Winter Air (Sequel to Night Air)

Chapter 13

*Harry's POV*

When I was sure she was asleep, I quietly locked the door to my room to prevent any sex-crazed couples from disrupting her sleep. Sure, the music was still flooding through the house, but I purposefully made it so the walls of my room were almost 100% sound proof. That's just part of owning a big house and hosting a lot of parties you don't want to participate in until everyone either goes home or falls asleep.

I then walked around to the side of the bed Alyssa wasn't sleeping on and turned on the lamp by my couch. Alyssa didn't stir from the light she had her back to so I pulled out my laptop and started scrolling through social media out of boredom. I got quite a few texts from my friends downstairs wondering where I was or asking how the sex they assumed I was having was going. I ignored all of them. I kind of wanted to join the party again, but I didn't feel right just leaving Alyssa by herself in my room. I didn't really care if the door was locked or not, either. I didn't want people bothering her. Maybe I was just acting like a protective big brother, but maybe I needed to be. Neither one of the two men I trusted to be alone around Alyssa were there, so I was. Niall was in a different country and Cole was probably back at his apartment.

About an hour later, I was starting to drift asleep staring at the boring home page of my Twitter. My chin was propped up on my closed fist which was propped up on the arm of my couch. I kept nodding in and out of sleep until a bubble-like noise coming from my computer woke me up. My eyes jerked open and I protectively looked over to Alyssa to see her unmoved and slowly breathing in her sleep. Rubbing my eyes, I looked back to my screen to see a Skype call from Niall.

"Hello?" I groggily asked after moving my cursor over the little green button and clicking.

While I could see that I looked exhausted in the tiny little box at the bottom of my screen, I could also see Niall's bright and cheery face staring right at me. "Hey, Harry. Did I wake you?"

I yawned and shifted on the couch so my feet were propped up on the coffee table and my MacBook was laying flat on my lap. "Nah, nah. I've been up." I tried my best to suppress a second yawn, but didn't succeed.

I watched Niall's face etch into confusion before he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Shit!" He yelled while looking at his phone with wide eyes. "I'm sorry, Harry. It's three in the bloody morning in Los Angeles!"

I waved him off like three o'clock in the morning was nothing for me. Maybe it was nothing to me on some nights, but not this one. I felt more like an adult than a party-goer as I watched over my best friend to make sure she was okay. "It's fine, Niall. I was just kind of dozing in and out anyways. So what's up?"

Niall shrugged in front of the camera and sat up a little bit so he exposed his naked chest. He had clearly only been up for maybe an hour. He was still laying in his blue bedroom underneath his white and fluffy comforter. "Not much. Just checking in to see what you were up to. Maybe get an update on how Alyssa's doing." He said the second part quieter as if he didn't really want me to hear it. I was starting to get the impression that Niall thought I was annoyed by him always wondering how she was doing, but I actually didn't mind one bit. After seeing Niall's behavior change when the modeling tour started, I knew they were meant to be. Niall never cleaned up his act for anyone until Alyssa came alone. I loved that he was willing to go to almost any extent to make her happy and make sure she was okay. Maybe the five of us were some hardcore players and heart-breakers in our teen years, but we had all started to grow out of it- for the most part, anyways. Louis was the first to change his ways for a girl and then it was Niall.

I smiled at Niall's shyness and looked over to Alyssa who was still sleeping with her back facing me. "She's doing good," I told him. "She's currently sleeping."