The Parallels (Larry Stylinson+Niall Horan)

Chapter 23

Niall

There were too many emotions flooding my brain at once. Too many questions that I could not answer in the slightest. Too many things that I would rather change if I could go back in time. I kept blaming myself for all that was going on. Seeing everyone today, was one of the hardest things I had to do in a while. Any of us hardly talked to each other.

Liam was kind enough to ride with me. He has always been the mature one. I was grateful that the two girls joined us though because, their continual conversations made it less awkward for the two of us. I would be lying if I said that I did not notice the tears in Eyrie's eyes, the hurt in Zayn's and the guilt in Liam's. None of them felt good. Obviously, it was not how Eyrie expected things to go down when she planned to meet.

It was midnight and I was lying in my bed replaying the same thoughts over and over, again. I just wanted everything to go back to how it was before I completely lost my mind. If I had only kept my cool, if I had only been able to act as carefree as I mostly am then, things would have been different. I also could not decide how to act with any of them including Harry. Even though he made it pretty clear that none of this affected his way of acting, I just felt guilty that he had to witness it all. Moreover, I remembered how happy he was. He was finally getting to spend some time with his mother and with Louis having kissed him just a day before the sleepover, he was feeling as happy as a clam. All of that was ruined for him.

Zayn did not even want to be in the same car as me. He decided to drive by himself. When Harry told me that Zayn and him would be coming by Zayn's car, I felt my heart get heavy inside my chest. I hated the feeling. I could tell that Harry knew I was upset because, he tried to tell me that everything would be alright.

I tried to push all the thoughts away by putting my earphones on. I played rock music in the hopes of avoiding any and all sad thoughts. Despite the loud music in my ears, I closed my eyes. I believed that the fact that I was extremely tired, both physically and mentally, would help me in sleeping. I tried to pay attention to the electric guitar in the background of all the songs in order to distract myself. Soon, I fell asleep with the music still blasting in my ears.

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Next Day

I had spent most of the day, roaming around the house restlessly. My insides were on fire for some reason and I could not seem to calm down. I was about to leave my room for what felt like the hundredth time since morning when, my phone rang. I walked up to it and looked at the screen. It was Lyv. I had no idea why she was calling me. I slowly picked up the phone and received the call.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey! Niall! How are you?" Lyv spoke up in her over enthusiastic tone as always. She sounded cheerful and I could not help but, feel a little better. She reminded me of myself, sometimes.

"I'm alright. What's up?" I asked.

"So, I had this idea in my mind. You know how you have the new year's party at your house on 31st eve? Well, of course you do, it's at your house duh! But anyway, what I wanted to say to you is, what if we all meet today and plan the whole thing? Then, we'll have two days to bring it into action. It would be amazing. I'm sure we're all bored at our houses anyhow." she finally finished. I smiled at her continuous chatter but, instantly frowned at the idea of facing all of my best friends again. Nevertheless, I could not refuse.

"Sure. That sounds good." I said.

"So, we will all be there in half an hour, then." she said,

"Okay, cool." I responded.

"Look, I know something is up. I'm not dumb but, I think that seeing each other might help." she said, her voice drastically lowered.

"I hope so. Also, I know that you're not dumb. Definitely not." I replied.