Just A Harmless Joke//One Direction

Chapter 15: An Accident

Author's Note: Hey! Did you guys know that every story has a climax? Well, a teeny spoiler for y'all: This is the climax for Just A Harmelss Joke//One Direction! What's gonna happen? 

Read on and find out, but I can only gurantee you guys one thing: It will change their lives. 

~Guess I like the way you smile with your eyes...~

2 weeks.

It's been 2 weeks since the 'midnight encounter' that Niall and Katherine had, and they haven't said a single word to each other. 

Not even at the dining table. No "Pass the salt, please" or "Can you reach me a glass?" or anything at all.

Sure, the boys and Raine had noticed it. They rounded on the two of them, tried to set them up, even locked them in a broom closet, but nothing happened. The two just looked at each other blankly.

But Harry, Liam, Louis, Zayn and Raine knew better- their eyes gave it all away. Whenever Niall and Katherine looked at each other, their eyes told every one that their hearts were breaking and they were dying slowly inside.

Nobody told them, of course, and nobody interfered after the broom closet incident anymore. 

But they knew, one way or another, these two would have to talk to each other. 

~You only want me 'cause I'm taken...~

"We're going out!" Raine announced. 

"With who?" Zayn asked. 

"Dani, El, me and Kat." Raine said. She met Louis' eyes and they had a silent agreement: Katherine needed to get her mind off things. 

"Who'll be driving?" Liam asked, looking up from his Nintendo DSi game. 

"El, I think." Raine said with a shrug. 

"Where are you going?" Asked Harry suspiciously.

"We're just gonna go to the mall." Raine defended. 

"Fine, fine," Louis gave in. "Just tell El to be careful with my car, 'kay?"

"Okay," Raine said cheerfully. "See y'all around."

Niall joined in as the boys said goodbye, only giving Raine a half-hearted farewell. He hadn't said cracked a joke, laughed or even smiled in weeks. Everybody agreed that he was a nervous wreck.  

"Y'know Niall," Zayn tried again when Raine left. "You have to smile again. Joke. Laugh. You wanna play Wii Tennis with me?"

Niall looked up at Zayn blankly and shook his head. Zayn sighed. 

"I give up," He muttered, grabbing a magazine and shooting Niall a sad look before disappearing behind the magazine he was holding. 

~I think I love you but I don't make a sound...~

"Where are they?" Liam asked worriedly, staring down at his phone. The girls had left more than six hours ago. They couldn't possibly take that long, could they? 

"They haven't texted or anything... to any of us? Called?" Zayn asked worriedly, checking his phone.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, his voice shaking. "Something's wrong. They haven't contacted in... 6 hours?" 

Louis was biting his fingernails. "They'll be okay... Right?"

Niall sat still, not doing anything, his phone in front of him. 

Suddenly, Niall's phone started ringing. His hands stumbled a bit as he picked it up, the boys crowding around him. 

"Hello?" He asked, his voice croaky. "Katherine?"

Somebody said something at the other end of the line, and Niall turned as pale as a ghost. "Where?" He said, his voice more broken. "Okay, thank you." He hung up. 

"What?" Louis demanded as Niall dropped his phone and jumped up quickly. "What's happened to them?" 

Niall looked up at them, looking as though he was at the verge of tears. 

"We have to get to a hospital," Said Niall, sounding miserable. 

"WHY?" Liam, Harry, Louis and Zayn exclaimed.

"The girls-" Niall chocked up. "They got in to a car accident. We have to get there. Now."