[AN: Thank you to everyone for the truth and dare ideas! I used some but not all. This chapter is dedicated to my gal @Mrs_Payne1993 because she has had a very rough time lately. Virtual hugs times infinity for you sweets!]
LIAM’S POV
I laughed as Sammy cheered for the start of the game. I would rather just sit and hold her close, but if she wanted to play truth or dare with the lads then I was in. I looked around the circle and realized that besides Sammy only Louis or Harry looked particularly excited about playing. Plus Annie looked like she had been crying.
“Sam,” I whispered into her ear. “Does Annie look upset to you?”
“Yeah,” Sammy whispered back. “She’ll let me know eventually what is going on. Just leave it be for now.” I nodded and laughed as Louis started bouncing in his seat on the floor. Nora was sitting next to him and rolled her eyes as he tried to lean his head on her shoulder. Nora moved her shoulder and Louis’ head fell into her lap. She absentmindedly started stroking his hair, but stopped when her gaze landed on Niall.
“What’s going on there?” I asked Sammy in a whisper as Nora shoved Louis away from her.
“I have an idea,” Sammy admitted. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Louis!” Annie said softly. “Truth or dare?” I knew Louis would pick a dare. He always picks dare.
“Truth,” Louis says looking over at Nora.
“Umm…okay,” Annie said nervously. Obviously like everyone else she had been expecting him to say dare. “What’s your worst habit?”
“Umm...biting my nails,” Louis replied. [AN: Thank you Google!] I gulped nervously as Louis surveyed us all choosing his victim. “Liam, truth or dare.”
“Uh…” I looked over at Sammy who just smiled. I bet she was expecting me to pick truth. I always picked truth. I didn’t much care for the dares the lads came up with. The last time I had picked a dare I had ended up in a hotel hallway in my boxers.
“Truth, right?” Louis said not even waiting for my answer. “Okay so—“
“No!” I shouted for some reason. “I choose dare. Lay it on me.”
“Wow,” Harry said with a whistle. “I think Sams here is rubbing off on Daddy Direction.” Lou looked stymied as he tried to think up a dare for me. Then Harry’s eyes lit up. Oh no. This can’t be good. “Boo Bear I’ve got it!” Harry leaned over whispering in his ear.
“Isn’t there a rule where he can’t get help from others to come up with a dare?” I asked nervously.
“Stop worrying babe,” Samantha said from beside me. “It’s just a game.”
“Your dare is that you can’t kiss Sam for a whole day starting now,” Louis said with a delighted chuckle.
“T—That’s not fair!” I shouted out causing the whole group to burst out in laughter. “We just started dating!”
“Yeah,” Harry said with a smirk. “And the lovey dovey stuff was getting a little nauseating. We could all use a breather.”
“It’s okay babe,” Sammy said leaning in and kissing my cheek. “it’s only for a day.”
“Hey!” Louis shouted. “I said no kissing!”
“You said he couldn’t kiss me. You never said I couldn’t kiss him,” Sam shot back. I pumped my fist in triumph.
“Damn it Haz,” Louis said looking over at Harry. “We totally missed the loophole.”
“My turn!” I said triumphantly and my eyes landed on Nora. “Nora truth or dare?”
“Truth,” Annie and Sammy answered for her in unison.
“She always picks truth,” Sammy said with a groan. [AN: It’s true. I learned quickly with my friends that you never want to pick dare. If I have to choose between sharing my feelings or dancing naked in a parking lot I’m always going to choose my feelings.]
“Truth,” Nora said shooting them a glare and making them giggle.
“Okay,” I said tapping my chin in thought. “What was the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?”
“So this one time in third grade I wasn’t feeling very well,” Nora said. “I walked up to my teacher and asked if I could go to the nurse. She told me I could and I walked out the door…and proceeded to puke all the way down the hall to the office.” [AN: Totally actually happened to me]
“EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!” Annie said. “That is disgusting. No wonder you never told us about it.”
“Yeah,” Nora chuckled. “For the next week everyone at school made jokes about me hurling wherever I went.” Harry kept laughing rolling about on the floor. Nora narrowed her eyes at him. This boy was about to be in so much trouble. “Harry truth or dare?”
