Love Me (Sequel to Hold Me) A One Direction Fanfic

XXI

"Yea. I needed to talk to a friend." Liam tried again. 

"So you think Griff is a good choice?" Niall snarled. 

"I'm trying to be his friend." Liam answered honestly. 

"OH WELL HOW NOBEL OF YOU!" Niall shouted losing control of his anger, his hands balled into fists by his side as he yelled at Liam. 

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH GRIFF AND I BEING FRIENDS?" Liam shouted back standing up from the bed. 

"Nothing! Do what you want Liam." Niall scoffed harshly as he limped out of the room with his crutches, Liam followed him down the hall but gave him space as he trailed behind. 

"Niall, what is wrong?" 

"EVERY-GOD-DAMN-THING!" Niall shouted forgetting the spaces between his words, the blue of his eyes was cold and dark, Liam hardly recognized them. "Since the fucking crash the two of us haven't been, well the two of us," Niall said sadly. Liam watched him speak as he remained further back in the hallway. "We broke." 

"Niall, this is your PTSD talking." Liam said stepping closer to him. 

"NO! No it isn't!" Niall growled angrily at him as Liam stopped his movements. "Don't you see Liam? We used to fit together like a puzzle, perfectly matched and now its like we are trying to make a puzzle work with missing pieces. It isn't fucking working." 

"We just need to work harder." Liam croaked trying to stay calm. 

"Do you still love me?" Niall asked. 

"Of course I do." Liam answered attempting another step towards Niall but stopped once more as he held his hands up halting his progress. 

"I love you too, and I do honestly still think you love me but i'm no longer enough for you am I?" 

"You're everything for me." Liam answered with a shaky voice. 

"Don't be dishonest with yourself Liam, you have always been the one who needs more." Niall answered back softly. 

"No, don't you dare give up on me." Liam whined finally closing the gap between them as he pushed Niall into the wall planting his lips hard against his. Niall kissed back instinctively as their tongues touched each other. Then the taste of saltwater reached Liam's lips as his pulled back to find Niall crying silently. 

"Please." Liam begged him as he padded the wet tears off of Niall's cheeks with his thumb, their noses still touching each other, Niall shook his head. 

"I have to do what is best for me." He cried some more as he reached up pulling the silver chain from under his shirt, the ring Liam proposed to him with dangling from its links, he went to take it off but Liam stopped him. 

"Don't fuck with my feelings just because you are unsure of yours Niall." Liam snarled harshly as he stepped back from him grabbing the bag from the chair that he hadn't bothered unpacking yet from when they got home from the hospital. He made his way to the door without looking back to Niall as he stormed out of the flat.

 Jumping into the car he angrilly peeled out of the driveway avoiding the paps who were always sat on the sidewalk outside their gate. He turned down the music from the sterio as he literally just drove in silence, turning every so often just to change directions, he honestly had no clue where he was going. 

The phone rang in the center console as he ignored it figuring it was Niall. It rang again, he ignored it again. Then a third ring sounded and he finally looked at the caller ID seeing Griff's name appear. 

Begrudgingly he answered the phone, "What Griff?" 

"What's wrong with you?" Griff's voice sounded from the other side of the receiver. 

"I'm just having a bad day." Liam grunted. 

"Perfect!" Griff said happily. Liam furrowed his brow surprised at his reaction. "You can come grab a drink with me then!" He continued as Liam suddenly realized his intentions for the call. 

"Not tonight mate, i'm not in the mood." Liam answered back lamely. 

"Don't be a git Payne! You're coming, i'm texting you the address, meet me there in twenty!" Griff spoke happily ending the argument as the call ended abruptly. Liam groaned knowing he shouldn't but the idea of a beer right now sounded so good. He typed the address into his GPS and drove off once more. 

The press conference was bustling as the four lads stood backstage, Liam missing from the group. "Niall where is Liam?" Harry asked searching the neighboring areas backstage for Liam. 

"He probably isn't coming." Niall said softly. 

"Why not?" Zayn asked immediate concern in his voice. 

"I don't want to talk about it." Niall brushed him off. 

"Did something happen between you two?" Louis asked pressing Niall and ignoring his request for silence. 

"I don't want to talk about it Lou." Niall answered again. 

"But he is alright?" Harry asked. Niall nodded.

"Ok, well we go out there in five minutes Ni, you may not want to talk about it but the press is going to notice a missing band member! Especially if he was one of the two in the crash!" Louis hissed quietly so as to not draw attention to their conversation. 

"He's right, what are we supposed to tell them? Zayn asked looking to Niall. 

"Guys! You have two minutes!" The stage hand shouted to them as she checked her clipboard for something before leaving them alone. 

"I don't care what you tell them." Niall said flatly. 

"Well we could say he is home resting." Harry suggested. 

"But if he's not?" Louis countered. "What if he is out and a pap catches him, they'll know we lied." 

"Ok how about he is at a friends birthday party?" Zayn suggested. 

"What friend?" Harry asked shooting holes in Zayn's plan. 

"30 seconds guys!" The stage hand said coming back  into view and ushering them towards their entrance marks. 

"How about you tell him that we got in a fight and broke up, and that he stormed out of our flat with his rucksack of clothes." Niall said finally. "I think that will paint a pretty clear picture of why he isn't here." 

The applause sounded as the stage hand lady pushed them all towards the entrance to the stage. Niall crutched out first leaving Zayn, Louis and Harry behind all gobsmacked at his words. 

"What the bloody hell?" Harry stammered. Zayn looked equally shocked with his mouth hanging open as he looked to Harry and Louis. 

"Ok. Let's just make this press conference quick and get out of here. No mention of Liam either!" Louis whispered frantically to the other two as they finally emerged from behind the curtain into the flash of lights plastering fake smiles on their faces.

AN: Hello people! I'm sorry for the gap inbetween chapters, i moved into my new house this week and its been hectic!! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and don't get toooooo mad at me! 

As always let me know if you love this chapter by voting and commenting (If you hate it too, you can comment that as well! lol) 

Hope everyone is well!