Always You // Larry Stylinson

Chapter Four

Niall and I judged the actors in badly made films for about 2 and a half hours before we had to stop due to Liam calling to say he's on his way.

"D'you think Liam misses me?" I ask Niall before putting a grape in my mouth.

"'Course he does, Lou. He's one of our best mates." he responds from the other side of the room, in the kitchen. I sat on the sofa with a bowl of fruit.

"You're right, he is. I just sometimes get worried that the others just..Don't care about me anymore. I haven't seen him, Liam and Zayn in a long ass time. I don't think Zayn misses me at all."

Niall comes over and sits beside me. "I understand how you feel, Lou. I don't think Zayn misses me at all, either."

"How far away is Liam from us?" I ask, hoping to change the subject.

"He only lives like a 30 minutes walk so he should be here soon." he says smiling.

"How long is soon?" I say, placing another grape in my mouth.

Niall shrugs then checks his phone. "About 15 to 20 minutes if there's no traffic."

I nod in understanding then plop another grape in my mouth. Just as I'm about to start chewing, I see Niall staring at my bowl. I finish my grape and swallow it as quick as I could without it looking weird, then spoke,

"D'you want something?" I ask, pushing my bowl towards him.

He looks up at my face. I raise an eyebrow and his eyes light up.

"You mean it? I can have one?" I could see a smile tugging on his lips.

I nod, "Of course you can, mate."

He squeals and says, "Thanks Lou!" Then grabs two grapes.

"I said one!" I say laughing

"No you didn't! You said, and I quote, 'D'you want something?'" He says lifting his arms up by his head.

"Well, maybe I didn't- But you did! You said, and I quote, 'You mean it? I can have one?'" I say, mocking him.

"Oh, fuck off." He says grumpily.

I laugh at his childish actions and look down at my fruit bowl, noticing that almost half of the fruit was gone and I frown then look up at Niall who had strawberry guts all around his mouth and half a grape in his hand.

"Niall!" I shout, making him jump, "You ate most of my fruit, and it's only been like a second since we stopped talking!"

"Those were yours?" He says stupidly, then grabs another piece of pineapple from my bowl after finishing the grape.

"Niall!" I shout again, grabbing his arm this time, just as he was about to put it in his mouth.

"What?" he asks with a mischievous smile.

"Stop eating my food!" I say seriously, then let go of his arm.

He pouts, "Okay.." He goes to put the piece back, but he quickly puts in in his mouth.

I roll my eyes, "Whatever, I give up."

~.~.~

"I'll go get the door!" Niall yells as the doorbell rings.

I stay silent, but nod to let him know I had heard him.

Niall runs to the door and I hear him open the door.

"Liam!" Niall shouts happily.

"Niall!" Liam shouts back.

I hear their bodies clash, causing me to smile slightly.

"Hey, Lou!" Liam says once he reaches me, tapping me on the shoulder.

"Hi," I say quietly, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Liam frown a little.

"Lou, what's wrong? You seem so sad today." Liam says as he moves around me and taking a seat beside me, "Is there something bothering you, lad?"

I look at him and sigh, "Nothin', Liam. Everything's great, don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" He starts, "You seriously seem so upset, Lou. I'm just trying to make sure you're really okay." He places a hand on my arm, but I nudge it off.

"I'm fine, Liam, trust me." I put on a fake smile, "Where'd Nialler go?"

"Not sure. Probably in the kitchen," He says with a soft shake of the head.

"You think I could take a nap in his bed if I asked him?" I ask with a grin.

"Aw mate, you're not seriously gonna go to sleep now that I'm here, are ya?" He face palmed and I let out a chuckle.

"I guess I won't if you don't want me to. I'm just nervous." I admitted shyly.

"Why're you nervous?" He asks in a confused tone.

"Just haven't seen you in a while, is all. I dunno, I just feel like maybe..you know," I look down and start playing with my fingers.

"What?" He asks, dumbfounded.

"That you might, er, not have missed me or anything." I look up gently to see Liam's facial expression displaying the look of sympathy.

"Of course I missed you, Lou. You're my best mate." He promised

"Aw, what about me? Am I not your best mate, too?" Niall asks suddenly behind me, making me jump in fright.

"Fucking hell, Niall, you scared me!" I yell, "Don't do that ever again!"

"I scared you? Loser." Niall joked, coming round and plopping himself down on my lap.

I lay a hand on his side until he whines, "What's wrong, Niall?"

"I want to be cuddled, please." He pleaded quietly.

"Sure." I said softly and wrapped my arms around his waist carefully.

"Everything alright, Niall? You seem off." Liam questions with his eyebrows furrowed.

Niall mumbled something that I couldn't hear, "What did ya say?"

"Harry called." Niall said simply.

My heart dropped. "What did he say?"

"I don't wanna say," He spoke, then whispered, "Don't wanna upset you."

I looked over at Liam, who just shrugged, "Upset me? How would it upset me?"

"I've already said too much." Niall said softly as he turned around to cuddle his head into my chest.

"Niall, please," I pleaded, "What did Harry say?"

"No, no, I can't tell." He said sadly.

"Think you need to have some rest, bud. Whatever's happened with Harry has really messed with you." Liam said suddenly, standing from his space on the sofa.

"Rest," Niall whispered, "It'll all be over in the morning."

"Yeah, if that's what you wanna go by." I murmured, "Everything will be better in the morning."

~.~.~.

Liam carried Niall up to his room for some rest then came back down stairs to me, sitting back in the same position as before.

"What d'you think happened?" I asked, facing Liam.

"I have no idea, but whatever it was, it can't be good." Liam said quietly, like as if he were trying not to wake a sleeping dragon that lay before us.