A Way to Yesterday

Chapter 8- Family Trouble

Liam's POV:

Past.

I wake with a start the next day when Zayn's alarm clock goes off. I groan and throw a football at him. He sits up quickly and looks around the room confused. He locates his phone and shuts off the alarm. I sigh in relief at the silence and fall back on the bed. I close my eyes and hope that sleep returns to me. But that quickly goes out the window when Zayn starts talking.

"So how was the party last night?" he asks.

"Fine," I answer and turn to face the wall.

"Just fine? I thought you were going on a date last night. How'd that go?" he continues talking. This time I smile.

"That went well," I say.

"When do I get to meet her?"

"Who said you were going to meet her?" I ask and face him. He stops and gives me a look.

"Liam. I'm your best friend and judging by the way your smiling I can tell you really like her and that this is going to turn into something. So of course I want to meet her," he says. I narrow my eyes at him but nod.

"Okay. You can meet her when this turns into something," I say.

"No way. You take forever to make a move," he complains. I shrug. He was right. I did take forever. I was the type of guy that wanted to move fast but slow at the same time. But it usually depended on the girl. Cara seemed like the slow moving type and I was okay with that. I had a good feeling about this and I didn't want to mess anything up.

If she wanted to be friends for a while then I would. I would wait patiently. I wasn't the type of guy to force a girl into anything.

"Anyway. I'm going to meet Danny. I'll see you later," he says and leaves the room with his bag slung over his shoulder. He shuts the door and I close my eyes again. Sleep doesn't return. After about another thirty minutes I finally get out of bed.

I gather my things to go to the bathroom. My phone starts ringing just as I'm about to leave. I hit answer without checking who it was.

"Hello," I say.

"Liam. Have you spoken to your father?" my moms voice rings in my ear.

"What? No. Why? What's going on?" I ask.

"We had a fight last night and he left and hasn't come home," she tells me. I hear the panic and strain in her voice. I know she's been crying. "I've called and called but he's not answering."

"Why were you fighting?" I ask.

"It was just something small don't worry," she tries to reassure me but I can tell she's lying. Her voice seemed off. It was the same tone of voice she used on me when I was little.

"If it was something small then why did he leave?" I question.

"Liam. Please. I don't have time for this. Have you spoken to your dad or not?" she says voice filling with authority. I sigh.

"No. But let me try calling him," I say.

"Okay," she says. I hang up and scroll to my dads number. I dial his number and wait but he doesn't answer. I hang up and try again. This time I hear his groggy voice on the other line.

"Liam?"

"Dad? Where are you?" I ask my voice coming out rushed.

"I'm...I actually don't know," he says.

"Mom has been looking for you all night. You need to go home," I tell him. Clearly he was drunk out of his mind. Even more proof that my mother was lying about the fight being small. My dad only drank when he was stressed.

"I don't want to go home," he whines into the phone.

"Dad. Why did you two fight?" I ask hesitantly. He doesn't speak for a moment.

"Because your mother is an evil dictator who likes to steal others happiness," he slurs.

"What happened dad?" he gets quiet again and I ask again.

"Look Liam. I have to go. But I'll go home soon," he says and the line clicks. I sigh. This wasn't normal for my parents. They almost never fought. I wasn't dumb enough to believe that they never fought because even the most perfect couple had problems.

I sit back down on my bed and drop my head in my hands. This was effecting me more then I cared to admit. I felt upset. Hopefully this was just a one time thing because I really didn't like the idea of my parents fighting. They were always so happy and I wanted to be like them.

I change quickly and grab my ipod. I needed to get my mind off of this. Good thing the school had a gym. Luckily there wasn't too many people there. I pick a treadmill and turn my music loud. I start running and listening to Happy by Pharrel to lift my spirits.

About 30 minutes later I'm felling better but completely exhausted. My legs feel like jelly but I manage to somehow make it back to my room. I check my phone and see I have five missed calls from my mother. I shut off my phone and throw it back on the bed. I grab a change of clothes and a towel and head to the showers.

I let the warm water temporarily wash away my problems. I stand under the water a little longer then necessary but it's relaxing me. Once I feel that I've been in long enough I finally get out. I change quickly and head back to my room.

The annoyance at my parents fight starts to return. I wanted to know what they were fighting about. It must have been serious because it lead my dad to leave and drink. Perhaps I could get it out of him when he was sober.

I lay back on my bed thinking of what could have drove my dad to leave. Maybe it was money. That seemed like a probable cause. Or maybe it was work. Maybe something happened at my dads job that caused him to stress and take it out on my mother. I needed to stop thinking about this. I was probably worrying for nothing. I needed a distraction. And I had the perfect one.

I grab my phone and turn it back on and scroll to Cara's number. When she answers with a cheerful hello I sigh in relief.

"Are you busy?" I ask.

"I'm just doing a bit of studying. Why? What's up?" she says.

"Mind if I study with you?"

"Not at all. I'm in the library towards the back."

"Okay. I'll be there in ten," I say and hang up. I grab my books and throw them in my backpack and leave the room.

A/N: Okay so this was a sort of filler leading up to...duh duh duh....Liam waking up next chapter. So get excited because it's happening. Anyway I gotta go write the next chapter so laters.