Liam’s P.O.V.
It was interview time. We were all in the dressing room, having our make-up done and our clothes checked on. I glanced towards Niall, who looked rather distracted, just like the rest of us. I hadn’t spoken to Niall since I confessed my love for him, and he hadn’t spoken to me. Everything hurt again.
“C’mon lads,” Louis said, “We can do this. All we have to do is get back into the swing again. How many interviews have we done in our careers?”
“Louis is right,” Harry said, “We just need to do this like every other interview.”
“Niall, mate, focus,” Zayn said, grabbing Niall’s arm and pulling him into our small huddle we had formed. Niall looked up and then around the circle, locking eyes with me. I looked away quickly, it was too painful.
“Liam, you too, focus,” Louis said. I looked back to the circle.
“We are a team, a band, a group of best friends,” Harry said, “We can’t forget that. We have been through everything together. We can do this,”
We all smiled and nodded in agreement.
“Group hug!” Louis yelled. We all laughed together, something we hadn’t done in awhile, and fell into a huge group hug. I couldn’t help but to smile. We could do this, together.
“Let’s go boys,” A voice called from outside the door.
“Let’s do this poo,” Harry smiled. We walked, our arms wrapped around each other, out the door and towards the interview.
“Welcome to our show today! We have amazing guests for you today! Please welcome, One Direction!”
We walked out in a line, me furthest to the back, which was okay with me. We waved to the live studio audience, and took our seats on the couch. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough room on the couch, so I just sat on the arm of the chair, folding my hands in my lap.
“Niall, it’s amazing to see you,” The interviewer said at last. I glanced to Niall and he smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, it’s good to be back,” He said.
“So, the world is wondering Niall, how are you not dead? For almost a week now, the world has thought you to be dead, and now, poof! Here you are, perfectly fine.”
The interviewer was being too cheery, looking at Niall hungrily. She wanted information that she would never get. Niall sighed.
“It was a big misunderstanding. A body was found and they thought it was me, just because it was a teen boy and his dental records matched mine closely.” Niall said simply.
“Well, there is a lot of footage from your ‘funeral’”, she did air quotes with her fingers, “And your band-mates were pretty torn about it. Liam, you seemed especially troubled by the fake funeral.”
All the eyes turned to me. Zayn, who was sitting next to me, on my right, put his hand on my knee gently.
“Well, I thought that one of my best mates was dead,” I said a bit harshly. The interviewer nodded.
“The fans were pretty crushed as well,” the interviewer said. For some reason that comment got under my skin. The fans would miss him, sure, but not as much as me. That’s not possible. “Your speech was intense, I shed quite a few tears,” she continued. I nodded and shrugged. I just wanted to talk about something else, anything else. They mumbled on, and I zoned out, just not wanting to hear any more of this. I fumbled with my shirt sleeves and the light bandages underneath them. The doctors insisted I wear them a bit longer so the cuts don’t get infected.
“Liam?”
The sound of my name brought me back into the conversation.
“I’m sorry, I zoned out,” I smiled, but it was fake. The interviewer just smiled back and nodded agreeing.
“My question was, how are taking Niall’s reappearance?”
I looked up and then to Niall, who was looking at me, his eyes shining. I swallowed, my arms shaking slightly. I didn’t know how to answer that. I was about to say a fake, yet, totally acceptable answer, but when I opened my mouth the interviewer cut me off.
“Is that a bandage?”
I looked from Niall to her, then down to my wrists. My right sleeve had slipped up, exposing the bandage. I shrugged and tried to answer the original question, “Niall’s reappearance is amazing. He’s alive,” I said.
She was still staring at my wrists.
“Did you get hurt? I’m sure everyone will want to know,” She said.
Was shaking even more now. Why was this becoming normal for me, to shake? I felt like a pathetic little puppy. I just didn’t answer the question. I looked up to Niall, locking eyes with him again. His eyebrows were knitted together like he was sad or angry. Looking at him was painful. Why hadn’t he talked to me? Why hadn’t I talked to him. Suddenly I noticed everyone was staring at me, not just Niall. The other boys, even the audience. I couldn’t control my shaking anymore. I probably looked like I was having a seizure. I couldn’t take this anymore.
