Rumored Nights

“Oh good you’re awake. Niall was just about to tell some story,” Liam’s sweet voice purred in my ear, waking me up completely. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. The bus seemed quieter and there was a dim light on, because it was dark outside.

“Was I asleep for more than twenty minutes this time?” I practically yawned my words.

“Yeah, I’d say so.” Liam nodded and then smiled. And, of course, I had to smile too.

Suddenly I remembered what I had said to Liam before I dozed off. I had told him that I loved him and I wasn’t sure if he had heard it or not.

“Uh…” I was nervous and I noticed that Liam wasn’t acting differently. Maybe he hadn’t heard me. “So, what’s this story Niall was going to tell?” I asked, trying to change the mood.

“Oh yeah. He said he knew some scary story or something like that. So Zayn pretty much begged him to tell it.” Liam explained.

“Okay man. Tell it,” I heard Louis say from behind me.

“Okay, so once upon a time…” Niall began.

“Once upon a time? That doesn’t sound very scary to me Nialler,” Harry whined.

“Well, maybe if you shut up and listened then it would get scary,” Niall said after being interrupted.

“Fine, whatever. It better be scary because right now it sounds like some kind of fairytale like Cinderella and Bambi are going to pop up somewhere,” Harry went on complaining.

“Harry. Shut up and let me finish.” Niall sighed. “Anyways. One time there were these six kids; five guys and one girl…” Niall began using a scary story telling voice.

“Yeah right! What a coincidence. Your just making it be six kids because we’re six kids!” Zayn said, being the one to interrupt this time.

“I’m serious! Now will you all be quiet so I can finish?” Niall pleaded.

“Fine, whatever. I still don’t buy that the whole six kids’ thing is true.” Zayn shrugged.

“Okay, anyways…”

“Whoa, wait,” Liam stopped Niall this time.

“Ugh! What?!” Niall was getting annoyed at this point.

“This is based on a true story? Like it really happened?” Liam asked seeming to be more intrigued by the story now…even though it hasn’t really started.

“Supposedly,” Niall answered.

“Oh wow. Okay go on,”

“Does anyone else have something to say before I continue?” Niall looked around.

“Nope,” Zayn said as he whispered, loudly, to Louis. “I still don’t believe that it’s really six kids. I think Niall is full of sh-”

“Shhh…listen!” Louis pointed to Niall who was waiting to go on.

“Are we ready, finally? Okay. ANYWAYS…” Niall began in an annoyed voice and then transitioned back into his scary story teller voice. “Once there were six kids who were on a road trip,” Niall said in an eerie voice.

“Nuh-uh!” Zayn protested. “Shut up!”

“Zayn, calm down. I’m kidding you freak,” Niall laughed.

“Can you just tell the story?” Louis sighed.

“Yes, here we go again. There were six kids, yes six kids, Zayn shut up. And they were all on a camping trip. Like an overnight get away trip. They had a cabin up in the deep dark woods.” Niall said in a deep scary voice.

“AHHH!!!” Harry screamed and made all of us jump.

“What was that for?!” Niall slapped him as we all got glared at by other passengers. Mainly little old ladies.

“I don’t know. It just sounded scary so I thought I’d scream…” Harry explained the logic in his screaming fit.

“Are you done now? Can I go on?” Niall asked. Harry nodded and we all rolled our eyes. If we kept this up it was going to be one loooong story.

“Okay on with the story,” Niall cleared his throat and began once again. “So, they all make it up to their cabin in the deep dark woods.” Niall placed his hand over Harry’s mouth so he couldn’t scream again. Harry pushed it away. “Everything is going fine and dandy…” Niall was interrupted again.

“Dandy?” Zayn asked.

“What?” Niall rolled his eyes.

“Who uses a word like dandy?”

“Zayn, shut up.” Louis practically begged. “Niall, go on. This story is dandy.” Louis smiled at the way he was trying to annoy Zayn.

“Okay, where was I? Oh yeah. They got there and everything was dandy, whatever. They were partying and drinking and doing a bunch of stuff like that.” Niall transitioned back into his deep scary voice. “Then, two of them go outside; the girl and one of the guys. And they decide to take a walk in the deep dark woods, because they are stupid and stuff. Suddenly, they hear a noise in the distance and they get scared obviously and they’re like ‘Holy Schnikeys! What was that?!”

“They did not really say Holy Schnikeys.” Zayn butted in again.

“Okay, Zayn, they didn’t use those exact words, but it was something like that. Can I go on?” Niall asked.

