Ready to Run ( A One Direction fanfic)

Chapter 40

Olivia

When I finally make it to my room I throw my suitcase in the corner and lie down on my bed face first. What in the world am I going to do? I really wish Lexie was still here. She had to go back to her internship so she left on a connecting flight from Heathrow. When she tried to talk to me about Liam last night, I listened but I was still trying to process everything. Now that I've been brought back down to earth I need someone to bounce my thoughts off of. Right as I'm going through the list of people I could talk to I hear a knock on my door.

"Come in." I yell into the mattress, not bothering to move to answer the door.

"Well clearly I was right in thinking you could use someone to talk to." Harry says as he plops down on my bed.

"Harry, what am I supposed to do? I think I really like Liam. I'm just not sure I'm ready and I don't want to hurt him by jumping into anything too quickly. But I feel like if I don't, it's going to hurt him anyways. He says it won't affect our friendship but how can it not? I feel like it already has." I waste no time before I lay out everything I'm thinking.

"It sounds like to me that you're thinking about how your decision is going to affect him. What about you?" Harry replies thoughtfully.

"Honestly, I have no idea." I say truthfully, burying my head back into the mattress. I'm giving serious thought to never leaving this bed so I don't have to deal with real life.

"I could sit here and tell you how great I think you and Liam would be together, which I do, but that's not what's important here. You need to think strictly about what is going to make you happy. Ignore how it will affect him or anybody else. Stop worrying about anything that might make it hard. Ultimately you have to decide if being with Liam is going to make you happy and the rest will just have to fall into place." He says, lifting my face up where it's buried in my blankets so I have to look at him.

"You know, I think you're a little too insightful for your own good. Maybe I should just take a poll? I'll get a simple yes or no from everybody in the house and go with the majority?" I reply hopefully.

"Nice try. I'll leave you alone to figure things out. Call me if you need anything." Harry says before he hugs me and walks out the door.

I spend the rest of the night in my room. I call my mom to let her know about my internship ending, leaving out that I actually quit because I was my boss's dirty mistress and the work environment had become toxic. When I hang up I alternate between looking up flights, thinking about Liam, searching for jobs I can apply for at home, thinking about Liam, tidying my room, and thinking about Liam. I'm trying to follow Harry's advice but I can't stop thinking about all the little details. I decide I'm going to go for it then I think about the distance. I decide I'm not going to and I think about how hurt he will be. Trying to be selfish is not working out for me. By the time I settle into bed I still have no idea what I'm going to do.

The next morning, I sleep in since I no longer have my internship to get to. I'm still mad at myself for screwing up a good opportunity but I can't dwell on it. When I look at the clock and see it's after 11 I decide I'd better get up and be a functioning member of society. When I go downstairs I see that everybody is in the kitchen, including a certain someone I wasn't ready to see yet. I greet everyone and settle into the breakfast conversation but I can't help the butterflies I'm feeling just being around Liam. When he winks at me as he hands me a coffee cup from the top shelf I mumble an awkward thank you and avoid eye contact. I'm hyper aware of his gaze on me the entire breakfast so I pretend to be really interested in my cereal. By the time I'm done eating I'm exhausted. When Eleanor announces she's going shopping, I quickly ask if I can join just to get out of the house.