Intrepid » n.h. au

Chapter 42

I snort at his tone, and the way he rolls on his stomach when I turn on the light, to see exactly where he is. "Sorry," I say, a bit too loudly, as I'm still under the influence of deafening music. "I was actually looking for you."

I turn off the light, as he asked, before making my way to his bed. He gradually turns on his back again and now that I'm closer to him, I can see that he has an exhausted look on his face and he looks like he wants to be left alone. If that's the case, I should just leave the party all together.

"What are you doing here?" He mumbles, reaching up but his hand ends up falling on his chest. Poor thing. He's either tired or wasted.

"I realized I don't know anyone but you in this house," I tell him quietly, standing right next to his bed. "And it gets boring when you're not there."

He looks away, completely still for a few seconds before starting to groan while bringing his arm behind his head. Okay. He's definitely wasted. "That's nice to hear." And the way his words are barely coherent when he tries talking louder proves my point. "You can join me on the other side."

At first I'm a little perplexed, and honestly freaked out, but then he pats the spot next to him, meaning I'm allowed to join him in bed. "Thanks, but... I could just sit on the edge here, or a chair-"

"Leanne." I look at him with an apologizing face, hoping I hadn't pissed him off or anything. God knows how annoyed I get with people when I'm really drunk. "You have nothing to worry about."

My initial understanding of that is him assuring me his girlfriend won't show up, but everyone knows how that went last time. I was too embarrassed to even speak to him.

But it's either something about the way he said that, or the way he looked at me right after, that kind of makes me think there's more to his words. "Nothing," He repeats, in a whisper, "Nothing at all."

I slowly nod, deciding to believe him this time, and cautiously start walking around the full size bed to sit on the other side of the mattress. "What are you, made of wood? Just lie down."

"What's going on with you?" I decide to speak up, afraid that my voice would crack if I spent another minute quiet. Niall's weird behavior might also have something to do with that. "How much alcohol have you had today?"

"Not sure," He mumbles, and I give myself the freedom to turn on my side so I'm facing him, while he's intently staring at the ceiling. "I don't remember the last time I was sober."

At first I frown, and when I'm about to reply to that, something clicks; I haven't seen him in roughly a week and a half, and not because I was hiding from him due to what happened a month and a half ago. I haven't seen him in school, or when I came to these parties, and all this time I thought it was because he was too busy with his girlfriend. When in reality, he could've been up here this whole time. "How come?" I ask, almost fearing the answer. "What happened?"

"She broke up with me." I don't know if what I'm feeling is sorriness or joy. "Well, we agreed it's best that way. But I just wanted a break. She wanted a break-up. She broke up with me."

Well now I definitely feel sorry, he'd probably sound so heartbroken if he sobered up and didn't talk so monotonically. "I'm sorry," I tell him, pressing my lips together and patting him on the arm. "You might get back together, you never know. Or you might find someone better than her."

"No one is better than her." I'd usually roll my eyes, but it's nice to hear a guy talk nicely about a girl. "She's like a Fall Out Boy song. At first you don't get it, but you still like it. And then when you start to understand it, you fall in love with it."