fix you // liam payne

chapter thirty-four // lonely and horrible.

niall's pov

"I'm starved," Mia whines, her head in Louis's lap as we lounge around the private waiting room that's become our little home the past month. 

My own stomach grumbles in agreement. The last thing I ate was the soggy airplane food, which really doesn't count as food at all if you think about it. 

"There's no way the nurses are going to let us order food again. They hate it when we do that," Zayn frowns as he texts on his phone, undoubtedly texting Linley, who has joined Andi again for some studio time back in New York. 

"And we can't go out anywhere because the paps probably think we're still home in London," I add, feeling the collective mood in the room going down by the minute. 

We look like quite the sad sight in this small room, all tired and hungry. 

"Let's head back to the hotel and order food then. I could use a nap," Harry gets to his feet, grabbing his phone to text the bodyguards so they can help us sneak across the street to our hotel. 

We all bundle up, ready to face the chilly Chicago weather. My phone beeps in my pocket as we start to shuffle out of our room, heading for the back elevator. The nurses wave and smile at us as we walk past them. 

Alicia 💘: hey, when are u coming back to the hotel? 

Alicia had been acting weird as of lately. I don't think she was all that enthused to be flying back to Chicago instead of spending some time at home. She opted out of coming to the hospital to visit Liam and stayed in my hotel room, which sort of pissed me off. She hasn't seen Liam since the accident and Liam has always been nothing but kind to her. 

We parted ways this morning in equally shitty moods. I felt a little relieved by her text. Maybe she's come around to the idea of being in Chicago. I hate fighting with her. 

Me: on our way right now! we're going to order some food, we're starved !!

"I still can't believe you guys kept such a big secret the whole flight back," Harry shakes his head, reaching out to grab Mia's hand, staring at her beautiful engagement ring. 

"It's easy to do when you guys never shut up," She jokes, being her usual sassy self. Louis smiles at her with that dopey little grin of his. 

These two are so perfect for each other and I'm so excited for them to get married. I never would have thought Louis would be the first out of us to get married. But I feel so stupid now that I'm looking at them. Why wait? They're so clearly in love with each other, and they're two people not afraid to jump into things head first. 

I admire them both.

"Do you guys have a date picked out?" I ask as we all pile into our big SUV.

"We haven't done much planning yet," Mia shrugs, "But we're thinking next summer perhaps."

Harry tries to pitch an idea for the suits to Louis, but Louis quickly denies his suggestion of anything floral patterned or bell-bottom. 

It doesn't take longer than a few minute for our SUV to drive into the underground parking ramp for the hotel, dropping us off at a side door to avoid the busy lobby. We hurry into an elevator to avoid running into the public. The longer we can keep our return to Chicago a secret, the better. The crowds in front of the hospital are finally starting to clear up. 

Louis and Harry rock-paper-scissors to figure out whether we're ordering chinese or pizza. Zayn and I just whine, asking them to hurry up and order already.