Forbidden

"So how have you been?" asked Niall after a moment's awkward silence. The boys all shot him looks as if to say 'Don't be such an idiot' but I opened my mouth to speak anyway.
"Fine." I muttered simply whilst Harry and Zayn raised their eyebrows at my clearly-untrue monosyllabic answer.
However, no one dared to challenge this as I glared at nothing in particular.
"So, do you want to come to dinner with us tonight?" Liam asked, in an obvious attempt to divert the attention away from my bad mood and even worse manners.
"Not really." I told him bluntly, not even caring that I sounded like a complete bitch. I was just waiting for Liam to come out with an 'I told you so' about James.
"It wasn't a question, you're coming." he stated, narrowing his eyes at me, silently daring me to protest.
"Technically that was a question." I began weakly before Harry stepped in.

"Let's just put it this way: if we have to drag you out of the door, we will do." he told me simply.

That was how I found myself getting ready in my bathroom that night, preparing for a night out with my brother and his friends. It seemed my life couldn't get any worse.
Having spent the day holed up in my bedroom, I hadn't seen the boys in a few hours when I finally began walking downstairs.

"So what is wrong with her?" I heard Zayn ask out of interest. I stopped on the last step to listen to how Liam would reply.
"Something to do with her boyfriend - or ex. She won't say what's happened except they've broken up. I'm going to try to get her to speak to me about it before I go. I figure I've got a few weeks and she'll have to talk soon." he said quietly.
"I could speak to her if you want." Louis offered helpfully and my heart leaped slightly at the thought of spending time alone with him, before I remembered that he had a girlfriend and I, frankly, didn't want anything to do with any boy, least of all one who had turned me down two years previously.

"No thanks." Liam said immediately, a little too quickly than seemed natural. However, I brushed off my brother's weird behavior, deciding that I had too much on my plate to be worrying about anything else, and instead walking into the kitchen where they were waiting.

The boys looked up at me as I walked in slightly self consciously, pulling at the hemline of my dress awkwardly in an attempt to rid myself of their focus.
"You look nice." Liam told me, wrapping a careless arm around me as the rest of the boys, including an awkward looking Louis, nodded in agreement.
"Where are we going?" I asked Liam curiously. "That Italian place in town." he told me.

Shit. No, we couldn't go there. "Are you sure?" I asked Liam, raising my eyebrow in the hope that he'd change his mind.
Needless to say, he didn't even notice and simply nodded his head. Great, leave it to your brother to take you to the restaurant that you always went to with your ex-boyfriend.
"Are you okay?" Louis asked me as we walked out of the door, having noticed the worried look on my face.
No, was what I wanted to say, but instead I plastered an unconvincing smile and nodded. "I'm great." I told him before walking out of the door in front of him.

When we pulled up outside of the restaurant the boys all immediately jumped out of the two cars we'd driven in, running ahead and leaving me to eye the place with mistrust. Eventually concluding that the restaurant couldn't actually kill me, I stepped out of the car, making my way into the place.
We were seated almost immediately, despite not booking a table a table in advance.

I ended up sitting wedged between Zayn and Liam, whilst Harry, Niall and Louis sat opposite. "What are you going to have Amelia?" Harry asked once everybody had spent a few minutes studying the menu.
"A salad." I muttered quietly, ignoring the incredulous looks they were shooting each other.
"But...we're in an Italian restaurant. It's practically the law that you eat carbs." Niall told me. I simply didn't answer, sitting there and playing with the ring that James had given me.
"And you used to eat almost as much as Niall." Harry added in, failing to keep the surprise out of his voice.
"I'm just not hungry, is that okay with you?" I snapped, watching as the boys jumped in shock, pulling faces at each other and raising their eyebrows. I didn't bother apologizing, just continued twisting my ring around my finger as they carried on with their own conversations.

Just before the food arrived I stood up, telling the boys that I needed to go the loo and I'd be back in a minute. I made my way to the toilets, weaving my way in and out of the people filling the restaurant and eventually reached the destination.
I splashed some water on my face, trying not to think about the last time I had been here. The last time I'd seen James. Pushing the thought away from me, I exited the toilets, almost bumping into a girl who was around my age with long blonde hair and a lot of make up.
I began making my way back to the table, where I was sure the food would be waiting when I saw him. He was sitting there, elbows resting on the table with a bored expression on his face.

My eyes fell on the handbag sitting next to the table, he was with someone.
A woman.

It felt like I'd been stabbed, he'd waited three days before going on date with someone else. She might have even been the girl he'd slept with, claiming it wasn't serious.
I ducked my head, staggering towards where I knew the boys were waiting and standing in front of them.

"I'm going home." I told Liam, who immediately shook his head.
"What, why? Can you please just have dinner with us for once?" he asked with a scowl and I mimicked him, shaking my head as tears threatened to fall.
"I have to go right now." I told him.

"Well good luck with that, you don't have your car with you and I'm not driving you home until I've eaten." he said, and I looked back at him, slightly shocked at the way he was acting.
"You know what? I'll walk." I told him, turning to walk away when a hand grabbed hold of my arm.
"I'll drive you." Louis said, glaring at Liam before leading me out of the restaurant as the boys watched on, on stunned
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked as we made our way through the restaurant, getting ever closer to James.
"Not really." I told Louis, sidestepping a clearly drunk woman when he came into view. He was kissing the blonde girl from the toilets, shamelessly sitting there as if nothing had happened. It made me sick.
Suddenly he caught sight of me, waving me over with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Amelia, I didn't know you were going to be here." he called out, dropping the girls hand as she and Louis watched on in confusion.
"Yeah, well I suppose you gave up rights to know where I was a while ago." I snapped and his face dropped.
"Come on Ame, don't be unfair now. I did tell you the truth about it, didn't I?" He said, pulling a face and holding his hands up.

"You're right, because telling me afterwards makes it all right." I said, unable to stop my voice getting louder as everybody around us began to stare.
"Ame, come on here. I only.." he began before I interrupted him.

"Don't you dare ever call me that again. In fact, don't speak to me. I want nothing to do with you." I shouted, turning and making my way out of the restaurant, leaving Louis to trail after me.

As soon as I was in the car I let the tears pour, sobbing into my hands as Louis watched nervously.
"Are you okay?" he asked, sounding hesitant and I shook my head.
"Please just drive. I need to go home." I told him and he pulled out of the parking space, driving me home in record time.
I'd eventually stopped crying, so I was able to walk up the path to my front door without too many tears.

"Thank you for tonight." I said as he closed the front door behind us.
"It's okay, and if you want to talk I'm here. I won't even tell the boys about it." he told me and I sighed, reaching forward to hug him in relief.
"Thank you, I just don't know how I could be so stupid." I told him, trying to stop myself crying yet again.
"You aren't stupid." he whispered softly, rubbing his hand in a circular motion on my back. I breathed in his scent, inhaling as deeply as I could. No. This can't be happening, I told myself.

"I have to go to bed." I said, stepping away from him reluctantly and he looked surprised.
"Okay." he told me simply, watching as I walked away slowly, turning and making my way up the stairs.