Shy [Liam Payne]

Chapter 24

*Harry's Point of View*

"Mari, please come out." I begged from the other side of Marianne's door. All I got in reply was more muffled sobs. Everybody (except Liam of course) begged her to come out of her room. She won't talk to anybody. I'm getting worried about her. I can't decide whether I should unlock the door and invade her privacy or just give her space. I decided to talk to the other guys about it. We're probably all thinking the same thing. I went into the living room to discuss it with them.

"Lou," Zayn said in frustration, "calm down. I know you're frustrated and mad. We all are. But pacing and muttering curses isn't gonna help anybody."

"I can't help it." He stopped and ran his hands through his hair. Eleanor was sitting Indian style on the couch, staring at the ceiling. She was obviously deep in thought. Niall was standing with Zayn, trying to calm Louis down. Haleigh went home earlier, because she felt like she was intruding.

"Everybody, sit down so we can talk." I ordered, being a psychiatrist or something again. They all obeyed and Eleanor snapped out of her daze. "What do we do about Marianne?"

"We can't do anything if she won't talk to us." Zayn said sadly.

"That's what I'm concerned about." I replied. "We have two options. We can't give her the space she needs, or we can unlock her door and talk to her. There's pros and cons to both situations."

"If we give her her space, she might never say anything about it. She keeps her emotions bottled up." Louis said one of the cons to the first idea.

"But she might get mad if we barge into her room and force her to talk." Zayn spoke up.

"So we see the downsides to both options." I concurred.

"I think we should give her one day to herself. If she doesn't come out or talk to us, then we'll have to go with the second option." Niall voiced his opinion.

"Who should talk to her?" Eleanor asked. "It might be annoying and overwhelming if we all just show up in her room uninvited."

"Maybe we should get somebody that understands. Somebody that's been cheated on." I suggested. I saw Louis tense up at my last words.

"We've never been cheated on, though." Zayn said. We all looked at Eleanor.

"Louis has been my only boyfriend. So I haven't either." She shook her head.

"Liam has..." Niall said quietly, like he was afraid to mention him.

"But we can't send him in there with her. He's the one that cheated on her." I shook my head. Louis clenched his fists. "Plus, he wasn't upset when Danielle cheated on him."

"Uhm, I think a boy cheated on Perrie a couple years ago." Zayn said.

"Could you ask her? Maybe she can help Marianne." I asked hopefully. He nodded and pulled out his phone. "If Perrie's never been cheated on, then I think we should send Niall in."

"Why Niall?" Eleanor questioned.

"Yeah. Why Niall?" Niall asked curiously.

"Because you're the nicest and funniest. You can cheer her up." I explained. He nodded understandingly.

"Okay, but I haven't had a girlfriend in forever. And I haven't been cheated on. So I'm not good with relationship advice." Niall shrugged sheepishly.

"There is no relationship." Louis snapped.

"Okay, Lou. We know. Calm down." I said firmly. A question popped into my mind. "Is depression a symptom of Social Anxiety Disorder?"

"I don't know. Why?" Lou replied.