stop the clocks | oasis

s e v e n

"You quit your job?"

Noel looked at me with disbelief. I nodded and crossed my arms.

"But- you worked so hard and- why?"

I rolled my eyes. "I just don't enjoy it any more, okay? It's not what I want to do." I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. "You know what I want to do? I want to tour with Oasis again. I want to watch you and Liam perform on stage again. I want to hear the crowd screaming like lunatics again. I want to get pissed in a pub afterwards with you guys again. But that's impossible, isn't it?"

Noel looked at the floor, clearly unsure of what to say.

"You know what I think?" I continued. "I think the way Liam is behaving is ridiculous. I don't want to have to hide the fact that we're friends. Can't you two just be civil? For Christ's sake, he tried to knock you unconscious at that pub we went to!"

Noel embraced me in a hug. I sighed and accepted it: I could tell he was unsure of what to say. I didn't blame him, either.

"I'm so fucking sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Please don't be."

Noel pulled away from the hug and looked me in the eye. "I think you need to talk to him."

I nodded silently, hopping off Noel's kitchen counter and grabbing my coat.

Noel walked me to the door. "Tell me how it goes."

He waved as I opened the door that looked out into his enormous, lush front garden. Making my way through it, I opened the gate at the end and closed it behind me before almost having a heart attack.

Belle stood to the left of me, her arms crossed. Next to her sat Carly, who, upon seeing me, stood up and wagged her tail lightly.

"What are you doing at Noel's house?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"What are you doing at noel's house?" she asked again, raising her voice slightly.

"None of your business, Belle. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school or something?" I hissed.

"You're cheating on Dad."

"I am not cheating on Liam," I retorted. "How could you say that about me?"

My heart skipped a beat as Belle dropped the leash on the ground and pulled out her phone. I did nothing as she called Liam's number.

The dog stayed completely still on the pathway, as if she knew something was going on.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Noel's wife, Sara, appeared from around the corner. She shot me a nasty look as she recognised me.

"Excuse me? What are you doing outside my house?" she snapped.

I didn't respond as Belle hung up the phone. "He's on his way," she said matter-of-factly.

At that moment, I felt like everything was about to fall to pieces.

April Gallagher has already lost her job and now she's about to lose her daughter, husband and best friend.

I sat on the pavement and held my head in my hands while Sara threw insults at me and Belle stood tapping her foot, checking the time on her phone every now and then. Carly was now asleep by my feet.

All of a sudden, Noel's footsteps became audible as the gate behind me opened. I looked behind me briefly and saw him standing there, looking confused, holding one of his cats in his arms.

"What's going on?"

"You've been cheating on me with her, that's what!" Sara yelled, jabbing a finger in my direction.

Just then, Liam appeared from the same corner as Sara. He looked furious as his eyes darted from me, to Sara, to Carly, to Belle, to Noel.

I remained staring at the ground as he slowly walked closer to me. I'd previously observed that he had sunglasses on, which meant I couldn't read his eyes like I usually could.

Sara turned to Liam. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

Liam said nothing to her. Although I wasn't looking, I could tell his eyes were on me.

"Get up," he said solemnly, with absolutely no emotion whatsoever in his voice. I quickly stood up.

He took his sunglasses off and reached out and grabbed my chin, so I had no other choice but to look at him.

It was completely silent. All eyes were on us.

"What the fuck," he started, not blinking once, "do you think you're doing?"

I still couldn't find words to say. Tears threatening to fall, I stayed there, staring into Liam's beautiful but angry eyes.

"Liam, don't do anything to her," Noel said from behind us.

Like Sara, Liam ignored him as if he wasn't there.

"April. Why are you at Noel Gallagher's house? Why am I here right now, standing right outside Noel Gallagher's house, asking you this question?"

"Liam, I don't know what to say."

His hand dropped from my face. "I can't fucking believe you, April. We've been best friends since 1992. We've been together since 1996. We married in 1998. And this whole time, you've been fucking around with him, haven't you?"

"Of course not! Are you insane?"

"Am I insane?" Liam repeated. "Am I fucking insane?"

Silence.

"Tell you what. Maybe I'm insane enough to end this fucking relationship."

~

MY FAVOURITE CHAPTER SO FAR!

hope your day has been/will be magnificent!

-z :D