Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Liam

"Chloe, poppet, I am so sorry I din't say anything. really, really sorry, but you have to understand, it's not...I'm not...it's not forever."

Pacing around his office, Liam glanced down at Loki, who was flopped down in his basket, stopping talking and dropping down into his desk chair, and staring at his dog as though he was waiting for Loki to answer. Running a hand over his face, Liam didn't look away from Loki as he said, "That's not right. I cannot say that to her. I shouldn't even be having to think about what to say. And this is crazy."

Dissatisfied with Loki's apparent indifference, the dog burying his nose in the lining of his basket and whining a little before turning his back on Liam. Watching his dog, Liam sighed, leaning back in his chair before muttering, "I'm losing it. I'm two days away from leaving for eight months, and my daughter isn't talking to me, and I'm talking to my dog. I am officially losing it."

Loki chose that moment to get up, padding softly out of the room, leaving Liam sat in his study by himself. Which was great.

Just great.

Really.

If Liam was the same person he'd been back in September, he'd have spent the last three days, the three days spent without seeing Chloe or really seeing Niall, inside a whiskey bottle, only emerging from a perfectly good, mind-fogging, judgement-clouding, drunken stupor when Paddy was either sent or came round by his own volition and forced him to sober up, however, with tour approaching in less than twenty-six hours, everyone was counting on him not doing that. He also liked to think that he'd grown out of that phase. Except for when Louis would inevitably drag him out for nights out on tour. Then, spending a day in a drunken stupor was more acceptable.

The last day before tour was always given to them to have off, and Liam had envisaged spending it with Niall and Chloe, yet he was sat in his apartment, rehearsing his apology speech on his dog. And he had no one else to call, either to find something to do with, or practise his apology on. Niall was working. And, tempting as it was to go, visit him, and sneak him away for lunch, it would mean he'd simply be at work for longer. Louis and Harry always spent the last day before tour by themselves, with strict orders for no one to disturb them, and everyone had to learnt to obey that rule the hard way. Zayn liked to spend the day painting, alone in his studio. Which left Liam by himself.

Practising apologies on his dog.

His next apology did go slightly better, though, or so he thought.

He tracked Loki down to the kitchen, sitting next to the dog on the floor and offering him the occasional biscuit as he spoke. "Chlo, I want to apologise. I should have told you. You deserved to know that I was going ages ago, and I am so sorry I didn't tell you. I know I'm going away, really really soon, but I still want to see you. I still want to be around. Of course I do. Please, please, please understand, poppet. I'm not going forever. I'll be back, I swear, and I'm sorry you had to find out so soon before I go..."

Loki nudged into Liam's side, snuffling a little as Liam fed him another biscuit, letting Liam's fingers sink into his fur and scratch the back of his neck. Liam stayed there for a while, trying not focus on how much he was going to miss Loki while he was away, his sister having volunteered to watch Loki as she always did, volunteering after Liam had confessed the lack of a chance he'd had to arrange anything else.

He only moved when his phone rang, alarming Loki and causing the dog to run away, hiding somewhere. Liam took a moment to answer the phone, staring after Loki and sighing a little before he answered the phone, sitting up straighter and frowning at the unknown number. "Hello?"