“Yes, please.” Zayn smiled like he hadn’t done anything wrong and Niall just rolled his eyes.

“So they turn around to head back to the cabin, just in case. They keep telling themselves it was just a squirrel or a branch falling. Something in nature. But as they’re walking they keep listening closely. They hear the noise again. It’s definitely footsteps, but they try to deny it and keep moving along. The girl clutches onto the guy and they pretty much sprint back to the house and lock the doors. One of the other guys is like ‘What’s wrong with you two?’ and they are both like ‘We just heard something in the woods out there. It was footsteps.’ And the other kids are like ‘Yeah, yeah. You guys just had too much to drink’. They don’t believe them, but the two kids who heard footsteps are still pretty shaken up. Their friends are like ‘Wow, you guys must have really heard something out there’ and the two kids are like ‘Duh’. So now everyone’s scared out of their minds and they can’t very well go home just because they’re scared. So one brave idiot says ‘I’ll go check things out’. You never go check things out in the deep dark woods at night. But whatever, he does and the friends just let him go because he’s the idiot who volunteered. They all sit in the living room around the fire place in blankets, waiting for their friend to get back. After a while they’re all just like ‘Oh my God, I don’t think he’s coming back’. And so, of course, they’re even more freaked out. So two of them go outside and look around calling the other guy’s name. ‘ZAYN! ZAYN!’…”

“No way was that kid’s name Zayn!” Zayn blurted out accusingly as he looked a little pale and scared.

“Haha, nothing gets past you Zayn. The kid’s name was like Will or David. I can’t remember. Anyways, they can’t find him. As in any other scary story…it starts to rain. So they go inside and just sit there worrying for a little while longer until they suddenly have a brilliant idea. They decide to call for help. So since they’re up in the deep dark woods they don’t have any cell phone reception. They have to use the phone in the cabin. But just as they go to get it, BAM! BAM!” Niall screamed, making a smacking sound with his hands. Which made us all jump out of our seats including the people in front of us. But, luckily, nobody said anything so Niall went on.

“Lightning! Suddenly the lights in the cabin all go out. They all jump closer together, huddled in front of the weak little fire they started. They pick up the phone hoping that it will work, but of course it’d completely dead. They’re stuck there. Thunder is clapping, lightning is striking and it starts to rain harder. Everyone becomes more and more frightened. As they all hold onto each other, breathing heavily, they are startled by a loud BANG BANG!” Niall screamed as I held onto Liam tighter. I wasn’t really all that scared, but I liked the idea of Liam comforting me. Even though I could tell he was getting into the story like everybody else. Niall was an excellent story teller.

“Let me guess, lightning again?” Zayn asked.

“Nope. Will you let me go on?” Niall looked at him.

“Mhmm,” Zayn nodded, becoming more interested and intrigued in this story by the second.

“The bang came from the front door. They all looked at each other in the dim light from the fire. They were scared out of their minds. Do they answer the door or no? Suddenly, the bang happens again and they all tip toe to the window, scared of what they might find. They look out the small window and see a guy who sort of looks like their friend Zayn, er, I mean Will, David…whatever. But still, they are hesitant to open the door…”

“Open the door guys! HELP ME! Open the door!!” Zayn cried, getting right into the story.

“Zayn, calm down…” Harry and Louis both told Zayn as he took a deep breath.

“Can you handle more?” Niall laughed.

“Yeah. I think so, go on…” Zayn nodded as he breathed deeply.

“They decided that if it’s their friends they have to open the door. But if it’s the guy from the woods then they’re screwed. So one of the kids yell ‘ZAYN IS THAT YOU?’ or whatever the kid’s name is. And all they hear on the other side of the door is a painful moan and a scream. The girl starts to cry and everyone’s freaking out at this point. Do they open the door now? Do they want to know what’s on the other side? Well, one of them does. He opens the door just a little and he doesn’t see anything. He sticks his head out a little further and in the corner of his eye he sees a scary figure. A man, a big scary man, run back behind the cabin. He rushes in and closes the door. ‘What? What did you see?’ they all ask. And he’s like ‘We need to leave. We have to find a way out of here!!’. And they all start crying and stuff again. Then suddenly, a huge, I mean HUGE, lightning strikes down and lights up the entire outside. And looking in the window is a big bald guy with a look of insane rage. He stands there, glaring at them in the window in his blue hospital outfit that’s splattered with blood…”

“AH!” Everyone cried and Niall went on.

