Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Sixty-Three

That in itself, just being able to see that, and watch, made him infinitely glad he'd bought the phone for Niall, and provided a glimmer of hope that it would make tour easier, and would allow him to still get to see them, the everyday things he'd only had a few months to experience but would was and was all ready missing, things like swimming lessons or evenings in and the latest Pokémon cards Chloe had unwrapped.

It also provided him with a front row seat to witness Niall's foray into social media for the first time since the days of Myspace, and, over the first couple of weeks he was away, Liam spent the hours they journeys slowly easing Niall into the world of twitter and Facebook and even Instagram, all of were site with accounts that had been set up by Liam's management. Whilst his management and PR team were still technically in control and posting, Niall had been logged into those accounts and could see everything they post and everyone he was supposedly following, followed by, and messaging.

Apparently, Niall was following nearly all of Liam's family who had social media, everyone Liam was supposed to be properly friends with, and was followed by Ed Sheeran. He was also apparently messaging various people that Niall didn't even know existed until he figured out where the messenger functions were and was receiving daily messages from fans all desperate to know the definitive answers about him and Liam, whether Liam was bi, gay or just friends with him, and if he was the same Niall Horan from years and years ago.

Niall didn't even know how to respond to those, let alone what to, yet it made Liam laugh a little, marvelling over how quickly fans could adapt and switch from pestering Sophia on a daily basis to Niall, and the part of Liam eager to see people's reactions wanted to encourage Niall to respond to them with any answer, just to see how it would be taken. Probably deathly seriously, no matter what Niall said, and it wasn't as though his PR team didn't have the ability to delete any response immediately.

They joked about it, though, and the thought of it made Niall smile, lighting up his face until the stressed, pinched look had disappeared, and by the time they hung up after that particular call, Liam was halfway across Delaware, Louis had fallen out of his bunk twice, and Niall was late to pick Chloe up from school.

Phone calls were frequently like that, ranging from stupid jokes to serious, in-depth discussions about Chloe's ever-expanding Pokémon card collection, discussions that ended with Liam buying and sending another pack to her, regardless of Niall's pleas not to expand her collection any further, both of them knowing that the smile on Chloe's face would outweigh the look of horror on Niall's as he had to pick up her cards from around the flat.

The phone calls left both Niall and Liam smiling, though, and Liam found himself counting the minutes until it would be time to call him, fidgeting through interviews, hotel room based meetings, and soundcheck, a grin spreading across his face as Niall answered, picking up the phone and telling Liam about the latest customers he'd dealt with, the new girl who kept him company on the night shift, screwing up deliveries that Niall would have to fix, as well as Chloe and her swimming, telling him all the details Chloe would forget to include.

There was one thing that they both never brought up, and did their best to avoid, brushing over it whenever the conversation turned that way, and that happened to be the matter of how long Liam had been away for, and how close they were to Chloe's next school holiday, how close they were to seeing each other again.

They were avoiding it, as though it were something secret, as though talking about it would make the wait seem even longer, as though they were afraid to mention it. In a way, Liam was. He was afraid that Niall had changed his mind about visiting and bringing Chloe, that he had decided it would be too much of an upheaval for her. He was counting the days and crawling up the walls and going crazy with the waiting and the distance, and he was really hoping there would be a chance for Niall to visit.

He was only ever distracted when they were performing, when he was home again, on stage, doing what he'd loved since forever, and that high made him really glad he was there, made everything seem worth it.

The high from performing was also the only thing keeping his hands from trembling when he checked his phone after a performance in Washington and found a missed call from Niall with a voicemail.

"Hey, Li. It's me. Guess I got the time zones wrong and you're busy but never mind. Just thought I'd let you know that Chloe officially breaks up for holidays on April eighth and there are two weeks before she's back at school. Just...if you still want, we could visit. She'd love to, I'd love to, just let me know if it's still an idea. Anyway, I'll call you later, or in the morning or whatever. I'd really like to see you, love to be there, but no pressure. Hope it was a good concert, Washington or somewhere, right? Anyway, call me back. I love you."

Grinning about ten times more, if such a thing were even possible, Liam paced around his hotel room, torn between calling Niall back and telling Louis or someone. It would be way past an acceptable time to call Niall, though, sometime past midnight, and he knew better than to disturb Louis or Harry. Everyone knew better than to disturb Louis or Harry. Instead, he occupied himself by checking ticket prices and figuring out which flights Niall and Chloe might want. It was one of the rare nights when they weren't travelling and no one was out, stunting or otherwise, meaning he had time on his hands.

He waited, though, refraining from falling asleep until he figured it was late enough to call Niall, pushing through until it was roughly six am in the UK.

"Liam?" Niall sounded sleepy, like he was barely awake, and the sound of his voice made Liam wish he was there, with Niall, able to take in the wonder that was early morning, soft, just woken up Niall. "How was the performance? I'm gonna guess it went great. Time zones must be out if you're calling this early."

Liam waited a moment as Niall yawned before he answered, looking over at the clock on the bedside table as he said, "It was good, great even. I'm calling super early, sorry, Love. I got your voicemail, by the way. You guys...you'd fly out? Cause I'd love to see you. Really. Best thing I've heard all day." 

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Ta-daah. 

I think this is possibly the longest length of book time a chapter has lasted for. I mean, it covers over a month, maybe even longer. 

Chapter after chapter that barely spanned a week and here we are, jumping right ahead to April. 

That deserves cake. And I might even share it with you guys.

I mean, hypothetically. I can't afford cake, and even if I could, I can't share it with you guys.

I don't even share cake with the people I live with. 

But I digress...

This chapter spans over a month of book time, so get ready for me to jump ahead to the next interesting plot point. Also, I'm torn between where I want the plot to go for this. I could have it end in, like, twenty more chapters, or we could be here for at least thirty to fifty more. 

I'd love to see what you guys think of the chapter...