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Falling for a Lie ~ Chapter 7.
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“That was… Interesting” Niall said, walking out of natural science class with Louis. He wasn’t sure if Louis heard the slight sarcasm sweeping through his statement or not, because he only nodded.
“So, do you feel prepared for tomorrow?” the brown haired boy asked him.
“What about tomorrow?” Niall asked, already getting a bit nervous.
“Please tell me you didn’t forget about the test we have tomorrow?!” Louis begged, but he could see from the panicked look on Niall’s face that he, indeed, did forget.
“FUCK!” Niall yelled and a few students looked at him, while Louis rolled his bright blue eyes.
“I would help you study, trust me, but I got another date with Harreh tonight” he said with a smile.
“Why can’t you help me instead?! He’s not going to dump you just because you cancel one date! Besides, you two have been on like a million dates already!” Niall looked at Louis pleadingly, but the brunette just ruffled his hair.
“You understand that meeting the person you’re in love with is worth so much more than anything else, right? I mean, that’s why you’re always so excited when me and Liam hang out with you and Harreh and Zayn, or when you and Liam work on your project, am I right?”
Niall looked at him with big eyes and Louis saw how the boy paled in front of him.
“What… How did you know?! Did Harry tell you?! That bastard!” Niall was sure he’s going to strangle Harry next time he saw him.
“No, Harreh didn’t tell me, you dork”, Louis hit him in the head lightly, “I figured out this all on my own. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that you are head over heels for Liam, every time he’s around you… You are like… You’re glowing”
Niall turned bright red.
“Did you tell Liam?” he asked, scared of what the answer might be.
Louis didn’t know what to tell Niall. He had told Liam, but on the other hand it would probably destroy the group chemistry if he told Niall that Liam knew about his “secret”. And he hadn’t convinced Liam to date Niall yet, due to that stupid Nina-girl who had Liam wrapped around her finger.
“No, I didn’t tell him. And I don’t think he noticed anything, he’s pretty thick” Louis smiled at a relieved Niall, but the smile didn’t really feel real, since he lied about two things;
1. That he didn’t tell Liam
2. That Liam didn’t notice
Ouch, he was a bad friend, wasn’t he?
“Uh… Come with me to my locker, I’ll give you my notes to study with, it might help you” Louis began to lead the way and Niall followed silently.
Louis opened his locker and shoved a thousands of papers and notes into Niall’s arms. Niall looked down on the pile and understood that he would most definitely need help.
“Fucking shit…” he sulked.
Then he saw Liam walking towards them.
“Hey guys” he said but none of the two answered, instead Louis was writing down some extra important pages of their natural science book on one of the notes Niall was holding.
“So, Niall, do you want to work on the project today?” he asked and Niall groaned.
“I can’t, I got a goddamn test tomorrow and I forgot to study - I didn’t even know I had it! I’m going to fail, I’m sure…” Niall looked at the pile of papers in his arms and sighed sadly.
“Uh… I could help you, maybe?” Liam suggested and Niall’s head snapped up.
“Really?!” he asked hopefully.
“Yeah… I mean, I got no homework today anyway” Liam shrugged.
Niall smiled brightly at him.
“Thanks mate! You’re the best! Meet me at my locker after school and we’ll head over to my place” Niall walked away with a smile on his lips and a lot of papers in his hands.
Liam smiled at the sight and turned to Louis, who had a small smirk playing on his lips.
“What?” he asks.
“You two are finally getting over the library thing, he’s taking you home”
“That doesn’t mean anything!”
“It does; Time to ravish him!”
“Shut up Lou!”
“I can almost picture it; you pushing him up against a wall and then-“
“If you finish that sentence I’m going to tell Harry about you having a copy of his schedule for two years!”
“Okay, I’ll be quiet, chill man”
But still, the image of him pushing Niall up against a wall didn’t leave Liam’s mind, and he tried his best to ignore the small tingling in his lower abdomen.
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“So, this is my room” Niall said and shut the door behind them.
Liam looked around with curious eyes. It was pretty messy, but it smelt just like Niall. Liam didn’t even know when he had noticed Niall’s scent, but he knew he really liked it. On the wall over Niall’s bed there was a poster of Justin Bieber.
“Nice poster” he said with a teasing smile and nodded in the direction of JB. Niall blushed slightly.
“I… He’s really good, and I… I don’t usually bring people to my room” he said with a slight blush.
“Hey, I was just teasing” Liam said and walked over to Niall’s bookshelf. There were only a few books, then there was mostly CDs and other random stuff. He saw that most of the books were Sherlock Holmes books.
