Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Twelve

Niall

Ignoring his phone as it went off again, Niall didn't need to look at it to know that it would be another call from the sitter, presumably asking when he would be back for Chloe, reaching in his pocket to silence the old Nokia before turning his attention back to Liam, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. "It's been... Nice seeing you again. Thank you.. For meeting me and explaining."

Noticing, finally, that something was off with Niall's behaviour, Liam straightened in his seat, wincing as Niall tried to avoid directly meeting his gaze, shaking his head as Niall shrugged at him.

"It's always nice to catch up with an old friend. Maybe it'll be less time before I run into you again." Playing with his empty mug, Niall sighed as Liam frowned at him, tuning out and trying to understand how he could have not known something so crucial, like the fact that he was engaged for fucks sake, only paying attention when he realised Liam was waiting for him to respond.

Drumming his fingers against the empty mug in front of him, Niall shrugged, prompting Liam to repeat himself. "We're more than old friends, Niall. We are, though."

"Depends on how you define the term friends. And we are old friends. We were friends before... Anything happened."

Frowning again, Liam raised an eyebrow at Niall, the change in his behaviour making Liam feel like any progress he thought there might've been between them, progress of any kind, like Niall wanting to meet and not just him, had flown straight out of the window, Niall's refusal to admit that there had been anything between them making Liam want to dig his heels in. "We were more than friends. Why pretend that we weren't?" 

"Why pretend that we were anything more?" Biting his lip, Niall couldn't picture Liam engaged to some girl, the thought that he was someone's fiancé and that the whole world but him had known distracting him and making it harder to concentrate on the conversation at hand, another, new question that he didn't dare to voice nagging at him as he tried to remain focused.

Leaning back in his seat once more, Liam was starting to wish that he'd suggested they'd met later, when he was actually awake and not beginning to feel the after affects of a nights performing and partying, the coffee he'd had starting to wear off and stubbornness over taking him. "Why not admit that we're not just old friends?"

"Because... Because we can't."  Staring at Liam Niall broke the fleeting moment of eye contact and focused on the empty mug in front of him, wishing he was anywhere else but in the secluded little cafe as Liam looked at him with those wide brown eyes that fifteen year old him had been a sucker for.

Fifteen year old him had fallen for those eyes when they'd kept staring at him from across a chemistry lab and an English classroom and a lunch hall. Those brown eyes now, though, were, as far as Niall had really understood, taken by someone else. He'd been too busy trying to wrap his head around the fact that Liam was engaged to take in what Liam had said after letting slip that he wasn't single like Niall had assumed. He'd been too busy berating for letting himself think that there was maybe more than curiosity to hear him properly and the butterflies he'd felt when Liam had looked across the table at him were slowly dying, being replaced by a lingering sense of stupidity.

He should have known, Niall thought, looking across at Liam. He really should have known that Liam Payne wouldn't be single. He'd managed to cling on to him just long enough, all those years ago, to hear the name Danielle being thrown around, and he shouldn't have expected any different now.

"That's not a reason why we can't be honest about our past." Watching Niall frown, Liam drummed his fingers against the table, unaware of the fact that Niall's head was filled with thoughts of his daughter, Chloe's brown eyes that looked exactly like Liam's and memories of the innocent seven month old baby he'd poured his whole heart into after finally accepting that Liam wasn't his any longer.

"We can't be anything more than old friends, Liam, because seventeen year old you found it so easy to drop me from your life when you became too busy. You never told the truth, never told people that you were bi." Shaking his head as Liam tried to protest, any traces of a smile were gone from Niall's face, the butterflies long gone and the guilt for leaving Chloe he'd felt when he'd arrived returning as he continued. "Because, and if the fiancé is anything to go by, you still haven't told the truth. You're bi, Liam. That's the person that I knew. That's the person I have history and so much more with. Not you. You're Liam Payne. Straight. Engaged. Someone the whole world knows. Someone who doesn't have an ex boyfriend. Not the Liam I knew."

Ignoring Liam's protestations, Niall pushed the empty mug away from him and checked his phone, the number of missed calls and texts still increasing, running a hand over his face and reaching in his pocket, pulling out a handful of coins and dropping them onto the table before he continued, "You're not the Liam I knew. But I'm not the Niall you knew either. This was great, Liam, seeing you again, but the reason we can't be more than old friends is the reason that proves we are more that just that... Look, I have to go. Really, Liam, this was nice. It was really, really nice to see you but..."

"Please stay. Just a little bit longer. Have another drink or we can get something to eat." Unable to shake the feeling that if he let Niall walk out of the door he wouldn't see him again, Liam reached out and grabbed Niall's hand as he made to stand up and leave, a part of his brain taking the time to analyse and remember every little detail, another small part of him celebrating as Niall didn't immediately try to fight him off.

Catching sight of the time on his phone, Niall pulled his hand free from Liam's and let out a sigh as he said, "I have to leave. It's been really nice seeing you but I have to go. I have... Responsibilities that mean I can't just stay here and talk even if I wanted to."

"Responsibilities?" Going through his wallet, Liam dropped a tenner onto the table next to Niall's contribution, staring at him expectantly.

Meeting Liam's gaze, Niall's jaw tightened and, in a moment of reckless honesty, the voice of common sense that had prevented him from even mentioning Chloe's name before then going silent, he pulled out his wallet and took out the photo of Chloe he kept, a picture of six year old Chloe taken during one of their trips to Mullingar to see his family, and dropped it onto the table. "I can't stay any longer because she's waiting for me. My daughter, Liam."

"You're a dad?" His voice no more than a whisper, Liam leant forwards and picked up the photo, any fight left he'd had left disappearing as he saw Niall nod.

"Yeah. I am. Her names Chloe. She's seven. And she's waiting for me." Moving to take the photo back from Liam, Niall watched as he closed his fingers around it and shook his head, fighting to keep back tears and muttering a swear word under his breath as he got no other response from Liam. His phone going off again, Niall ran a hand over his face before he stood up, shakily pushing his chair back and heading towards the exit.

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So. That happened. Finally.

It took me twelve whole chapters but finally. And because I'm me, it's kind of a cliffhanger.

There will probably be more about Liam's reaction later. And more about Sophia. Pretty soon, I think.

I'm hoping to update again today/tomorrow as I have nothing to do instead now I've finished exams and I'm home for the holidays.

I'd love to see what you guys think of the chapter...