Don't Let Me Fall (A Liam Payne Fanfic)

CHAPTER FIVE: Fans, Cameras, And...

“Hey Niall,” I said softly.

“Is she… is she...” he choked. “Is she going to be alright?”

“She’s gonna be just fine,” I said soothingly. “This isn’t the first time this happened to her and I was there last time it happened. She’s gonna wake soon, I promise,” I reassured him.

“How did you learn to do that… breathing thing?” he asked me, brushing his tears away.

“CPR? I’m a trained lifeguard,” I replied.

Niall closed his eyes with a groan, “It’s all my fault, all my fault,” he mumbled. “I shouldn’t have let Kristie go, I should’ve known better. It’s the freaking lobby! Of course there’re gonna be girls!” he shouted into the air. “Why didn’t I think of that? Why-“

“I’m sorry, mate,” interjected Harry quietly. His eyes looked glassy. There was silence until I spoke.

“Harry, Niall” I said firmly, “None of this is your fault, do you understand me? These sorts of things happen but it is not your fault. No one could’ve known.” I looked both of them in the eye. “Kristie is going to be fine. Zayn is going to be fine.” I said confidently.

“Hey guys,” a doctor cheerfully said.

Niall instantly shot out of his chair, “Is she ok?” he asked in a panic.

The doctor smiled, “She just woke up, same with Mr. Malik,” she told us. “They’re both fine.” She showed us Zayn’s room and Liam, Harry, and Louis went inside while Niall and I followed her to Kristie’s room.

“Hey girlie,” I said softly, “How’re you feeling?”

Before she could reply, Niall burst into tears, “I’m sorry, babe, I’m sorry! It was all my fault!”

“Niall,” I said warningly “These things happen, it is not your fault.”

Kristie coughed, “What happened? Where am I?” she asked, her voice dry and raspy.

“You had a panic attack, you’re in the hospital.” I said soothingly. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Harry and I were in tutus dancing down the hall,” Kristie said immediately. “Oh why did I let him talk me into it?” she groaned. I stifled a giggle. Her eyes shot to me, “What?”

“You two looked funny,” I laughed. She rolled her eyes. I glanced at Niall. “Well I’ll give you two a moment then,” I slipped out of the room and ran smack into Liam. “Oof!” I grunted when I hit his chest, “I’ve got to stop doing that,” I giggled, looking up at him.

“I don’t know, can you?” Liam teased me, holding me tight against him. Oh god, I haven’t been held like this ever since- I realized. Ever since you and Will broke up? The cynical voice was back. I swallowed hard.

“I’m going to check on Zayn,” I whispered, breaking away from Liam. That did feel nice, didn’t it? A part of me sighed. I pushed into Zayn’s room. “Hi Zayn,” I said. Zayn had a bandage around his head, but other than that, he looked fine.

“Hey, can I ask you to do me a favor?” Zayn said.

I shrugged, “Sure.”

“I want to talk to Kristie alone,” he mumbled in a rush. “Can you ask her?”

“Sure,” I said, wondering what this was about. “I’ll be right back.”

I walked into Kristie’s room. Niall was singing to her softly. I grimaced at the look of the happy couple and slid a smile onto my face. “Hey Kristie,” I said cheerfully. “Zayn wants to talk to you…alone” I whispered in her ear. She looked at me, bewildered. I shrugged, letting her know that I didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.

“Niall,” she said, “I’m going to go and talk to Zayn a bit, k babe?” she kissed Niall right in front of me and I felt a twinge of jealousy run through me. Why can’t someone kiss me like that? I wondered enviously. Someone did… and then dumped you, my cynical voice sang gleefully. You can, if you just stop pushing Liam away, my heart scolded me. I sighed mentally. I was never going to get the voices in my head to stop talking at this rate. Never ever! My critic voice sang.

When Kristie and Zayn got released from the hospital, everyone went to their hotel rooms to try to rest for travel tomorrow since the boys didn’t have a concert tonight. It had started raining and currently I was sitting in the chair in front of the windows, staring gloomily at the rain. The sky lit up brilliantly with a flash of lightning and two seconds later, a clap of thunder boomed. I jumped. “Let’s watch a movie,” Liam suggested after some moments of peaceful quiet. He had been tweeting his fans from his laptop.

I got out of my chair enthusiastically. “What movie?” I asked.

“Do you even have to ask?” he said innocently.

I rolled my eyes. “Batman or Toystory?”

Liam laughed, “I was joking. You can choose whatever movie you want. I’ll go make some popcorn,” he said. He pulled shut the curtains on his way to the kitchen. I scrolled through Netflix and settled on “Fantasia.” I grabbed the blankets off of the beds and curled up on the sofa. “What are we watching?” he asked as he turned all the lights off.

“Fantasia,” I replied, making room for him.

He settled the popcorn bowl on the coffee table. “Awesome! I love Disney movies,” he exclaimed happily.

I laughed, “I know.”

“The cookie man brought us cookies,” he said, showing me a plate of cookies. I giggled and we settled down to watch the movie. Another flash of lightning lit up the room followed by an enormous boom. I flinched. “Here,” Liam opened his arms. I leaned in and he wrapped me in tightly. Surrounded by Liam and blankets, I was very comfy.

Halfway through the movie, I felt my eyes start to droop and didn’t protest when Liam effortlessly carried me over to one of the beds. I fell asleep instantly, dreaming of magical mice in blue sorcerer’s hats and Liam. I’m very proud, my heart whispered as I drifted off. Very proud indeed.