Soundtrack Series

FOUR - Illusion

Harry: You didn’t miss waking up in bed alone. Even in the short time you had spent with him on the road, you had gotten used to the morning company. That is the one thing you can count on during tour; you were always going to wake up with him beside you. He wouldn’t be going anywhere. You had stuck by your rules though and come home. It was for the best. You had caused a lot of confusing emotions to come up with your actions back in Australia, and you both needed the distance between you. The loud ringing of your phone makes you jump slightly as you stand in front of the stove, doing your best not to burn the grilled cheese you were making. “Hi,” you say once you turn back around after putting the call on speaker. “Hey, what are you up to?” “Just making some breakfast, what about you, it’s awful late there?” You are getting better with figuring out these time zones. “I can’t go to sleep tonight. I’ve tried already.” “What’s the problem?” You jokingly question. “You, I can’t stop thinking about you.” Oh. Message received; there were no jokes here. “That’s dangerous,” you respond honestly. “Tell me about it. I keep thinking about how I’m going to convince you that I’m in love with you.” If you had been holding the phone you would have dropped it then. Your eyes are as big as golf balls as you turn around to stare at the phone. “Harry, you know as well as I do that this does not need to go beyond what it is.” “This is the real deal, (y/n). I know it is. I know what I am feeling, and I know it’s because of you.” You couldn’t believe what he was saying. Well, technically you can, it’s Harry. His hopeless romantic ways always bring this sort of talk out of him, but it’s never directed towards you. You couldn’t count how many times you had heard him talk like this about other girls. Yes, it hurt you just a little, but he is your best friend. He wouldn’t be talking about you like that. Scratch that, he shouldn’t be talking about you like that. That’s exactly what he’s doing right now. How are you supposed to respond? “I guess it’s a good thing I got out of there when I had the chance then if you’re going to start talking like this.” You can’t help but see the humor in the situation; it’s how you deal with feeling uncomfortable. He knows this trick of yours. Are you forgetting how long he’s known you? “I’m not going anywhere,” he responds. “Well I would hope not. I kind of like having you around.” “I’m not talking about like that, and you know it. I’m not going to stop thinking about you like this.” “Harry, please, you are just letting your emotions talk for you. You may be feeling like this now, but it will change. You don’t need to be ‘in love’ with me.” “Like I have a choice! I wouldn’t want one if I did, but you can’t help who you fall in love with.” Oh, great. He’s reached romantic novel quoting status. There is no hope in saving this conversation now. “Trust me, you will have the same feelings soon. It’s just taking you a little while to get used to the idea of us being more than just friends.” “Because that’s what we need to stay. That’s what we are going to stay. Harry, we are not in love.” You are trying so hard here, but you are very aware of how stubborn the person on the other end is. “Not yet.” You roll your eyes at his words and turn back to the stove. “Damn it!” You shout with frustration, turning the eye off and removing your now burnt grilled cheese from the heat. “You burnt your breakfast, didn’t you?” He questions in satisfaction. “Shut up.” “You should have just believed me,” he taunts. “Go to bed!” You shout, walking over to the phone and ending the call; you were done with him. 

Liam: You sit across the room from him in silence, which is something you are getting used to with him. Not yesterday though, yesterday you shouted, and shouted loud. You had received a text from Mark shortly after arriving to Liam’s apartment complex telling you that he was sorry for whatever he did to make you decide to not fly to France to be with him, and that he hoped your time with Liam would help sort everything out. It wasn’t doing anything of the sorts. You didn’t even know France was happening until after Liam had told him you decided you didn’t want to go. This was of course a total lie, and so you sit in silence. After refusing to send you to France where you were meant to be because you need to ‘talk it out’, you had decided that talking was the last thing you wanted to do with him. So here you sit, glaring. Unable to comprehend a single thought that has been going through his mind these past twenty-four hours. How could he do this to you? Blatantly sabotage something that genuinely makes you happy. You just don’t understand where he thinks he has the right. “It’s for your own good. That’s all I’m trying to get you to understand,” he assures you, breaking the silence. You aren’t going to respond. Silence is silence. You will glare at him. That will get your message across loud and clear. With your eyes you had sent him straight to hell and back several times. You can’t believe he has gone to such drastic measures as this to keep you away from Mark. Liam is one of your best friends, well was one of your best friends. Best friends don’t do this. This situation is reserved special for psychopaths and serial killers. And since you didn’t dub Liam to be either of those you questioned his motives. He had told you it was simple. You deserved better than Mark. You deserved to have someone who would take better care of you than him. But he doesn’t know anything about Mark, so how could he justify any of his comments? He couldn’t, he had no idea what he was talking about. That had made you even more furious with him, and he just kept digging. He suggested that this would be the right time to break up with him, since of course, he already thinks that you blew him off for some unknown reason. The unknown reason being the devious and malicious mind of the one guy in the world you had known longer than any other. You weren’t going to break up with Mark though. Why on earth would you? When was Liam going to realize that he can’t dictate your life for you? He had been doing it for years, yet you are only just now realizing it. There was a reason he always worked so hard to maintain the reputation of ‘bad boy best friend’. It was to keep the other guys in town away from you. No one was even going to get near you if they knew Liam was around. Mark had broken that mold though and you were so pleased that he did. He had shown you things Liam had never been able to, simply because he was around. Mark didn’t live in London. Mark didn’t have to travel with world nine months out of the year, every year. Mark didn’t have a massive following of millions of teenage girls that were constantly pining over him. Mark was Mark and that is what you need. You don’t need another Liam. You have one of those already. You need a Mark, why can’t Liam see that? Tears begin to fall down your cheeks as your thoughts turn into emotions. Liam has no idea what to do. He gets up from his seat to walk towards you but you hold your hand up. He stops and you stand to your feet. You look him directly in the eyes, tears still falling from yours, so he can see what he has caused before walking off to the guest bedroom.