Room 317

Chapter 13

4 years later

Things had changed so much over the past few years Liam reflected, staring down at the picture of the five of them at Louis’s 21st birthday dinner. Not only had they all physically changed from teenagers into young men but the dynamics of their friendships had changed too. He wished it had all been for the better. Most things were, Liam was having the time of his life, but he couldn’t say the same for all his band mates.

He ran his finger over the young photographic faces fondly. The person to have changed the most, physically, had to be Niall, hands down. The amount he had transformed in four years was startling. No longer was he a bleached blond, crooked teethed teen with the undefined body of a 15-year-old. Now, Liam smiled warmly, touching the face of the then 19-year-old Niall, he was almost as tall as Harry; with a lean wiry body honed from hours of dance practice. His hair was short again and only had a few blond highlights – which made it look natural and gorgeous. His face was also more defined from the exercise, revealing gorgeous chiselled cheekbones. His teeth had been completely transformed too - into a totally knee-weakening smile. Yeah, Liam was ridiculously enamoured by his boyfriend. He was well aware of the fact – mainly because the others continued to tease him about it.

Sure, Niall hadn’t completely changed; he still had his strong Irish accent and was prone to blushing and laughing at everything but those were some of the things Liam loved the most. In his opinion, Niall was now the best looking of the band – but he might be a little biased. Although… he had seen wars break out on Twitter between the fans as to who was the better looking between Niall, Harry and Louis. While Liam would concede that Harry was incredibly handsome for a guy, especially now that he’d shaved off that ludicrous moustache, he honestly did find Niall the more attractive of the two, which was a good thing!

Zayn was the one who was now at the mercy of fan outcry – his sleek black ponytail was hated by a vast majority of the girls. Liam agreed – it made Zayn look sleazy.

Louis had changed a bit too; he was as lean and fit as ever but there was a softness about him now – a fragile – almost feminine edge which drove the girls and guys wild. Only, Louis wasn’t into that sort of attention any more – if he ever truly had been in the first place. He was quieter, almost hiding behind that impossibly feathered fringe – shy and sweet like Liam had been at the start of it all. Liam would have worried about this change had it not been for the fact they all seemed to have swapped personalities somehow. Louis seemed to be a cross between the old Liam and Niall; Niall seemed to be a cross between the old Louis and Zayn (so hot and full of life); Liam, himself, was a cross between the old Zayn and Niall (confident in his relationship but bound to fits of blushing); Zayn seemed to adopted Harry’s cheeky and dirty persona and Harry… Harry seemed to have morphed into someone even more angstier than Liam had been at the height of his most depressive spate.

That brought him neatly to the dynamics of the band. He stared down at the photograph; in it, Louis and Harry had their arms around each other – Harry’s head resting on Louis’s shoulder, whispering something and Louis looking down at him, laughing. They looked completely enamoured with each other. Beside Louis sat Niall, laughing at something Zayn had said. Liam was in the middle of the two, looking at Niall but leaning more towards Zayn. It was weird to remember how shy and awkward Niall and he had been with each other at that time. Only just starting their journey together. Looking at the photo, if he were an outsider then he would have predicted that Harry and Louis would have been the most likely candidates to be the band’s long-term couple. He would never have guessed it would be himself and Niall.

Carefully, he slid out one of the most recent photographs of the five of them together from the new pack and laid it next to the older one.

Yeah, it really was amazing how things changed. This particular photo had been taken two weeks ago at Rebecca’s wedding reception. The five of them were sat around a table – along with some of their other friends. Liam, himself, was standing behind Niall’s chair, draped all over his boyfriend’s shoulders and smiling in a ridiculously sappy way. Niall’s arm was reaching up to hold the back of his head, automatically pulling him closer even though he was mid conversation with Aiden. It always amazed Liam how good he and Niall looked together these days – like they grew to compliment each other.