fix you // liam payne

chapter five // dreaming.

ellie's pov

Heavy eyelids, slow motion; I drag myself up the three flights of stairs - thanks to a lovely broken elevator that still hasn't been fixed, several months later - forcing myself to make it to my front door. I can hear the thumping of bass, coming from the apartment across the hall. A few drunken college boys live there and are constantly partying. I've grown used to the neverending noise. I would be more concerned if they were quiet. 

Jamming my key into the lock, jiggling it as it gets stuck every so often. After a few frustrating moments, my door swings open, revealing a messy apartment I haven't had the time to clean. Not that I would clean it if I had the time though.

MEOW 

I let out a groan, realizing that Crookshanks hasn't had any attention in 24 hours, meaning he isn't going to leave me alone. I glance over at her food bowl, empty and barren. I had left it overflowed with cat food, knowing I can't trust my idiot neighbors to actually feed her, no matter how much I pay them.

Feeling like I'm about to fall asleep right here on my kitchen floor, I grumble all the way to my hallway closet, grabbing a handful of catfood with this exhausted bitterness. Crookshanks follows closely at my heels, meowing loudly, as if he were scolding me for being gone for so long. 

"When I'm a filthy rich doctor and we're living in a mansion and you have a lifetime supply of cat nip, you'll be thanking me," I grumble at him as I bend over to place the food in his dish. 

 The apartment feels even more lonely as I talk to my only companion; my old tabby cat that my parents got me as a housewarming gift when I finally got my own place. He chews loudly as I shuffle, kicking my shoes off on my way to my bedroom. 

Though I was ready to collapse right here and now, I force myself to change out of my scrubs. I always wake up feeling dirty and full of germs whenever I crash in my work uniform. The hospital is crawling with germs and it's rather disgusting that I've actually worn my scrubs in my nice, clean bed. 

The true life of a lazy girl. 

Stripping down, I manage to throw a large t-shirt on over my naked body, one that I received from some charity event that my mom liked to organize. My mother is quite the humanitarian. She's always away at some charity function, or in some important meeting. 

I mean, she has to busy herself with something with my dad always gone. He's a CEO of some large corporation that he doesn't stop talking about. Whenever he starts to go on about work, everyone in the family will doze out, knowing he won't stop until dinner's over. 

It's not very often that I think about my parents. I can't help but to feel rather guilty about the fact. But then I remember how badly I wanted to get out of that house, and out from their strict rules and dry lifestyle, and I don't feel so bad. 

I developed my rather introverted personality from a young age; I had to. My parents never really wanted me to hang out with other kids, unless their parents were really wealthy and my father could talk business with their parents. So to say I spent many weekends alone in my own bedroom is an understatement. 

 Though I can't say I minded being all by myself all that much. My school was full of girls with no self respect and boys with too much of it. 

My body aches as I crawl into my bed, snuggling beneath my thick quilt, inherited from my great-grandmother when she passed away, but yet my mind is wide awake. I guess the several cups of coffee I threw back are finally starting to kick in. 

Knowing just the trick, I lean off my bed, doing all in my power to avoid actually having to get up off of my bed, and grab my laptop from my desk. Booting it up, I set it on my bed beside me. As it slowly wakes up, I sleepily rub my eyes, getting dark remnants of mascara on the back of my hands.