I Cannot Hide This Even Though I Try ~ A COMPLETED One Direction Fanfic

12 - Unconventional

I swallow hard, not sure if I should really be telling the girls the truth. I have no choice, I remind myself. After all, I’m the one that invited them over and asked for their help. “Liam,” I mumble, my voice barely audible.

“Sorry, what?” Morgan asks at the same time as Rayne says, “You need to speak a little louder.”

“It’s Liam,” I confess. I stare down at my shoes, my face turning red for what feels like the hundredth time tonight.

“And what could you have possibly said to scare Liam away?” the redhead queries, her voice giving away a hint of incredulity.

Morgan shakes her head slightly. “You can’t be serious,” she mutters.

“It’s difficult to explain, but I am being one hundred percent serious,” I assert.

“What about yesterday? You seemed to be on good terms with him when we were all hanging out together,” Morgan points out.

“Yeah, that was the first time I’ve held an actual conversation with Liam since his trip to Florida with Danielle,” I clarify. I notice a mysterious look pass between the two girls before they both face me again.

“How close are you with Liam? I mean, we know you’re in a band with each other, and we understand that everyone in the band is ‘like family’. If we’re going to be able to help, we need to know everything you can tell us about the relationship you have with Liam,” Rayne notifies me.

What have I gotten myself into? “Usually we’re at least as close as the two of you, if not closer. As a matter of fact, I’m closer to him than I am to anyone else in the band. Or anyone, for that matter…” I concede.

“So… You’re like best friends? Brothers? What?” Morgan interrogates.

“What.”

“Okay, now could you please expand on that?” Morgan continues.

I shake my head back and forth, biting my bottom lip.

“We can’t help you if you can’t trust us,” Rayne mentions.

So, I have no choice in the matter… “Tell me this: would you ever exploit someone for money?” I question in return.

“No,” they practically chorus, their voices overlapping.

“Are you sure? I need to know because I know that any reporters who find out your identities will pay you money to tell them any secrets that I share with you.”

“I pinky promise that I will never betray anyone’s trust for the sake of money,” Rayne declares, holding her pinky up in front of me.

“I won’t either,” Morgan states, imitating her red-haired friend.

“Alright. I hope you know that I will personally go out of my way to find you both if either of you break our promise,” I stress. I hold up my pinky and make each of the girls promise never to speak of this conversation after tonight.

“So, w-” Rayne begins, but is cut off by Morgan.

“What exactly is your relationship with Liam?” Morgan inquires. “Sorry, Rayne,” she adds when she realizes that she interrupted her friend.

I cough nervously, blushing again. “Can I ask you a question first?”

“I suppose so,” Rayne affirms, shrugging.

“Yup,” Morgan replies.

It’s now or never, I guess. “What are your views on homosexuality?” I question, ignoring the voice in my head that keeps telling me that I shouldn’t even bother.

Rayne and Morgan’s eyes widen and they share another look.

“I have a gay uncle,” Rayne says, “and he’s one of my favourite people in the world.”

“My sister that we’re going to visit in Scotland is a lesbian,” Morgan confesses.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I realize that the girls sitting before me aren’t homophobic. “Well, I need to make sure you understand that this is a very complicated situation.” I pause while they both nod their heads in understanding. “One Direction’s management believe that the public will disapprove of any romantic relationships between any of the members of the band because homosexuality is frowned upon by so many people,” I continue, “so we made an agreement with them to keep our personal relationships private. They decided that they wanted to be extra careful, so they had Liam begin to ‘date’ Danielle because they knew that the two had gotten close during our time on the X Factor.”

“Why?” Rayne asks, confused.

“Well, Liam and I have always been the closest out of everyone in the band, we just haven’t been able to share that with anyone. Liam and Danielle’s relationship isn’t real. It is part of management’s plan to keep the truth away from the public,” I ramble.

“Yeah, we got that. What is this ‘truth’ they need to keep away from the public?” Morgan encourages, though I can tell by her expression that she already knows the answer.

“The truth is, Liam and I have been dating for over two years now…” I confess.

“But you and Liam only met on the X Factor just over two years ago,” Rayne points out.

“That is another fictional story created by management. In truth, Liam lived in Mullingar for about half a year in our last year of school because of his dad’s work. He moved back to Wolverhampton and we lost touch for a few months, but we had been best friends the entire time he lived in Ireland,” I explicate. “We managed to get back in touch about six months after he moved back to England, then continued to talk to each other on a regular basis for most of the next year.

“Neither of us told the other that we were trying out for the X Factor, so it was by chance that we met up at bootcamp. While we were there we were finally admit to ourselves and each other that we had always had feelings for each other, so when we were put into a group together at the end of bootcamp… Well, we were ecstatic to say the least. It was during our week at Harry’s parents’ bungalow that the other lads found out about our feelings for each other. Honestly, I don’t think either of us would have had the guts to ask the other out if it hadn’t been for Harry, Louis, and Zayn forcing us to go out on our first official date.

“So, I guess the answer to your question is that my relationship with Liam is of a romantic nature,” I conclude.

“You mean to say…” Rayne trails off, her words seemingly caught in her throat.

Morgan finishes her friend’s question by adding, “Niam is real?”