Room 317

Chapter 10

Three days after Maiden’s Party…

Harry sighed when Louis jumped off the sofa and dropped the X Box controller to the coffee table with a clatter. He did the same. “We gonna talk to them, then?” He asked, knowing this had been coming for days.

Louis nodded grimly, “Yeah, I can’t stand it any longer, which one do you want to take?”

“I guess I’ll be better off with Niall,” said Harry, “Liam’s not so likely to take me seriously.”

“Fair dos.” Louis nodded, biting his lip, “Rendezvous in twenty minutes?”

“Yeah,” they slapped palms and headed up the stairs - before splitting separate ways at the top.

“Good luck,” Louis called over his shoulder and Harry smiled.

Niall’s room was at the end of the hallway and had a big picture of Michael Buble on the door with a hand drawn sign underneath saying ‘Niall’s Room’. He fidgeted nervously outside the door for a few moments as he wasn’t entirely comfortable with this role as mediator. Liam was always the best at the consoling thing but seeing as Liam was one of the needy parties... it was unfortunately up to him to try his hand and smoothing things over. Plus, Louis was counting on him and Harry never could stand to let Louis down – sap that he was. Moreover, this was Niall. Harry had never seen Niall so upset before – at least not at someone in the band. At least with Liam, Harry had had his own experiences at being at odds with him so he knew what to expect. Niall had never been at odds with anyone, not like this, and, considering the nature of the problem… this was probably going to be a really awkward talk.

He was also curious about the awkwardness though; yeah, he’d expected them both to be embarrassed… but the way they were acting you’d think they’d done something more serious than just play a stupid game of drunken gay chicken. ]

The next morning Niall had fled the kitchen as soon as Liam had stepped inside and Liam, upon seeing Niall, had looked like a deer caught in the headlights before fleeing too - in the opposite direction. From there, both had found their own way home and shut themselves in their respective rooms, refusing to speak to anyone. This silence had now been going on for several days and they were all tired of the uncomfortable atmosphere in the house. They had had gigs these last two nights too and even the fans had been commenting on the awkward air between them all.

Tonight, Zayn had attempted to try to talk to Liam several times but to no avail. Harry had no idea what happened the last time he tried but Zayn went storming out of the house in a towering rage. Liam and Zayn never argued; they were as close as Harry was to Louis, so the anger was all way too unsettling for Harry to stomach.

Taking a deep breath, he chapped on the door and then slowly pushed it open. Niall was sitting slumped at his desk; Ipod phones in, head resting wearily in his hand and was glumly plodding away at his keyboard. Stepping inside, Harry closed the door firmly behind him and walked towards the desk.

Niall caught Harry’s movements out the corner of his eye and pulled out his earphones, “Harry?” he asked warily, a flush creeping up his neck. He couldn’t quite meet Harry’s eyes.

“Hey Niall, I…” Harry struggled to think of something clever to say, “uh… think we should have a chat.” Yeah, that was so lame; Harry was embarrassed for himself.

Niall’s face went redder and he scratched idly at some random mark on his desk, “If it’s about what I think it is then, no. God no. I just want to forget that it ever happened.” He squeezed his eyes closed, “Jesus Christ,” he groaned, banging his head down onto the wood, “I am soooo humiliated, how the hell am I meant to look Liam in the eye now?”