Haunted

My head was still pounding when I woke up the next morning. I sat myself up and realised two strange things: it was half past eleven and Liam was nowhere to be found. Liam never let me sleep in past eight o clock anymore; I had to make him breakfast. Liam himself however, did not leave the house until at least midday. What was going on? I pulled myself out of bed and went downstairs. Liam’s car wasn’t on the driveway. Wandering into the kitchen, I took a couple of painkillers and tried to work out where Liam could possibly be. I tried calling him but as I had thought, he didn’t bother to answer. Yesterday’s turn of events seemed so messed up and astonishing and impossible, I was certain it had to of been a dream, or should I say nightmare? A stinging pain from my wrists was enough evidence to prove that it was a hundred percent real. I’d lost my best friend in the whole world. He was the only person who understood me. He was so funny and sweet. Now I would never ever see him again. Just the thought was enough to bring me to tears. My phone beeped, making me jump and I was shocked to see it was from Isabelle asking if I wanted to go round there for lunch. Well, Liam was nowhere to be found and I fancied doing something to take my mind off of everything going on. I text her back telling her I’d be there in about half an hour. Clambering up the stairs, I put on some faded blue jeans and a long sleeved sweater to hide my wrists. Then I put on some make-up and pulled my hair into a scruffy bun, not having the patience to do anything fancy with it before driving to Isabelle’s. “Hey,” she smiled, enveloping me in a huge hug
“Hi.” I went inside and sat down as she got us some drinks and we had a catch up.
“So, how’s things at the moment?” she asked.
“Crappy,” I sighed, not sure how else to put it.
“Really?”
“Hasn’t Xander told you?” She looked confused so I took that as a no. “He and Leven made up but she’s said he can’t see me anymore.”
“You have got to be kidding?” I shook my head solemnly. She pulled me into her lap and held me tight like a little child. “What and Xander went along with it?”
“He came round last night. He seems pretty serious to me. For once, your theory was wrong,” I explained, forcing a laugh.
“Ohmigod, I’m gonna kill that boy, how…” she stopped, lost for words at what she’d just found out.
“What…what happened then?” she mumbled.
“It was quite late so Liam was out at the time. Xander came round, had a go at me for moving back in with Liam, told me about Leven and then left, well I kind of kicked him out.”
“I’m so sorry. I’ll talk to him and get him to see sense.”
“No, don’t,” I cried quickly. As much as I wanted to see him again, I knew it was best not to. Liam would get angry, I’d have to pay for it in one way or another, Leven would get angry and fall out with Xander which would obviously make him upset. It would do absolutely nothing other than cause fall-outs and upsets, two things I could really do without.
“What, so you two are just gonna never see each other again? That’s it?”
“Yeah, he’s happy with Leven and I’m happy with Liam.” Deep down, we both knew that was a lie
“He can’t just leave you because Leven said so. What the hell? Danni, I will have to say something; he’s really pissed me off.”
“Izzy please,” I begged, “Give me a bit of time to clear my head and we’ll talk about it then, yeah?” Hesitantly, she sighed and nodded.
“How are things with Liam now?”
“They are great,” I lied, forcing a smile.
“Are you just saying that?”
“Honestly, he’s a different person.” That wasn’t a complete lie. He was a different person to the one I met seven months ago.
“That’s good then.” I nodded and smiled but I could tell she didn’t really believe me. “What shall we have for lunch?”
“Hmm.”
“We could order pizza.”
“I do feel like pizza.” I was starving as I hadn’t eaten since yesterday.

I was thankful to find it wasn’t long before the food arrived. “Can I ask you something?” Isabelle asked casually as she tore a piece of garlic bread in half.
“Yeah.”
“If you’re in love with Xander, why did you move back in with Liam?” I sighed, pausing to think for a minute.
“Because he has a girlfriend.”
“But it’s like I said the other day; the only reason Xander’s not with you is because he’s scare d he’ll hurt you but he’s an idiot so he’s done that anyway.”
“Well then we’re never gonna get anywhere, are we?” She shrugged. Truth was, I did love Xander, so much it hurt but like I said, we would never get anywhere. I couldn’t just sit around a wait for Xander and Leven to break up. Even if they did, he wouldn’t choose me. There were so many girls dying to have him so why would he choose me. If I wasn’t with Liam, I’d be alone forever – and that scared me to death.
“But you do like him?”
“I don’t know. I need Liam. It’s sounds stupid and probably doesn’t make sense but…just trust me. Anyway, enough about me, how are things with Josh?” It was obvious she didn’t want to change the subject just yet but she went along with it anyway.
“Amazing,” she grinned, “He’s so sweet. He’s going to England next week though for about a month.”
“Oh that sucks.”
“I know, we can always talk over the phone but with the time difference, it’s a bit confusing and I don’t want to run up a huge phone bill. It’s not the same anyway though,” she laughed. I listened and smiled and nodded but I couldn’t stop thinking about Xander. I couldn’t carry on living a lie being with Liam when I knew what really happiness is like. That’s torment. As much as I disliked Leven, I would kill to be in her position right now. She was so damn lucky. I just wanted to be pretty and smart and funny and loveable. Was that so much to ask?