Back To December

twenty-six

“…Cassie?”

“Wha-” I stopped, turning round and freezing, my eyes wide. “Louis.”

"…What are you doing here?" he asked me, frowning. "Is this some kind of… Liam, is this down to you?"

"What?" Liam raised an eyebrow. "You think I'd suggest a night out to cheer you up, and invite the two reasons why you're depressed in the first place? Cheers, mate. Nice to know you think so highly of me."

"He had nothing to do with it," I told him. "I haven't spoken to him in days and he told Harry he wasn't welcome to go out with you tonight. I didn't know you'd be here," I whispered. "If I'd have known, I wouldn't have come out. We have to- I should probably leave," I stood up, grabbing my bag and pushing between Louis and Vada to walk away.

"That's okay, just run away and leave me to clean up your mess again!" Liam called after me. I stopped, turning round to face him and shooting a glare in his direction. "What? There's no point in looking at me like that, you know I'm right, I'm just the only one who'll actually call you out on your bullshit."

"Liam, stop it," Sophie frowned at him, touching his arm. He ignored her, shaking her off and stalking towards the bar.

"Arse," I mumbled, turning back round to leave to bar and bumping into Niall. "Hey, Nialler. Sorry, I'm just about leave so I'll-"

"No you're not," Niall interrupted. "You're not leaving," he grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me back to the others, shoving me in front of Louis. "Fix it."

"What…?" I looked over at him in confusion.

"Fix it. Polly and I haven't spent the last three days plotting this just to have you run out. Talk. Stop pretending like you don't miss each other, the pair of you are driving me mad and this fighting… It just needs to stop." Niall shook his head at us. I paused, looking past him and allowing my eyes fall on Harry, who was watching us intently. Niall followed my gaze and rolled his eyes at me as he leaned closer to my ear. "And I'll deal with him, don't worry about it." he whispered. Biting my lip, I let my eyes drift to Louis who was frowning as he fixed is hair. "Louis."

"What?" his head snapped towards Niall. "We're out. Boys night. No girls."

"I'll just go…"

"No you won't just go!" Niall shouted at me. My eyes widened and I took a step back from him, my back hitting Louis' chest and his hands landing on my waist. "Just fucking talk about it before I strangle you!"

"Niall you dick you're scaring her, stop yelling!" Louis snapped, his fingers digging into my sides as he held on to me.

"We're friends and- no, we're more than friends, we're practically family and none of us are going to choose who we want to spend time with so you either fix it now, or you leave it and resent each other forever," Niall glared at us. "Because no matter what, you're still going to have to see one another, and I for one don't give a shit how awkward it makes you feel!"

"Yeah, you had no problem breaking my heart, Cassie," Harry spat. "You've made it damn clear it isn't me you want, so why don't you just admit that you're still in love with him and do everyone a favour and fuck off."

"Don't you dare talk to her like that." Zayn snarled.

"Oh wow," Harry laughed harshly, raising his eyebrows and pointed to Zayn as he looked at me. "Are you fucking him, too?"

"Harry!" Polly gasped, her mouth falling open in surprise.

"You can deal with him," Zayn growled at Niall. "I swear to God I'm about to punch him in the face, you can handle his tantrums better. I'll be at the bar getting wasted with Liam. This was a seriously bad idea." he mumbled as he pushed past me and Louis, walking towards Liam and patting his shoulder.