Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Forty-Four

Liam

"Hey, Li. It's me...I know you're busy but...I need you to help me out. It's not too urgent, just call me back. Before three-thirty, preferably, if you could."

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"Li...I know I said it wasn't too urgent, but could you please answer your phone? Call me back, yeah?"

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"Liam. It's kind of urgent now. It's about Chloe. I really need to actually talk to you, but if you could be free pick her up from school I'd really appreciate it. I...It's kind of complicated down here and I can't, and Jessica has Friday's off now and is in Manchester. I really need you to call me back, so answer your bloody phone."

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Unplugging his iPod, Liam moved away from the treadmill, stretching out his shoulder and wincing at the soreness in his muscles, deciding to skip the rest of his usual workout and heading to the changing room, dropping his iPod, water bottle and the shirt he'd earlier discarded onto a bench before he entered the shower, trusting that, in the exclusive gym his apartment building provided, none of his belongings would go walkabout.

It took him a while to be done showering, spending what could possibly be considered to be slightly too long under the hot water, taking full advantage of having the showers and changing rooms to himself, wandering back through to the changing rooms after a while and gathering up his possessions, nearly dropping them when he opens his bag to see the number of missed calls he had from Niall. Waving away the building's concierge as he ran over to assist him, Liam held his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he listened to Niall's voicemails, frowning as the messages became more and more pressing.

He eventually called Niall back, faltering for a second as Niall answered, sounding extremely frazzled. "What?"

"Is this a bad time, Ni? I can call you back." Struggling to balance the phone and reach down to close the lift doors, Liam just managed to refrain from swearing as he dropped his running trainers, sighing as he bent down to retrieve them, humming as Niall apologised. "It's...as good as it's going to get. Sorry, Li. It's just a bad time. A customer threatened the student we have working behind the till and...long story short, the police are here and I'm holding down the fort until my boss gets here. It's why I'm calling, actually."

Almost having a mini heart attack at Niall's words, Liam swallowed a couple of times, hitting the stop button on the lift and leaning against the wall of the lift before he asked, "The police? Are you okay?"

"It's just procedure. A kid didn't like being asked to put the headphones he was trying to shoplift back and decided to threaten the girl behind the till. I'm fine. I'm just going to be tied up here for a bit. Probably won't be able to pick Chlo up for half three, which is why I really need you to help me out." The line fell silent for a second before Niall let out a soft breath. "Really, Li, I'm fine. Most interesting day here in a while."

Letting the lift resume, Liam sighed, shifting his bag of gym gear from one hand to the other so he could hold the phone, taking a second to let the sudden tightness in his chest relax and nodding before he realised that Niall couldn't see him. "Okay. Yeah, of course, I'll pick Chloe up. I'm supposed to have a call but I can rearrange things...this might sound like a stupid question, but what school does she go to?"

"I'll text you the address. Just stand in the playground near the climbing frame and try not to look too sketchy. She'll come running out, looking for me or Jessica, but she won't be hard to miss. You may want to get there a bit early, they tend to let them go slightly before half past on Fridays." The gratitude in Niall's voice went unnoticed as Liam tried to remember everything he'd just been told, struggling with all his stuff as the lift doors opened and heading towards his apartment as he repeated everything Niall had just said. "And I just wait for her in the playground? Don't have to go in and collect her or anything?"