A Thousand Years - Zarry AU

Chapter twenty

“Woah! You sick or something? You barely touched your food!” Greg chuckled, passing by the kitchen just to see his younger brother’s platter still loaded. Normally he’d be the first to scoff down the food in a very shambolic way and if not enough, the lad would demand for a second serving of tonight’s feast.

“Piss off you prick.” Niall muttered silently but was audible enough to reach his mother’s earshot.

“Now that isn’t such a nice thing to say to your older brother, Niall.” She gave him a stern look whilst piling the finished plates except for her youngest son’s which was somehow left untouched. “Niall, sweetheart is there something bothering you?” Maura queried the second she gathered all the dirty platters inside the dishwasher. Her motherly instinct knew how her son was acting quite oddly the past few days.

“Nothing, not hungry is all...” Niall stated lamely before pushing back his chair, standing up to pace back in his room.

“You know you could always give Liam a call and ask him to come over, thought he could help you sort that teenage glitch you’re going through.” His mum emitted a small chuckle before paying her attention back at swabbing the kitchen tools.

Niall internally groaned, frustrated that his mother didn’t know Liam was actually the reason why he’d been so gloomy for almost already what took a week. He felt really dejected, were they still even friends? Niall hoped the bond they created way back when they were toddlers never concluded because he couldn’t afford to lose Liam to some random older guy that he, by all means, loathed. Niall decided to take a stroll outside, seeing as the night was still young and Maura couldn’t be bothered since her son was old enough to be left alone. Maybe the calming silence and unpleasantly cold wind could help him clear his full blown mind. He could probably ask Zayn for some advice but then he realized tonight wasn’t just the best time for them to talk and sort his problems out considering Zayn himself had predicaments to take care of.

The night was absolutely windy but the Irish boy couldn’t care less. Why was Liam being such a dick on him? Favoring the man he barely knew? He could’ve been treacherous to begin with and Liam was oblivious of that frightening fact. Niall always wished for Liam’s safety but the lad just couldn’t see his true intentions. He was too blinded by the man he, not long ago, encountered. Niall wanted to be honest with himself. Jealousy, indeed it was. He cares for Liam just as much as Liam cared for him. It was always like that. Before, Niall’s wellbeing would always come in first, came to an extent where Liam gets into a fight for tackling Niall’s bully back in year 7. He was then reported at the principal’s office but unfortunately for the bullies, it was Liam they had to oppose within the head’s office. Of course the head believed Liam’s clarification leaving the other side with no time to argue back as the principal took no notice of their justification.

It was too much for Niall to handle. In just a blink of an eye, he lost Liam. He didn’t even know how the bloody hell it happened. For all he knew, everything went well and fine between the two of them, then one day it all suddenly happened. Liam’s whereabouts during their spare time which should’ve been spent together were left unknown. And on one particular day, he was then well informed that Liam met someone he’d grown attached to, much to Niall’s abhorrence. Liam was only his, but who the hell was Louis Tomlinson? Of course Niall heard his name before but he was too angry to remember the man’s name, and he wasn’t even planning on notifying himself what it was. “Hell do I care!” he exclaimed as he raked his fingers through his bleach blonde hair.

“Stupid! Idiot!” Niall grunted, feeling his eyes welling up with tears. All of a sudden he was fishing his phone out his pocket as he began tapping through to create a message.