For the Road

18

Nearly a month into the Norther American leg of the tour and Liam couldn't hate the tour bus more. Sure, he loves touring, but he gets sick of being stuck on the bus for hours on end. If Liam could do the concerts and meet the fans without a tour bus, then he thinks he'd enjoy touring a lot more.

"Louis, what're you doing?" Niall asks. Liam stops reading to look at the two boys on the couch. They're practically glued there while on tour. Liam has no clue how the boys don't grow tired of the same couple of games. He tried to get into video gaming when they first started touring two years ago, but he grew bored of it easily. Liam would much prefer to read a book, anyway.

Liam watches as Louis puts his controller down. Niall cries in protest as the TV screen tints red, an obvious sign that someone's shooting at Louis' character. Liam has to keep himself from laughing at Niall's sad attempt to play for the both of them as Louis pulls out his phone.

"Sorry, I'm getting a call. I should take it," Louis sighs. Liam doesn't miss Louis' rosy cheeks as he presses the phone to his ear and walks into the unoccupied bathroom.

At first, Liam figured it was Eleanor. The calls were frequent and lasted an awfully long time. Liam knows that Eleanor gets clingy, but Louis stopped stepping out to take her calls ages ago. He has no clue why Louis' started leaving again to talk to her. Something about it just doesn't make sense in Liam's head.

Then, Liam assumed Louis was calling his Mum or his sisters, but he rarely called them on past tours. He was able to deny the theory when he overheard Louis saying, "I love you, Gorgeous." Liam may not know a lot of things, but he knows that Louis doesn't call anyone in his family gorgeous.

"Has Louis said anything to you about the person who keeps calling him? It's like clockwork," Liam asks. Niall doesn't even spare Liam a glance. He's given up playing for Louis and is, instead, trying to keep his own character alive.

"Never paid much attention, but I guess. Probably just one of his friends or his family," Niall suggests. Liam rolls his eyes as Niall's vague answer. He watches as Niall takes a handful of M&Ms from a bowl in the middle of the coffee table.

He grabs for the first thing he can find—which happened to be a shirt, probably belonging to Louis—and chucks it at Niall. The shirt hits Niall squarely in the face, breaking his attention. Niall groans loudly as the screen goes bright red, signaling Niall's character's death.

"Pay attention, this is serious," Liam protests. Niall doesn't seem as interested, but motions for Liam to continue anyway. "You don't see my friends calling me up every day," Liam points out. Niall rolls his eyes and huffs.

"I don't know! Quit harassing me about it. If you want to know ask him. It might be his girlfriend. Jesus, you're acting like his Mum," Niall huffs. Liam rolls his eyes. Of course, Niall doesn't see the significance of this.

Liam loves Niall to death, but he never questions anything. Niall's never curious about anything and prefers to take everything for what it is. Liam, however, can't accept something unless he does a little digging himself. Besides, even with Niall's lack of curiously, this is their best friend and they, usually, tell each other everything!

"Sorry, what did I miss," Louis asks, reappearing back in the room before Liam can question Niall further. Liam gestures for Niall not to say anything, but Niall obviously misses it.

"Liam's wondering who keeps on calling you," Niall replies. Louis' cheeks turn pink as he turns to Liam. Liam shrugs, already planning the blond boy's death. He was very clear about his 'don't-say-a-word' gesture. Either Niall's being overly oblivious today or just likes torturing Liam, two very reasonable guesses.

"Just... friends, you know," Louis shrugs. A moment of silence passes between the three. Liam's about to ask another question, but Louis cuts him off.

"Jesus, Niall, you're gonna eat all the candy, fatass!" Niall grabs the bowl and stuffs another handful of multi-color M&M's into his mouth. Louis shoves him and snatches the bowl back. He pulls out a few of the green ones and eats them delicately.

Just friends? Now, Liam is positive Louis' hiding something from him. You don't call your friends gorgeous. Sure, it's possible that Louis' talking to friends, but Liam's never heard Louis call one of his friends gorgeous before. Stupid, dumb, idiot, and bitch are all reasonable guesses, but gorgeous is definitely not there.

Later that night, Liam finds himself not being able to fall asleep. His thoughts keep his mind running. He knows he's exhausted, but there's no shutting his brain off. He curses to himself as he turns in his small sleep cabin.

The tour bus comes with 12 sleeping cabins, three on top of each other. They only have enough room for you to lay on your back with an inch or so on either side. Liam had the 'luxury' of being in the middle with Louis' cabin under his.

"Jesus, Liam, can you stop moving," Louis hisses. Liam feels Louis bang his cabin from underneath. The last thing Liam needs is Louis telling him to chill out. He wouldn't even be awake if he weren't so worried about Louis. Is he cheating on Eleanor? Liam knows he shouldn't be too concerned about it, considering Louis' cheated before, but that was purely sexual. Liam's only worried that Louis might have romantic feelings, which is an entirely different realm of cheating.

"I can't sleep," Liam hisses back. He sticks his hand out of the curtains and flips Louis off. Louis hits the bottom of Liam's bunk again.

"Can you two shut up? I'm trying to sleep," Zayn grumbles. Liam groans, because of Louis' obnoxious banging he woke Zayn up.

"You've been sleeping all day Zayn," Louis points out. He can hear Zayn mumble a silent 'fuck off', but it's nearly inaudible. Liam sighs; thankfully he hasn't awakened Niall. The boy deserves to sleep.

"He's right you know," Niall's voice pipes in. Liam sighs loudly and turns again. He won't get any sleep if these questions kept burning in his head. He climbs out from his cabin and motions for Louis to get up.

"We need to talk," He whispers. Louis frowns, but slowly climbs out of bed clearly tired. Liam leads the pair to the other side of the tour bus. Liam doesn't want to disturb their band mates any more than they already are.

"What is so important that you have to wake me up in the middle of the ni—"

Liam interrupts, "Who keeps calling you?" Louis' tired face furrows and he thinks for a Moment before answering.

"Jesus Liam, this again? I told you, my friends," Louis insists. Liam can't believe Louis' still lying to him. He wants to give Louis the benefit of the doubt, but his blatant lying is making things increasingly harder. He knows Louis' lying.

"You don't call you friends 'gorgeous'. Now, tell me the truth. Don't bother saying Eleanor, because I know it isn't her." Liam folds his arms across his chest. He's strangely proud of himself. It's feels like he's solved a conspiracy theory (a secret dream of his).

"For god's sake, you have to promise not to tell anyone okay? I broke up with Eleanor and I'm kind of... seeing a guy," Louis shrugs. A guy? Liam's eyes widen. He's not even sure he's hearing Louis right, considering they're both exhausted. The look on Louis' face, however, tells Liam he heard right. No wonder he's been keeping it a secret.

He was shocked when Louis agreed to hook up with Liam in the past. Liam figured it'd only be a couple of times and that afterwards Louis would go right back to his girlfriend. Liam can't believe that Louis actually broke up with Eleanor.

"Oh, I didn't... I wouldn't have forced you to say anything," Liam starts. He feels like crap for pressuring Louis to come out.

"Save it. Next time, leave me alone okay? You always stick your nose into my business and I'm getting sick of it. I'm going to bed and try not to make so much damn noise this time," Louis huffs. Liam watches as his friend stomps off.

~_~_~

Hey guys. This is so disgustingly cute! I was watching all the iconic Larry moment videos today, so I blame it on that. This part is like 500 words longer than the other parts and honestly I'm not even mad. 1000 reads?!?!? Thanks so much! Can we get some more comments? There were only 2 comments on the last chapter. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! ~B