Recovery / / h.s

Chapter Sixteen.

The amount of cars parked in Liam's yard was astounding. I doubted he even knew half of those people anyway. THe capacity wasn't important to me, though. The only important thing was finding Lily and apologizing for being an ass. Even if she didn't want me anymore, she had to know she was my friend even if I wasn't hers.

"I thought you hated Liam?" Ashton asked as he climbed out of the passenger seat of my truck.

"Lily's here," I mumbled. "What happened to the cameras?"

Ashton shrugged. "I guess his parents just don't give a shit anymore."

I was slightly angered that Ashton still talked to the asshole known as Liam Payne, but he was my ticket into this party. I hadn't really talked to any of the other guys since the fall out with Liam and as overjoyed as I was, I figured it was pretty shitty. Not that they still talked to him, that's not what bothered me. It bothered me that they didn't follow me around anymore. I missed that attention.

The music was nearly unbearable. I knew for a fact that Liam hated rap, so I couldn't understand why that was the only music genre he played at these stupid parties.

I spotted Lily only seconds after walking towards the living room. She was leaning against the wall, some guy towering over her. She was laughing, I heard her laugh before I saw her.

A gut wrenching feeling came over me as Ashton placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Who the fuck is that?" I asked, slumping against the wall.

"Louis." He said. "Louis Tomlinson."

"I thought he was in Florida for school," I said, sounding more like a question.

Ashton shook his head no as he joined slumped against the wall alongside me. "He came back a couple weeks ago and the guys have been stuck up his ass since."

That explained why none of them have tried contacting me, their "God" was back in town and I was replaced until he left again.

I watched her some more, hoping that she couldn't see me. Her smile was bright and her eyes had little creases in them whenever she laughed. She seemed to laugh whenever he spoke. I loved her laugh, but I hated that he was the reason behind it.

He was only a few inches taller than her. He wore a beanie over his head and every so often he would run his hands through his hair. He gave off the jock vibe, seeming like an absolute prick even though I had never had a conversation with him. He grabbed ahold of Lily's hands and began fumbling around with her fingers, causing a smile to spread over Lily's features.

Louis began to turn away from Lily, but before he could she grabbed his arm and pulled him back to her. the urge to walk over there and beat the shit out of him when he smiled and then placed his lips on hers was overwhelming.

Ashton must have sensed my plan. He grabbed my arm and yanked me through the front door.

"What the fuck!" I shouted to no one in particular. I needed to punch something, anything.

"Calm down," Ashton pleaded as I began kicking around the welcome mat on Liam's front porch. "I'm sorry man but you have to-"

"You knew!" I shouted, putting my hands to Ashton's chest and shoving him roughly into the side of the house.

"What?" He asked, his eyes were filled with genuine fear as he put his hands up defensively. "I didn't know anything about this!"

"Liar!" I shouted. "You knew and you only brought me here to see me make a fool out of myself!"

A crowd had gathered around us. People were shouting at me to hit Ashton others were shouting for Ashton to hit me.

My eyes skimmed over the crowd of people. Their eyes were all trained on me. Some of them scared, some excited, most of them expectant.

She was there. She was watching me with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. She looked scared and... Disappointed? Whatever it was, it hurt. It hurt so much that I dropped my grip on Ashton. I saw her run away from the corner of my eye, and before my thoughts could connect with my actions I was chasing after her.

"Lily!" I called. "God dammit Lillian wait!"

She spin around quickly, nearly causing me to knock her small body onto the ground. I grabbed her arm to steady her, but she yanked me off.

"Don't call me that! Why the hell are you even here?" She shouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

I shrugged. "For you, actually. But I see you've already found someone else to occupy your time with. What the hell was that anyway?"

Just as I finished what I was saying, the guy in the beanie walked over to Lily and put his arm around her waist. The look on her face changed from anger to angst in the blink of an eye.

"Are you alright, babe?" He asked. I assumed the look on his face was to try and intimidate me, but it honestly made me want to laugh.

She sighed, wrapping both her arms around his waist.

"Harry, this is my boyfriend Louis."