“The dude is holding up a knife and still glaring at the kids, threatening them sort of. The lightning keeps flashing and they look out the window and freak out when he’s gone. Then, they hear the back door slam open. They all freeze out of terror and hear the most frightening, evil laugh. ‘MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH’. They, without thinking, make a dash for the door and pile into the car. They don’t care how bad the weather is , they’re getting their scared butts out of there ASAP. And in true horror story fashion, the car won’t start! They can hear the maniac inside their cabin, yelling and laughing in a crazy evil ways. Finally, the car starts and they zoom out of there down the muddy trail, rain hitting the windshield and lightning blinding them. Suddenly, on the side of the muddy road…it’s ZaynWillDavid. And they go ‘OH MY GOD! Look! It’s ZaynWillDavid!’ So they decided if they should pull over or just go.”

“Pull over! PULL OVER!!!” Zayn screamed from his seat and Louis just slapped him so he would shut up.

“So they decide that they can’t just leave their friend there so they pull over and pull their friend inside. He looks bad, like he was almost scared to death, literally. He had blood and mud all over him and he kept crying or something. He’s just messed up. So they’re like ‘Oh my God, ZaynWillDavid! What happened? Are you okay?’. And he’s just too out of it to answer so he goes ‘Just drive!’. So they listen to him, because they want to leave, obviously, too.”

“Thanks for pulling over guys!” Zayn said and breathed a sigh of relief. We all just rolled our eyes.

“Yeah, sure, you’re welcome. Anyway, they finally make it back to town. They go to the police station to tell them what happened and to get ZaynWillDavid checked out. So the police officer and that guy they have who, like, draws criminals, takes the kids and asks them to describe the guy and stuff. So when the kids are done, the cop looks at the picture and his mouth just drops open and he looks scared and sick. So everyone’s like ‘What? What’s going on?’. And the cop, all scared, asks ‘Is this the man you kids saw?’ as he holds up the picture. And they all nod yes. The cops and the drawer guy get all scared looking and they start calling a bunch of people. The kids are like ‘Okaaaay…?’ The cop finally comes back and goes, ‘Kids. That man that you saw tonight…That was…Liam Payne…”

“Wait, what?” Liam asked, thinking he heard Niall wrong.

“IT WAS YOU!!!” Zayn pointed at Liam. Liam pushed Zayn’s hand out of the way and watched Niall laugh at his dumb little joke.

“Haha, very funny. Can you please just tell the story?” Liam sighed.

“Hahaha, just making sure you were paying attention. Anyway, the cop goes, ‘Kids. That man that you saw tonight…That was Trenton Miller; a highly dangerous, escaped mental patient from Greenhills Mental hospital in the next town over. It’s a wonder you’re all still alive. That man was in the mental hospital for murdering twelve teenagers who were on a camping trip a few years back. The End.” Niall finished.

“Whoa!” Zayn exclaimed in a scared voice.

“Aw dude! That was scary!” Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

“So that was really a true story?” Liam asked again.

“Yeah, I guess so. Pretty scary, huh?” Niall smirked.

“Yeah. It is pretty scary. Pretty freaking if you asked me…” Louis looked away, embarrassed to admit that he had been scared.

“Hmmm…I thought it was a very good story, Niall.” I spoke up.

“Thank you,” Niall smiled at all of our scared reactions to his story.

“Wouldn’t that be so freaky if that actually happened. Like, I don’t know what I would do!” Zayn said in awe at the story.

“Yeah that would be really weird.” Harry agreed.

“You know. That could actually happen…” Louis suggested, trying to scare us. Well, mostly Zayn.

“Nuh-uh…” Zayn glared defensively.

“It totally could!” Louis argued. “If someone really wanted to they could get out of a mental hospital and terrorize kids. I mean, if you’ve killed, what was it, twelve kids…then you’re probably some sick psycho who gets a thrill out of that stuff and wants to do it again. I bet that really is a true story.” Louis explained.

“You know. He could be right…” Harry nodded.

They went on talking about psycho mental hospital escapees and torturing poor Zayn with all of their theories on how the mental patient could escape and come kill kids. Liam and I went back into our own little conversation.

“You scared?” Liam asked me sweetly.

“Not anymore,” I told him as I held onto his hand.

“What do you mean?”

“I have you to protect me,” I smiled and he smiled back.

“I’ll protect you from the sick psycho mental patient Trenton Miller,” Liam told me using his bogus brave voice. But it was rather cute too.

“You promise?” I played along.

