You Can Hear It In The Silence

Chapter 26

"Can I come in?" Liam's voice came, muffled by the door between them.

"Yeah." Harry pushed himself up in his bed, so he looked less pathetic. "Come in."

Liam slipped in and pressed Harry's door closed before padding his way to sit at the end of his bed. "Niall said you wanted to talk to me," Liam queried, looking bemused.

"No," Harry stated. "I told him that I didn't want to talk to him, and he said I had to talk to someone, so I said I'd talk to you." After two hours of arguing with Niall, he finally gave in and said he'd talk to Liam, but only Liam.

Liam pressed his lips together, but it didn't stop them from curling up into a satisfied smirk. "Is that because you think I have more to tell you or because you prefer my approach to Niall's and Zayn's?"

"Can't deal with either of them right now." Harry already felt like shit, and he didn't need either one to make him feel worse. Out of the three of them, Liam was the best option.

"Guess it's good you have multiple friends now." Liam grinned, causing blood to rush to Harry's cheeks. "Okay, Harry, how can I help?"

The question puzzled Harry. "You want to help me?"

As his forehead creased, Liam said, "Yeah, of course. We all want to help you."

"I don't think Zayn or Niall are all that interested in helping me with anything," Harry scoffed. "They've both made sure I know how pissed off they are at me."

"They're not," Liam tried to argue, but his defeated sigh showed that he didn't believe his own words.

"They are, though," Harry said. "Niall yelled at me the whole drive to Mum's and then had another go at me just now. And Zayn has made it clear he's angry. You're the only one who hasn't gotten mad at me."

Liam's eyes glanced at Harry's bedroom wall. They didn't make their way back to meet Harry.

And fuck. "You're mad too?" He could feel his pulse in his throat. Niall berating him was one thing, and having Zayn pissed off at him was another, and while he didn't enjoy either, he could accept and deal with them. Pissing off Liam was something he hadn't even considered he could ever do.

Liam looked back to him finally and raised a shoulder into a half-shrug. "Not mad. I don't think any of us were or are mad." He ignored Harry's sound of disbelief. "We just didn't think it was a good decision and struggled to see why you'd made it."

"I couldn't stay, Liam," Harry said, begging him to understand. "It was too much."

Liam covered his own chin and lips with his fingers. "Well," he said finally, "it's done now, and there's no point dwelling on it, is there? So, how can I help?"

"I don't know." Harry wasn't convinced there was a way anyone could help. Harry didn't even know what he wanted help with besides not feeling so shitty. "Why- how, how can he just be that happy? How could he just ignore me like that? I haven't been happy since I left, and he is just... unbothered by the whole thing!" It all just tumbled out, Harry having no way to control it. "And then you all blame me for leaving, but it doesn't seem like it made much of a difference since he's fine and I'm drowning." He hated every word he'd said, but they had been sitting there since he saw Louis last night and being entirely ignored by Louis had only brought them closer to the surface.

Harry noticed then how tired Liam looked- maybe not physically exhausted but more emotionally drained, which made Harry feel even worse because his stupid problems and feelings were causing his friends this kind of reaction. Liam looked at the roof and took a deep breath before he looked back at Harry. "Harry, he isn't- like... Remember in my message how I said we can't give you proper answers, but you should still come home?"