29. Secrets
A/N: heyyyy
So much stress rn!
Anyways here's the chapter!
Btw this chapter deals with the conflicts in previous chapters.
Nicole's pov
(4 days later)
We just wrapped up the concert at Glasgow last night and it was obvious that there was some tension.
Emmy showed up an hour before the concert and acted like nothing ever happened. You just can blow something like that off.
Currently we're all on the tour bus. Not the boys but us girl only. The silence was killing me, so I'm gonna solve this problem.
"Hey guys?" I asked and I only met Lynns eyes.
"Hey!" She yelled. "Listen up!"
I was sitting on a pullout table, Madison and Lynn shared the couch across from me and Emmy say in a chair next to. All eyes were focused on me.
"Guys we need to discuss some issues..." I sighed and then took a deep breath. "There are so many secrets going on and it's not healthy. We're best friends, practically sisters, which means we tell each other everything. That's not ok at all."
Emmy's and Madison's eyes were glued to the floor and Lynn looked away.
"We have to talk about this." I continued. "We're growing further apart than together. So who wants to start?" No one spoke up. "Lynn you go first. What's been up lately? You're not your normal energetic, sassy self."
"It's my mom." She sighed. "It's hard being away from her and not knowing if she's ok-k." Her voice started to shake.
"It's ok Lynn, you don't have to say anymore." Madison said softly.
"No, I want to tell you guys." She looked up at us. "My stepdad's abuse is getting worse and she lies to me about it. She won't call the cops and denies everything. He's gonna hurt her bad pretty soon and I know it. I wanna be there and stop it before....yeah."
"Thanks Lynn." I said and gave a comforting smile.
"Feels better to get that off my chest." She admitted.
I smiled. "Mads it's your turn. Why aren't you telling us stuff? Your health being one of the major things."
"I don't want to be babied." She said. "One day I'm gonna be on my own. You guys have to give me space."
"You ended up at the hospital the last time you were on your own." Lynn spoke up. "We didn't know where you were before that."
"Please hear me out." Madison said. "When I first found out about my condition, I felt like someone put me on a leash and tied me to a tree. I lost so much freedom that day. It's hard to have someone watching over me like a hawk 24/7. When people are constantly asking 'if I'm ok' or 'did I take my meds' really suffocates me."
"But we care so much Mads." I said, "what if worse comes to show and you-you die? We don't know when something bad will happen, but we want to prevent it."
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be." I said. "Just save us the worry."
"I have a question." Lynn said. "Why did you only tell Nicole about Ron?"
"I didn't mean to. She witnessed him doing it one day and I couldn't just lie about it." Madison explained, "Lynn I didn't tell you because you already deal with enough abuse and I don't need you to worry about me and I know that you would overreact and do something to get yourself in trouble. I didn't tell Emmy because she's already stressed enough with her overreactive and strict af mother. I wasn't gonna tell Nicole because she's already upset with her home life, but she found out already."
We were all silent.
"Do you not trust us?" Lynn asked quietly.
"I do! But I don't need you guys dealing with more than you have to. I mean none of us have the best lives let's be honest."
"You need to tell us this stuff Mads." I said. "We're your friends. This is stuff you have to let us know."
"Ok." She said. "I promise I'll be more honest."
"You swear?" Lynn asked her.
"I swear."
"Emmy your turn." I said. "What happened the other night?"
"Can we not talk about this now?" She asked.
"No Em. We have to be honest with each other."
"You guys wouldn't believe it..." She mumbled.
"What won't we believe?" I asked. "Emmy please just tell us."
"I saw Austin!" She snapped. We were all silent.
"How? He's back in California." Lynn said.
"When Niall was talking to me, I saw him. I can't explain it but he was there and Niall was gone."
"But Austin isn't here." Madison said.
"I know that Mads. I-I need to figure this out."
"We'll help you Em." I said.
"This is something I have to do myself."
"Why? We can-"
"Trust me Nic. I got this. It's probably from stress or whatever."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Now I'm going to get some sleep." Emmy said and walked away.
"That's not ok," Lynn said. "We have to do something."
"She'll come to us when she needs help." I was conflicted about the situation. "We just gotta watch out for her and hope she makes the right choices."
"Yeah...Now it's your turn Nicole. What's up with you and Liam?" Lynn looked me dead in the eyes.
"Uh...." Liam and I were gonna discuss when we'd tell people. "Well if an interviewer ever asked who's taken and I don't raise my hand, I would be lying...."
"OH MY GOD NICOLE HAS A BOYFRIEND!!!!!!!!" Madison shouted.
"We were starting to get worried you'd become the stereotypical cat lady." Lynn joked.
"Well if any of my cats every have kittens, you're not getting any Lynn."
"Good because I'm a dog person."
A/N: Boop!
If any of you got anytime let's just pray for my school year to be better than the last year! And let's pray I get my schedule fixed and blah blah blah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading!