Disco Sucks || niam || au.

ii. liam

"Liam! Get off of the phone! I need to make a call!"

"Just a second, Nicola!"

I held the phone closer to my ear, "I'm sorry, Danielle. I hope you understand my reasoning to this. There are plenty of other men out there."

"Is that supposed to reassure me, or you?" she joked. "But really, Liam. I understand what you're going through. I love you."

"I'll see you later." I whispered, then hanging up the phone.

"Okay, Nicola. I'm done, it's all yours."

She smiled. "Is everything okay?"

"I guess. I broke up with Danielle."

"Danielle? The love of your life, Danielle?"

I smiled sadly and shook my head. "No, not the love my life. I do love her, or I did. I don't know."

She gave me a remorseful look and continued with her call.

I heard someone knocking at the door.

"Who is it?"

"Zayn, Calum, and I!"

"Come on in, I guess."

Luke was the first to enter the house.

"How're ya doing, Burt?" he teased, taking a seat next to me.

"I told you to stop calling me that."

Occasionally, the boys would call me Burt. Long story short, it all started after a marathon of Burt Reynolds movies and later, Zayn claiming that my haircut made me look like actor.

"Are you excited for the competition? I've been working on my part all week." Calum announced, gesturing towards his bass.

"Yeah," I started, "I just hope I don't screw up with the actual lyrics. I wanna sound just like him."

"It shouldn't be too hard, Liam. He's British, you're British. You should be just fine!" Zayn exclaimed, in a joking manner.

I merely shook my head at Zayn and his nonsense.

"Are you bringing Danielle along?"

I pursed my lips together and looked at the ground.

Before I could talk, Luke spoke up. "I don't know if she'd be into that kind of music. Wasn't she born and raised in Detroit, or somethin'?"

"Her mum used to sing Motown-style music, I think."

I looked over at Calum, curious to how he knew that much about my ex-girlfriend's mum.

"I was just wondering, Li. I was gonna bring Pez along, and wasn't sure if-"

"We broke up, Zayn."

A shocked look was present among my mates' faces once I delivered the news.

Zayn's jaw dropped, "I'm sorry, mate!" he apologized, "I didn't know!"

I shrugged it off, "I just ended it with her not long before you came over."

I rubbed my eyes, then added, "I just want to be single for a while, I don't know. Like I don't really want to be in a serious relationship at the moment."

Zayn must've noticed the tears forming in my eyes, as he leaned over and gave me a hug.

"Is there anything you'd like, Li? Anything to drink, eat; anything?"

"Tea would be nice."

He gave me a small smile and continued into the kitchen, preparing a mug of tea.

"So... when do you want to practice?"

"Calum!" Luke said loudly, slapping Calum in a playful way.

"Nevermind..."

I sighed. "It's okay, Cal. Maybe after the tea, I'll feel better, and we can practice then?"

He nodded and I sat in the corduroy chair, waiting for my tea.

Moments later, Zayn arrived with a hot, blue, mug.

"Here you go, Li."

"Thanks."

We sat in silence, Luke breaking it only seconds after it started.

"Where are your movies at?"

"Uhm, all VHS tapes should be in a box beside the telly."

Luke smiled in appreciation and set himself on the floor, pulling the box towards him.

"Jaws, Star Wars, the second Star Wars, Halloween...that's quite the selection, Liam."

"Just pop in whatever you'd like. I've seen them all as they've premiered at the movies the last three years or so."

"You saw Halloween when it came out? Weren't you scared?"

"Yeah, 'course I was! It scared my mum and dad as well."

Luke picked up Jaws, slowly pulling the cover off.

"If you don't hurry up, it's gonna bite you." I muttered, drawing my legs into my chest.

"Hush, Liam. Not the time." Luke said, putting it in the VCR.

"Wait...Luke, have you seen Jaws before?" Calum asked, turning towards his friend.

Luke's cheeks turned a light pink before responding, "No..."

Zayn laughed loudly and I clamped a hand down on his mouth.

"Zayn!"

He muttered an apology, "Sorry, Luke. It's just like the coolest movie I've ever seen."

"Yeah! Someone dies in the first five minutes, too!" Calum added.

"Sounds lovely." Luke said, leaning back on the couch.

Later on, almost halfway through the movie, I went into the kitchen and collected a couple Pepsis for the boys.

"Band Bonding Time."

I scoffed, "Yeah, yeah. But we have to practice after this if we want to win."

"I wonder what the other band's like..." Calum thought out loud.

"I wonder if they're cute..."

"Ruth!" I shouted, turning around in my chair.

She laughed and then gave a small wink. "I'm teasing, Li. But you never know..."

I shrugged a shoulder and went back to watching the movie.

The movie ended as quickly as it began and it was finally time to practice.

"You gonna tune?" I asked.

Luke and Calum began tuning as Zayn fiddled with his drumsticks from behind his set.

We have a couple songs, original songs, I mean. We've done several that are covers, and originally made by someone else, but also quite a few of our own.

Luke used to have a small band for a period of time, prior to our band, giving him some extra knowledge behind songwriting.

The boys and I have known about this little competition for a while now. It began last year, when our buddy Michael had a friend named Louis, who happens to open Dream On, a bar near where we live.

We just so happened to win last year, giving us courage to go again this year. I have faith in us, we've been told many times before that we are really good.

The song we were going to play was a pretty popular song, originally sung by David Bowie himself. We have been prepping for a long time, trying to perfect nearly every mistake.

And now, I think we're ready for Friday.