Where Do I Belong (a Liam Payne Fanfic)

Chapter Eight

I slept through the whole night but I didn’t wake feeling refreshed. I opened my eyes at 7:30 couldn’t get myself to fall back to sleep again. Every time I tried to close my eyes again, I pictured Federico's lips on mine and Liam’s devastated face.

Instead of lying in bed I got up and showered, then changed into a pair of jeans and threw on a blouse. I wasn't hungry either so I didn't bother thinking about breakfast. Instead, I did something that I hadn’t done in a while. I walked over to the corner of the living room of the apartment and took my acoustic guitar off of its stand. I blew the dust from it and gently trailed my fingers down the strings. It had been a while since I had actually sat down and played on my guitar. I was given it on my 13th birthday and went for lessons for two years. After my parents’ divorce I just gave up and found myself moping around all day in between my shifts at the bar.

I carried it carefully over to the sofa and nestled into it. I had no idea where my pick was so I just began to pluck and strum with my fingers. It felt nice, I felt connected again, with the sound of harmonic chords swirling around the room and into my ears. I was correctly tuning the guitar and about to play when my phone buzzed to life beside me. I read the message.

Hey, we’re coming over. See you in a bit. Louis x

Before I had any time to reply to the message or question whether he meant all of them were coming over, there were several knocks on my door.

After placing the guitar back, I composed myself and walked over to the door with a small smile. As expected, the One Direction guys were standing in front of me. But it wasn’t all of them, only Louis, Niall and Zayn. They each gave me a slight smile obviously hoping I was feeling better and I nodded, acknowling their concern. They each gave me a hug and then Niall spoke up.

“Hey, you play guitar?” He looked at me with a curious mile and I looked back with wide eyes. I didn’t want anyone knowing that I played the guitar. If anyone knew, they would expect me to play in front of them, which I could never do.

I still didn't answer so Niall smiled happily saying, “oh well, I heard the sound of a guitar coming from around here. It was a guitar being played too, not a recording or anything.” I slowly nodded and avoided his gaze hoping that he didn’t expect anything.

“Anyway,” Louis went on to say, “I bet you haven’t eaten yet so how about you join us for breakfast?” How was it that Louis seemed to know almost everything about my daily actions?

“You are feeling better right? Come on, join us." Zayn smiled at me, they all did, and I couldn’t refuse.

“Sure.” I said quietly and then walked with them to breakfast.

We made it downstairs and I was just about to ask whether Liam knew that I was joining them but it was too late to ask. In the breakfast lounge, Harry was already sat with Liam at a table. The table had four other empty chairs around it so it was obvious that Liam knew someone else was joining the five of them. Zayn pulled the chair next to Harry out and offered for me to sit down. I was directly opposite Liam.

Breakfast was nice. I didn't know that I needed it until I was with the guys, and it turned out that I was reasonably hungry. No one brought up the events of the previous night. Everything seemed normal apart from the fact that Liam didn't say a word. I didn’t say much either but at least I answered the guys' questions with a few words and smiled at their jokes.

When breakfast was over, the guys invited me to go swimming with them. But with a knot in my stomach I said no. I said my goodbyes, and started the walk to my room when I heard footsteps behind me. Turning without thinking I saw Liam standing there looking at me with a hopeless expression.