Eleanor POV
Danielle is going crazy over Niall, she told me about how he demonstrated one of his trademark jumps in her dance class yesterday, apparently he was the cutest thing ever.
I watch her as she talks, pacing around my living room, grinning cheek to cheek, her eyes shine in adoration of the Irish boy... My best friend's absolutely smitten.
I find it funny how she isn't aware that I know of their little sleepover, like if she thinks that the two disappearing from the party was subtle.
I saw the way they were together that night, I could feel how much they love each other. I want those two to be together forever, no matter how far away they are.
Watching Danielle fuss over Niall makes me think of Louis, how happy she is, the look on her face, think ing of Lou makes me just the same.
"So what's going on with Liam?" I ask breaking her never ending Niall talk, interrupting my own thoughts as well.
She turns to me and sighs, "This is so frustrating, I'm in love with Niall, Niall's in love with me, Liam is also in love with me... Niall and Liam are band mates and best friends! Liam thinks I love him just as much as he loves me, which I don't. I mean I do ... I love him, but not in the same way as I love Niall..." Danielle plops herself down onto the floor, rubbing her knees in anxiety. "And don't even get me started on Cody!"
She cradles her head between her legs and once again lets out an exaggerated sigh.
Cody's very subtle about loving Danielle now, but he often talks to me about her but I choose not to bring it up to her, I don't want to overwhelm her anymore than she is already.
Danielle suddenly bursts into tears, "I can't do this!"
I sit myself down on the floor next to her and gently pet her head to console her as she sobs into my lap.
"If they all really love you, they'll want you to be happy and let you be with who you want to be. I saw you and Niall two nights ago... I know how much you love him. I can see that he loves you just as much."
Her cheeks become red. "You saw us on the roof?"
"Haha, yeah." I wink.
Danielle bursts out into laughter, I'm happy she's to see her smiling again.
"And Louis?" she sniffs with a smile. "We always talk about me and my problems... what about you?"
A cheesy, lovey-dovey smile spreads across my face as I look down at the colorful rug from beneath us. "Well, I love him... a lot." I start. Danielle makes a small fan-girl type squeal. "But just like you and Niall, I don't know what's going to happen between us once he leaves. We talked about it briefly, and he told me not to think about the negative. I can't help but worry, I want to stay with Louis..."
My face becomes sad. Danielle hugs me, making me feel a tad bit better. "Take your own advice, don't worry El, he loves you."
Zayn POV
"Can you pass the yogurt?"
Liam lifelessly slides the overly sized container towards me, "Thanks mate." I take a large scoop of the vanilla yogurt and drop it into my small bowl, adding a few raspberries. Still looking down at my mush that is breakfast, I try to converse with the silent Liam in front of me.
"You know the weird texts I've been getting from this stalker girl? I think I know who she is... Well, I'm not too sure but Cody helped me quite a bit." I say with a mouth full of yogurt.
I look up at Liam who didn't yet acknowledge the fact I was talking to him, he hasn't even said a word to anyone since yesterday.
"You look upset..." I say. He looks up at me, then back at his empty plate.
"I can't help but think of Danielle, I don't think she likes me as much as I expected..." he pauses, "I think she loves Niall."
Liam places his head on the round table. I know Niall and Danielle are in love, everyone knew that but Liam.
I can see he's slowly realizing that the girl of his dreams just doesn't feel the same. I'm crushed to see him like this...
"That night at Danielle's house, she just disappeared, as did Niall. I know they were together, I think everyone knew. I didn't talk to Niall about it, neither did I talk with Dan. Zayn..." Liam looks up at me with a face I've never seen before. "It hurts so much."
"You should talk to her." I suggest.
"What?"
"You should talk to Danielle, trust me."
"About what, Zayn, how much I adore her and how I honestly believed she felt the same, but in the end fell for one of my best friends?"
"It will make things better, I promise."
Liam, holding back obvious tears, pulls out his cell phone and texts Danielle. "When are we leaving for London?" he asks.
"Tomorrow."
* * * *
Danielle POV
There he is, sitting on small bench on the deserted boardwalk where he told me to meet him, his brown eyes watching me as I sit beside him under the moonlight. I feel the freezing bench from under my thighs, I shouldn't have worn a skirt...
"What's going on?" I ask, he seems a bit nervous.
"You and Niall, huh..." he says without making eye contact.
"Liam... I - "
"It's fine," he cut me off. "You don't love me, I understand."
"No. You don't." I look down at the floor, then back up at Liam's face, who is staring down at his shoes.
"When I first met you, I thought I fell for you, I probably did. You made me feel important and cared about. You went out of your way to buy me a smoothie when you didn't even know me and I was a bit of a fangirling mess. You even brought me to a private concert rehearsal! And then I met Niall... With Niall, there was instant chemistry, even Harry had taken notice. Niall and I have something so special, something I've never felt before. I have a similar feeling when I'm around you, though in a friendlier kind of way. You have no idea how it kills me inside, Liam, it kills me to see you upset because of me. I love Niall. I can't change that, but I don't want you to be sad... Niall feels just as bad about this, he knows how you felt about me, even before I did. He didn't want to tell you because he knew it would hurt you, that's the last thing he wanted to do. I don't know if you've noticed anything but Cody likes me as well, but I don't feel the same either. That hurts too, Liam. I know what you are going through is very hard, but aren't we all suffering from this? You're leaving tomorrow... I don't want you leaving broken hearted. I want you to know that I love you, Liam, just as I love Harry, Zayn, Louis & Niall. But we can't be together."
