knew his thoughts on the subject. He didn't think Liam should have a girlfriend at all, let alone be getting married. He constantly told Liam that is he wanted to be seen as a young, hot popstar, he needed to act like a young, hot popstar. Go out, be seen in clubs with different girls. People didn't want to hear that his favorite past time was laying on the couch with Penny. That wasn't glamorous. It was boring. Wasn't he tired of being the "boring" one? That was who he'd been in the band, Mr. Sensible. He needed to change that image.

Liam, of course, smiled and answered the question. Liam loved to talk. "She's here, man. We are getting married, soon!"

Tony dropped all the papers he had in his hands, threw them into his hair and did a silent scream. Then he said, "Why? Why can't he listen? Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Penny, get ready for a world of hate. How do we fix this?" He turned to Jamie and they started talking. Penny turned away, not sure how to respond. She understood why he wasn't supposed to talk about her. But, it also hurt her feelings. What would they tell the world in July, after they were married? Did Liam really know what he was getting into?