“Sherlock Holmes?” He asked and looked over at Niall, who shrugged.
“I don’t read a lot, but when I do, I like to keep it by high standards.”
Liam nodded and looked down at the floor.
Niall followed his gaze and both boys spotted a pair of boxer briefs laying on the floor.
“Uh…” Niall turned red and kicked them under the bed. “You weren’t supposed to see those”
“At least not yet” Liam said, trying to lighten the mood, but his voice had lost its teasing tone and just made everything more awkward.
The tension between them was heavy and Liam searched the room for a object or a reason to change the topic.
He spotted a guitar in a corner.
“You’re playing the guitar?” he asked and pointed at the instrument.
“Yeah!” Niall breathed out, like he had been holding his breath. Maybe he had?
“Well?”
“Well what?” Niall asked.
“Aren’t you gonna play me a song?”
Niall looked at Liam’s sweet smile, and decided to play one of his favorite songs. He had actually never preformed before, the only ones who had heard him was his parents. He picked up his guitar and walked over to his bed. He patted the spot beside him and Liam sat down with a smile.
He checked that his guitar was in tune, then he started to play and sing.
“Well, it started with your hips
So I moved up to your lips
To take a chance, ask for a dance
‘Cause you’re the cutest thing
On this side of the world
We call our homes, yet I feel so all alone
Half of the time we gotta live
With what we got and I got nothin’
So I pray you take my hand
So we can conjure up somethin’ rad”
Liam recognized the song and decided to join in the chorus.
“And you could move on with your life
Just like you do, just like you shooby do do do
But you could make everything alright and I want you to
Because ever since the first dance
All I thought about was lovin’ on you”
Niall first seemed surprised when Liam joined, but then he smiled and motioned for Liam to sing the second verse on his own.
“So I moved to the dance floor
With instincts and nothing more
I had ants in my pants, I did the boogie dance
And there was nothing to do but laugh
So I took another leap
Hoping to sweep you off your feet
I said ‘Baby, maybe we could bust this joint
And see if my place is open to chill’ “
They sang the chorus together two more times before the song ended and they smiled brightly at each other.
“You’re really good” Liam complimented.
“Me?” Niall snorted, “I sound like a creaking floorboard compared to you, you fucking angel” he said and smiled.
“I don’t know how to take that comment” Liam said and chuckled. “But really, you’re very good, trust me.”
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“I need a breaaaak…!” Niall whined.
“Another one?” Liam raised his eyebrow.
“Yes” Niall pouted. “We could go downstairs and see if there’s anything to eat” he suggested.
“Again?” Liam couldn’t help but smile amused at the blonde lad in front of him on the bed.
“Pleeeeeeease!” Niall gave him his best puppy eyes. Liam sighed and put down the natural science book he was currently skimming through.
“Okay” he said and they went down to the kitchen.
Just as they were eating whatever random food they found, the front door opened.
Mr and mrs Horan was home.
“Hello Niall!” Mrs Horan laid eyes on Liam. “Oh, you got company! Who’s this?” she smiled nicely at Liam, who stood up and offered her his hand in a greeting.
“I’m Liam, ma’am.”
“Call me Maura.”
Niall’s father stepped forward and shook Liam’s hand as well.
“And I’m Bobby.”
“Pleasure to meet you, sir.”
Bobby chuckled lightly.
“You finally got yourself a polite friend there, Jamie” he smiled at his son.
Liam looked at Niall, confused.
“Jamie?” he asked and both Niall and Bobby chuckled. He could see where Niall got his carefree personality from.
“My middle name is James, but I guess dad is the only one who makes a nickname from it”
“And I’m also the only one who gets to call you that” Bobby said and ruffled Niall’s hair.
“My middle name is also James” Liam admitted and Niall smiled brightly at him.
“We got so much in common!” he announced, but Liam couldn’t really agree.
He, of course, didn’t know that Niall was referring to some of the things Liam and Nina had in common.
“So, Niall, no homework today?” Maura asked and glanced at Liam.
“Um, yeah, I got a test tomorrow and that’s why Liam’s here; he’s being an angel and tutors me tonight”
Liam noticed, amused, that Niall’s adorable Irish accent got thicker when he spoke with his parents.
Maura nodded approvingly at Niall’s last sentence.
“That’s really sweet of you Liam”
“Yeah,” Bobby continued, “not to complain, but his other mates doesn’t do the study-thing a lot, I’ve heard. I don’t know if you know them, Harry and Zayn?”
