Sparks Fly

Chapter fourteen.

Zayn was knocked out of his thoughts by a sad sigh. He looked up to see Louis with his head resting on his chin, staring into the distance, obviously deep in thought. He felt so sorry for the older man. He wanted Louis to be able to feel the way that he felt about Shannon. He wanted Louis to be loved - not just looked after and cherished, but really LOVED. He wanted him to wake up in the morning, wrapped in someone’s embrace. He wanted someone to look at Louis like he was their whole world. He wanted Louis to giggle for hours with his lover, just rolling round being carefree. He wanted Louis to feel like he could conquer anything in the world, because he has his lover right by his side and nothing could ever hurt him because the love he felt overpowered it all. He wanted Louis to be happy. And right then in that moment, Zayn vowed that he would never let anyone or anything break his heart - not now, not ever.

-*-

Harry had left Niall's early that morning, not daring to wake the Irishman, but leaving a thank you note. He didn't go back home, though. He couldn't bring himself to go back to the place that held so much emotion and heartbreak, so many unsaid words, and words said that should never have been said in the first place. He didn't want to go back to his and Louis' flat, because he would be forced to think about Louis more than he already was. Today's the day, he thought. Todays the day I'll tell them, I'll let them know what I did. I'll let them judge me and hate me because in all honesty I deserve it. But he wasn't going to give up on them, just because they hated him. That would look like he was saying, "Yeah, that's right. I slept with Eleanor. Hate me all you want, cause I don't give a flaming rats ass what you think of me!!" because he did. He cared so much about how the boys would react. He cared about their friendships; he cared about their feelings, the welfare of the band. But most of all, he cared about Louis. He didn't want to hurt him, to break his heart even more than it was already broken. So that's why he left Niall’s that morning and went to Starbucks, to think about how he was going to tell them, how he was going to cause as little damage as possible. When he left Niall’s that morning, he wasn't only thinking of himself, like he was the night with Eleanor. When he left Niall’s that morning, he was thinking about Louis, and everything in the world he could possibly do to not hurt him. 

-*-

It was 1:53pm when all of the boys got an identical text message.

Meet me at Niall's in 10 minutes. We all need to talk .xx

Louis felt his heart catch in his throat as his phone vibrated and his phone lit up with the name 'Curly'. Why was Harry texting him? He gulped, sliding the bar at the bottom of his iPhone and typing in his pin. When the message finally showed up and he read it, he felt a bit disappointed. Not because the message wasn't one of apology, but because he felt as though Harry ACCIDENTALLY sent it to him. He felt as though the meeting was meant to be kept quiet from him, like the boys were gathering to bitch about him, or form a plan as to how they were going to kick him out of the band. He'd never felt like this before, so... So down, so negative and heartbroken that he just didn't know what to do with himself. For the past two hours, Louis had been lying on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Zayn had gone over to Shannon's telling Louis to "lock up when you're done here, and I'll see you later babe!” Louis had been left alone with himself again; free to let every single one of his thoughts wash over him, suffocating him as if to say "This is what you get for being a FAGGOT."

But somehow, he found the strength to tear himself away from the couch, make his hair look half decent, and show up at the "Group meeting" right on time.

But did he make the right choice to go?

-*-

Liam, Louis, Niall and a very angry Zayn sat in Niall’s living room, waiting for Harry who was ten minutes late. Zayn kept huffing and puffing, and soon enough, Liam couldn't deal with it anymore.