I Do

2

Liam was on the balcony, leaning on the railing, a lit, but unsmoked, cigarette between his fingers as he watched the traffic below. He heard the door slide behind him and knew without looking that it was Louis; he could feel the energy vibrating off the other boy. Shaking his head fondly, he again wondered how his friend had so much energy, no matter what time of day or night it was. He blinked when something white was waved in his face.

"You've got a date tomorrow," Louis teased, still waving the item in his face. Liam's jaw dropped as he grabbed the item and yanked it away.

"What the hell, Lou?" he snapped as he glanced at, what he realized was, a napkin with a phone number scrawled across it.

"You have a date with this bloke tomorrow. You're meeting at the diner at ten for breakfast," Louis explained, his voice growing in volume as he bounced on his toes. Liam was fully expecting him to start clapping his hands together like a small child.

"No," Liam said, simply. He was stunned that Louis would do something like this to him, after he'd made it very clear, just a few hours earlier, that the only person he wanted was Zayn. Not some random bloke from the bar.

"Yes."

"No, Louis. This is not what I want. Not what I need," Liam argued.

"You have no idea what you need, mate," Louis told him, pointing at the napkin forcibly, accidentally knocking the cigarette out of his hand.

"I know better than you do," Liam snapped, crumbling up the napkin and throwing it off the balcony after the cigarette. He didn't even watch it fall, but Louis did. "And some random bloke is not it."

"Now, you have to meet him! You don't want to be the arse who stood someone up!" Louis shouted as Liam ignored him going back inside, and shutting the door behind himself.

Liam stomped towards his bedroom, ignoring the sound of Louis coming back inside and ranting at him. He wasn't in the mood for another of Louis' schemes or lectures. He was beginning to wonder if Louis actually listened to him or took his feelings into consideration, at all. He was beginning to think Louis only cared about getting Liam involved with someone else so he wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.

"Are you even listening to me?" Louis screamed and Liam whirled around on his heels, nearly losing his balance, catching himself on the back of the sofa.

"Are you even listening to me ?" he shouted back. "I'm not ready to go out with some guy I know nothing about! I'm not ready to go out with anyone! I'm sorry that I'm too annoying for you to deal with! I'm sorry that my life falling apart again and again and again is becoming too much for you!" He saw Louis' eyes widen and become shiny, but not even the threat of tears from his best mate was going to stop him now. "Instead of trying to fix something that can't be fixed and then getting mad at me about it, why don't you just do what everyone else does and leave!"

Liam turned away and ran to his room, slamming the door shut behind himself. He leaned up against it, his chest heaving and the skin of his arms prickling. The longer he stood there, the shallower his breaths became until they were the desperate pants that had become so familiar to him. He banged his fists against the door behind him and then his head back against it, letting out a frustrated whisper-yell, mindful of the people in the flats around his.

His eyes were burning and he was trying to decide if getting to the bathroom to grab his pills was worth the risk of running into Louis. He had just decided that he wasn't going to have much of a choice when he heard a timid knock behind him. He opened his mouth to speak, but words failed him. After a few moments, he heard a rattle and then Louis' voice. "Your pills and a bottle of water are just outside the door. I'm going to kip on your sofa if you need me."