“Oh, yeah, I know them. Since Niall and I started to hang out I’ve become friends with them as well, I guess. I have P.E together with Zayn” Liam explained quickly.
“And his best mate Louis is dating Harry” Niall added, which surprised Liam. Did he just push his friends sexuality in the light of parents eyes?
Maura and Bobby didn’t react much except for a nod and a approving hum.
Liam wasn’t used to parents reacting so… “normal” against homosexuality. He had never even talked about it with his parents. Hell, did they even know that Louis is gay? Liam always thought it was pretty obvious, but you never knew.
He wondered how they would react if they knew that he had a crush on his Irish mate…
Liam’s eyes widened in surprise at his own thoughts. Crush? He didn’t have a crush on Niall! Right?
It was just Louis’ talking that we’re getting to him.
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“They liked you.” Niall said and smile at Liam from across the bed.
“Parents usually like me… Except for when I accidentally call them bitch”
“Huh?”
Liam explained the awkward incident when he called Louis’ mom a bitch over the phone, and the blonde just couldn’t stop laughing.
Somehow, Niall ended up with Liam’s phone in his hands and Liam got a bit nervous, because if he recalled correctly, Louis had sent some suggestive texts about Niall.
“Wh-what are you doing?” Liam stuttered and tried to get his phone back.
“Relax, I’m just stealing your number. I consider phones very private, actually.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, touch my iBaby,” Niall patted his pocket where Liam knew his iPhone were stuffed into, “and I will kick your two front teeth out.” He handed Liam his phone back, and he saw the new contact in his list;
“Sexlord McFucky? Your humor sucks, Niall!” he said and chuckled.
Niall suddenly stood up and looked out the window.
“It’s snowing!” he announced excitedly.
“That isn’t so weird, since it’s the first of December today.” Liam stood up as well and took his place behind Niall.
Niall glanced up at him over his shoulder.
“Really? I thought that was on Friday…”
“Nope, it’s the second.”
Without thinking it over, he gently placed his hands on either of Niall’s shoulders.
He didn’t seem to mind, so Liam stood there; close to Niall and watching the first snow fall.
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Liam woke up from the sound of his phone vibrating. He tried to ignore it, but the buzzing just wouldn’t stop.
He picked his phone up and saw “Niall Sexlord” calling him. They had debated for a long time about what Niall’s contact name would be, but Liam had finally allowed the “Sexlord” to stay the same.
He looked at the time; 05:02
“Niall, you better have a really good reason for calling me at this time” he groaned into the phone.
“Hello Liam, what are you doing?”
“SLEEEPING!”
“Oh…”
“Why are you calling?”
“I couldn’t sleep…”
“I’m sure that if you just try to sleep-“
“I’ve been awake since 04:15, and I’ve been trying to get back to sleep, but it’s not working!”
“So you thought of the brilliant idea of calling me at 5 am on a Saturday?” Liam yawned into his palm.
“Sorry…” as much as Liam wanted to hang up and just go back to sleep, he just couldn’t leave Niall alone in his restlessness.
“It’s okay. Why can’t you sleep?” he asked and sat up in his bed so he wouldn’t fall asleep again.
“I dunno. Just woke up at 04:15 and was more alive than I’ve been since I started high school.”
“Okay?” Liam yawned again.
“Have you read the last two chapters of ‘Veronika decides to Die’?” Niall asked suddenly.
“No, I was planning on doing it tomorrow… Or, today” he yawned again.
“I haven’t read them either…”
“Uhuh?” Liam didn’t knew where Niall was going with this.
“Can you read them to me?” Niall’s voice was fragile.
“Uh… Now? Over the phone?”
“Yeah” Liam could almost see Niall shrugging.
“Uh… Okay” Liam turned on his bedside lamp and found the book on the floor.
He puffed his pillows and seated himself comfortably before he started to read with a raspy morning voice that soon turned into his usual soft angelic voice.
Hours later, when the sun began to rise and the book had ended, there was an cozy silence.
“This was nice” Liam whispered.
“Yeah… You voice is incredible, Li” Niall whispered back.
Liam’s heart got warm and it felt as if it was growing.
“Are you feeling sleepy yet?”
Liam didn’t get an answer besides the light snoring on the other side of the line. He smiled and sighed, he felt happy. Peaceful.
“Sleep tight Nialler” he whispered into the phone before he hung up and got back to sleep himself.
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A/N: the last part of this chapter was so cute that I almost got a toothache. At least I think so… Anyhow, the song Liam and Niall is singing is “First Dance” by nevershoutnever. I think that song is really cute :3