Elodie’s POV
A loud knocking noise wakes me, but I’m too stiff to move. Water is hitting my cheek and I can’t stop shivering.
“Elodie open the damn door, I want to talk to you,” Liam bellows.
“What’s going on?” Lauren’s tired voice asks, joining the mix.
“She’s not opening her fucking door,” he growls and I hear the frame jiggle as he attempts to shove his way in.
“Did you ever think maybe she’s asleep?” Lauren snaps in annoyance. “It’s midnight,”
“I need to talk to her,” he growls.
“Fine just…” I hear Lauren trail off and a couple seconds later I hear the lock on my door open. Why the hell did she have a key card to my door?
“Lauren?” Louis’ voice asks.
“Just go back to sleep, I’ll be there in a minute,” Lauren says instantly turning soothingly.
“Where is she?” Liam snaps, now inside my room.
“I don’t know…” Lauren says before there’s a knock on the bathroom door. “Elodie? Are you in there?” I don’t answer, closing my eyes and praying they’ll just leave. The door creaks open.
“Oh fuck… Liam!” Lauren says quickly, sliding open the shower door.
“Christ,” Liam mutters and the water is shut off. It only makes the shivering more intense though.
“Help me get her up,” Lauren says and an arm slips around my waist.
“Move,” Liam orders and the arm disappears, replaced by a new one as I’m lifted off the ground.
“We need to get her out of those clothes, they’re soaked,” Lauren says as he sets me down on the bed.
“No…” I manage to croak as he starts working on getting my shoes and socks off. His hands instantly freeze, withdrawing from around me.
“Lauren, help her,” he says sounding strangled. Lauren comes over and takes over where Liam left off as Liam moves to the middle of the room.
“God, what happened? She seemed fine this morning,” Lauren asks.
“God dammit,” he shouts and I hear the sound of a fist hitting the wall.
“Liam!” Lauren calls out in a scared surprise. I hold my hands over my head and she helps me out of the wet clothes and into a pair of sweats before pulling the blanket over me as I lay down.
“Who did this? Who was it Elodie?” Liam shouts.
“Liam calm down,” Lauren shouts back.
“What’s going on?” Paul demands.
“Just leave us alone Paul” Liam orders, sounding angrier than I’d ever heard him. At first I tihnk Paul is going to argue back, but there’s never a response and I realize he must have listened to Liam.
“Christ what happened?” Lauren murmurs under her breath. She steps away from me and I force open my eyes, staring blankly ahead.
“Liam calm down. You need to calm down,” Lauren says and I see the two of them out of the corner of my eye. Liam looks like he’s ready to put a hole in the wall, while Lauren tries to get him to breathe.
“Lauren?” Louis asks, reappearing in the doorway. This time she hesitates, glancing amongst the three of us.
“Are you going to be ok?” she asks Liam. “And you’ll watch her?” He nods his head and she hesitates a moment longer before heading to the doorway and letting Louis take her back to their room. I watch as Liam takes a seat at the table before I close my eyes, still shaking.
Liam’s POV
My head slips off my hand and I jolt awake. I’d been doing that all night, trying to stay awake to keep watch over her. I knew I shouldn’t have left her at the ATV place, but I’d been so angry I couldn’t think straight. The boys always said that I was the scariest when I was angry, but even they had never seen me like that. I had to get out of there before I did something stupid. I drove as fast as I could to get away and the ATV overheated and broke out there. Still I didn’t care, as blinded with rage as I was. How could someone do something like that to an innocent girl? It didn’t make sense. Paul eventually found me, but I still hadn’t been able to calm down. I’d been so furious when I got back last night. I’d come here, determined to find out the asshole that did this, but when I saw her curled up in the shower, shaking as if she’d been in there for hours, I just about lost it. I’d always seen her as strong. Not needing anyone to take care of her. But the way she couldn’t bear for me to touch her, even when it was only removing her shoes, it just about killed me. I’d done this to her. I’d made her relive it.
Her eyes flutter open and it’s not long before she rolls over and throws up over the side of the bed. “Shit,” I mutter as I jump out of the chair. I was sore all over from my sleeping position. Grabbing the empty ice bucket from the counter, I hurry back over to her and hold it under her mouth, barely making it as she throws up again.
“You’re ok. Everything is fine,” I say trying to soothe her when a whimper escapes her mouth. I lightly touch her hair, petting it back but she flinches. I withdraw it instantly a feeling of pain sweeping over me. “You’re burning up,” I say quietly. The brief touch of her forehead felt like fire.
“I’m going to get Paul.” He’d know what to do. Once I make sure she’s got a hold of the bucket, I get to my feet and head out the door. I almost run into Lauren as she steps out of her own room.
“Oh,” she says in surprise. “I was just coming to see how she was. Is she any better?” she asks worriedly.
“No, she’s not. Can you go in there and watch her? I’m going to go get Paul. We need a doctor.” Her concern grows and she quickly nods her head.I go one way and she goes the other as I head towards Paul’s room. I rap loudly on the door and it’s not long before he appears in a bathrobe.
“What’s wrong Liam?” he asks, reading the worry on my face.
“It’s Elodie. She’s sick. I think she’s going to need a doctor.” He nods and I wait impatiently in his doorway as he pulls on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I follow closely behind as he heads back to her room and I see Lauren crouched down next to her, petting her hair like I’d tried to do before she flinched away. She steps back as Paul approaches and he lays the back of his hand over her forehead before giving a nod of agreement.
