Motel 6 // n.h

[23] Darcy's Arrival

Avery Holmes

In the morning, I woke up with an unclear mind. It took me about a minute to remember all that happened last night, and when it all came back to me, I closed my eyes again, wanting to sleep forever. Unfortunately, reality doesn't work that way.

I rolled over on my side, anticipating a sleeping Niall beside me, but almost shrieked when I didn't see him. The spot next to me on the bed was still occupied, but instead of Niall, Zayn laid beside me, scrolling through Twitter on his phone.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes. He smiled politely.

"Sorry, your daughter kicked me in my sleep and I have a bad back." He smiled sheepishly.

"I'm so sorry about that, I should have warned you." I sighed, sitting up. "I don't want you to think I don't want you here, because it's totally fine, but where's Niall?" Zayn chuckled and set his phone down on the pillow behind him.

"He went to the airport with Harry to pick Darcy up. It's only six in the morning, but she had an early flight. He wanted to be there with him." Zayn shrugged. "And don't worry, I'm not offended."

I smiled and looked around the room. Dim light barely shone in through the window, but it was enough that I could see around the room. Louis was curled up in a ball on the floor beside the couch, and Liam wasn't a few feet away. Aimee was on the bed beside us, sprawled out like a starfish. I snorted and rolled my eyes at her, pulling out my phone.

"So..." I trailed off, feeling a bit awkward. I wondered how long we'd been sharing a bed. "How's Perrie? That's her name, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Zayn's face lit up. "She's really good, and we're really happy."

To my dismay, his answers were always short and sweet. I realized if I was going to make any conversation with him it'd either be brief or I'd have to do all of the talking. Instead of sitting in bed, I decided to get up and head to the small bathroom, slipping my phone out of my pocket and dialing Niall's number before forgetting that the security guards probably destroyed it.

Sighing, I looked at myself in the mirror. I felt bad for Zayn, because I looked like an absolute train wreck. As I peed, I combed through the knots in my hair in an attempt to tame it, but I needed my brush back at the suite and I didn't know if I was allowed to even go back there.

About ten minutes later of fixing my face and hair, I saw that Aimee was awake. She was always an early riser, so it didn't surprise me, but I just didn't want her to disturb the others. Liam and Louis were both awake, too, now, both on their phones.

"G'morning, love." Louis's soft voice said. "How are you doing with... all of this?"

"I'm okay." I said. "I'm sorry about... all of this." I chuckled, realizing I was copying him.

"Don't worry! We'll have plenty to do today, and as long as we're with the guards, we'll be safe. It's sort of exciting, despite someone wanting to come after Niall." Louis pouted, scooting over on the couch so I could sit.

"We can play, mommy!" Aimee exclaimed from the other side of the room, bouncing around on the bed that she basically claimed.

"First you need to say sorry to Zayn for kicking him in your sleep, goofball." I chuckled.

"It's okay! It's fine, Aimee." Zayn reassured her quickly, not wanting her to be concerned or get her feelings hurt. I thought it was sweet for him to be so considerate of her.

"'Kay," Aimee grinned. "Mommy, I went potty ." She pointed to her pull up. I groaned.

"If you wake up in the middle of the night and need to pee, you've gotta tell me. Okay? We need to get you out of pull ups at night." I said, standing up and grabbing her outfit from yesterday with a fresh pair of underwear for her that I had set out on the recliner.