One Direction preference

110. You're Marrying Someone Else part 5

You held your own expression tense, staring at the road ahead as you gritted your teeth in reply, “and why is that?”

"N-never pegged you for the marriage type, (Y/N), baby," Louis leant over your seat a little, arms finding parts, "that’s why…"

"I don’t know," Stephen shook his head as he looked back quickly, smiling, almost chuckling at Louis, "she seems like she’ll make a pretty good wife to me, Lou."

Louis shrugged, slipping back again. He snorted to himself, “guess you don’t know her like I do.”

Stephen rounded his shoulders, staring ahead again. He didn’t say anything at first, and it made you look at him. At the way his expression softened like Louis could be telling the truth, before he moved his lips and murmured, “that’s your opinion then.”

"It’s, um, it’s just up here…" you pointed ahead, talking quietly when you saw the familiar street, watching the road as Stephen drove up and followed the houses, "this one… right here…"

"Gee, home…" Louis groaned again, pushing the door open when the car stilled, "who wants to keep me c-company in bed tonight?"

You glanced over your shoulder to see him stumbling out onto the front lawn. You peered across at Stephen anxiously, still palming the steering wheel, “did you want me to…”

"No, I will," Stephen smiled at you tightly, "I’ll… I’ll get him inside. I’ll be right back," he leant over the console and kissed your forehead, holding the back of your neck before he stepped out of the car, holding Louis’ arms as he led him up the front door, your eyes following from the car.

Zayn - you left the room and made it to the stairs before his body behind you made a sound, jogging after you to catch you, “wait,” he breathed, enough of a voice to make you turn, “(Y/N), wait…”

You narrowed your eyes, afraid of the fact that you couldn’t read what he might say, “what?”

"I just…" he stopped where he was, in front of you. A part of his expression was thinking things over, knotted forehead when he met your gaze and left you a little more confused. His hands still hung by his sides, he still didn’t know what to do with them.

You shifted from one foot to the other, “Zayn,” you softened your voice, your hand almost twitching in reaching out to touch him before you stopped yourself, still entirely unsure, “what is it?”

"I mean it," he let out in a rush when he could, "I… I do want you here and it does mean something and I know that the universe and most of the people down there don’t want us to still care about each other because we’re exes and we should hate each other’s guts but I don’t… I don’t and I could never hate you… I just want you to know that I do care," he finished, almost breathlessly.

"I…" you broke a smile, almost laughing, "Zayn, I know you care, okay? I care about you too."

"Right," he crooked his own smile, not quite as genuine as yours like he knew he’d said too much, somehow. He stepped closer before he stepped back, "well, I really want you to have a good night, anyway," he stepped closer again, kissing your lips fleetingly but it didn’t feel wrong the way he did it, like a goodbye without the words, like he gave some part of you back that he was clinging on to, "see you, (Y/N)."

Niall - ”Niall,” you breathed, breaking from his lips enough to say his name. You swallowed before he kissed you again, and you let it happen, his hands sliding on your face, holding the same way he always used to, the same way you always liked. He squeezed a little when the kiss hardened before you broke it again, “this is wrong…” you swallowed again. 

"Then make it right," he croaked, pressing his forehead to yours, "tell James you can’t do this with him… t-tell him about us…"

"I can’t…" you felt tears well, when your voice broke on the end of trying to get back to him. A few seconds passed as you tried to figure out what you were really doing. You shook your head all of a sudden, and pushed him back from you. You stood up shakily and sniffed, wiping your eyes into a smile that didn’t quite make it, "you… you need to get some sleep," your voice shook quietly, "because you’re drunk and this is… this is crazy. I’ll call the guys in the morning and they can come and get you or someone else can and we can… we can just forget this happened… okay?"

"No," Niall’s voice almost didn’t register when he spoke it so low, "no, baby, no," he reached up to your hand, still on the floor. He held it in both of his and kissed each knuckle as you looked down, "I can’t… I can’t forget this. I-I won’t."

"Get some sleep," you murmured again, stepping back, your voice a little dull the way it came out like you were mentally removing yourself from the room before your body could follow.

"(Y/N)," he groaned after you again, but he didn’t move. 

"Get some sleep," you turned back, slinging one hand over the railing on the stairs, "just get some sleep…" 

You took each step slowly, reaching the bedroom and slipping in, closing the door behind you, tiptoeing to the bed. You slipped under the covers and felt James next to you, his body wrapping you up again, “mmm, where’d you get to, babe?”

"Nowhere," you whispered into his skin, "it’s all good, baby. Go back to sleep."