True Lies (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 9

ZAYN:

    I tried calling Liam again, only to get his voicemail. I paced in the living room and looked to Niall, who still slept on the couch as if nothing was happening. I decided it was best to let him sleep. I sighed and dialed Harry’s number.

“Hello?” a familiar voice grunted into the phone. It was obvious that I woke him up.

“Harry? Sorry I woke you, but I wanted to know if you knew where Liam is.” I said. He paused for a moment.

“I know he said he was going out tonight but I don’t know where. Why?” he asked, becoming slightly more alarmed.

“Because he just drunk dialed me and he didn’t tell me where he was, he just hung up and now he’s not answering my calls.”

“I don’t know. I’ll try calling him.” He said and hung up before I could get another word out. I huffed and ran my fingers through my hair tiredly, silently praying that Liam wouldn’t do anything stupid.

     I walked to the hook on the wall and got my car keys, scratching out a note for Niall in case he woke up while I was gone.

     I put on my jacket and walked out the door into the cold night.

     I walked the streets where most of the bars were located, going into a few and asking some bartenders of they had seen him. No one had and I felt my heart drop with every shake of the head I received from them. By then, most of the streets had cleared, only a few people were on the sidewalks and every now and then a car would pass by, temporarily blinding me with its headlights.

     I rounded a corner to see something, or rather someone slumped against the wall of a building with their knees to the chest.  Approached them slowly, as if they were a wild deer, not to scare them away. Their head shot up from their knees and looked at me with large brown eyes, heavily glassed over and with a puzzled look behind them, but still familiar.

“Liam! Oh my god. What are you doing put here? You don’t even have a jacket, and what happened to your shoes?” I asked, noticing his bare feet. He shrugged and slumped his shoulders. I felt myself deflate at the sight of him and softened a bit. “Alright, c’mon. I’m taking you home.” I said, helping him up. He swayed a bit on his feet and I could see a large stain running down the front of his shirt. I grimaced. He had thrown up on himself.

“No, I don’t wanna go home. No one’s there. I don’t want to be alone. Don’t make me Zayn!” he cried; burying his face in my shoulder.

“Okay, okay calm down. I’ll take you to my place.”  I said, rubbing his back and shrugging my jacket off to put on his shaking body.

“Why don’t you like me Zayn?” he asked.

“What?”

“You heard me, why don’t you like me? Why do you like Niall?” he asked, leaning on me.

“I, I didn’t know you liked me the way I like Niall.” I stuttered, shaking my head as the pieces started coming together in my mind. “Never mind, we’ll talk about this tomorrow when you’re sober.”

     I helped him into the car and turned to heat on high to try and warm him up.

“Liam, do you think you’re going to be sick?” I asked, reaching for a cup on my floorboard. He shrugged, but soon his shrug turned to a sharp nod as he reached for the cup and emptied his stomach onto it. He gasped and groaned as he heaved more. I put a firm hand on his back and rubbed it in small circles, effectively soothing him until he was done.

“Alright, I’m gonna start driving, let me know if you need me to pull over.” I said. He nodded weakly and rested his head on the glass of the window next to him.

     We got home without Liam being sick again and I helped him into my apartment, though it was more like carrying him because he really couldn’t carry his own weight. I dragged him into my bedroom and started digging through my drawers until I found and old t shirt and sweatpants.

“Alright Liam, can you change into these?” I asked, turning to face only to find him passed out in the middle of my bed with his limbs fanned out around him. I sighed and started to pull his pants off, replacing them with the sweatpants and did the same with his shirt.

     I threw his old shirt away in the kitchen trash can and filled a glass with water for Liam in the morning. I walked past Niall on the couch, still sleeping soundly. I thought for a moment and threw a blanket over him before going back upstairs. There wasn’t enough room on the couch for both of us and I only had one bed.

     I called Harry before going back to my room.

“Hello?” he asked after the first ring.

“Harry? It’s Zayn, I found him. He was wasted but I think he’s gonna be okay.” I said.

“Where is he?” he asked.

“In my bed, I’ll going to take him home tomorrow when he’s sober.”

“Do you want to bring him here? Me and Lou won’t mind, it might be better anyway…” he trailed off.

“Harry, did Liam tell you anything? About me I mean.” I asked curiously. He sucked in a breath on his end.

“Yeah. I take it he told you as well?” he asked.

“Yeah. I was going to talk to him when he wasn’t drunk; I just wasn’t entirely sure I wasn’t the alcohol talking.”

“Well, I checked on him earlier today and he wasn’t doing too well. He looked, well he looked like Louis did, only not as bad I think. He was just really down about…”

“Niall.” I finished for him.

“Yeah. Well, look I’ll let you talk to him tomorrow. This is something you two should work out. G’night.” He said.

“Night.” I whispered.

     I crawled under the blankets next to Liam, who was dead to the world, and layed on my side facing away from him. I stared at the blackness in front of me when I couldn’t fall asleep. I wished Niall was awake but I wasn’t cruel enough to wake him. He would be mad enough at me in the morning, or at least, I would be if I found my boyfriend in bed with another man who had, not even an hour earlier, admitted to having feelings for him. I rolled over to face Liam. His cheeks were flushed from being sick and his forehead was sweaty. I pushed a few stray hairs off his forehead and wondered what he saw in me.  I allowed my fingers to ghost over his cheek as I pulled away.