When You Live in London (One Direction Fan-Fic)

Chapter Nineteen

Clare's POV

Niall texted me to come to the Malik's house ASAP, so I was on my way. I had heard about the whole Reagan situation, but didn't get in detail what was happening. I walked my usual route to the coffee shop near my flat and as I passed a news stand, I had to back track.

There, on the shelfs, were more than four different magazines that had Reagan and One Direction plastered all over the cover. I stopped in front of the stand and grabbed one of each.

"Apparently she's done with the band," the owner of the news stand stated.

I shook my head and replied, "I know that's not true. I'll take these, please," as I took out my purse.

"You must be that Clare girl that's been hanging around them," he said adding up all the prices.

"Please don't cause a commotion, I really need to be somewhere," I pleaded.

"I promise I won't, it's just my daughter loves One Direction to bits and she ships Niall and yourself, whatever that means," he said.

I blushed. I knew the fans had shipped us when the band first started, but since Lilian and him started hanging out, I realized I was fine with just being his friend. If he was happy, it made me happier. Plus the fact that I think it would have been awkward if we stared dating.

Lilian is nice and Niall likes her. I don't want to come in between them if they were to start going out. I have only met her once, but I've heard all about her and she seems great.

"I'm guessing you want a picture, then?" I asked paying for the magazines.

"That would be great, thank you!" he said and grabbed his camera from his backpack.

I walked up to the Malik's front door and knocked. I can't remember how many times they had texted me to hurry up, but it was a lot. I heard someone yelling from inside the house and then I heard what sounded like someone falling.

Finally, Zayn opened the door with a face that I hadn't seen him make before. I peeked behind him to see Louis helping Niall and Harry up from the ground and Perrie and Eleanor walking down the stairs.

"Dangit!" Niall said as he stood up.

"What? Are you disappointed to see me?" I asked coming in a closing the door.

"No, we just thought you were pizza," Harry said as Louis helped him up.

"Do you want me to go get pizza?" I asked a little frustrated.

"No no, come in," Perrie said coming to the bottom step and smiling at me.

"Come on up to the lounge, we have a problem," Zayn said as everyone made their way up the stairs again and I followed.

"Tell me about it," I said taking the magazines out of my bag," Look what I picked up on the way here."

"What are those?!" Louis asked grabbing a magazine and reading the cover.

"Are they about Reagan?" I heard Liam's voice for the first time and looked in his direction. Liam was sitting on a small comfy looking stool with a blank expression.

I gave him a small sympathetic smile before handing out the rest of the magazines to Perrie, Zayn, and Niall.

"What do they say?" I heard Sarah's voice coming from a ball of blankets in a chair in the corner of the room. I walked over to her and peeled a blanket away to reveal her tear stained face. I sat next to her and put an arm around her. 

Everyone took a seat and Eleanor started reading the cover of the magazine Louis was holding, "One Direction's Harry Styles is trying to keep everything from falling apart after, choreographer, Reagan White abruptly quits," she read dramatically.

"Rea didn't quit!" Niall practically yelled.

"Then what did she do, Niall?!" We were all surprised to see Sarah busting out of her cocoon. Everyone stared at her and I swallowed hard. I had never seem Sarah like this before. She's really torn up about it.

The room was tense and I didn't think anyone or anything could fix the awkward silence that had come to settle in the now dark room. Then, a phone rang and I didn't know who's it was. Zayn blinked and shook his head a little bit before sticking his hand in his pocket and pulling out his phone. 

Perrie looked over his shoulder and then they both looked at us and Zayn opened his mouth, "It's Reagan."