Liam's POV
Niall let out a heavy sigh as he entered our room. His light blue polo was wrinkled and covered in spots of blood. His eyes were tired –dark circled were forming beneath them. "Here," he said as he sat beside me on the bed. He gripped my shoulders and turned me towards him. He gently took my hand that was clenching my face and place it in his lap.
"No, it's throbbing," I snatched my hand up back to my face.
"I know," he whispered. "But if you don't let me do this is will only keep throbbing."
Once again, Niall's warm hand overtook my own. He gave it a light squeeze. He might not have agreed with my actions and choices, but he knew it had been a rough day, and Niall was always sympathetic.
He kept my hand between his. "Like my mum says," he chuckled, "squeeze my hand if it hurts. I wanna make sure there's nothing seriously damaged."
My nose had gushed blood everywhere. Zayn had finally gotten it to stop after researching, and reading that placing an icepack on the back of your neck helps. The blood had stopped but my mouth had the nasty after taste.
I pressed my lips together as he brought his other hand to my face. His bright blue eyes filled with concern as he saw the apparent burses after only a few minutes. "He really got you good."
"Yeah," I gasped as Niall applied a light pressure to my check where Louis had socked me. His hand was freezing due to the ice bag he had just been holding.
"You are gonna look nasty tomorrow," he bit his lower lip hard.
"Is it that bad?"
"Mmm," he scrunched his face. "Take off your shirt so I can get the blood out."
I did as he told me, handing him my blood stained t-shirt. "Thanks Nialler."
He nodded. "Lay back, Li-li. You gotta ice it."
I chuckled at my ridiculous nickname that only Niall called me. The laughter shook my face causing me to wince in pain. In one swift motion I swung my legs onto the bed and sunk into the pillow.
"Here ya go," Niall gently placed the icepack over a towel on the left side of my face. The pressure made a sharp stabbing run through my face causing me to moan.
"Oh come on babe, suck it up. Would you rather have your face be the size of a watermelon? If so, then go ahead and take it off." Niall scolded me.
"No, I'm fine. Can you get me some pain meds?" I begged.
"Sure puppy eyes," he smirked at my expression. "You just relax. I think I gotta go buy some. I'll be back, but if you need anything, then I suggest you ask Zayn. Harry's got Louis' back on this one."
I nodded understandingly. Louis was ticked which meant Harry was ticked.
"Niall?" I asked before he got off the bed. "Is it too soon to call her?"
"Char or Lauren?"
I tensed as he said their names together. His voice wasn't very approving. "Char."
"Call her tomorrow, buddy. Let her get her mind and heart together."
"Ok," I bit my tongue knowing that she probably was heartbroken. "Thanks Niall."
He kissed the top of my head before leaving, "Someone's gotta take care of you, even if you are Daddy Direction."
Then he left me to my thoughts.
It was hard enough to clearly think through the situation without a pounding headache. The pain that throbbed my head just added to my misery. I knew I had screwed up but that's why Lauren and I had stopped. There was no way I could make them understand that though because they simply didn't want to hear what I had to say.
Even though I wasn't thinking straight, I knew that there was one person that I had to call.
I fumbled around the cold sheets until I found my phone. I pulled up the keypad and hit #8 on speed dial. I brought the device to my face, listening to the torturous beeping.
"Hello?"
Lauren's POV
"NOOOO!" Nikki lunged at me grabbing her phone from my hands. "Do not text him!"
"Why not?" I wiggled my nose. "I know you like him. Just think, a potential date with Harry Styles is just one text away."
Nikki stood up pulling her blue sweats up. "Give me mine phone!" She hopped on top of me causing me to tumble backwards.
"NIKKKK!" I screamed. "Get off!"
"Don't you dare text him!" her green eyes furrowed together.
"Nikki why won't you let her do it?" Ava sat calmly against the sofa.
"Because!"
"Well that is a real suckish answer," Jill chuckled. "I'll just text him from my phone. He has my number anyway." The black haired blue eyed girl pulled out her old QWERTY phone. She wouldn't have actually done it –she was just really good at posing threats.
