Just a replacement (one direction)

Chapter 14.

Charlotte’s POV

After a perfect date with Liam (not only because I met Ed Sheeran but also because Liam freaking Payne became my boyfriend) we came home to find all cars except Jake’s to be there, suddenly I get the feeling that there’s something terribly wrong. When I look at Liam he’s already looking at me but we seem to have the same thought. We rush inside to find Harry, Zayn, Louis and Niall in the gaming room. Before Harry answers Liam’s question about where my brother is I already know the answer: nobody knows.

Together me and Liam run upstairs, me arriving first so I open the door and quickly enter the room. Suddenly it all hits me, frozen I stand there in the middle of the room, not being able to move.

“What’s wrong Charlotte?” Liam asks me, now standing behind me. I turn around. Really is he a fool? Can’t he see what’s wrong?

“WHAT’S WRONG? YOU REALLY HAVE TO ASK THAT? CAN’T YOU SEE WHAT’S WRONG? LOOK AROUND, THIS WHOLE PLACE IS CLEANED UP, ALL JAKE’S CLOTHES ARE GONE.” Suddenly the anger is gone and sadness replaces it, I can’t hold myself together and start crying, not just little tears falling down my cheek but silent cries where you seem to make a pool of tears. Those are the worst. Liam wraps his arms around me  and my breathing calms down a bit, tears still falling down. “Even his guitar is gone.” I whisper, knowing that Liam will now also realize why I was so chocked. Jake left the house. Jake left the house to god knows where and I wasn’t there to stop him, to help him with his thoughts and feelings because I was too busy with my happy life. I wasn’t there for the person who always was there for me when he needed me the most.

Liam slowly walks me to the bed and sits me down. While the tears slowly stop falling down Liam sings Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift for me, I once told him that that song always makes me relax, and apparently he remembered.

When the song is over I look up at Liam and ask: “How can I find him?”

“Call him, look if he answers the phone, if not, we’ll drive through whole London, don’t worry about it, we’ll find him.” Is the answer I get, but I’m not sure about it. I call him anyways but I get his voicemail, I leave a message telling my brother to call me back, even though I already know that he won’t.

Back in the gaming room with the boys they’re all really surprised and I see pain flashing trough Niall’s eyes, he doesn’t know Jake but is probably thinking about the time that he left, because he was in pain. Suddenly I know why Jake left, why he was so angry this morning, why he acted the way he did, it all made sense.

Jake left because he felt replaced, for the first time in a while he felt like he had great friends, like he belonged somewhere and know that Niall came back, he is scared that it’ll all be over again, just as fast as it started. In the time Jake and I got really close I learned a lot about his friends. Jake didn’t really have friends, he had people who he hang out with or went to the skate park with, but most of the time he was alone. Now he came to some place where he knew nobody to save someone’s life, because there was nothing worth to stay for in his old life, only me and he got me in his new life as well. But when he got closer to Liam and Zayn, and also Louis and Harry, he forgot that this wasn’t his life, it was his temporary life because he was replacing Niall. Yesterday when Niall came back, Jake saw a part of his life fall apart, and scared for the loss he might have to make once more in his life, he left, cutting every change of staying friends off, because he was scared for the pain that may come.

“Charlotte, hello” I snapped out of my thoughts realizing Liam was trying to tell me something.

“Yes, what? Sorry I was thinking.” The smile Liam gave me told me that it was fine.