“Dare!” Harry shot back confidently.
“I dare you to prank call my friend Carrie and tell her you’re a crossdresser,” Nora said simply.
“I don’t have her phone number,” Harry shot back.
“Oh please,” Nora said rolling her eyes. “As Carrie so eloquently put it you’re Harry Freaking Styles! You got her phone number already.”
“Fine,” Harry grumbled no longer enjoying the game. He pulled out his phone and clicked on a number.
“Put it on speaker so we know you’re doing the dare properly Harold,” Nora grinned evilly. We all laughed as Harry’s face blanched.
“Hello?” the perky voice of the person I assumed was Nora’s friend Carrie came over the line.
“Um…hi Carrie…this is Harry,” Harry stuttered out.
“Oh my gosh!” she squealed into the phone. “I can’t believe you actually called me!”
“Yeah, I just wanted to tell you something real quick,” Harry said with a groan. “I’m—I’m actually a crossdresser.” There was silence on the phone for a solid minute. I was almost positive that the girl had hung up. Harry looked crushed until he heard laughter on the other end of the phone.
“Oh my goodness!” Carrie chuckled into the phone. “Is this on speaker? Nora are you there?”
“Damn it Carrie! How did you know?” Nora asked with a grin.
“Because this is the same dare I gave our director when we were on staff retreat!” Carrie shot back. We all looked at Nora expectantly waiting for an explanation.
“Our director had to call her husband. He took the news a little too well,” Nora said which made Carrie crack up even more. “Thanks for the fun Carrie. I’ll call you tomorrow. Bye!” Nora then took Harry’s phone and hung up before handing it back to him. I started laughing like a hyena as Harry glared at Nora.
“H-H-Harry,” I chuckled. “Your face was hilarious!” I broke out in more laughter. It took almost five minutes before I was myself again. Nora high fived my enthusiasm. I was suddenly a big fan of truth or dare now.
“Ha ha Liam,” Harry said darkly. “I choose Sammy. Truth or Dare?”
“Dare,” Sammy said flashing her wicked grin.
“I dare you to strip off a piece of clothing every time you lock eyes with someone,” Harry said with a smirk. I looked over at Sammy bewildered. “Ha! You have to take a piece of clothing off because you locked eyes with Liam!” Sammy whipped off her sweater.
“Stop it!” I shouted suddenly no longer a fan of this game. “Come up with a different dare Haz!”
“Li, it’s fine,” Sammy said. “I’m wearing layers.” I looked at her outfit. She was down to two tanks tops a pair of pajama pants and some socks.
“Two tank tops are not layers Samantha!” I chastised her making her roll her eyes at me.
“That will teach you to laugh at me,” Harry said in a whisper. I shot him a dark look.
“I pick Zayn,” Sammy said locking eyes with him. “Truth or dare?” I prayed to God that no one noticed.
“Sams,” Louis said with a grin. “Another layer has to go!” Everyone in the room chuckled as Sammy pulled off one of the tank tops. I was going to strangle all of them. Sure it would be kind of hard to perform if four out of the five members of my band were dead, but I didn’t care.
“I pick truth,” Zayn said confidently. I wonder if he realized that we all noticed his surreptitious glances in Annie’s direction? Was he the reason Annie was upset?
“Okay,” Sammy said thinking hard. “What was your first opinion about having us come along with you guys on the tour?”
“I didn’t really have an opinion,” Zayn said glancing over at Annie again.
“That’s a lie,” I said interrupting him. “He kept whining about how annoying it would be to have screaming fans on tour with us.” Zayn blushed and looked nervously over at Annie.
“He probably didn’t want to upset his girlfriend,” Annie said quietly.
“Girlfriend?” Louis asked voicing the question we all had asked in our heads. As far as we all knew Zayn was unattached.
“Uh, yeah. His girlfriend Christine,” Annie said looking at all of us lads.
