Work In Progress |L.T| |A.U|

XL - Atkins

XL - Atkins

I ball up on the comfortable couch, relentlessly pressing on the buttons of the remote continuing my tireless search for a good show in the telly. Scouring through all the channels twice, I still don't find anything worth watching.

Truth me told, my hands are itching to grab my phone and call him, to hear his voice for the first time in a month. I haven't been in his arms or close to him for two months, that is too long, too long for my heart to ache, too long for me to feel empty and alone.

A big part of me is regretting this decision of mine, telling me how horribly selfish and a masochist I'd been all at once by taking this step.

I love him. I love him so fucking much that it actually hurts, it hurts to think about it. But I'm standing my ground nonetheless, thinking that a magical epiphany will help me realise what I should do.

Liam is pretty busy himself. Turns out, being a VP isn't as easy as people think. And Nikki has been gone for a month for some work stuff. So she's yet to know about what happened between me and Louis. Frankly, I'm not looking forward to tell her when she comes back in a few days. I'd rather not repeat the things out loud when I am already so conflicted about everything.

I'd just switched the TV off and pulled the blanket closer to my chest when I hear the sound of the lift opening. Why is he back so early? It's barely five-thirty.

But the sound of more than a single pair of footsteps got me more alarmed of the presence of someone else too. I sit straighter, eyes fixed on the door of the living area where they are sure to come, since the corridor only leads to this room.

Liam is the first to enter. Dawning the crisp grey suit he normally wears to work. His eyes widen when they see me and he gulps, stepping aside to let the other person walk in.

My breath is caught in my throat when I see him walk in, mind going absolutely blank. The black formal attire looking exceptionally good on him,I have to remind myself to close my mouth that was hanging open with utter shock. And surprisingly, his expression mirrors mine. Apparently, he didn't expect me here either.

"Lilly." His voice is merely a whisper as if he's making sure that I'm really here.

"Zayn..."

"Lilly," Liam calls me out, break our gaze. "I erm... I needed to ask you something." He nudges his head, telling me to follow him and I do just that, careful not to make eye-contact  with Zayn while I'm at it.

I can feel Zayn's eyes following me as I make my way upstairs behind Liam, but I don't dare to bring my gaze to meet his. The memory of our last encounter still fresh in my head.

That hurt on his face when I'd told him I wanted to be with someone else when just the previous day he'd admitted his liking for me still haunts me when I think of it.

As soon as we enter his room, Liam turns around, looking at me with big apologetic eyes. "Lilly, I am so, so sorry. I know you guys aren't on talking terms, and I'm making it really awkward by bringing him here, but-"

"It's alright." I speak mid-sentence, "I know you guys are practically best mates, I can't expect you to not talk to him at all just because I don't."

He heaves a relieved breath followed by a gentle smile, "we had to come here because we were both in my car and I needed some documents that I left here. We'll be out soon, so hopefully no awkwardness for you."

I chuckle, "I think it's a bit late for that."

I exit his room shortly after, letting him look for his documents. And now the tricky bit is that I will have to pass the living room to reach the guest room, i.e my room. I can either wait in the hallway till they leave or just suck it up and walk right by. The former seems tempting, but I can't hide from him forever, can I? Besides, how bad can it be? Nothing I can't take.