Torn: A One Direction Fan Fiction

Chapter 16: Sharing a Dangerous Secret

Alexis' Pov

"Hey guys!" I smile, taking an extra effort to sound elated.

"Heyy?" Louis speaks first, unsure of what's going on.

"We're all made up now!" Harry comes up next to me and drapes his arm over my shoulders.

I shudder at the simple touch. I bite my lip, hoping nobody noticed.

I honestly don't know how I feel about Harry Styles. One minute he's abusing me ... physically and mentally ... and the next, he almost seemed like he actually cared. Obviously he was just acting, trying to make things friendlier so it'd be easier to pretend to be friends ... right?

"Seriously?" Niall asks, his face a mixture of joy and confusion.

"Yup, we talked it over, and we agreed it'd be easier for everyone if we just became friends," I chirp, trying to sound excited, but the word friends comes out strained.

"Wow," Zayn smiles.

"We didn't think it would actually work!" Louis grins widely as he jumps up onto his chair.

"See guys! I told you some of my plans work!" He cheers and he pumps his fist in the air.

Everyone laughs. I feel Harry kind of squeeze my arm, and I nudge him back. I stifle a laugh.

Harry must be thinking how far from successful Louis' plan actually was. His silent signal actually coaxed a genuine smile onto my face. I liked sharing a secret with Harry, even if it was a dangerous one.

"Please," Zayn's laugh brings me back to reality.

"What?" Louis puts his hand on his hip.

"That wasn't your idea, it was Liam's," Niall laughs.

Louis pouts, "It was too my idea."

"You're idea was to put Lexi in a life-threatening situation and have Haz save her," Liam grins and Niall cracks up.

"Umm excuse me?" I bite back a laugh.

Everyone cracks up again and I can't help but smile.

"He..he..h-," Niall gasps, trying to tell me the story, but he's laughing too hard to form words.

"He wanted to shove a bunch of food down your throat, and have Harry perform CPR," Zayn chuckles.

Niall starts laughing even harder.

"I'm afraid I'll have to perform CPR on Niall now..." Harry grins as he watches Niall clap like a seal. His comment only adds to his laughter and I start to wonder if he might actually have to perform CPR.

I look around, admiring all the smiling faces, not wanting to forget them. I study each feature, not wanting to miss any detail, not wanting to forget this moment. People look so much better when they smile. Any smile is a beauty in itself.

"So it looks like everything's okay now?" A familiar voice rings out behind us.

"I think so," Liam smiles at Paul as he joins our little circle. Harry awkwardly takes his arm off my shoulders. This is when I realize his arm was around me the whole time. Huh, weird.

"Good, because you guys now have..." Paul checks the watch on his wrist, "ten minutes to warm up."

Everyone's mouth drops open.