Falling for a Lie ~ Niam

Chapter 15. (part 1)

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Falling for a Lie ~ Chapter 15.

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“Okay, me and Zayn are going to fix the popcorn and you prepare here. Deal?” Harry asked Liam, but he knew Harry wouldn’t ever care if he protested. Liam looked around Harry’s living room.

“What is there to prepare?” He asked instead.

“You know; fluff the cushions, pull down the blinds…” Harry shrugged. “Make it cozy! Just make sure you darken the room.” He retreated to the kitchen. Liam started to pull down the blinds, since the sun was high on the sky.

It was only three in the afternoon, but he, Zayn and Harry hadn’t had anything to do so they decided to watch a movie. Louis had said he would visit Niall when he was done babysitting his sisters (his mother worked on Saturdays).

Liam decided to join the others in the kitchen, but when he was in the doorway, he stopped.

“So, how’s Niall? You were with him last night.” Zayn asked Harry and Liam tried to make no sound so that they wouldn’t understand that he eavesdropped.

“Last time I saw him, he was singing ‘Dear Agony’ alone in his room before I interrupted him.” Harry sighed. “He’s just so sad, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. But everything will be alright, okay?” Zayn tried to convince him.

“It’s been over a month since this started, Zayn. A month!” Harry sounded so frustrated and Zayn tried to calm him down by putting his arm around Harry’s shoulders.

“Liam will come around eventually, I’m sure of it. Don’t worry.” He squeezed Harry into a one-armed hug. Liam swallowed soundlessly and walked back into the living room. He felt even guiltier now than before, because now he knew that his friends worried and hurt over this. But Zayn was right; he would come around. The anger had started to fade a little, even if he still had a long way to go. He heard the beep of the microwave from the kitchen that signalled that the popcorn was ready and prepared a fake smile that would hide his newfound guilt.

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Louis arrived at Niall’s house only a bit after three in the afternoon. Bobby was outside, fixing their broken mailbox and greeted Louis with a kind smile. Louis felt weird ringing the doorbell when he already met Niall’s dad, so he just walked right in.

“Hello?” he asked softly into the seemingly empty house. No answer. He took a quick walk around the kitchen and the living room, but no one was there. Niall was probably sulking in his room, Louis thought, and made his way up the stairs. 

Niall’s bedroom door was almost closed and Louis heard Maura’s voice from in there. He didn’t hear what she said though, so he sneaked closer and stood by the small, open gap of the door.

“… and I don’t believe it’s nothing! Your father and I are very worried. We thought that if we gave you some time, maybe it would pass or you would talk to one of us, but you don’t! God, I wish Greg were here…” Maura sounded defeated, desperate.

“Okay, I’ll tell you.” Niall suddenly said, startling both Maura and Louis.

“You will?” Maura asked, almost as if she didn’t believe it.

“Only if you promise you won’t freak out, or… judge me.” Louis didn’t hear a respond, so he assumed Maura had nodded. Then he heard the slight squeak of Niall’s bed and realized he might get to stand here for a while, because they were up for a confidential talk.

“So, last summer, I started to discover that I didn’t really… notice girls.” Niall started, obviously uncomfortable with this conversation. “And I wanted to try and see if maybe I’m… maybe I like boys. So I started to chat with other guys over the internet, but I found no one who I liked. Until I found this one guy who seemed… interesting.” It was almost as if Niall squeezed out the words out of his mouth, they sounded forced. “It turned out to be Liam I was talking to, and he seemed to really like me too.”

“So what happened? What went wrong? Did he… did he do anything?” Maura’s voice was worried, she was probably afraid that Liam had hurt her son. Well, he had, but not in any of the ways that were running through her mind right then.

“No, he didn’t do anything. I did. I used a fake identity, a fake name… I lied to him, for months. And then he found out on his own, and he was so angry.He hasn’t talked to me since then, and it just hurts so much to know that I hurt him. I miss him so much, and I’m just so in love with him!” Niall was crying by then, and Louis heard the bed shift. Maura was probably hugging him or wiping his tears away. “So aren’t you surprised or disappointed or anything?” Niall asked with a broken voice.

“What would I be disappointed over?” Maura asked softly.

“That I’m, you know… gay.” Niall sniffled.

“Well, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t expect it.” Maura confessed and Niall chuckled sadly. “You never showed much interest in girls and then you brought Liam home and you… you looked at him in that way… I can’t really explain it. But you have to know that your dad and I love you just as much, whoever you love. And everyone makes mistakes, honey. This will work out soon, trust me.” Maura assured her son.

“Okay.” Niall said and Louis was just about to knock to make his presence known when Maura said something…

“But it’s not a reason to stop eating, Niall. You have to eat.” She said and Louis felt anger build up in him. But this anger weren’t directed towards Niall, no, it was towards Liam. He had gotten a month, but he had no right to play the victim card anymore. Louis turned on his heel and quickly made his way out of the house.

“Leaving so soon?” Bobby asked him when he passed by.

“I got places to be, things to do… people to punch…” Louis whispered the last part to himself, and then he set off towards Harry’s house, where he knew Liam was located.