seasons of love | Narry Storan AU

chapter 14.

2015

"If I were a boy, I think I could understand", Liam basically sings out the lyrics to Beyoncé's song If I Were a Boy, hitting every single note required to him. "How it feels to love a girl, I swear I'd be a better man!"

"Isn't it funny that he's singing lyrics from a woman's perspective?" Louis whispers into Niall's right ear, while they watch their friend find his own emotions with a karaoke's microphone.

It's the first time when all the three of them were free to do anything else but studying, and so Liam suggested that they could go out to a karaoke bar. It's almost 9PM, and Niall is by far the most sober of the small group, while Lou is just a little tipsy and Liam is definitely the drunkest one among them.

No wonder why he is singing a Beyoncé song, Niall thinks of his new friend.

"Just let him be, Tommo", the blond guy rolls his eyes and sighs. "He was the one who brought us here. Let him have the fun he wants to have."

"You've been too permissive these days, Heineken. Is that the effect of being free of our parents? You simply stop caring about shit?"

"Probably. I don't know, I think it's just the fact that no one cares about what we're doing because no one actually knows us here", Niall shrugs. "Why do you seem to judge every single thing Liam wants to do?"

"I'd listen to her! 'Cause I know how it hurts! When you lose the one you wanted, 'cause he's taken you for granted, and everything you had got destroyed!" Liam keeps singing flawlessly, eyes closed, his mind focusing on the song rather than the people around him.

"I'm not judging him. Why do you think that?" Louis seems to be a little annoyed to answer his friend's question.

"Lou..."

"I know that 'Lou...', don't come for me with that", he blurts out, eyes widely open and his hands hidden in the pockets of his black tight trousers. "I'm not into him."

"Listen, Lou, if you like him, it's okay. I'm not gonna be the one to judge, because one: you're bisexual as fuck, it's your human nature, and two: I also fell in love with a friend before and I know how it feels for you. Remember?"

"A tragic story that you should keep in your own past, Horan." Louis forces himself to laugh a bit. "How come you don't wanna kill him for ruining your reputation at high school?"

"I didn't have a fucking reputation back then. I mean, you were my reputation. Is that something?"

"Dickhead", they smile together at the memory. "Look, I said I'm not into him because I don't know how I feel about him. That's it."

"It's a little too late for you to come back!" Liam's voice reaches a higher pitch, shocking both Louis and Niall. "Say, 'it's just a mistake', think I'd forgive you like that! If you thought I would wait for you, you thought wrong!" 

The last note lasts more seconds than everyone else in the room expected it to last, and the young Tomlinson just raises his eyebrows in bigger shock.

"Wow. It seems like he's really feeling the verses." The Irish lad comments. "Take it as a topic later. Talk to him about that. Try to figure out what you feel when he talks about his romantic life and take it as a first step to know how you feel about him."

"Do you think it's gonna work?"

"I don't know. I think I should try it with myself, too."

"Huh, mister Heineken is falling for someone?" Lou's joke makes his friend blush almost immediately.

"What? No!" Niall screams in a sudden movement. "I mean, I don't know."

"You never hide these things from me, dude. What's going on?"

"Nothing is going on", he answers, with an angrier tone in his voice. "But I think that is the problem. Nothing is going on."

"You need to calm down, Niall. You've been here for basically a month, it's okay to not fall for someone so soon."

"But you..."

"I said I don't feel a thing for Liam." Louis tries to reiterate his previous affirmation. "Yet."

When Beyoncé's song ends, everyone in the room stands up for Liam's singing abilities. His two friends do it so, and while Niall is just clapping, Louis whistles several times, being proud of his roommate's performance. 

All of the applause comes to an end when the next contestant to the karaoke walks up the tiny stage.

"What is he doing here?" Niall asks, more to himself than to his friend.