Spaces Between Us

Spaces

Minutes passed and not a word was shared amongst the boys.

"This is ridiculous!" Louis exclaimed, standing up from his chair and pacing about the room. Zayn rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Louis.

"If you have something to say Malik, I suggest you fucking spit it out!" Louis fumed, taking a menacing step towards Zayn.

"I do have something to say, actually. Why are you so angry with me? Why do you hate me so much to the point that you'd disrupt Simon's fucking funeral just to attack me. Granted, I've done my fair share of bad. But was my exit of the band really such a crime that you'd still hold on to it, almost five years later?" Zayn questioned, taking an equal step forward.

"Zayn, you didn't just leave the band. You destroyed it, your supposed harmless exit brought me misfortune after misfortune, leading me unto a path of self-destruction."

"How the fuck is that my fault? Anything that happened after I left has nothing to do with me. I apologize to all of you, for the way I left the band. Keeping it a secret was the biggest form of betrayal." Zayn was addressing all of them now,  turning to look at the rest of them before returning his attention to Louis. "However, besides that, I owe you no other apology."

"Really, how about all the shit you said on twitter?" Louis countered and Zayn groaned, gripping at his hair in frustration.

"You're the one that started attacking me, what was I supposed to do? I was defending myself." Zayn shot back. Louis let out a laugh, throwing his head back in the process.

"Oh so now you have the strength to defend yourself. Where was it when you were so miserable in the band? When you were helpless, alone, scared and miserable. Where was that strength then?" With every word that came out of Louis' mouth, a dagger was plunged into Zayn's heart. His eye twitched with anger and his breathing became incoherent. Upon seeing Zayn's vulnerability, something inside Liam changed. Yes, he still held some malice for him but he was still a man, a man that did not deserve this treatment.

"Louis, what the fuck!" Liam exclaimed, pushing him away from Zayn. "What the fuck is wrong with you." Louis' head turned to Liam in a swift movement, his eyes clouded with rage. The man before him was not the Louis Tomlinson he knew and loved, it was a man broken in nature. Stripped bit by bit of all that made him happy; his mother, his sister and One Direction. All that was left of him was anger and bitterness that needed to be let out.

"Liam, stay out of this!" He seethed venomously.

"Guys, we're locked in here for a reason. How about we just sit down and talk about this calmly." Niall jumped in, noticing things were going out of hand. Meanwhile, Harry sat in his chair. His mind absent of the situation at hand. He gazed out the window, remembering happier times.

"Niall, stay out of this. This does not concern you." Liam warned, putting a protective arm forward.

"No!" Niall screamed, grabbing everyone's attention. Harry, who was previously distracted, stood up abruptly. Zayn and Liam had their heads turned towards Niall in shock, while Louis stood there,baffled. The pent up anger inside him slowly fading as faced the reality of the situation. "I'm sick and tired of you treating me like a child. I'm only a year younger than most of you and I'm the same fucking age as Harry. I am not an innocent little baby that needs protecting. I'm an adult, and it's fucking time you treat me as such." Niall continued, leaving shocked expressions on the faces of the others. Never had they ever seen Niall raise his voice, let alone use profanity in his language."You!" He pointed at Louis angrily, then to the rest of them. "You are all going to sit down, and we are going to talk like civilised fucking people!" Niall didn't have to say it twice, the four of them sat down immediately.