please don't take my sunshine away...

Chapter Sixteen.

Playlist Song: Favorite Crime, Olivia Rodrigo.

Fall 2015

Liam sits down and rests his head in his hands.
"Okay," I say, kneeling down in front of him. "That's not that bad." Louis paces around the room behind us mutterin things under his breath. I glare at him out of the corner of my eye.
"What the fuck do I do Harry!" Liam says, picking his head up and looking at me and then behind me and Louis.
"Umm, you obviously go and meet him," I say.
"I can't fucking do that!" he says standing up and walking towards the door. Then he turns around and walks back to me.
"You give me no help," he says. "I need help guys! Fucking help me!" Louis walks over and grabs Liam's forearms.
"You need to calm down."

He glances at me over his shoulder and I instantly know what he's thinking. I walk over to the small electric tea kettle on the small kitchen counter and turn it on. Louis goes and sits Liam down. In a couple minutes the water boils and I quickly put in a bag of yorkshire and a splash of milk and sugar. I carry the steaming cup over to Liam and he takes it graciously.
"Okay," Louis says calmly. I feel much better having him in control of the situation knowing that he is the calmer one out of both of us.
"You are going to go and meet up with your ex," Louis says.
"Not helping,"
"What's the worst thing that could happen?" Louis says.
"Um excuse me," Liam says looking at him like he's crazy. "He could ghost me, we could have nothing to talk about, I could lose control of my lips and accidentally kiss him, he could bring up Gigi, I could say something about food and freak him out, he could-," Louis cuts him off.
"You're not insane Liam! You're not gonna do any of that shit!" Liam sighs.

"Why don't you just, like, tell him how you feel?" I say from across the room while folding a pile of laundry.
"Harry, that is the stupidest idea I have ever heard in my life," Louis says, looking over at me with a glare.
"In my entire life," Liam says, looking off into space.
"I know it sounds crazy," I say. "But hear me out," they both look at me expectantly. I stop what I'm doing and walk over to them.
"You love Zayn," he nods. "But he's also your ex," he nods again. "But he's also your best mate."
"Get to the fucking point Harry," Louis says I glare at him and point to my wedding ring. He looks away in retreat.
"Zayn means a lot to you and I know that you mean the same to him. He helped you work through a lot of shit and you did the same for him," I walk around the room as I speak. I watch as Liam's and Louis' eyes follow me. "We all think that Zayn's with Gigi for real, but what if it's just a stunt. Like every single other time when we have been forced into relationships. Liam," I say standing him and looking him in the eye.
"What?" he says.

I look off into the distance. I look back at him and his brown eyes stare back.
"You could make something work," I say. "Liam, Zayn loves you and we know it,"
"How the hell do you know that?" he asks.
"Liam," I say. He looks astonished.
"I need to see him," he says softly.
"Hell yeah you do!" Louis says, walking over to me and pecks my lips. "You're a genius!" he says. I blush and shrug he kisses me again.
"Well where is he?" I ask Liam loudly. He is looking down at his phone when a text comes through. He opens it.
"He's in L.A," he says, his hands going limp around his phone.
"Well then go see him!" I say trying to stop myself from jumping around in excitement.
"Okay," he says softly. "Okay I can do this," he stands up slowly.
"I can't do it!" he says, flopping back down on the bed.
"You can," Louis says, walking over and helping him up. Liam sighs and then both of them walk out of the room and over to Liam's.

I try not to let my unfactual anxiety eat away at me while I sit in the room alone. I smile, happy to know my two best mates are hopefully going to connect again. I get up and get dressed wearing a colorful long sleeve button down and my regular black skinny jeans. I grab my phone and the room key before walking down the hall to Liam's room to check in and help him get ready. After a few seconds of walking slowly down the hall my phone starts buzzing in my back pocket. I stop in my tracks and grab it to see it's Zayn calling.