Liam looks up at me, teary-eyed.
"I...I..." Not letting him find his words, I gently kiss him on the cheek, causing him to blush.
"You'll find another girl Liam, I know you will. You're adorable and sweet, any girl would be lucky to have you as boyfriend." He smiles cutely, then becomes serious again.
"But... I don't understand. Why did you kiss me on the Ferris wheel at the fair if you didn't love me?"
"I didn't know if I loved you or not, I had strong feelings for both you and Niall..."
"So, you were just testing?"
I stand up abruptly. "Testing?! What, do you think I was just experimenting with you?!"
Liam stutters, "Well, I mean, if you didn't know you liked me... Uhh.."
"No Liam, I had serious feelings for you. The same as Niall. For the longest time I had no idea whether I should be with you or him, knowing you both loved me. I kissed you because I wanted to, not to experiment, I can't believe you would think something like that!"
I turn around and begin to walk away feeling hot in the face, when I feel Liam grasp onto my wrist.
"I didn't mean it like that, Dan, I'm sorry..." I pull my arm from his hand.
Before I could even answer, I see a blinding flash come out of no where. Some paparazzi took a picture of Liam and I. It can't be a good one, we're both on the verge of crying.
"You need something?!" I snap at the aggravating photographer.
"Some pictures... just doing my job. Smile for the camera love birds?" The man adjusts his camera in front of his face in hope for a good couple photo. My eyes systematically roll the moment he says love birds.
"We're not together." I scoff and glance over to Liam, "See you tomorrow." I turn around and walk away in frustration. I can feel Liam watching me from behind, I don't bother to look back.
I didn't mean for Liam to think I was just experimenting with him, I loved him but discovered I had even stronger feelings for Niall. I kissed him because I wanted to... is that wrong? Should I have not kissed him?
Does he really think I don't care?
bzzzt ...............
I check my phone to see who texted me, hoping it's not Liam.
Christina: Hey! Long time no see! Wanna hang tonite?
Christina! I haven't heard from her in a while. I text her back saying to meet me at the Starbucks, seeing as I'm right next to it. I wonder how she's been doing, hopefully she doesn't still feel bad about posting the pics of Liam and I, not that it matters anymore. I really want to talk about everything that's happening to Niall, but I guess I could tell Christina...
* * * *
"El... Eleanor, wake up." With two hands on her small framed shoulder, I shake my best friend in attempt to wake her up.
"Mmph...?" she mutters as she rolls to her other side.
"Eleanor!!" I yell causing her to jolt.
"WHAT?" she screams. "What time is it? What are you doing in my room? I thought you were with Liam..."
"You never lock your door... You should consider locking it at night, seriously, some creep could just walk in."
"No kidding." she says with a smirk. "Why are you waking me up in the middle of the night?"
I decide to just get to the point... "I know who Zayn's stalker is..."
Eleanor sits up right away, her full attention on what I'm about to tell her.
"It's Christina."
Her eyes widen in complete shock. I had the same reaction when Christina told me it was her...
"No. Fucking. Way."
Eleanor's jaw drops as I nod.
"How do you know? Why? ... OH MY GOD."
"She told me at Starbucks tonight, I can't believe it either! She said how Zayn's always been her favourite in One Direction, and that when she met Liam, she took it as a sign that she'd meet Zayn sometime soon. She followed him everywhere. Seeing as she knew me, and I know Zayn, it would be easier to find him, which it was. She didn't mean for anything to come off as creepy or stalker-ish, she just wanted to prove herself as a dedicated Directioner..."
"Well that's odd."
"You're telling me, the girl's convinced that it's a completely normal thing to do... That Zayn should find obsessive texts attractive."
Eleanor and I just stare at each other for a moment, in a silent state of shock, then burst out into laughter at the ridiculousness that is Christina's logic. I'm honestly shocked that the stalker was really her! I denied it at first, but wow!
"Wait... But why were you with Christina at Starbucks? Weren't you with Liam on the boardwalk?"
"We talked for a while, I got frustrated and left... As I was walking away, Christina texted me saying she wanted to hang out, I didn't even notice how late it was, I just needed to talk to someone. We met over a coffee and she told me everything... Crazy huh?"
Eleanor still looks puzzled, "So... What about Liam now? ..."
To be honest, I don't even know.
"I guess we'll just have to see tomorrow."
I crawl out from Eleanor's bed and head next door to my house, still thinking about what will possibly happen tomorrow...
______________________
In my last message I told you all how I was supposed to write minimum one chappy per week... It's been 4 weeks and I haven't written ANYTHING...
I feel like I've let you down and I'm SOOO sorry, school hasn't been giving me any breaks :( today's thanks giving so I decided to write a chapter :) HOPE YOU LIKED IT !!! I can't wait for you guys to see what's coming up next ;) xx
LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STILL READING EVEN THOUGH MY STORY'S BEEN ON HOLD <3 <3 <3
- Oli xx
p.s: I'm aware of Liam and Danielle's breakup recently (in real life D': ) and that's not gonna affect my fanfic in ANY way ;) plus no matter who Danielle ends up with in 'Between Boys' I still believe Liam and Danielle (in real life) were THE PERFECT COUPLE. <3