“I promise,” He smiled and kissed me on the cheek. We sat there, enjoying each other’s company for a minute until Liam spoke up.

“I heard what you told me before you fell asleep…” He spoke sort of softly, avoiding my eyes.

“Oh, you did?” I was feeling a little embarrassed. He nodded and squeezed my hand in his loving manner. “I’m…” I began to apologize, but Liam stopped me.

“I didn’t answer you when you said it. I’ve been thinking about it.” He was still avoiding my eyes.

“You have?” I asked, even though he just told me he had been.

“Yeah. And Alex?”

“Yeah?” I asked back and he finally looked me in the eyes.

“I…” He began but blushed. I could tell he was nervous or something like that. “Uh, I, I just wanted to let you know that I…I love you too.” Liam told me and my heart began to race. I was happy and sad he’d said that. And worried that now things would be even more complicated.

“Oh, Liam.” I gushed like an idiot. “I love you,” I told him. I had no idea what I was doing, because my brain was saying be logical, don’t get yourself into this whole love thing with Liam too-wait until you figure out what’s best. But my heart just told me to forget all my doubts and everything else and just tell Liam that I loved him…even if I loved Louis too.

Liam smiled his cute little smile that I loved, because it was so adorable and sweet. It made him look so cute that my heart just melted for him.

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to give you.” Liam told me.

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” He smiled a little bigger this time.

Liam then took his hand and slid it under my hair and rested it on my neck. It felt cool on the back of my neck as he pulled me forward and held his hand there as we kissed a long, passionate, and most of all beautiful kiss. I was surprised that not one of our friends had noticed or at least said anything.

When Liam and I separated from our kiss, we both looked in each other’s eyes and it was like we knew what the other one was thinking. It had been an amazing kiss and we both knew it. We also both knew that it meant a lot too, which was a whole other thing I had to include in my feelings for Liam and Louis. How great and meaningful both of their kisses were.

“I really do love you,” Liam almost whispered in his deep, sexy voice as he ran his fingers through my hair.

“I really love you too,” I said, forgetting about Louis for a moment and just living in this moment. This beautiful, unforgettable moment. Just taking Liam in and enjoying sitting next to him and looking into his beautiful eyes.



A while more had passed, not like Liam and I had noticed, but it was no really late at night and the bus finally pulled over to the pit stop place so we knew we must have been in Pennsylvania.

We all got out of the bus with the rest of the passengers to stretch and do whatever. Basically just to get some fresh air.

There was a little place with benches so while the bus driver took a look around the bus to make sure we were okay to keep going, all six of us sat in the very dimly lit area, looking around.

“Wow, this place is kind of scary…” Harry shivered.

“Yeah, it’s almost like the deep dark woods.” Niall smiled, saying his words in that deep scary voice.

“AHHHH!” Harry screamed.

“Oh God, not again, Haz. Shut up!” Niall sighed.

The street like was now pretty much dead and the only lights that were available were the headlights of the bus.

“I’m going to go see if there’s a flashlight anywhere around here,” I announced, standing up.

“I’ll come with you,” Louis offered. My heart skipped a beat and I was uneasy for him to come after my romantic moment with Liam. I wasn’t sure if my heart could take it.

“Sure,” I smiled and Louis and I walked off together.



“That story was pretty scary, wasn’t it?” He laughed as he put an arm around my shoulder so we wouldn’t get lost since it was so dark.

“Yeah it was,” I laughed, nervously.

“Are you okay?” He looked at me, a little concerned.

“I’m fine, why?”

“You’re not as…I don’t know…happy with me like we used to be. Did something happen since yesterday?” I could hear the hurt in his voice.

“No!” I stopped walking and looked at him. We stood there for the longest time, staring at each other’s outlines in the shadows. A light flickered on above us and kept flickering. I watched as I stared at Louis; sexy and amazing Louis. His eyes were staring into mine. My heart felt like it was going to explode.

Before I could say or do anything, Louis’ body collided with mine and his lips were pressing against mine as we smacked into the wall. My arms landed around his neck and his on my waist. We kissed for what seemed like two minutes without taking a break.

The kiss was full of so much passion and greatness and just…just so many things that I don’t even know how to describe it. His hands slid up and down my waist as I ran my hand through his hair in a frustrated way.

Louis…Louis liked me? He liked me.

I pulled away quickly and stared at him with wide eyes.

Louis liked me…

I shook my head and quickly walked away, back towards the group. Louis knew that I felt awkward so he didn’t question anything and just walked back with me, his mind racing with so many things.