It's a little on the short side... sorry guys I tried aha
******************************{~~~~Chapter 7~~~}***********************************
Just do it. It’s not that creepy. Who the hell am I kidding? It’s beyond creepy...
Zayn stood outside of the hospital, the same hospital he watched Liam walk into earlier that day. It was late now, the sun gradually sinking and blanketing the city in darkness. Colourful leaves swirled around Zayn’s feet, dancing in the evening wind. He knew he should be focusing more on his task instead of his surroundings but he was entranced by the serenity of the scene. It was so quiet, so peaceful. He loved these kinds of things. Although he would never admit this to his friends he would much prefer to sit at home with a good book and a cup of coffee than play football in the muddy grass like they usually end up doing. He was a quiet type of person on the inside.
Shaking these thoughts away, Zayn focused his gaze back on the hospital doors. A yellow glow was coming from the building, casting shadows across the ground. He forced himself to place one foot in front of the other and slowly made his way into the building. It wasn’t as if he’d never been in a hospital before but he had most definitely never done anything this creepy before. He was planning on figuring out what Liam did here at lunchtimes.
He approached the front desk and cleared his throat to gain the attention of the young nurse who was occupied scribbling something into her notebook. She looked up at him and offered him a smile, her hand stilling. “Can I help you?”
“Um, yes actually. Is there a Payne here?” He asked, realizing how much of a stalker he was being. He couldn’t help it. All day he had been burning with an itching curiosity that could not be tamed. Now that he had a lead he just had to know.
“Ah, you’re here to see Karen? Room 412,” She said, smiling sadly at him and reaching out to pat his arm encouragingly. Zayn was confused but tried not to show it, instead just returning the smile and heading to the correct room. Questions raced through his mind and only doubled when he opened the door to room 412 to reveal a woman laying limply on a crisp hospital bed, machines and wires surrounding her.
Who was this woman? Why was Liam coming to visit her every day when he should be in school? He walked closer to the woman and lightly brushed his fingertips across her arm, her skin cold. Was she just asleep or was there something seriously wrong with her? Judging by the nurse’s reaction to her name it was the second option. The door opened and Zayn’s head snapped around, half expecting Liam to come walking in. He let out a sigh when he realized it was just the doctor coming to check up on her. He wasn’t really sure if his sigh was of relief or disappointment though.
“Oh hello there,” the doctor said, giving him the same sympathetic smile that the nurse had, “Here to see Karen?”
“Um yeah,” Zayn muttered, looking back down at the woman, “What exactly is, uh, wrong with her?” He asked very aware of the fact that as a ‘visitor’ he should know this already.
“You don’t know? She got in a terrible crash a couple years back. Been in a coma ever since,” he shook his head sadly, “Her family don’t want to give up on her just yet though, her husband doesn’t want to accept that she’s probably not going to wake up... it’s a sad thing to say but we don’t have much hope for her anymore.”
Zayn looked down at her, feeling grief for the poor family of this woman. Was... Was Karen Liam’s mum? Now that he thought about it, he could see the resemblances. He felt a new weight fall in his stomach at the thought of the pain Liam might be going through right now, the pain he probably was going through.
“Does she...” he cleared his throat, trying to push back the wave of emotions, “Does she have a son?”
“Yes, little Liam, such a good kid. He comes in and visits her every day, always tells her about his day even though he knows she probably can’t hear him,” he said with a soft sigh, looking sadly at Karen’s pale body. Zayn felt a lump grow in his throat, thinking of how much trouble the teachers always give Liam about his tardiness. They were always telling him off but they had no idea. They didn’t know that he spent his lunch hour talking to his practically dead mother.
“Wait... who exactly are you?” The doctor asked his eyes narrowing as he looked at Zayn. Zayn looked up at him, his voice caught in his throat. He swallowed hard and said, “A friend of Liam’s...” Before the doctor could say anything else Zayn excused himself and left, hands deep in his pockets. He needed to see Liam but he knew that was impossible at the moment. He had no idea where he lived. He would just have to wait until tomorrow to talk to him about it.
He walked back to his house, the crisp autumn air feeling nice against his warm skin. He took his time returning home, thoughts of Liam and the accident running through his mind.
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“Leave me alone Louis!”
“Harry, please listen to me!”
“No!” Harry shouted, avoiding his gaze. He made his way through the bustling hallways, completely ignoring Louis’ calls for him. Louis sighed in defeat. He wanted nothing more than to talk to the curly haired boy. He wanted to confess to everything, apologize for tormenting him all these years. He felt absolutely wrecked, having not slept a wink the previous night. Thoughts of Harry and his revealing scars were burned into his mind, keeping him awake. He needed to talk to him.
The second period bell rang, echoing through the halls as students got up and filed their way out of class. Louis lagged behind, noticing that Harry was taking longer than usual to leave the crowded room. He seemed to be having troubles getting his books to fit in his bag.
“Harry please just talk to me,” he pleaded, reaching an arm out to light grip Harry’s upper arm. The taller boy froze, tensing beneath Louis’ touch. “I need to talk to you. I won’t hurt you, I promise.”
