JUST A PIECE OF CAKE

Drawing the Line

Louis took another scoop of the ice cream into his mouth. He watched endearingly as Niall was doing the same – eating the same pistachio ice cream he was at a café in the bustling streets of London. After Niall told him and Harry that he was going to have to live with the other staff at the Paynes home, Louis had become emotional ever since. Now that he was spending his last afternoon together that Saturday, Louis was regretting he ever mentioned Niall to Geoff Payne.

"Are you sure about this Niall?" asked Louis. Niall looked up at him and smiled. "For the tenth time today, Lou, yes, I'm sure."

Louis sighed. "Really really sure?"

"It's too late to regret it, Lou," said Niall. "Don't worry, I have breaks in afternoons. I'll come and visit every single day if possible, yeah?"

"I'm gonna miss your cooking." Louis finished off his ice cream and glanced around, searching to where Harry might have gone to. "You'll call, right?"

Niall chuckled. "Lou, I'm just an hour drive away from your house."

"I know but..." Louis whined. "You're not there. That's the whole point on why I'm not taking this very well. You're. Not. At. The. House. Anymore. Please, Niall, say no to Geoff. There are plenty of other ways to see Liam."

"Liam Payne is not the reason I'm taking the job, Louis." Niall said as-a-matter-of-factly but still, the pale skin of his face turned pink. "And this was your idea in the first place."

Louis gave up. "Fine. At least tell me now what exactly happened with you and Liam."

"Louis, I can't."

"You're leaving, Ni. C'mon..."

"No."

"Why can't you just tell me you had sex with him?!" Louis couldn't take it anymore and snapped, finally stopped pretending not to know. "Why do have to lie about it, Niall?! Especially to me! I'm your best friend for God's sake!"

Niall's eyes widened. "Y-you knew?"

"You made the mistake of leaving that note on your bed," explained Louis. "You were acting strangely so when you left, I went to your room and found the note." The Doncaster lad sighed and sat back down his chair for the other people were starting to stare. "Why didn't you tell us, Ni?"

"D-does Harry know?" asked Niall. "I'm sorry, Lou. I didn't want you to worry about me."

"Of course Haz knows. It took me an hour before I made him calm down." Louis fished the note from his pocket and threw in onto the table. "This is exactly why I don't want you out of our sight: you don't tell us anything. When are you going to realize that it's not good to keep these things to yourself?"

Niall was about to take the note but Louis swiftly grabbed it. "Promise me that you'll tell me everything. The way they treat you, the way Liam treats you."

"You're sounding like my mom..."

"I don't care. Promise me, Niall."

He was going to argue further but something in Louis' eyes told Niall he won't let this go until he agrees with him. "Okay," Niall gave up. "I'll tell you – every single day – but I doubt there'll be anything. They like me there."

"That's because they don't know what happened with you and Liam."

"Can we just stop talking about that ever again?" Niall pleaded. "I'm over it, Louis. It won't be a problem. It's just gonna be a weird experience in my life but nothing more than that, okay?"

"Fine," grumbled Louis. "But I'm still gonna miss you..."

"I will too," replied Niall. "The both of you."