Night Changes

Chapter Three

"Moving too fast, moon is lighting up her skin. She's falling doesn't even know it yet."

Liam

My eyes widened in pain as my head hit the top of my bunk again. The boys and I were back on the tour bus and I was the unlucky one who recieved the top bunk. Shifting to a more comfortable position, I tried my best to go back to sleep.

"Ow!" I hissed as the bus made a sharp turn, causing my back to hit against the wall.

THe boys and I always have different methods to select three of us that would be sleeping in the top bunk. Last week, we played a round of Truth or Dare and the first three to back out has to take the top bunk. Five days before that, we asked opinions from the fans in our concert. Yesterday, we played a round of rock, paper, sciccors.

I suck at rock, paper, sciccors.

Soon, I gave up on trying to sleep and ventured into the bus' main room. All the boys were asleep - well, except for those in the other two top bunks. I kept hearing the knocking of heads and painful groans. As far as I was concerned, Louis and Niall have been in the top bunk for every time we had to be in the tour bus.

"Hey, cookie-man." Zelle greeted.

Sitting beside her, I smirked upon hearing the childhood nickname. I have not heard that name in years. Zelle only calls me that because I always brought her family a batch of cookies every Saturday. Mother loved baking, and I was a kid.

"Ma. Why don't we give the cookies to the people next door? I never talk to 'em anymore." I asked my mother.

Ever since Zelle's younger sister was born, we hardly spoke. Zelle was my only friend in school, but at home we were complete strangers.

"Liam, Zelle and her mother-"

"Please?" I pleaded.

My mother, of course, gave in to me. I was a pretty stubborn kid back then. She prepared a batch of raspberry-cheesecake cookies and gathered them in a purple tin. I happily took it from her hands and scampered off to the next door. Making sure the tin was presentable, I knocked on the door.

"I'll go get it!" I heard a perky voice call out before the door unlatched open. "Oh. Hi Liam." Zelle smiled and waved.

"Ah... Hello. My ma made cookies for you."  I motioned, passing her the purple tin. "-Here. Ah. Hope you like it. It's really sweet!" I beamed, proud of my mother's baking.

Zelle eyed the purple tin and spun it around. Carefully, she brought it up to her ear and shook it softly. Hearing the clag of the cookies against the tin, she let out a satisfied grin.

"Thank you, cookie-man!" She thanked.

I smiled at the distant memory and sat beside Zelle. Zelle sleeps in the lower bunk in the middle, mainly because she was the only girl. Therefore, she always gets to sleep in the lower bunk.

"Hello, bubblegum." I responded.

Zelle smiled, her dimple poking into her skin. Zelle was the first person to introduce me to bubblegum and she claims that she is the first one to teach me how to live (which I occasionally disagree with).

We were silent for a while, just enjoying each other's company. It was time like this where I wished to grab her hands and kiss her. It was times like this where I want to wrap her in a hug and pour out my feelings. It was times like this that hurts the most.

"Liam?" Zelle whispered, fiddling with her fingers.

I hummed in reply, meeting her eyes. My breath almost hitched in my throat when she leaned on me. As best friends, this happens very often but I will never get used to it. I watched how the light from the moon felt upon her face, making her more beautiful than ever.

"There's this guy..." Zelle trailed off. I gulped and feigned an interested look. "-He's just so amazing. Well, he's like every girl's dream guy. However, he means more than a dream guy to me. Sometimes, he makes me so fustrated without knowing but sometimes I just want to kiss the life out of him."

I could feel butterflies in my stomach. Not the kind that gives you joy and soothe, the kind that hits you smack in the chest and hurts.

And it does hurt. A lot.

"-This guy... sometimes I don't even know how I feel about him. Heck, I don't know how I feel about him all the time. I just... this is driving me insane, Li." Zelle finished.

By now, she's already hugging her knees and rocking back and forth. I hated the absence of her warmth against me, but it was wrong. She does not like me that way, and I could not think of her this way.

"You're in love, Zelle." I breathed out.

As much as it hurt for me to say it, I was still her best friend and best friends help each other no matter what.

No matter how much it will hurt.

Zelle studied me, and it took a lot of courage in me to not look away. She grabbed my hand and rubbed her thumb accross mine. My breath hitched and I stood up abruptly.

"It's getting really late. I'm going to sleep first, yeah?" I faked a smile and rushed into my bunk.

Closing my eyes, I forced myself to think of everything else but Zelle. However, her words kept replaying in my mind. Her face keeps flashing in my mind. The bus went over a bump and my back slammed into the wall. I would usually laugh at the grunts and groans from Louis' and Niall's bunks or let out a hiss in pain from the impact.

But nothing hurts more than this right now.