Deception

Three.

I know I moved out of the house but it was honestly pointless because here I am, already on my way back. It's pretty early, I just woke up, put on some clothes and started driving over, it's habit. I walk in and pass Liam who's on the couch watching the news. Who the hell watches the news? He simply nods his head when I pass him and I do the same. I make my way to their kitchen and start making myself some cereal. Louis and Niall come downstairs after a few minutes and make their own food. Niall nearly burnt down the place making pop tarts. He's seriously a boy trapped in a mans body. We all sat in silence, doing our own thing for about an hour which I enjoyed. Eventually, we were all sat in the kitchen and the lot of them started whispering about god knows what. I was choosing to ignore them until Zayn spoke up.

"So, Harry, what the hell was that last night?"

"What the hell was what?" I ask innocently while getting up and grabbing a water out of the fridge. I know what he meant but I really wasn't in the mood to explain myself.

"You know, the whole Olivia thing." he continues

"It wasn't a thing. She asked and question and I answered. Leave it alone."

Then Louis started, "It sort of is a thing considering you haven't mentioned her in years, mate."

"What? Sure I have."

And then Niall, "Buddy, you haven't. You haven't said a word about it. It just shocked us a bit, you know? We wanted to know if you were ok."

"So, what is this then? An intervention?"

"Come on, you know it's not like that." Louis explained

"It's just strange how you won't talk about it to anyone but you meet a stranger for an hour and you start sharing your life story." Liam interrupts.

"My life story? You're fucking mental." I stood up and started to walk away but Liam stood also and blocked my path.

"What the hell is going on with you?" Liam urged

"Get out of my way." I told him through gritted teeth.

"Not until we get some sort of explanation."

I throw up head back and laugh slightly, "You want an explanation? This. This right fucking now is why I don't talk about her. All of you act like I'm some ticking time bomb whenever she's mentioned. Well, I'm not. And for once, for once in so long, there was someone who wasn't walking on eggshells around me and it was refreshing so I answered her. There's your fucking explination." I huffed and pushed past Liam towards the door. Everyone stayed in the kitchen except for Niall, he followed me out to my car.

"Leave me the fuck alone, Ni." His eyes looked watery which made my heart sink. I took a breath and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Look, I just need to cool off, alright?"

"Will you be back?" He was asking like a scared little kid which broke my heart more.

"I don't know yet."

"Just text me later, ok? Let me know you're alright?"

"Of course, Ni." I whispered and pulled him into a hug. You wouldn't ever catch me hugging anyone else. Niall just has such a sensitive soul and I can't ever bring myself to be mad at him. He's my best friend. Truly.

"I'll see you later." I tell him and get into my car. I really don't know where I'm going but I just needed to get out of there. I can see where they're coming from. I understand. But I don't like being cornered. Don't like being set up. It just was truly refreshing talking to someone who didn't know every detail of my life. Someone who didn't avoid certain subjects around me. A blank slate. It really is almost healing when someone doesn't know the dirty, gory details of your whole life. It's freeing. I was able to talk freely, act freely. I just felt free in that moment.