“I’ll call the doctor,” he says. “Liam, I want you to stay away and tell the other boys to also. We can’t have you guys getting sick.” Fuck that. Paul steps out to call the doctor and I grab a chair, pulling it over to the side of the bed.
“Liam, you’ve got interviews today,” Lauren reminds me.
“Not going,” I say bluntly.
“Liam, I don’t think--”
“I’m not going,” I repeat.
“Ok” she says, holding up her arms in surrender. She backs out of the room, most likely heading to her own, while I watch over Elodie. She was asleep again.
“Ok, c’mon Liam. It’s time to get ready to go, the doctor is on his way,” Paul announces as he walks back in.
“I’m not going,”
“Get up Liam,” Paul says, ignoring me.
“I’m not going to leave her,” I insist.
“And what am I supposed to tell the interviewers?” he asks in annoyance.
“Tell them I’m sick. Tell them there was an emergency. I don’t care. I’m not going though.”
“This is your job you can’t just decide not to go to these things. The boys are counting on you and so are the fans.”
“The boys will understand and the fans will get over it.” Paul’s jaw clenches but I was more stubborn. He eventually leaves the room to check on the other boys and they all appear in the doorway when they’re ready to go.
“Ya ain’t coming Payno?” Niall asks. I shake my head, not taking my eyes off Elodie.
“Ya sure bro?” Zayn asks.
“I’m sure,” I confirm.
“C’mon lads.” Harry says, urging them away from the doorframe. “Let us know how she is alright?” he asks as they disappear down the hall. I take her hand in both of mine as she sleeps, running my thumbs over the back of her hand. It takes about half an hour for the doctor to arrive and Elodie was asleep the whole time. While I waited, I checked my twitter to see what people were saying about my absence. I actually found out the doctor was here before he even appeared on our floor as someone takes a picture of him entering the hotel. Jeez these girls were on top of things. Rumours began circulating that I was sick which was fine with me. It made the fans not angry that I was absent if they thought I was sick. When the doctor finally gets up to the room, I release Elodie’s hand and step back, allowing the doctor to wake her up. Her eyes are clouded with confusion when they flutter open and she jerks back when she sees him in front of her. Her head turns in confusion, finally landing on where I stood in the corner and what can only be relief flashes across her face.
“It’s just the doctor. He’s here to make sure you’re ok.” She gives a small nod and sits up as the doctor asks, keeping the blankets draped over her shoulders as she begins to shiver.
“Are you family?” the doctor asks me and I shake my head no. “Can you step outside for the examination then?”
“No,” she croaks. I hesitate, not wanting to leave her alone. The doctor frowns, but nods his head in acceptance of her wishes and I breathe a sigh of relief. He starts by taking her temperature and checking her ears and eyes. The thermometer beeps and he takes it from her mouth, keeping straight faced as he reads the temperature. He checks her throat next before feeling her lymph nodes. Next, he pulls out that thing they use to check your heart. What was it called? A stethoscope?
“I’m not hearing fluid in your lungs so I don’t think it’s pneumonia..” he says as he has her breathe deeply. “You do have a high fever though.”
“Is she going to be ok?” I ask as he pulls out the blood pressure reader and wraps it around her arm.
“Yea, I believe so,” he says when he’s finished with that. “I think it’s just the flu. I’d like to take a blood sample just to be sure though.” She grits her teeth as he removes a needle from his bag and she turns her head as he inserts it into her arm. He draws some blood before putting it into a secure container and slipping it back into his bag. “I’m going to prescribe some painkillers,” he says, pulling out a notepad and pen, beginning to scribble something down. “It should help with the symptoms. If she doesn’t appear to be getting better in a couple days, give me a call. I’ll be in touch with the results from the blood test” I nod my head as he hands her the paper.
“Also, Paul told me to give you a B12 shot so you don’t get sick also.” I let out a groan but do as I’m told and follow him into the bathroom so he could give me the shot in my bum. With that, he gathers up his supplies and heads out the door. Rubbing my sore butt I sit beside her and she offers me the slip of paper. Already, I can feel the heat radiating off her.
“Why don’t you lay down, I’ll get you some water.” I tell her. She doesn’t even have the energy to complain like she had last time. She just does as I tell her while I head to the minifridge and grab a bottle of water out of it. I also head to the bathroom and grab a washcloth, running it under cold water. I come back and sit on the side of her bed, offering her a drink before laying the rag on her forehead.
“Thanks,” she murmurs, her eyes staying closed.
“Do you want me to go? So you can sleep?” I ask. Her response is to grab a hold of the side of my t-shirt, preventing me from moving. I don’t dare attempt to lay down beside her or touch her in the least. I didn’t want her to have a panic attack again. I didn’t want her to think I was going to try and take advantage of her like he had. Just thinking of him caused the swell of anger inside me. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to rip out all his organs; break every bone in his body; make him pay for what he’d done to her. She falls asleep and I text Paul with the prescription so they could pick it up from a pharmacy on the way home. After that, I just mess around on my phone for a while. Even asleep, she still had a grip on my shirt so I couldn’t move without waking her. I glance at her every couple minutes and eventually do a doubletake when I notice her eyes open. I hadn’t even noticed she was awake. She hadn’t moved in the slightest.
“Are you alright?” I ask hesitantly.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she murmurs as she releases my shirt and turns onto her other side to face the wall. And that’s when I promised myself and her, I’d be here for her. Whenever she wanted to talk, whenever she just needed someone around. I’d be there to help her through this.
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Hope you all like this so far! I'll be trying to update more and more frequently. Let me know what you think!
Dedication to gingerbunnie for understanding that Liam wasn't mad at her but at the situation.
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