Skinny Love {Niam}

c h a p t e r o n e.

c h a p t e r o n e.

This is dedicated to @LouisTwerksIt because she helped me out a lot with this chapter! Love you hun, thank you so much, let me know what you think about how it turned out ♥

(a u t h o r 's n o t e: keep in mind that the story is now being told from Niall's memory. This is how everything started. It's all a flashback, okay loves? love you xx)

(s e v e n  m o n t h s  p r e v i o u s)

Niall perched himself on the corner of his queen-sized bed.

Crying quietly.

Thinking carefully.

Dying slowly.

He tentatively wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. He was such a baby, crying and carrying on like this. No wonder nobody loved him.

He used to feel loved. There was a period of Niall's life where he was truly, completely happy. He was loved. His family, his mother, father, and his brother, Greg. They all loved him. He had even had a girlfriend, Summer.

But things changed. Changed for the worse. His mother and father divorced. Greg was diagnosed with lung cancer, and he died five months later. Summer broke his heart, and crushed it into microscopic pieces.

He hadn't been loved since.

"Niall! You home?" a voice called out, interrupting his thoughts and self-pity. He jumped a bit and called out a "yes" in response. Niall ran a hand through his unruly blond hair. He took a glance at the mirror. It was a terrifying sight. His eyes, usually an ocean blue, were now bloodshot and puffy. It was obvious he'd been crying. There were bags under his eyes. He looked tired.

He looked dead.

He gave up and sighed. Dragging his feet slightly, Niall made his way to the front door. He was greeted by a beautiful set of chocolate brown eyes, and a smile that could light up any room. Niall immediately straightened and planted a half-hearted grin on his face. He didn't want Liam to see that he was upset. Unfortunately, Liam knew Niall too well.

"Ni? You alright?"

Niall replaced the lopsided smile with a wider, more convincing grin. "Yeah, of course."

"I know you're not."

Niall sighed, hanging his head in defeat. "I...uh...the hate was getting to me," he lied quickly.

Liam didn't seem to pick up on the lie. After all, it wasn't the first time Niall had lied to him about such things. "Niall...don't let them get to you. They're just jealous, you know that. Cheer up, please?" Niall looked into Liam's eyes and nodded quickly. Liam grinned and enveloped Niall into a big hug. Niall exhaled and timidly hugged back.

If only Liam knew.

The real reason Niall cried himself to sleep virtually every night was because of an emotion. An emotion he seemed to lack, anyway. Love. He wasn't loved. He wanted love. There was no point of living if you didn't have love.

All of his bandmates had love. Louis, the oldest of his band members, had his girlfriend, Eleanor Calder. She was gorgeous, smart, funny...everything Louis looked for in a girl. They were made for each other. Louis also had a wonderful family, and plenty of sisters that absolutley adored him.

Zayn had Perrie, as well as a great family. Perrie Edwards, a member of the wildly popular band Little Mix. Not only was she talented, she was also beautiful, and had the best personality. She was wild and quirky, which made her so awesome and fun to be around. No wonder Zayn loved her.

Liam. Liam's parents loved him unconditionally, as did his two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola. Liam also had Danielle. Danielle was incredible. She was a talented dancer. She had even danced in the Olympics. Not to mention she was also beautiful, funny, and level-headed. She was everything Liam could ever want.

Even Harry had love. Sure, he didn't have a consistant girlfriend, but he did have plenty of friends that he was constantly hanging out with. Harry also had Anne, his mother. The two were extremely close, and Harry rarely forgot to text her goodnight. He Skyped his older sister, Gemma, every Tuesday, no matter where he was.

Niall wanted that. He wanted to be close to his family. He wanted to have a girlfriend. He wanted to have it all.

But, as he would soon find out, you can't have it all.

"Niall! You okay? You kind of zoned out on me there."

Niall refocused and flashed Liam another grin. "Yep, I'm just fine."

Liam wasn't too convinced, but he decided not to push the issue. Ever since Greg had died about half a year ago, the Irish boy had been acting different. Very different. It was almost as if Niall was okay on the outside, but on the inside, he was as dead as his older brother.

He was not okay. His heart, his very being, was aching to be loved. Liam pitied the smaller boy. He wanted to be there for him, but he didn't want to be pushed away either. Besides, it didn't seem like any of the other lads had picked up on any changes in Niall, so he didn't get too involved. Maybe he was just imagining things.

So he decided to be Niall's best mate, and be there for him when he was needed.

Liam shrugged slightly and peeled off his jacket. Niall padded off into the kitchen. The boy was always hungry, especially when he was upset. Liam pulled off his shoes, which were sopping wet. It was raining outside, as it had been for the past three days. That day, the rain had been especially heavy. The rain hadn't let up at all. Shaking his head to get rid of any excess water from his hair, he took a left down the hallway, towards his room. Liam's bedroom was right next to Niall's, nothing seperating the two but a thin plaster wall.

But during those past few days, Niall had felt more distant than ever.

Maybe it was just the hate, Liam thought. Out of all the band members, Niall took hate the worst. Sometimes, it would get so bad that he would just lock himself in his room and cry for hours. It broke Liam's heart.

As he walked past Niall's bedroom towards his own, Liam realized that Niall's door was wide open. Taking a quick peek inside, he could see that Niall had clearly left his laptop on. It laid on his bed. Niall's Twitter page was open.

Liam felt a sudden rage come through him. Twitter. Poor Niall was so torn up about these pathetic people, who had nothing better to do than to tweet him and make him feel bad about himself. It was horrible. Liam couldn't control himself. He made his way over to bed, to the bright red laptop. He went through all the Tweets Niall had recently received. He scrolled down, reading every message.

He was surprised with what he saw.

Liam had went through a considerable amount of Tweets; not one of them had any hate of any kind. Niall wasn't getting hate, at least not recently.

Why had Niall lied? Liam was sure that Niall could trust him with any problem he was having.

What was going on?