(edited)

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CHAPTER 5: Tell me that I'm wrong but I do what I please.

PRESENT - 9, 10, 11

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9

Whitening knuckles held in a tense fist crashed against cheekbones. Blood and spit mixed together had spurt out of Godfrey's mouth as he tumbled backwards onto the old wooden floors.

Liam had been tiring the lad out, but Godfrey was better then him and it showed. On the gagging ache in Liam's stomach, the cut in his lip and probably what was a broken nose that he could barely feel.

Godfrey got Liam like that in seconds, but although the cockshit's talent Liam had one advantage, the numbers.

Soon two of his boys were grabbing Godfrey by the arms and pinning him against the flowery but dust filled wallpaper of Harry Styles's entrance hall. Liam, with just the hint of a smirk, looked in glory at his bloodied, tamed opponent.

"I thought I made myself clear a long time ago, Payne." It was breathy, faint, but the tone of mockery was clear. "You can't win."

"We'll see about that, piece of shit." Liam yelled before striking a blow to Godfrey's stomach.

Godfrey took the hit with a gagging sound, but his attitude remained unaffected. "I wonder what your father would think of you now." It made Liam feel out of control. He gripped his fists harder and uncontrolled shoves, fists repeatedly collided on the same spot as before.

"Just please..."

"Just make him stop."

"Make him stop."

Mutters filled the background and eventually Liam grew tired. "Just throw him out and stop that, please! You're killing him like this." Hysteric cries filled the heavy tension.

Liam's anger had just fired up another spark. He turned around finding a curly headed mess of unconsolable sobs, held back in caresses by more of Liam's boys. "It is not my fucking fault that your fucking drug dealing boyfriend likes to fucking abuse you! This is not my fucking problem anymore!" Liam's voice cracked. "He doesn't fucking care about you! Can't you see? He doesn't give two bloody shits." Liam motioned with his entire hand.

Silence fell upon the room. Liam felt back in control. He breathed heavily, and finally had found a pair of green eyes, eyes filled of pain. Only then did Liam's chest clutch when he realised what he did. He looked away from Harry's broken stare. "Let's go." He grunted in bitterness and left.

10

Niall spotted Lottie in the building crowd of the bar after Liam's hasty departure. He looked at the girl, alone in the club, looking expectantly around her.

Oh, how she had changed. How Niall remembered young Lottie Tomlinson with her short blonde hair running around school, like she was already it's president. Top of her class, unprecedentedly stubborn, beautiful, intellectually intriguing, daring and dashing.

Intimidating really. Specially for Niall, a lad of few qualities and fewer accomplishments. Her body had certainly matured, and her collarbones became more prominent turning Niall's insides into mush but he could still clearly spot the twinkle of crazy, the flaming spark in Lottie's eye, that always had made that girl something special.

But surely it wouldn't hurt to step closer to her, maybe check if her flowy hair still smelled of strawberry scented shampoo, if her skin still looked like silk.

So he followed Liam's orders, and with the computer held on his side by his sweaty hand he walked towards the sofa on the left corner. "Niall!" A glimmer of joy filled the whole girl's face. She wasn't half as pale as the boy remembered. "You're here!" Her voice was chirpy and it matched her expression.

Niall awkwardly stood there, trying to smile but unsure if he should, trying to say something but struggling to come up with an answer. Lottie's smile lingered but soon she was adverting her glance. "Would you like to sit?" She proposed.

"Umm--" Niall longed to know, was she just being polite? Was Niall intruding? Why had he even waltz in here in the first place? To get a peak at the long lost girl he once knew? Niall felt pathetic.

"You can sit if you would like." Still as chirpy, Lottie patted on the cushion next to her.

"Umm--... alright." Niall nodded and sat down putting his computer down on the small table in front of them, back straight pressed against the couch.

"So-..." Lottie lingered a look on Niall like she wanted him to say something, but that made him uneasy. "It's so great that we all bumped into each other. I mean you look-..." Lottie had a smile, a big teeth-showing up until now. Talking mindless like she was on some sort of mechanical way of catching up with old acquaintances. "Well, you know what?" She laughed but it didn't sound so beaming. "Thinner to be honest." Her words tendered, were spoke in softness.

"You're thinner too." Niall blurted. His neck was starting to heat up. God, he was an idiot. Lottie's shoulders were there, exposed, perfect bone structure, and Niall could definitely sense how she smelt different. The girl's eyes widen the tiniest bit.

Lottie looked down at herself, no hint of smile. "Right, yes. I am thinner." She nodded her head lightly and laid back, lips curling inwards. "Liam-... mentioned that you forget to eat. A lot." She glanced at him, eyes understanding.

"Oh,..." Niall scratched his head and looked away. Was that a bad thing? "I guess."

It got silent for a while, and even though the music and the chatter that was raising volume by the minute, Niall felt completely secluded from it all. "The Niall I remember would never forget to eat." Lottie had that look in her eye, gleaming nostalgia. Niall forgot everything locking gazes with her, his heart raced but no longer because he felt nervous.

"Nah, that Niall probably wouldn't." Lottie looked away at Niall's words.

"You were so daring and cool, with your glasses and... always skipping class to hang out with the older kids. You were a rebel, just terrible! I remember." The girl tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"That is really how you remember me?" Niall loved that but didn't like it. It banged on his chest and felt like something he simply didn't live up to.

"Well, it was how you were. God, my friends were nutjobs over the blond irish boy that my older brother had befriended, are you kidding?" Lottie's voice was higher.

Niall thought back to the death of his father and how disappointed his dad must have been with him when he died. He literally couldn't breathe, but the only thing Lottie noticed was the silence. "I'm sorry, I got over enthusiastic hah?" She squirmed.

