stop the clocks | oasis

t w o

What does he want?

Why the fuck is he texting me at almost 4 in the morning?

Still confused, I read the text on my phone screen.

hey april, are you awake?

I rolled my eyes. Awake at fucking 4am? I wasn't 21 any more. I began texting him back.

i am now, you shit.

oh. sorry. i'll just go then.

no don't. sorry if that came across as rude.

okay...

so anyways, what do you want?

After waiting for a few minutes, I saw that Noel had read my texts, but wasn't replying. I sighed.

He's probably stoned as fuck and just having a laugh, I thought. until the sound of my phone ringing interrupted my thoughts. Startled, I jumped backwards, managing to wake up both the dog and Liam in the process.

Wow, just great.

Why didn't I put it on silent?

I turned around and came face to face with Liam's piercing blue eyes. "Fuck, sorry," I started, but he just stared at me.

"You gonna answer that? Tell 'em to fuck off for me," he croaked. I hastily picked up the phone as Liam watched.

"Hello, who is this?"

"It's Noel, you cunt. Are you-"

"Sorry, wrong number. I don't know a..." I tried desperately to think of a name. "...a... I don't know." I winced and Liam's facial expression turned to pure confusion.

"What the fuck April?" he said as I hung up the phone. "Who the fuck were you talking to?"

I gulped. "I have no idea."

Liam scowled at me and turned around, going back to sleep. Carly proceeded to curl up next to him and fall asleep as well.

The truth was, Noel and I were best friends. We'd never stopped being best friends, not even after Oasis broke up. It wasn't like I was cheating on Liam, but I always felt guilty whenever I spoke with Noel because I was lying to Liam constantly and that wasn't fair on him.

~

flashback to 2009...

"Right, I'm removing everything about Noel from this fucking house!" Liam yelled, pointing to the house as he stormed up the driveway.

"Liam, wait-"

"Don't you fucking tell me to wait!" he growled and I took a step back. Liam practically kicked the front door open and I ran in after him. He was already in the living room tearing through photo albums, ripping out Noel's face from the old pictures. Pictures of them when they were kids, pictures of Noel standing next to his guitars (those ones were shredded up completely), pictures of the band playing gigs. Carly hid behind the armchair, probably distressed from everything that was going on.

"Liam, please don't do this! I know you'll regret it!" I said as he held one half of one of Noel's favourite records in each of his hands.

"April, you don't fucking understand! He's fucking destroyed everything that we had as a band! He's ruined everything!" Liam was distraught, and it really upset me. A tear slipped from his eye, but he quickly wiped it away.

"Delete his fucking contact now," he said, his voice wobbling a bit. He walked over to me and stared at my phone screen as I deleted it.

As soon as I hit delete, I felt my heart break a little. Although Noel had really upset Liam, it was Liam's fault as well.

I felt like I would never see Noel again, until later that night, when the text came.

hope we can stay in touch.
-noel.

~

back to present day

I was sat outside in our big garden, smoking a cigarette, while Liam ran laps along the garden, throwing a ball for Carly.

It really warmed my heart how much he cared for her. We adopted her while Oasis were in a rough patch, and Liam's mood instantly got better. Noel never really took a huge liking to her, though - "cats are more my thing" was his excuse.

I chuckled to myself as Liam hugged Carly and buried his face in her thick, all-white fur. For the first morning in March, it was surprisingly warm. I took a sip from my glass of red (yes, I know it was a morning) when I heard the back door open. Belle stepped into the garden.

She was dressed in a short black dress with a denim jacket, and she had a full face of make up on. I never really knew where she got the make up from, but it looked expensive. I had no idea how much pocket money Liam was giving her.

"Hi, Belle, how've you been? Nice to see ya again after all this time," Liam said sarcastically and she rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, Dad. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that my friends and I listened to your album last night."

"You did?" Liam questioned, looking startled. He didn't realise Belle was into that kind of music.

"Yeah, and it was alright- I mean, not the kind of music I'd listen to normally, but you did a really good job." she smiled.

"That really means a lot, Belle. thanks."

"No problem." And with that, she walked off.

Liam walked back over to me (in the time Belle was talking to him, I'd started running around the garden with Carly). "Did you hear that, April? Me daughter likes me music!"

"That's gr-" I was cut off by the unmistakable sound of sniggering. I turned around to see Belle and a boy who looked to be at least a year older than her staring at us.

"Wh-what's going on? Who's this?" Liam gestured to the boy.

"I dared her to say that!" he wheezed. Both of them were bent over laughing.

"I barely got through the first song," Belle cackled (what a witch lol).

Liam's face fell instantly. For some reason, Belle found this insanely funny. I tried to hold his hand in reassurance, but he snatched it away.

I could tell he wasn't thinking straight.

"YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK OFF!" Liam yelled. The two of them ran away before I was able to see their facial expression. Soon after, Liam left too, telling me to leave him alone.

I sighed. I needed to give him some space. I needed something else to do.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called the number.

~

(it's never gonna be the same so the life i knew comes to my house and says) hello!

longer chapter :)

~z

p.s this is my favourite gif ever