Rewinding Time (Narry)

Chapter Twenty-Three

I LITERALLY START MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN THIRTY MINUTES. I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE THIS CHAPTER AND THANK YOU FOR READING (AND SUPPORTING ME). GOTTA GO!

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❝NIALL❞

I huffed as I put the metal basin filled with boiling water down for the third time, doubling over to rest my hands on my knees. I swear to God I'm going to develop some back pains by the time I turn forty if I keep up this routine every day. I took a couple more deep breaths before picking up the basin once again and proceeded to waddle down the corridors to the bathroom.

As I tried to ignore my aching muscles, my thoughts began to drift over towards Harry and the little stunt he pulled this morning; embarrassingly enough, I completely forgot that I was supposed to be angry at Harry and accepted his stupid flowers. Regardless, it was actually quite charming. It has always been a dream of mine to receive a bouquet of flowers from somebody, but I had always hoped that that somebody would be Louis.

With the bathroom finally in view, I carefully turned around and pressed my back against the door, pushing it open just enough for my body and the basin before shuffling over towards the bathtub. Unfortunately, before I made it to the bathtub, the tip of my shoe caught onto the edge a loose floor board. My ankle gave way and the rest of my body immediately crumbled behind it.

Everything happened so quickly that I hardly had any time to react; my mind began to race as it tried to plan what my body would need to do next. Luckily, the first thing that my body decided to do was throw the basin, filled with hot water, away from me. My upper body twisted at an awkward angle to catch the rest of my body, ensuring that I wouldn't bump the back of my head against the floor.

I yelped in pain when the basin hit the ground and splashed a bit of boiling water onto my bare skin. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" I muttered, clenching my left forearm. I crawled over to the, bathtub—which was already half-filled with cool water—and dipped my arm inside. I bit the bottom of my lip to keep myself from crying out loud. Despite how strong I was trying to be, it was impossible to ignore the prickling tears.

After a few minutes of submerging my arm, I held onto the rim of the tub and attempted to pull myself up; a sharp pain immediately shot up my right leg from my ankle, and I collapsed back onto the floor with a cry.

"You've got to be kidding me," I wailed, rolling onto my side in annoyance and self-pity. My limbs sprawled across the floor and I laid there for several seconds, staring at the ceiling and wondering what a pain in the ass my ankle would be from now on; there was no doubt that I had sprained it.

"Fuck my life," I muttered, crawling over to the metal basin. I continued inching over towards the door on my knees—while dragging the basin behind me—for as long as I could until I reached the corridors.

I stretched for the doorknob and pulled my body up, leaning mostly on the door for support, since I had zero faith in my right ankle. I placed my foot down, testing the pain briefly before hissing and shaking my head. No way in hell was I going to be able to use this ankle for a couple of weeks.   

I stared down at the basin in my hands and sighed, muttering dumb things like "why the fuck does Harry Styles need to bathe every fucking day" and "I can probably warm his bath with my fucking tears".

Eventually, I made it back to the kitchen and waited for the water to boil once again. My back slid down the wall and I sat on the floor, poking at my right ankle over and over again, praying that it would just stop hurting.

"Niall?" a voice called. My head perked up at the sound of my name and my eyes immediately softened when I saw that it was Luke.

"Help me," I whined, glancing up at him helplessly.