Room 317

Chapter 9

“I’m fine.” Harry croaked, groaning as Louis pushed him upwards and slid off the couch.

“What we doing for dinner tonight,” Zayn asked, “and where’s Niall?”

Louis yawned and stretched - making some of his joints pop and he sighed in pleasured relief, “Mmm…” He then turned to Zayn, “… uh… Niall’s in his room I think, Skyping with Sean and Scott. As for dinner, I don’t know. I guess we should check in the fridge. Liam mentioned something about chicken.”

“Talking of Liam,” said Zayn, checking his phone again, “he’s going to be later than planned – probably around seven o’clock.”

Louis’s face lit up, “So we’re cooking then?”

Zayn’s head snapped up and he nodded with a “Yeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah,” holding his hand up for Louis to walk over and slap. While both were reasonably good cooks, after the whole Sainbury’s Cook thing they did together during the X Factor, it was deemed unsafe to let the two cook together in the same kitchen ever again. If Harry had been feeling a bit better, he would have offered to cook himself or attempted to barricade the kitchen door. Instead he just watched in vague amusement as his two friends grew over-excited at their sudden opportunity to let loose. They chased each other into the kitchen, shouting out ideas, which sounded nice but entirely too dangerous for them to tackle unsupervised. However, Harry wasn’t too concerned. The front door wasn’t too far away if there was an emergency and he had his mobile in his pocket in case 999 was needed.

Louis reappeared a few minutes later, just as Harry was getting drowsy, with two paracetamol tablets and a glass of water. It hurt to swallow them but the cold water was a little bit of a relief against his throat. He handed the empty glass back to Louis when he’d finished and lay down on the couch again, thinking he could get in a nap before dinner. Louis pulled the blanket over him – the same one he’d used when he’d been the poorly one – and Harry smiled, touched, especially when Louis pressed a kiss to the top of his head before leaving.

~*~

Liam arrived home to find most of the lights off in the living room, Harry asleep on the couch, the sound of mad chopping coming from the kitchen and Niall dashing from said kitchen like a mad man, genuinely terrified.

“Knives,” was all Niall squeaked in his direction before dashing for the stairs. A particularly violent hiss from the closing door made Liam jump and cringe. Oh hell. He spent some time taking his shoes and outdoor clothes off, hanging them in the closet before he managed to find the courage to enter the kitchen. He had to duck a flying jar of chilli sauce which came flying towards his head.

“Salt!” Louis shouted and Liam had to duck as the salt shaker flew inches from him as Zayn lobbed it across the room. Louis caught it deftly, twisting the top a few times into one of the pans on the hob and Liam had to marvel at their skill.

“Something smells good,” he ventured, because it did. It smelled fantastic – sort of spicy and fresh and very appetising. Louis and Zayn were good cooks – you just didn’t want to be in the same room while they were making a meal if you had any self-preservation.

“Liam!” Louis turned and grinned at him, nearly splattering him with sauce from his spatula. “Just in time. Here, taste this, do you think it needs more pepper?” He thrust the spoon into Liam’s face, not leaving any room for argument. Liam had no choice but to lick the creamy red liquid and at once the flavours seared over his tongue. It was intense – in a delicious way – but plenty hot enough. Coughing, he shook his head, “No, no, it’s fine,” he gasped, fanning his mouth, “no more pepper needed.”