“Christine?” I said confused. “But she’s your—“
“Girlfriend,” Zayn interrupted me. “I just hadn’t mentioned it to the lads yet because it’s so new. Christine and I are dating.” I looked at him in awe. I knew the other lads were looking at me waiting to take my cue as to how to react to his announcement. We had all met Christine during our time at X-Factor. She was a lovely girl, but there had never been anything stronger than a friend vibe between her and Zayn. The two of them dating would be like Larry Stylinson breaking up. Just not possible and incredibly wrong. Zayn’s eyes pled with me to go along with him. I gave him an intense look so that he knew we would be talking about this later before speaking.
“Good for you and Christine,” I said calmly. “Zayn it’s your turn to choose someone.”
“Thanks Li,” he said before turning back to the group. “Niall. Truth or dare?” I smiled. This would be perfect. Niall always chose the dare, and he always made everyone laugh.
“Truth,” Niall said calmly. Okay. This could still be a laugh.
“What was the last lie you ever told?” Zayn asked. I waited for Niall to crack a joke, but he just looked sadly over at Nora. Why was everyone acting so weird tonight?
“I promised a girl that I would let her go, but I know that I can’t,” Niall said softly. The mood of the entire room dipped to a depressing level. I walked over to where Niall sat and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“Cheer up Nialler,” I said softly. “We’ll talk about it later, okay?” Niall looked up at me and smiled.
“Thanks Li,” Niall said. “You always know the right thing to say.”
“How about you ask Annie next? I think she’s the only one who hasn’t had a go.” Niall smiled at me and looked over at Annie.
“Annie, truth or dare?” Niall asked.
“Dare,” Annie said with a weak smile.
“I dare you to kiss the person on your left every time someone says the word ‘what.’” Annie froze as she looked towards the person on her left. It was Zayn.
“H—he has a girlfriend!” Annie stuttered. “I—I need to go!” We all watched as she fled the room.
“Annie wait!” Niall called out running after her. Sammy started to get up, but Nora stopped her in her tracks.
“Niall is with her,” Nora said. “Just let him take care of her.” Sammy sat back down.
“Is Niall taking care of your sisters now too?” Harry asked cruelly. Nora looked at him distastefully.
“Just shut up Harry,” Nora said angrily. I could see that Louis looked just as confused as the rest of us. Why was Nora fighting with Harry? The fun and games had quickly turned sour. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I saw you!” Harry said standing up. “I saw you and your precious Niall! Is that what you wanted to tell Louis? Why don’t you tell him now? Tell him that you’re dating one of his best friends!”
“I’m not dating Niall!”
“You could have fooled me! I saw him hugging you in that field!”
“You were spying on us!?! I suppose you were spying on me earlier too! Who does that?”
“I was looking out for my best friend. He cares about you. I was trying to keep him from having his heart broken by you. Why Nora? Why Niall?” Harry looked like he was about to cry. I stood up, but Louis beat me to it. He wrapped Harry into a hug as Harry sobbed into his shoulder.
“What is going on here?” I asked. Sammy had moved next to me and was holding my hand.
“I’m just as lost as you are,” she admitted with a shrug. I could see Nora shaking as she watched Louis calm Harry with gentle words.
“Niall is my friend,” Nora said. Harry turned to glare at her. “And he is ONLY my friend. I told him the same thing I haven’t had the guts to tell Louis.”
“What?” It was Louis who asked the question this time. “What are you afraid to tell me?”
“Lou, I know you like me,” Nora said softly staring at her feet. “I know you want something more than friendship, but I can’t give you that. That’s what I needed to tell you. That’s what I told Niall. I’m still in love with David. Until I can let him go I can’t be with anyone.” Having said her piece Nora quietly walked from the room and down the hall to her own personal space closing the door. Louis just stood there clutching Harry even tighter. I looked over to see Zayn angrily looking down the corridor where Annie and Niall had disappeared to.
“I feel like we missed a whole lot of something,” Sammy said tugging on my hand.
“I don’t suppose you have any ideas for how we can fix this?” I asked her softly.
“I’m not sure if we can.” I silently agreed that she might be right about that.
[AN: Not my best because I really shouldn’t be up this late writing just so I can post! I just wanted to get something up before my work weekend starts. I am crashing at my sister’s place starting on Sunday, which means no posting really since my sister doesn’t have an internet hookup I can use. (Long story!). I’ll probably still write some, but no posting of anything until Wednesday at the earliest. I love you all!]