Break My Fall

Chapter Eight

(Rachel’s P.O.V.)

We could hear Sara’s yelling all through the house. I felt bad for Louis and the fact that his girlfriend was yelling at him because she found us asleep together on the stage, but I thought she was over reacting. We were only sleeping, Louis and I were just friends.

Just friends.

“This has been going on for like, an hour. Isn’t she going to run out of breath soon?” Liam asked lazily, playing with a fork. I shrugged and suddenly it got very quiet in the next room. I raised my eyebrows.

“Yes! It’s finally safe,” Cher said, jumping up and making her way out of the room we’d taken refuge in. She was about to open the door when we heard Sara crying. I rolled my eyes and Cher groaned and fell to the ground dramatically.

“We’re never getting out. We’re going to die in here without food or hope,” Kara groaned.

“We could order pizza,” Niall suggested.

“I SWEAR I DIDN’T CHEAT ON YOU! GOD DAMMIT, WHY CAN’T YOU TRUST ME?” Louis shouted in the next room. All of our eyes went wide and we fell even more silent.

“I SEE THE WAY YOU LOOK AT HER! DON’T YOU DARE KEEP TELLING ME YOU’RE JUST FUCKING FRIENDS BECAUSE THAT’S THE WAY YOU USED TO LOOK AT ME! What changed between us?” Sarah sobbed. Everyone was staring at me now. I couldn’t possibly feel any more awkward.

Zayn cleared his throat and locked eyes with me. “Uh, I’m just making sure here, but you and Louis didn’t – ”

Before I could say anything in my defense, Harry smacked him in the gut. “Of course they didn’t! Louis wouldn’t, and neither would Rachel,” Harry said. I smiled gratefully at Harry and he shot me a cheeky wink. “Besides, Rachel has the hots for me.”

“And there’s the Harry I know,” Tessa muttered. Harry scowled and started whispering to Kara. I ignored them and looked at Niall and started to bite my nails.

“I feel like this is my fault,” I whispered, so that Niall was the only one who heard me. He shot me a sympathetic look.

“Rachel, don’t blame yourself, okay? It’s not your fault, Sara’s just over reacting. And besides, I think they had some problems before she got here. And she’s a bitch, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that they break up,” he joked. I cracked a smile, but that quickly disappeared and I sighed and hugged my knees to my chest.

“What if they break up because of me? It would be for nothing, there’s nothing going on between me and Louis,” I said. Niall looked at me with such pity, it made me think I should be feeling even worse. He scooted closer to me and hugged me tightly. I nuzzled my head into his shoulder and took a deep breath, trying to calm my mind.

“WELL THEN MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST BREAK UP!”

“NO, Sara I don’t want that, can’t we make this work?” Louis begged. It went quiet again and we were locked in the silence, the only sounds were Liam playing with his fork and Kara and Harry whispering back and forth.

After a few minutes, the door opened to reveal Louis who looked extremely stressed. “I knew you guys were in here,” he muttered. Everyone jumped to their feet, Tessa, Harry, and Cher being the first to run right out of the room.

“What happened Lou?” Liam asked looking concerned.

Louis shrugged and dug his hands in his pockets. “I think we’re on a break,” he mumbled.

“Hey, as long as you don’t pull a Ross, this could turn out fine,” I said jokingly, making a reference to our favorite show Friends. Louis smiled weakly, but wouldn’t look me in the eye.