Harry tersely shook his head and finally got his books into his book bag, swinging it over his shoulder and racing out of the room. Louis groaned in frustration, storming after him and grabbed a hold of his bag, dragging him into the boy’s bathroom. “I need you to listen to me Harry! I’m sorry okay? I’m sorry for being a total dickhead and screwing around with you! I just...I don’t... I really don’t know why I even...” he couldn’t get the words out.
“What? Beat me up? Ridiculed me? You did much more than that Louis!” Harry shouted, the harsh words sounding unfamiliar coming from his mouth. Louis winced. “I was broken! Couldn’t you see I was hurting!? And you just came along and made everything ten times worse! But now all of the sudden it’s all going to be okay because you apologized?! Because you’re sorry for me now? Because you saw my fucking scars and all of the sudden it’s not a joke, a game!? Is that it Louis,” he spat staring at him with burning eyes. Louis couldn’t speak. His words were caught in his throat, a large lump forming and blocking them from coming out.
Harry let out a sad chuckle, looking away from him. He swiped at his eyes and looked back into Louis’ eyes, his eyes rimmed with red from tears. “If you want to make things better than just leave me the fuck alone,” he said before leaving the bathroom, leaving Louis standing there in shock.
“Harry...” he breathed, regret rushing through him. Louis stood there for the longest time, just staring at the spot where Harry had been moments before. “I’m so so sorry,” he mumbled to no one before slowly making his way home, deciding that there was no point in going to the rest of his classes anyway. He wouldn’t learn anything.
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“Ni, open up please?”
“No.”
“Niall... I can give you a detention you know.”
“Go ahead. I won’t go.”
“Niall please just come out?”
“Leave me alone Josh!” Niall shouted, bringing his knees up to his chest and hugging them tightly. He had made the decision to spend every gym class in the bathroom for the remainder of the year. He couldn’t bear to see Josh every day.
“NiNi... gym’s always been your favourite class though...” He heard Josh’s soft voice say from the other side of the stall.
“You ruined it,” he mumbled, burying his face in his arms to stifle the sound of his sniffles and cries. He felt weak crying all of the time like this but he couldn’t help it. The tears just wouldn’t stop. Every time Josh did or said anything that reminded him of their past the tears blurred his vision and no matter how much he tried to hold them back they always spilled over.
There was silence on the other side of the door before he heard a thump and rustling noises. Niall peaked out from his arms, his face red and shiny with tears. His eyes widened comically when he saw Josh was crawling under the stall door to get to him. “Josh!”
Josh made his way into the stall and sat next to Niall, dust layering his shirt and shorts. “Ni please don’t push me out like this,” he sighed. Niall dug his face back into his arms, refusing to let Josh see his tears.
“Go away Josh!”
“No,” he said, bringing a hand up to cup Niall’s cheek, forcing his face out of its cover in his arms. Niall heard Josh’s sharp intake of breath as he caught sight of the tears still streaming down his cherry red cheeks. “Oh Ni...”
Niall tried to pull his face out of Josh’s grasp but it was no use. He gave up, closing his eyes tightly and trying to pretend Josh wasn’t as close as he was. He felt a feather light tickling on his cheeks, warmth spreading across his face and the back of his neck as he felt Josh press soft kisses to his cheeks. A thumb gently wiped the tears from beneath his eyes before another kiss was pressed where the tear had been. Josh slowly let his hand fall from Niall’s face and he let out the breath he hadn’t been aware he had been holding.
“I’m sorry Ni. I really am,” he sighed, “When I left I thought that you would be better off without me anyway... I was so much older Ni, I still am. I figured you’d find someone else, someone better for you so I stopped calling and texting. I always wanted to talk to you but I was too scared I’d call and you’d already have found someone new...”
“Instead that’s how I found you,” he sniffled, refusing to look at him. He was still so angry at Josh but at the same time he had missed him too much to stay mad for long.
“Listen Ni, I know it looks bad. Hell, it is bad. I met Sierra a few months ago when I was almost sure you would already be moved on and have forgotten me... I had somehow convinced myself that you didn’t want me anymore. I don’t love her though Ni, not like I loved you.”
“If you don’t love her then why does she live with you Josh?” Niall asked coldly.
“Live with me? She doesn’t live with me... she has an apartment down the hall but we don’t share one.”
“But... she was getting groceries...” Niall trailed off, thinking back to when Sierra had walked in with milk. It hadn’t really been groceries, just a bag of things.
“I asked her to grab me some milk while she was out since I was running low,” Josh told him, reaching for Niall’s hand and entwining their fingers giving his hand a gentle squeeze. “I really never meant to hurt you Baby Nandos.”
Niall couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped his lips at the old nickname. “I missed you so much Joshie,” he said, giving up on being mad and flinging his arms desperately around the older boy.
“I missed you too Ni,” he said softly, his arms wrapping tightly around Niall’s waist. Niall nuzzled his face in Josh’s neck, relaxing into his arms. It felt so good to be back in his arms. The two sat there for the rest of the period, just snuggling and catching up. It wasn’t until the bell rang and Josh had to leave for his next class that reality hit him. This wasn’t going to be as easy as it used to be. Josh was no longer the teenage boy that Niall had dated. He had a girlfriend, he was Niall’s teacher. There were so many things that could go wrong but surprisingly, Niall didn’t worry about those things for the remainder of the day. He pranced around the school in a happy bubble, glad that he had his Joshie back.