Outlawed Runaways ((Sequel to Helpless))

ch. 2 - Photograph

Photograph by Nickelback
" Every memory of looking out the back door, I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor... "

     “Niall, I told you that Eleanor and Louis broke up.  Where else would he go if he didn’t come to our flat or Zayn’s?”  Liam sighed, rubbing at his face as he climbed the steps up to Harry’s front door.  It had been over a week since they’d last heard from their two best friends and when their phones had went straight to the ringtone when they’d tried to call, they’d obviously began to grow a bit anxious.

     “But Liam you know their history!  What if Louis’ just at home with his mum and Harry is in there shagging Nick into next century?”  Niall groaned from behind his brown-eyed boy.

     “You know that Nick hasn’t heard from Harry either.  They got into a fight.  I told you about this on the way down here.”  Liam sighed, knocking on the boy’s door rapidly a couple of times.

     “Make up sex.”  Niall replied, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

     “Your mind is filthy.”

     “You love me and my filthy mind.”

     “The door’s unlocked.”

     “I don’t know what you were going for there, babe, but that’s not a very good sexual innuendo.”

     “Shut up, look.”

     Liam jingled the door handle, twisting it and shoving it open.  The lights were off, but Harry’s shoes were gone and there was no noise to offer comfort that the boy was indeed home.

     “Harry?  Mate, you home?”  The Irish bloke called out after they’d both stepped into the house with confusion spread out across their facial features.  It wasn’t like Harry to not return calls or leave his house abandoned like this.  Not for over a week anyways, and from the looks of the clean kitchen and dusty television screen, their curly-haired band mate was definitely not to be found.

     “Niall, you check his bedroom.”  Liam said, already kicking off his shoes and stepping carefully across the hardwood flooring down the hallway.  He entered the kitchen, glancing in the empty sink with a frown.  It was bone-dry, signaling that nobody had touched it in days.  Which was rare; especially for Harry and even more so if Louis was living with him.

     Turning around, he wandered around the empty space and brushed the tips of his fingers over the granite counter top.  Everything was so clean and abandoned.  It’s like it a new house.

     Then, well, Liam sees it.  He crosses the room in a couple of easy strides, plucking the sticky note up off of the glass table and having to re-read it at least three times before the words finally sink in.  Sucking in a sharp breath, he made a choked noise from the back of his throat.

     “Fuck.  Fucking shit, Niall!”  He shouted, turning around on his heel when he hears his exclusive boyfriend skip into the room brightly.