I stood up and ran off the stage. The interviewer and the boys called after me, but none of them followed me, I knew that. They couldn’t leave the interview. I walked into the dressing room and locked the door behind me. Suddenly there was a pounding on the door.
“Liam! It’s Paul. You have to go back out there! Management is going to kill you,” He warned. I leaned my back against the door.
“No,” I said shakily.
“Liam, please, c’mon,” Paul continued, knocking again.
“I can’t,”
The knocking stopped.
Minutes later the pounding started up again, only this time, it was Niall. I could tell by his voice.
“Liam, Liam, please,” He said, pounding more.
My shaking still hadn’t stopped, and I felt terrible, like I was about to vomit.
“Liam,” His voice was cracking, like he was crying, “Liam,”
I stood my legs wobbling and I reached for the door, unlocking it and opening it slowly. Niall rushed in and looked at me. I closed the door quietly behind him, still trembling like a pathetic child.
Before I could say anything, Niall flung himself into my arms and began sobbing into my chest.
“I’m sorry,” He said, “I’m so sorry,”
I froze in confusion, but slowly wrapped my arms around him and let him cuddle into me.
“Why?” I asked.
“For this, for everything, for what I’ve done to you,” He sobbed. I ran my hands through his hair gently.
“None of this is your fault,” I said.
“Yes it is,” He said.
“So you chose to leave us?” I asked.
“No, I just--” he moaned in confusion and pulled away from me, staring at me again. “Liam, I want to tell you,” He said, grabbing the blonde ends of his hair.
“Then tell me,” I said, wanting to know what he was talking about. He shook his head.
“That doesn’t matter right now,” He said shifting on his feet, “I need to tell you something,”
“Go ahead,” I said, finally getting my shaking under control.
“Remember what you told me yesterday?” He asked. I nodded.
“Niall, it’s okay, I get it. You don’t feel the same way, I understand,” Before my heart could crush anymore, I left the dressing room, just wanting to get away.
Zayn’s P.O.V.
The first half of the interview went fine. Absolutely fine. The interview was being pushy though, looking and digging for answers she would never get. Then she started pestering Liam, about Niall’s ‘funeral’ and how he felt about his reappearance. Liam didn’t need that. And then she asked about his bandages. It was like she was asking for him to snap. She had no idea what she was doing. She was hurting him. When he ran out, I must admit, I was surprised. This is Liam we are talking about, ‘daddy direction’. The guy who was always in control. I guess this is what love does to you. When you can’t take anymore heartbreak.
I felt terrible for Liam, but I didn’t know what to do. After the interview Niall went after him, so Louis, Harry, and I waited in the hall.
“Management is going to kill us,” Harry muttered.
“Nothing we haven’t been through before,” Louis said. I nodded and leaned against the wall, crossing my arms across my chest. Suddenly a surge of fans broke into the hallway, pushing through the door. Louis’ arm was around Harry and his hand was in his curls. As soon as the fans saw they began to scream.
“Larry!”
Louis pulled away from Harry, who looked hurt by his sudden loss of affection. I couldn’t blame. When fans were involved, Louis became a little bit harsh.
“Zayn!”
“Harry, get a picture with me?”
“Louis, are you and Harry dating?”
“Sign this for me!”
It was always the same. Don’t get me wrong, I loved our fans. They were just really enthusiastic.
“Sure babe,” I signed a few things, stalling, until the security found out that the girls had gotten into the back halls.
“Hey! Girls, this way. You are not allowed back here,” The security guards almost had them all ushered away when Liam came out of the dressing room.
“Oh my god! Liam!”
“What happened to your wrists?”
“Liam, I love you!”
Liam just looked at the fans as they were ushered away, and he smiled slightly. He then turned and headed down the hall in the other direction, towards the exit.
I glanced to Harry. He still had a sad look on his face, as he watched Louis take one final picture with a fan. When all the girls were gone Louis walked back over to Harry, but Harry gave him the cold shoulder, walking after Liam.
“What did I do?” Louis groaned slumping after Harry.
“I dunno mate,” I said shrugging. I then turned to the dressing room door, “Niall!”
Niall came out, his face red and puffy.
“You okay, Nialler?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter,”
He walked after Louis. I was the only one left. I sighed, and followed them out.