Scarlett's POV
"Can you pass the salt Zayn?" Liam's voice echoed around the dining room. For a room full of people it felt strangely empty. The sound of anyone talking made me jump. We all, the boys and Taylor who had returned sometime this afternoon, were sat around the table eating a pasta dish Liam cooked. Harry is the one who normally prepares the meals but it doesn't surprise me he's being distant, not just towards me, but everyone, although as it stands I'm the only one who knows why. I didn't particularly like pasta, especially when it was coated in a tomato sauce with mixed herbs but I was grateful I was still being served food, I didn't really expect it right now. I watched Zayn reach across the table and pass Liam the salt, he had to make an awkward reach over my dinner, I could have easily passed it but that would mean talking to me. I wanted to scream at them all but I held it together and shovelled a spoonful of pasta in my mouth, swallowing quickly to try and avoid as much taste as possible. Even Taylor was eating in silence, not like I minded, it was almost as if she wasn't there. You could feel the awkwardness around the table beginning to grow the further into the meal we got. I tried to make eye contact with each of the boys, I was determined to know what they were thinking but I'm not exactly a psychic and none of them were interested in looking at me. I did however briefly catch the attention of Niall, he didn't want to make eye contact, I could tell by the way he looked uncomfortable but he was too curious. His eyes fixed onto mine, I flattened out my face, it was a subtle sign to him, he promised he would talk to me, I'm not some devil girl. Instead of any words leaving his lips he flashed a smile, it looked genuine but it soon faded when he turned his attention back to the food on his plate. I looked back down at mine, wondering when all this was going to end. My hand began dragging my fork absent-mindedly across the plate, creating an abstract pattern on my plate. I'm sure Picasso would be proud, I thought sarcastically, mentally rolling my eyes.
"So...was it busy in the city today?" Zayn asked, directing it towards Taylor who was completely zoned out, I couldn't help but wonder why. Had Harry spoken to her? But if he had, why was she still here?
"Uh? Yeah, yeah, really busy." She mumbled, although I could tell she was lying, her left hand always gets jumpy when she lies, I noticed this within a couple weeks of living with her. She had stopped it, she trained herself to stop it after I discovered it, she clearly had her guard down right now, I could take advantage of this, but I hadn't planned anything, going off the top of my mind wouldn't work. I'd end up digging myself into an even deeper hole than I was already in, if that's possible.
"So what did you get? Buy Harry anything?" Niall added, chuckling at the end, although it seemed more of an awkward laugh rather than one with any emotion, I could tell they were trying to start a conversation since everything was so obdurate, but no-one was really up for talking.
"No." She replied quickly, trying to avoid the subject or something of the sort. I was starting to doubt the fact that she even went shopping, she normally buys something, she has to. She can't go shopping without purchasing something, whether it just be a tube of lip gloss but to come home with nothing is slightly suspicious.
"Okay..." Liam mumbled, the tension around everyone clear as day.
"Excuse me." Harry announced before the ear shrieking noise of his chair scraping along the floor occurred, unlike the other rooms in the house, the dining room was lined with pristine wooden floorboards which weirdly matched the wooden table. The rest of us sat in silence as we heard his dish crash into the sink in the kitchen, followed by a door closing, presumably his bedroom door.
"What's up with him?" Niall asked. Everyone shrugged their shoulders, including me, I had to bite my tongue a while longer. I was desperately hoping Harry was going to do something drastic about the whole situation but he didn't, he hadn't done anything. Not one single conversation with any of the boys and as for Taylor, she may as well be a piece of the furniture at the moment.
"Time of the month?" Louis joked rhetorically. Everyone let out stifled laughs, except for Taylor and I. I was watching her carefully from the corner of my eye, she could sense something was up, but I believed she was hiding something. Why else would she be acting all shady?
"I'm not hungry." She spoke before following in Harry's footsteps.
"Is my cooking really that bad?" Liam jested.
"It's awful." Niall replied, food literally pouring from his mouth.
