Falling (Niall Horan)

Chapter 14: Not Good

I woke up alone, brushed my teeth and changed into my grey spaghetti-strapped tank top and sweats.

I went downstairs and saw the lads sans Niall watching telly. 

Liam smiled at me "Mornin', Dianne!" 

"Mornin' lads! Had breakfast yet?" I managed a smirk.

"Yeah, Hazza cooked for us. There's omelet and garlic rice for you at the kitchen table! Figured you might need to eat a lot if you're going to stay in the bedroom all day" Louis joked. My heart instantly softened at how these guys care for me.

"Aw, thank you, Harold!" I teased and then sauntered over to the kitchen to eat by my lonesome.

I took a spoonful of omelet and stuffed it in my mouth. I figured since no one's watchin', what the hell, right? A woman has to become a man sometimes! I have to admit, Harry's cooking is good!

I finished eating earlier that I should have and then joined the guys to watch the telly. The moment I arrived, Zayn turned the device off and the guys instantaneously stared at me.

"Okay, vas happenin'?" Zayn said in his overly serious voice.

"Whatever do you mean, Zayn?" I asked, feigning innocence.

"Niall looks like he hadn't eaten for days!" Louis stated.

Seeing as I won't be able to get out of this conversation, I decided to divert the topic before discussing the real deal, "Where is he anyway?"

"Off to the grocery to stock up on chips, he'll bring them when we leave. Niall will suffer if he doesn't stock up on his food" Harry said.

"Ehm, so Dianne, quit distracting us and tell us what happened" Liam, being the daddy direction that he is, scolded me.

I told the guys what happened from the start. I also told them about Niall not sleeping with me the last night, Zayn interjected by saying "Yep, he slept in my room. He said he can't sleep in his, I asked why but he didn't answer."

They were all nodding when I finished my story. Liam put his arm around me, saying "This is probably the first rough patch that you guys are experiencing, but Dianne, you really have to put up with Niall. He's just not really good at expressing his feelings when it comes to these situations."

"He tends to get afraid that he might say something wrong and it might worsen the situation" Louis continued.

"Which is why he's off buying chips right now, instead of sorting this out himself" Harry added, and we all laughed.

"Just let him cool off, love. It'll be alright." Zayn pulled me into a hug that broke the dam that was forming beneath my eyes. I broke down and buried my head on his shoulders. The lads encircled me in a hug as well and I cried harder, I couldn't control myself. It's a sudden burst of emotion. These lads that were strangers to me a couple of weeks ago are now treating me like family.

"Now we're all happy, how about some telly?" Louis smiled. His smile was so infectious that I found myself smiling too, despite my swollen eyes.

I sat in the middle of the four lads and watched a movie with them, The Avengers this time. All of them have their arms around me the entire time as if they're protecting me.

The movie ended and still no Niall in sight. I excused myself and retrieved my phone upstairs. There weren't any texts from My Extremely Hot Boyfriend, but there is one from an anonymous number.

"I'm hoping that this is still your number; please reply when you get my text. I'm extremely sorry for what I did back at the bar. I was below the line. Let's talk over a cup of coffee, shall we?"