Let me help you ~ Niam

Chapter 2.

Niall sighed as the hot water ran over his skin. If it was possible to marry your shower, then Niall probably would. The door suddenly opened, and Niall stuck his head out from the shower curtain.

“Yeah?” He asked when spotted Louis through the fog in the bathroom.

“Could you go and buy some groceries when you get out of the shower?”

“Sure.”

“Great. The list is on the table.” Louis informed him before leaving the bathroom.

Niall rinsed the shampoo out of his hair, which caused wisps of blonde locks get caught between his fingers. He quickly washed the wisps down the drain, but with the amount of hair he had been losing over the past weeks he was surprised the drainpipes hadn’t clogged yet.

Later, when he was at the grocery store, it felt like the whole world was mocking him; there were commercials for shampoo with models with shiny hair all over the store, and every person who walked past him seemed to have the most perfect hair ever. And all that Niall could think about was that he was going bald. He quickly gathered the groceries and paid for them; there was enough to fill two plastic bags. Niall took one bag in either hand and walked outside. To his annoyance it was raining outside and it usually took almost half an hour to walk back to his dorm room. He didn’t mind to walk when it was clear and the autumn sun warmed his face, like it had been when he had walked here, but now he felt like throwing himself on the street and just get run over by all the racing cars. He didn’t, because normally he wasn’t suicidal, it was just his not-feeling-anything-but-sad-mood that got to him. He therefore decided to take the tube; the tube carriage would probably be pretty warm with all the people in there.

There was a lot of people in there when Niall entered, but one person in particular caught his eye; the helpful stranger. Niall had obviously caught the stranger’s eye too, because the guy smiled and waved him over. He didn’t hesitate and made his way over to stand beside the stranger.

“This is getting ridiculous. If we are going to keep running into each other, we should at least introduce ourselves.” The stranger said and smiled widely. Niall smiled back, and it felt like it was the first time he had smiled in years.

“I’m Liam.” The stranger said and reached out a hand for Niall to shake.

“I’m Niall.” Niall lifted his plastic bags a little to show that he couldn’t accept Liam’s handshake.

“Oh, you’ve been shopping! Where are you’re heading back to, your flat?” Liam asked.

“Dorm.” Niall corrected.

“What school do you go to?”

“Westville University, you?” Niall was actually a bit curious about this boy.

“Saint Martin’s.” Liam smiled.

“Catholic school?” Niall asked surprised.

“It used to be, yes, but not anymore.” Liam leaned forward a little. “But it still counts as one of the nicer schools, if you know what I mean.” He said lowly so that only Niall could hear.

“Yeah, I know. Westville on the other hand…” Niall trailed off.

“Not as nice?” Liam asked and Niall shook his head to confirm it. Niall looked out the window and saw that next stop was his.

“Well, this is me.” He said and started to make his way towards the door.

“Me too.” Liam said from behind him and Niall couldn’t help but get startled by his sudden presence. He quickly made his way out of the tube and up to the busy streets of London. The sky had already started to grow dark and it was even colder than before. Liam had been following Niall up, but he hadn’t said anything, which Niall was actually grateful for. He wasn’t really up for more small talk right now, because it seemed like he had lost all desire to get to know people nowadays. It was a bit weird, since he used to be pretty outgoing before.

A woman bumped into him and made him drop one of his plastic bags; the groceries scattered across the dirty pavement. And like at the café, Niall just felt like sit down and cry, because nothing went in his favor. He kneeled to the ground and started to put the groceries back into his bag, ignoring all the people that almost stepped on him and told him to get the fuck out of the way.

“Wait, let me help you.” Liam said and kneeled beside Niall to help him. Niall looked up and watched Liam’s beautiful face, his stunning eyes, his perfect hair… Why was he being so nice to him? No one had ever offered to help Niall so many times, and he barely even knew Liam. He didn’t even know his last name!

And that’s when Liam’s kindness was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Niall started to cry like a baby in the middle of the street, for the first time in weeks, and it felt like he would never stop. Big, heavy teardrops splashed out of his eyes and they landed on his cheeks, on the street, in his mouth – they even got stuck in his eyelashes!

“Niall? Oh my God, are you okay?!” Liam asked and put a hand on Niall’s shoulder. Niall didn’t know if Liam was okay with it, but he threw himself on the brunette and sobbed loudly into his chest. Liam was shocked at first, but then he put his strong arms around Niall’s body and held him tight.

“What’s wrong Niall?” Liam asked softly and Niall just wanted to scream ‘everything’ from the top of his lungs, but nothing really was wrong. So he told Liam the first thing that came in mind:

“My ha-air i-is falling o-off!” He cried and pushed his face into Liam’s black, now damp, hoodie.

“Oh!” Liam tightened his grip around Niall, but this wasn’t really the right place to do this; people were staring at them. He cupped Niall’s face and forced the blonde boy to look at him. “Niall, listen to me; we gather your groceries and then you come with me to my flat and we’ll drink some tea, okay? Sounds good?” Niall nodded and let go of Liam to put the groceries back into the plastic bag. When they stood up again Liam wrapped his arm around Niall’s shoulders.

“Come on, I don’t live far away.” He soothed and started to steer Niall in the direction of his flat. Niall felt the warmth of Liam’s arm around him and he felt safe, like someone actually cared about him. So he pressed himself tighter into Liam’s side and prayed that Liam would never let go.