Apocalypse [h.s.]

Chapter nine

I was waiting at home for Liam to come. His plane had arrived a while ago, so he was probably here pretty soon. I was so excited to finally see him again. Liam was really my best friend. We had been best friends since 2nd grade, and we've always looked after each other since then. But eventually we grew up, and we started to get new friends and different plans for our futures. I got sad just thinking about it.

My doorbell rang. I jumped up from the couch with eager and ran over to open the door. Liam was standing there with open arms and a big grin on his face.

"Liam!" I jumped in his arms and held him tightly. "Gosh, it's so good to see you! I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, Vi! You look great!" He said and pulled away from our hug. It was so good to hear my good ol' nickname again. Everyone in my family had called me "Vi" since I was a little girl. I used to hate it, but now there wasn't a single thing I wanted to hear more.

"Oh, stop it!" I joked and waved him away jokingly. "You look great too, Liam! Come on in" I said and followed him inside.

He put down his luggage and looked around. Of course he had to touch everything to judge this place somehow. Typical Liam. "Nice place you've got here! Proper apartment, that I can tell." I smiled and looked around.

"It's not much, but yeah. I like it." It wasn't really anything to brag about. But there was one spot of the apartment in particular that I liked. It was a very comfortable kind of chair hanging from the roof in the corner of the livingroom. I had bought it myself right after I got here, because I thought it was a bit boring with only the couch. I loved sitting there reading or listening to music. It was so relaxing if I had a stressing day and needed some peace and silence.

"So, are you up to meeting Zayn and Harry later?" I asked, after he had eaten some food that I made for him. He put the plate and glass in the dishwasher.

"Yeah, sure! Where do they live?" He smiled at me and sat down again.

"Zayn lives just across the hallway, and Harry-" I stopped talking. It wasn't until now that I realized-I didn't know where Harry lived. At least I had his number so I could just call or text him and ask.

"You know, I actually don't know where Harry lives. But I have his phone number so I can text him or something" I answered after a while. He nodded. Then he gave me a smirk.

"What?" I asked, although I kind of already knew what it was. Whenever Liam smirked at me like that, it always had something with boys to do.

"You like him, don't you?" I blushed and looked down in my pocket trying to find my phone.

"No, I don't. W-what makes you think that?" I realized how fake that sounded, and let out a chuckle.

He laughed. "Vi, I thought we were supposed to tell eachother everything. Remember?" I nodded, because I did in fact remember. Liam and I had made sort of a pact in 6th grade that we would always tell eachother the truth, no matter what. We had actually kept that. At least me. I didn't really know if Liam had ever lied to me. But I chose to believe he hadn't.

"It's just.. Professor Fabio told me something about him, and I don't know if I'm gonna believe it or not. I don't want to believe it, but.." I sighed and looked down. "I don't know."

He sat down on the couch, moving the pillows to his comfort. "Look. If you're really into him then I suggest you go for it. You can't avoid something or someone off of someone elses opinions or assumptions. That I know for a fact. You wanna know how?" I nodded and smiled at him.

"My best friend since 1st grade, Thomas, told me about this weird girl who wore shoes that were way too big for her, and also she talked funny" he said, as I laughed, perfectly aware who he was talking about. "I decided to shove all those things away, and actually get to know the girl from scratch. Guess what? She became my best friend for life" he finished and smirked at me.

I sat down next to him on the couch. "You know, I always knew you were the good guy. I used to watch you in the recesses. You were always smiling or laughing, and cheering everyone up who was in a bad mood. And you were hella energetic, too" I said and chuckled. He laughed.

I went over to the kitchen to make some coffee. My addiction to coffee was horrible. Couldn't go two hours without it. "So, are you ready to meet Zayn? I sent Harry a text just now, so we could start off with Zayn if you'd like."

He nudged himself up from the couch and grabbed a mug from the kitchen cabinet. "Yeah, okay. Is he a nice lad?"

I smiled. I had missed the word "lad". Everyone from my hometown said that, including me. I hadn't heard it in a while.

"Yeah, he's very nice! He's a bit harsh around Harry, but I'm sure he'll like you."

He nodded and poured the coffee in his mug. I sat down on the kitchen counter, taking small sips of my coffee as I stared at Liam. He looked a bit bitter to me. Not the usual Liam I was used to be around, really. Had something happened with him down in Warrington? Or when he was overseas? We did swear that we would tell eachother everything, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

He sat down facing me. We didn't talk for a while. "Hey, Liam. How was your vacation?" I asked to try and get something out of him.

He cleared his throat and stiffened up his back. "Uhm, well it was fun. I swam alot since it was really hot all the time, and I did some shopping as well. I even got a bit of a tan!" He brightened up in his face. I laughed at him and rolled my eyes, because I knew he was lying. Liam never got tanned. Not ever.

"Sounds lovely. Did you meet someone there? Like, did you get any friends or something?" I asked. I wasn't quite satisfied with his answer. He was hiding something, and I was going to get to the bottom of it.

He looked down on his cup of coffee and shook his head. "No, no I didn't. There wasn't really someone there at my age, so.." He said, not looking at me which meant he was clearly lying. He would never lie to me looking directly in my eyes.

I decided to not ask anymore or push the answer out of him. If he met someone, he probably wasn't ready to talk about it yet. I wasn't even mad at him for lying, even though I could never lie to him. Although I did kind of lie when I told him I didn't like Harry, but I told him once he had a suspicion, though. But I just felt like leaving him alone. Besides, I wanted him to tell me himself, not me finding out myself by pushing the answer out of him. That wasn't the way to do it.

"C'mon, let's go meet Zayn" I spoke, standing up. He nodded, and did the same as I walked towards the hallway to put on my shoes and coat. Although it was like, two meters apart from my doorstep, but I liked my coat so I just decided to put it on.

I heard Liam laugh behind me. "Why are you putting on your jacket when he lives just across the hallway?" He put on his shoes and looked at me.

"Because I want to" I said and smiled at him, satisfied with my choice. "Besides," I continued. "It's a coat, not a jacket. There's a difference."

Liam rolled his eyes at me as I opened the door. "Oh, I'm sorry, didn't know you were such a diva" he said mockingly. We laughed, before I knocked on Zayns door to greet him to Liam.