You're Still Loved, I Swear *One Direction*

Chapter 14

“Niall, don’t you think that’s a bit…much?” Zayn asked, peering down at the amount of ketchup that Niall was dowsing over his French fries.

The Irish lad simply shook his head, “Nope.” He smiled and gulped his water before setting the squeeze-bottle back down.

Zayn huffed, “Fine, but if that much ketchup makes you puke, I’m not gonna clean up your shit.”

“Okay, okay.” Niall laughed, stuffing a handful of French fries in his mouth and somehow managing not to cover his hands in ketchup. “Sometimes,” Liam began, wondering how to continue what he was trying to say without hurting his band mate’s feelings, “Sometimes you eat a bit much, Niall. What if you end up making yourself sick?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Niall tossed a glare in Liam’s direction. “I think I eat a perfectly normal amount, so keep your comments to yourself.”

Liam sighed, “Alright, ‘m just lookin’ out for ya, mate.”

Niall chewed the bit of food in his mouth before swallowing and smiling. “I know, but I’m fine. And I’m nineteen; I think I can take care of myself.”

Zayn interrupted, “Really? Because last time I checked, you got lost in-”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” Niall interrupted, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “We’d never been in that supermarket before, and, anyways, it was in Sweden. Do I look like the type of person that reads fucking Swedish? No.”

Liam and Zayn both laughed, and Niall just continued to eat his snack (if you can call it that). Louis and Harry were back home, Niall, Zayn, and Liam had wanted to get out of the house instead of staying cooped up all day. It was hard, especially since Niall was trying to ignore the fact that he’d just gotten out of the hospital the day before, and Liam and Zayn were trying to look out for their band mate (though they were glad that he had his appetite back, he wasn’t really eating much in the hospital).

“What are we gonna do for our next album?” Niall asked, pushing his empty plate away from him.

Zayn shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess we’ll talk to the writers about it?” Liam nodded in agreement as Niall stretched his arms out in front of him.

“I think we should write our own music; they fans will like it.” Niall suggested, sipping his ice water.

Liam peered at Zayn, who seemed to be thinking about the idea himself. “I don’t know, it’ll take a lot of time; and well, we aren’t really qualified…” He trailed off.

Niall sighed. “What do you mean we ‘aren’t qualified’? To write music, you need emotion. And I think we’re all good in that category.” He joked, though it really wasn’t funny due to the circumstances.

“You aren’t implying that this whole thing was just a stunt to get us to write music, are you?” Liam questioned, raising his eyebrow at his friend.

Niall’s eyes grew wide as his cheeks flamed red in a mix of anger and embarrassment. “Why the hell would I do that? Don’t you lads know me?”

Liam sighed and fiddled with his napkin. “I mean- I, uh, I thought we did….but if we truly knew you; I guess we would’ve known about...um….that…” He motioned to Niall’s jean-covered thighs, which made his Irish band mate all the more angry.

“Wow.” Niall scoffed. “I can’t…I just, wow.” He shook his head in disbelief at his brunette friend. “I’m taking a walk; I’ll be home in an hour. Try not to imagine me dead before then.” He hissed, getting up from the table and leaving some cash before stalking out of the restaurant.