Like a thump, Niall could hear his surroundings again, he felt centered, his lungs opened for air as he focused on the smell of Lottie's shampoo. Coconut maybe? Was he going crazy?

"So-um-... what do you do now?" Niall blurt out.

"Ow, well I-...I work on the good part of town, actually. In a law firm." Niall didn't know where his drooling smile first appeared but just thinking how smart she was made Niall's briefs tighten.

"That is-... wow... you're a lawyer?" Niall asked and when Lottie wasn't looking, he wiped the corner of his mouth with his knuckle.

"I wish. No... I'm trying but I'm just an assistant. I'm the new assistant there, actually..." She rolled her eyes, she didn't sound very happy, as she took her drink from the small table and ignored the straw taking a long gulp before sighing in relief.

"You-... you don't like it?" Niall adjusted his glasses, turning towards her more to listen better.

Lottie shed a sad smile and then a laugh. "No, actually..." And silence set again, Niall just expecting the girl to tell. She looked at him, before inhaling deeply. "It's just-... they're all so posh! You know? Three weeks ago this colleague found old photos of me and now the interns call me 'Lipid Lottie'... and it all got worse yesterday when this friend of mine spilled that I am-.... well, she found out something and they mocking me for it."

"Ow...." Niall had no clue what to do with that information. What fucking bitches! He thought.

"Whatever! They all can suck it!" Lottie finished her drink and got up. "Wanna dance?" She asked.

Niall's eyes widened. "No, thank you."

"Your loss, Horan! But you know what..." Lottie grabbed the second untouched cup and drank it all in one gulp as Niall watched throw her neck back with each sip. "Keep your eyes on me. I want you to watch." She slurred to the boy, too much eye contact and then she let herself go into the crowd.

The answer was yes. Niall was going to go crazy. He was even more sure when his eyes couldn't keep from preyed on Lottie's sweaty swinging body, her hips, her dainty arms, her face flushed... all through the night.

11

Liam had woken up on the bar's couch again, his friends all gone, breath smelling like an unbathed shit-covered pig, his head pounding.

He swallowed a morning drink that both cleansed his palate and burned his throat and was out the door after Bleta handed him the usual roll of cash. Beefier than the day before, which should have made Liam happy, but it didn't.

So he strolled down the street to the same house of last night, with a vigorous step and a frown. Only when he found out that Godfrey was still cornered outside, moaning of pain and cold in his sleep that was enough to lighten Liam's mood and the corner of his mouth finally perked up. "Piece of shit." Liam spit before giving him a light kick in the nuts as he walked towards the door. "Where are your so called friends when you need them, eh?" He stopped to admire his work, rolling his eyes, smiling wider but quickly hissing when he remembered why there was no smile on his face to begin with.

Liam's fingered pressed on the fresh cut on his lip that had ripped and started bleeding again. His nose also hurt like a mother fucker. He stood in front of Harry's door and knocked.

"Is that you, Godfrey?" A soft low voice asked.

"It's the guy from the club across the street." Half a minute and no answer. "From last night? It's Liam..." The boy spoke uneasy. He had walked decided but now got himself wondering what the hell had he come over for.

Again no answer. "Harry, I'm just here to apologise." Liam knocked again. "Come on. Open up... please?" A screech and the door opened slowly. It revealed the curly haired lad, curls a mess, eyes aware.

"Hi." Harry spoke quietly.

"It's cold. Can I come in?" Liam looked sincere.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and opened the door further letting him inside.

Politeness was second nature to Harry, and Liam had ended up sat beside him on his dining room table, having some morning tea.

"Did he hurt you last night?" Liam, with a frown on his worried face, said not able to keep it in. His head was still pounding. He was tired.

"I can handle Godfrey." Harry assured, the constant small polite smile that the chap presented everyone resurged but Liam's curious eyes roamed over the boy's body in search of answers.

"Is that so?" Harry hissed when the boy grabbed him by the wrist exposing a few bluish bruises, scratches and hand marks, as he met Liam's confronting stare.

Harry's gaze drifted to his wounds, slowly sliding off Liam's soft grip and backing away. "I don't want a- ... a pimp, I don't need-... anyone, so go back-.. to your god forsaken hell hole and leave me be!" Harry's words got caught up in his gut, his eyes looked at the ground, the boy squirmed, uncomfortable, moving his hands awkwardly to express himself.

"Okay, okay..." Liam leaned back, his hands defensively in front of his body, trying not to appear like a threat to the upset long haired boy. "Look I'm going to go now,..." Liam got up and put his hand in his pocket. "But this is my number." He placed a small card with numbers scribbled in front of the boy. "Honestly, you can do so much better than Godfrey but, if you decide to let him come back or if he threatens you...anything, really anything.... you call me, alright?"

"I don't need-"

"This is not me being a pimp, alright?" Liam pushed the card closer and spoke firmly. "It's me... It's me being a friend, okay?"

Silence set. Harry looked up with a small smile. "Now take it, before I regret it... "

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QUESTION 1: Why does Liam get so angered over the Godfrey/Harry relationship? What is his anger towards the situation trying to hint at?

QUESTION 2: So Niall's thoughts about one miss Lottie Tomlinson are what? Does Lottie reciprocate?

QUESTION 3: How do the first and third scene of this chapter clear up who Godfrey is? And who is Godfrey?

QUESTION 4: Paint me a picture - when Lottie started to talk about how she remembers Niall what did you imagine?

QUESTION 5: What motivated Lottie to tell Niall so much so quickly? Does Lottie seem private about her affairs?

QUESTION 6: Why did Liam give Harry his number?

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Next update: 11.02.19, Monday