Fix You {Niall Horan}

Chapter 9

Niall’s eyes shot open at the sound of water hitting tile. He raised his head from the pillow and felt around the bed for Adelaide’s body, coming up empty handed. He looked at the nightstand to see that it was four in the morning, an hour before Paul would pound on his door to wake them up.

The room was completely dark except for a small line of light coming through the lining of the bathroom door. Niall rolled to his back and leaned against his elbows to assess his situation, figuring out that Adelaide was most likely in the shower.

As soon as he’d figured that out, the door was pulled open, a large amount of light coming through. Niall squinted, seeing small bits of steam come through to the room. Adelaide’s figure was merely a shadow in the contrast of dark and light, but when she switched on the light switch, he could see her.

A white towel was wrapped around her upper torso, ending mid thigh. The end of the towel was tucked comfortably under her arm as she smiled at Niall, running her fingers through her wet, dark hair. 

“Good morning,” she said, reaching over to her bag and grabbing a few clothes from her  duffle.

“I won’t look,” Niall muttered, turning over so that his face was buried in his pillow. “Save yeh the trip to the bathroom anyways.”

Adelaide laughed and quickly dressed in her jeans and a jumper, giving Niall the okay before slipping back to the bathroom to brush her teeth and dry her hair. Niall sat up, squinting at the strong light around the room at such an early hour of the morning, and rubbed his hands over his face.

He slowly pulled the covers off his body and stood, shaking out his limbs and sauntering over to the bathroom, which had a stronger light. He groaned and walked over to the sink, blinking at his reflection in the mirror.

He lightly tugged on his bleached hair, examining the brown roots. Running his hand through his hair, he watched it ripple back like waves, blending into a blondish brown.

“You’re a natural brunnette?” Addie questioned, after spitting out her toothpaste and washing her face, “You’ve had blonde hair as long as I’ve known you.”

“I’ve been dyin’ it since year eight,” he answered, grabbing his toothbrush, “But I’m thinkin’ of leavin’ it brown now, need a bit of a change.”

“I see,” Adelaide replied, patting her face dry with a nearby towel and assessing her hair. Parting it down the middle, she left it down cascading down her shoulders, and glanced down at the jumper she was wearing, which belonged to Niall. “Sorry, I’m wearing your jumper again.”

“Oh, no worries. Keep it,” he replied, while brushing his teeth. Adelaide smiled at him, an odd, sad smile. She put down the hairbrush and walked back to the hotel room, sitting down at the edge of the bed. 

Niall watched her in his peripheral vision as she sat on the corner of the undone bed, gazing down at her hands that were folded neatly in her lap. He quickly spit out his toothpaste and gargled, washing out his blue eyes before darting back to the room, kneeling in front of her.

“Is something wrong, Adelaide?” he asked, as a tear slipped down her cheek. As she shook her head, he wiped away the tear with the pad of his thumb and said, “You know you can tell me anything, Addie. I’m here for whatever you need.”