Color Me (H.S)

CHAPTER 4

The pizza arrived and it seemed to cheer up Zayn. No longer was he focused on Harry and the fact he had no job. I felt bad for him, losing the job he adored. It was hard seeing him like this, but I wasn't so close to him. I knew him for just a short time, but I wont just brush him off.

The two of them were fun to be around, spending hours at my house playing games and getting to know each other. The one that took the longest, Monopoly, had ended the night with Niall mad at Zayn.

"You cheated!"

Zayn looked at Niall as he took a few bites of a slice of pizza. "Huh? How did I cheat?"

"How did you get all that money? You're the banker so you stashed some somewhere!" I couldn't help but giggle at him. Niall looked at me and pointed his finger. "So it was you?"

"No?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "I don't cheat."

"Whatever." Niall huffed, slowly smiling my way. "It's late. We should probably head out before this snow turns into ice."

"Alright." I got up, dusted myself off from the crumbs and led the two to my door. Swinging it open, we exchanged goodbyes and I was alone again. I turned to the mess we created, groaning as I began to clean everything up. I grabbed the dirty paper plates and opened the garbage can, seeing that it was about to burst. I took the bag out of the can, tying it at the top and heaving it up. I made the long distance to the basement, putting the bag in the garbage room. I made sure the door shut behind me, walking back up to my flat.

Passing Louis' room, I could hear faint music that was flowing through the walls. I stopped and listened, surprised when I figured out what kind of music he was listening to. Classical.

 I walked away, knowing that it would be weird if he found me against his door. I made my way back into my silent apartment, shutting the door behind me. After I finished with cleaning, my body was practically begging me to go to bed. Carelessly, I put my hair up in a bun and slipped on my white nightie. Crawling into the abyss of my comfortable bed, I reached over and grabbed my chapstick, sliding the balm over my chapped lips.

Slowly, the black of sleep engulfed me, lulling me into a deep comfortable slumber.

"Carli! Down here!" I heard my mother yell. I sighed to myself, rolling my eyes. Why couldn't she leave me alone to my painting? I put my brush in the already dirty water and got up. I walked downstairs and slowly stopped as I saw my whole family sitting in the living room. My family consisted of myself, father, mother and Liam. 

"What's going on?" I asked, my eyebrows knitting together. 

"Your brother has some news for us." My father said, his voice cold as ice. 

"Why do you act like that? I did nothing wrong!" Liam bellowed.

"Liam.. Please." My mother hushed him. "Now tell Carli. She has a right to know, am I wrong?"

"Like she cares. She's too young to understand." Liam shot back. 

"Can you guys just tell me?" I said impatiently. I hated when people walked around the bush, just tell me what's on your mind and we can go from there.

"Liam is leaving."

"What?" I shrieked. "Since when? Liam you can't leave!" My brother, who I looked up to, was leaving home. He had graduated, but he told me a couple days back he had no desire to leave.