"It's so bad you can't even keep it in your mouth." Liam replied, laughing at the end of his statement as he handed Niall a napkin, although he was adamant to use it. "You're like a child." Liam tutted, rolling his eyes at him before cleaning his face up for him. I missed it when the boys were like this, it's a shame that if I said anything it would completely ruin the atmosphere, I was starting to wonder why I was still here.
"No wonder why people 'ship' you together." Louis laughed. I guess that's why I was still here; Louis. Otherwise I would have left long ago.
"That was really nice Liam, thank you." I spoke for the first time, I didn't wait for a reply because I knew it wouldn't be worth listening to. Even though I didn't like the food myself I'm sure to anyone who liked pasta it would be a delicacy. I pushed my chair out and began walking out the room.
"Thank you." Liam's genuine voice took me by surprise. I turned slightly around to catch a small smile on his face. As I began to walk towards the kitchen I couldn't help but let the corners of my lips point in one direction, up. It wasn't much, not even a conversation but a sign they weren't completely gone, somewhere deep down they were still my best friends, and somewhere deep down inside of them I was still the same girl I always, I just need a way of proving it. The kitchen was an undesirable mess, unlike Harry, Liam wasn't a very organised cook.
"Why is there a yogurt on top of the microwave?" I mumbled to myself, picking it up quizzically.
"Liam couldn't find what he was looking for?" Louis' voice made me jump a little as he walked into the kitchen with a handful of dishes.
"So he put a yogurt on top of the microwave?"
"Don't ask." He chuckled. I have to admit after this morning I was beginning to feel a lot more distant from him and I could tell he felt the same way. We weren't at peace with ourselves around each other, I always felt like I was trying too hard to please him. I felt like he was trying too hard to just be civil, there was something on his mind but he wasn't willing to share, not even with his girlfriend.
"I wasn't lying this morning." I announced out of the blue.
"Scarlett." He sighed, he clearly wasn't in the mood to talk about this or he was just fed up of it.
"I saw her, I know I did."
"But you know it can't be true." He replied, his hands gripped firmly onto my shoulders. It wouldn't surprise me if he felt the urge to shake me vigorously to make me see sense, but I would still think the same.
"It was her voice, how can you explain that?"
"I can't-"
"Exactly." I cut him off.
"Scarlett, you're not going to do anything crazy about this are you?"
"Louis, she's my sister. Do you expect to just forget?"
"You don't even know if it was her."
"I do." I stated angrily.
"How?" He asked in an annoyed voice.
"Sisters instinct." He sighed in response, he wasn't satisfied with my answer but I didn't have any other evidence to go on.
"Maybe you should go to bed, sleep on it." He replied before walking away and out the room.
"Yeah, okay." I mumbled to myself since I was already alone. I wasn't in the mood to sleep, I wasn't tired and my brain was still puzzling everything together. I gnawed on my lip, I'm surprised I still had skin left, as I decided to wash the dishes, no-one else would and the smell of dirty plates in the morning wasn't for me.
After salvaging the kitchen from Liam's cooking attempt I glanced down at my watch, it was only ten, normally this was far too early for me to go to bed. Since I'd already slept for most of the day I was pretty much wide awake. As for everyone else in the house, that was a different story. I could hear Niall snoring from in his room from the living room, which is slightly worrying. Zayn was half asleep on the sofa watching some football rerun. Liam was on the phone in the kitchen and Louis had set himself to bed already. I didn't have a clue about Taylor or Harry, I presumed they were asleep or something of the sort from the dead silence coming from their room. I wandered through the hallway, slipping my shoes on my feet along the way. No-one was at the front door to stop me so I proceeded on out into the darkness of night.
