Devotion [h.s]

269

"Woah woah woah," Louis says and immediately goes to Briar to see if she was okay. She was buckled securely in her highchair and wasn't crying, but I don't know how long she's been there considering Harry is passed out with his head down on the countertop in just his track pants. She was literally covered in food.

I go over to Harry and nudge him forcefully a few times.

"Harry, wake up." I shake him.

He scuffles a groan, slight relief washing over me because I knew he wasn't injured and was just asleep.

"Harry." I say again while lifting his forehead up off the counter.

He opens his eyes while I hold his head up, revealing how bloodshot they were. He looked like absolute hell and he didn't smell too great either.

"How'd you get in here?" He murmurs under this breath, not paying any attention to the fact he fell asleep giving Briar breakfast.

"Harry you feel asleep while your daughter was in a highchair. How long has she been in there for? It's 11:30am." I tell him while letting go of his head so he can hold it up himself, he rubs his tired eyes and squints his vision to look at the microwave clock.

"About forty five minutes I think." He rasps.

"Well why are you asleep? And why does this place look like hell?" I bombard with questions as Louis gets Briar out of the highchair to clean her off.

"Because she doesn't stop crying so I don't ever get to sleep or do anything." He answers quietly while sitting up more straight.

"Harry she could've tipped her highchair over and seriously hurt herself." I say in caution of Briar's safety. I know he wouldn't want that to happen to her but this whole situation was very worrying.

"I understand that but she's fine. It was an accident, I was tired." He almost slurred. The fact he had no sense of urgency or worry in his voice was alarming.

"Are you.. drunk?" I asked while staring into his eyes.

"No." He shakes his head and lowers his eyebrows in offence.

"Why do you look so out of it?" I asked in response, seeing how disturbingly red his eyes were.

"Because I told you," he gets up to his feet, "I'm tired."

"Harry you were unconscious at the kitchen counter while we knocked on your door for ten minutes. You weren't asleep, you were passed out." I explain.

"You're delusional." He fluffs it off before going over to take Briar from Louis hands.

"I'll give you a bath muppet." He rasps softly to her, bringing her over to the sink and sitting her on the counter next to it. He was so pale, his muscle tone weakened a bit as well.

I exchange looks with Louis, both looks of worry. He knew something was wrong like me but didn't know exactly what it was. All we knew was that something wasn't right.

"Harry.. is everything okay?" I asked as his back was to us and he started running the sink water to get a little bath ready for her.

There was a long pause, Louis and I just standing there waiting for him to respond.

"Amelia's been gone for 48 days Niall," He mumbled while the sink was filling up, telling me like I was stupid for asking.

"I know but you-"

"-And I'm not taking it well." He cuts me off, finishing his sentence, the same time in his voice.

He puts the bath soap in the water that was on standby on the counter, starting to undress Briar to get her into the water.