"He has my number," Nikki's voice was strained as she stretched for her phone that I was passing off to Lucy; "I just don't want to text him."
I was having my friends from school over for the first time in well, forever. I had dropped out of school at age fourteen to be home schooled while we traveled with the boys. Not wanting to lose my friends, I enrolled in a few classes at school to stay in touch with people other than the boys and my sister.
"He likes you," I said plainly.
"He said I was pretty. He doesn't like me," Ava rolled off of me and swiftly grabbed her phone from Lucy.
"LUC!"
"Sorry Lauren," she shrugged.
"Wait you've met Harry?" Celine asked.
Of the girls there, only Nikki and Jill had met all five boys. I wasn't really one to introduce friends to them. They however, were my best friends and since 1D was such a big part of my life, it was only fair to share the moments with the two people closest to me.
"Yeah a buncha times," Nikki shrugged. She wasn't a One Direction fan per say, which was one of the reasons we got along really well.
"What's he like?"
"Oh god guys please don't," I brought my hands dramatically to my chest. All of my friends had met Louis, but apparently that wasn't enough.
"Oh ease up, Lauren," Celine chuckled.
"When are we watching the movie?" Jill thankfully changed the subject before things got out of hand with direction topics.
"Now," I hopped up. I walked over to the DVD player and put the movie in. The opening credits began to start when suddenly One Direction was filling the room.
Words will be just words
Till you bring them to life
I'll lift you up
I'll never stop
You know I'll take you to another world
It was my all time favorite song so of course it was my ringtone. I hit the accept button and brought the phone to my ear.
"Hello?"
Liam's POV
Her voice sent a shiver through me. I had a bad feeling this conversation wasn't going to end well.
"Hey," I said weakly.
"Hi Liam. What's up?" I heard voices in the background.
"Erm, Lauren we need to talk. Can you get into a room alone?"
"Um sure? Just a second." I heard her mumble something to the people she was with. "Ok, I'm alone. However I am missing John Tucker Must Die."
I chuckled, "You've seen that movie a hundred times!"
"And it never gets old," I could hear the smile on her face. "But seriously what's up?"
I took a really deep breath filling my lungs with as much air as possible. Still, I managed to choke on the words. "They know."
"They know what?" Her voice was semi-panicked. "They know about..."
"Us," I finished her sentence.
"Who?" she squeaked.
I then proceeded to tell her the story. She didn't say a word. She just listened. It was hard for me to tell it straight. I kept messing up the words and slurring things together. At one point her breathing quicken and I knew she was flipping out. This was the last thing either of us wanted to happen.
"I don't understand," I could hear her holding back tears. "It was a mistake. Not you but the whole thing. Nothing personal but..."
"No I agree," I sighed. "They won't listen."
"Well what did Harry say?" Of course she was concerned about one of her closest friends.
"He hasn't said a word to me... not since Louis..." I caught myself but not soon enough. Hearing what had happened with Louis would crush her.
"Not since Louis what?" Her voice shook.
"Punched me," I mumbled.
"LIAM!" she cried. "Why did he do that?"
"He was upset I guess."
"I mean I get that he was mad about us keeping the secret but, but, but why is that a reason to punch you?"
I took the icepack off my face and walked over to the mirror. I gently poked the bruised skin on my face. My skin was red from the ice, but beneath the red was solid black and blue. The whole left side of my nose was puffed up making it difficult to breath. My cheek was swollen so badly that I could barely open my eye. "I don't know Lauren... Maybe it's because he..."
She cut me off. Her voice was bitter. "Don't say it Liam. Just don't say it."
"Lauren it would make sense!"
"We've been over this Liam," I could tell she was crying now. "I can't do this right now. I need to go." Then I heard a click. She had hung up on me. I guess maybe I deserved that.
Lauren's POV
I shouldn't have hung up on him, but I wasn't able to face the words that he was about to say. Louis didn't love me the way I loved him.
I put my phone on the arm of the sofa in my dad's office. I flipped onto my stomach and sunk my face into a pillow. Tears stained the material beneath me but I couldn't stop them.
I had just ruined any potential relationship with Louis for the second time in my life.