Walking alone in the dead of the night probably isn't a wise choice for a nineteen year old girl. London wasn't exactly the safest city in the world and unfortunately I'm not trained in any sort of martial arts. I buried my hands deep within my skinny jeans pockets, mentally wishing I had been thoughtful enough to bring a jacket but I didn't feel like turning back, so I continued along the lonely path, my arm hair stood up on end from the subtle breeze wrapping itself around my body. I tried not to think about the sort of things that could happen in this situation, my mind was always focused on other things but it was sitting there in the back of my mind, waiting for something to unfortunate to happen. Cars flew past, their headlights practically blinding me. I was starting to wish the boys lived further into the city, at least there'd be more people around but as for now, I was the only sign of life other than the drivers of the occasional cars. My heartbeat became unsettled when I felt a sudden vibration in my pocket. My heart was literally pounding against my bones, I was really on edge at the moment. After catching my breath I pulled out my phone, answering it almost immediately.
"Hello?"
"Where are you?" Louis asked, not even greeting me.
"Out, why?"
"By yourself? It's dark."
"Louis, I'm nineteen, I don't need a babysitter." I was probably being too harsh on him, he was probably only concerned but I was starting to get tired of things now, everything was agitating me, grinding on my nerves.
"It's dangerous, you don't know who's out there."
"I'm sure I'll be fine." I tried to say as carefree as possible but I still felt some doubt inside.
"Stay where you are."
"Wait, what?"
"I'll be there in a minute."
"Why?"
"Because Scarlett, I don't want anything to happen to you, now where are you?"
"Fine and about five hundred metres from the house."
"Which direction?"
"Right." I sighed, stopping dead in my tracks so he'd have less distance to cover.
"Stay there, I'm on my way." He replied before ending the call. I leant on someone's garden wall as I waited for my 'knight in shining armour' to arrive. I liked the thought of him actually worrying about me but for some reason I didn't particularly care. He hasn't cared recently, so why should I? I don't sound like the ideal girlfriend right now but he's no prince charming.
As much as I wanted to be alone right now to gather my thoughts, the heavy breathing from my saviour was fast approaching. I turned to look at his figure appearing through the darkness under the street lights. My eyes caught hold of one of the late night buses, stopping further down the road, heading in this direction. I noted down the location, maybe it would come in useful some day? Stratford. A place I'd never been to but was familiar with the name.
"Thank you for not running away." Louis panted although I could tell he was being sarcastic.
"You're welcome." I mumbled, pushing myself of the wall.
"C'mon, let's get back."
"I don't wanna go back yet." I replied, stopping still after he had tried to pull me away.
"What?"
"I want to go for a walk."
"A quick one then." He sighed, before clasping my hand in his. Quite frankly not in the mood for an argument. We began walking in my intended direction, gradually getting closer to the bus which was about to pull away from its stop. "Why did you just randomly go out?"
"I needed some air and space to think." I vaguely responded.
"About what?" He asked, turning his head towards me.
"Nothing important." I replied in a not so truthful manner.
"Ok." He simply stated, no attempt to find out the actual reason but I didn't mind, trying to explain myself or my thoughts never seemed to get me anywhere good.
"Weren't you asleep?" I questioned, changing the subject.
"Yeah, but I heard the front door close."
"Oh." I nodded, taking in his information. Just like most moments the air filled with silence, the gentle breeze ruffling our hair. Ours hands remained together but only loosely. I prepared myself for the sudden gust of wind we were about to be hit with by the passing bus. I couldn't help but stare at it as it approached, it was almost empty with the exception of two people. I turned on my heels, grinding the bottom of my shoes into the floor as I watched the bus dart off before I could even attempt to catch it. Although my whole body remained completely frozen on the spot.
"Scarlett?"
"Uh?"
"What happened?" Louis asked, sensing something was up.
"N-nothing." I stuttered, what was the point in telling him, he wasn't going to believe me. "I wanna go back now." I announced half-heartedly.
"Are you okay?" He sounded genuinely concerned. "You wanted to go for a walk a minute ago."
"I'm cold, that's all." I lied; I honestly hadn't felt the coldness until I mentioned it.
"Okay, I'm pretty tired anyway." He replied, yawning at the end of his sentence. The entire walk home I spent it looking down at my shoes, figuring out a plan for tomorrow. I looked up every so often hoping the bus would return but my hopes were ruined to only find the odd car dawdling past. I was grateful for the fact I'd read the destination on the bus because that's where I'll be heading tomorrow.