ROUGH - Niam AU

Chapter 3 - Joy Ride

"So Liam, you've been here a month now, right?" Zayn asked, lighting a cigarette. Liam, Zayn, Niall, Harry, Louis, Josh and a few of the other boys Liam still couldn't quite remember the names of, were sat behind the run down children's playground; doing nothing. Just like they had every day since Liam's first day.

"Yeah." Liam replied, not really paying attention.

"How'd you even end up here anyways?" Zayn continued.

"My parents dragged me. Dad lost his job so..." Liam trailed off, feeling embarrassed even though he was still better off than most of the boys in this group.

"Same old, same old then." Niall spoke up. Liam couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, bitter or just generalizing how most people ended up in Westley. Probably him included, after all, who would choose to live there?

That's what Liam found most interesting about Niall; he'd always considered himself a people person and good at reading peoples emotions, but Niall was different. Liam could never quite tell what he was thinking, or what he was going to do next. He intrigued Liam and that's part of the reason why Liam always found himself hanging around Niall more than the likes of Zayn or Harry, who spoke to him considerably more than Niall did.

There was also the fact that Liam found Niall insanely cute, but he immediately suppressed any thoughts of Niall being cute the second they arised. Although he'd never asked, Liam was pretty sure there wern't many openly gay teenagers in Westley Estate.

"We should go out tonight." Harry said, before the silence that had fell became too long and awkward.

"And do what..." Niall sneered, kicking a stone because, well, why not?

"Joy ride?..." Harry smiled, a mischievous glint in his eye as the other boys began to pick up on what he meant.

"I don't know... after last time..." Louis mumbled, looking at the ground. It's not that he didn't want to have fun, but the consequences wern't just no pocket money or being grounded or something silly like that. For him, getting caught meant jail time.

"You don't have to." Niall said in a more caring way than Liam had ever heard him speak before.

"I don't think my mum will let me out late..." Liam confessed.

"You're not serious?..." Niall snickered, not in a mean way, but it still made Liam feel embarrassed. 

"I'll ask." Liam sighed.

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It was just past 9pm when Liam found Niall, Zayn, Louis and Harry standing on the corner of his road not so discretely checking to see if any of the near by cars were locked.

"She let you out then?" Niall laughed, noticing Liam.

"No." He confessed.

"Payno!" Niall laughed and jokingly punched Liam in the chest. A male stamp of approval.

"So what exactly are we doing?" Liam asked, unsure as to why he even thought it would be a good idea to sneak out.

"We're gonna go for a ride." Niall gestured to the dozen or so cars on the street around them, but Liam could only focus on his accent. It always seemed to be thicker when it was late and Niall had been drinking.

"You guys have a car?" Liam asked innocently, following Niall over to Zayn, Harry and Louis who had found an old looking, budget BMW with the doors unlocked.

"Of course not silly." Zayn replied for Niall, getting into the already battered BMW and fiddling with the ignition.

"We're stealing a car?!" Liam exclaimed, finally realising what the others had meant.