A ray of sunshine squeezed through the small cigarette-burned hole on the curtain and slowly creeped over the girl's still body on the bed. She frowned as the light caught her eyes and her eyelids became red. It was time to wake up.
Her consciousness was lazily waking, and registering the sounds around her. Her flat mate, Scarlette, was hoovering.
"For the love of Christ," she got up in a haste, quickly wiping the mascara from the side of her eyes with the back of her hand and tying her unbrushed hair into a bun, before jumping over the pile of clothes on the floor, almost tripping in the process, and storming out of the room.
"Scarlette, what the hell are you doing?!"
Scarlette wasn't listening. She had her headphones in and was bending in a slight awkward position trying to get the dust bunnies from under the couch. What made her jump was the sudden power cut, from the unplugging of the machine. The girl's flatmate turned her head and noticed the angry look her friend was now carrying.
"Well, look who's risen from the dead," She said coolly, and walked towards her friend and pulled the hoover's wire from her hands.
"I was sleeping-"
"Ocean, it's half past twelve and the flat needed cleaning. If your royal highness allows it, I need to carry on," she plugged the hoover in again, and went back to her former position.
Ocean scratched her head without a further word and looked at the clock. Bloody hell, she thought, before making her way towards the small kitchen. The kitchen was a shambles, but Ocean frankly didn't care. Her flatmate and her had already gotten into several arguments as to whose turn it was to clean it. Ocean always faked an excuse, and Scarlette had eventually given up.
She made her way through the dirty dishes and found a glass half empty with what she thought was water, but when she took a gulp, the burning sensation in the back of her throat told her it was actually vodka. Ocean cursed under her breath, and placed the glass on the side. I will drink this later, she thought, and then miraculously found a clean container by the window which she filled with water from the tap.
After finishing her drink, she filled the same container with milk and poured some cornflakes on top and added her usual two spoonfuls of sugar, and went to sit on the table. She wasn't really hungry, as the memories of the events from yesterday afternoon came rushing to her mind, but she knew very well she had to eat if she wanted to drink alcohol without chundering later on.
Scarlette's footsteps suddenly grew louder as she made her way to the kitchen. To Ocean's relief she noticed that she had turned off the hoover.
"How're you feeling?" Scarlette asked in her usual cool voice.
Ocean felt like she was lying in the ocean, alone and drifting to complete oblivion. His face was like a melody in her head; refusing to leave.
She shrugged a shoulder and kept the spoon in her mouth as she said, "like jumping off a cliff."
Her friend laughed momentarily and picked up the newspaper that was under Ocean's container. She knew very well to divert the subject, being familiar with Ocean's firy temper, she knew she was likely to snap at any given chance and knew that prolonging her grief wasn't going to cause any good either. "Next you'll be telling me, you'll be eating from a blender,"
Ocean only frowned she hadn't come up with that idea herself. She said nothing, but mentally took note of that option for next time.
"But seriously," Scarlette added as she leaned back and turned the newspaper open, "this kitchen's turned into a shithole, and most of those dishes aren't even mine,"
"Not only has my dick of a boyfriend broken up with me, but you now want me to clean the kitchen,"
"Look, I think it will do you some good," Scarlette protested, knowing she had already put a wrong foot in the situation and she might as well carry on, "It'll distract you!"
Ocean couldn't handle another argument at the moment so she just said "whatever," and carried on eating.
Shortly after, Scarlette began to laugh. Her laugh rang in Ocean's head like an alarm bell, and she grimaced immidiately dropping her spoon carelessly into the container making it splash, as she covered her ears in annoycance.
"What the hell are you laughing at?"
Scarlette brought one of her legs up to rest on the seat as she patted on the article and offered it to Ocean.
"You know that blond guy from One Direction... he's in hospital with a broken nose apparently," she paused and laughed again, "that should brighten up your day."
However, Ocean wasn't at all laughing. She gave her friend a fake laugh, but her mind was suddenly remembering the events of last night. She had completely forgotten about that moment, yet she couldn't believe her punch had gotten Niall into hospital. She knew she at least had to be slightly proud about that.
Yet, as she tried to carry on eating, her body suddenly felt weird. Was she feeling guilty? Ocean looked down at the newspaper, scanning the article for the name of the hospital; there it was- St. George's.
"Anyway, I'm going to go take a shower," Scarlette got up from her seat, giving one last disgusted look at the kitchen, before leaving to her room.
As soon as Scarlette was out, Ocean jumped down from the table and went to her room, leaving her unfinished breakfast on the table.
Her head was exploding with thoughts. She didn't care about Niall to feel sorry for him, but she just couldn't believe he ended up in hospital. She knew she would be a coward if she didn't at least attempt to show her face to him.
She pulled some jeans from under the pile of clothes on the floor, and after quickly smelling the underarms of the shirt she used yesterday, she was convinced it was still clean enough to use again today.
The water splashing against the floor, as Scarlette showered, echoed down the flat and Ocean knew she had to hurry if she wanted to leave without her friend seeing her. I can't stand anymore of her laughs, she thought as she began to spray herself with perfume to cover up the stink of alcohol and cigarettes etched onto her skin.
"That's gonna have to do," She said to herself as she grabbed her RayBans to cover her tired eyes, and her pack of cigarettes to calm her down as she left the flat, leaving her hair messy as it was and her face with yesterday's makeup.
St. George's was just two stops away from where she lived, and so she walked the distance, having a cigarette as she went.
When she arrived she could already see a small circle of girls standing by the side of the entrance, but that didn't faze Ocean at all and so she climed the steps and entered the hospital without a shadow of a doubt. She entered a small shop inside, not knowing if she she should buy him anything. She removed her glasses and walked past the flower stand and the card stand; there was a small Pick 'N' Mix cabinet and she helped herself to some Coca-Cola flavoured Haribos as she stared at the sweets, deciding against buying any. He isn't worth the £1.25 for 100g of sweets, she thought, and she walked away. She finally stood in front of the toiletries seeing if there was anything in this section that may seem appropriate. She held a deodrant in her hands and thought that he might actually stink,but then put down the deodrant knowing that perhaps it was her who stank more than in this moment. Finally, she picked up a packet of tissues, and laughed at the thought of giving that as a gift. However, as she looked at the price she suddenly thought she was going mad.
"Two pounds seventy for this?!" She shook her head and looked around her. No one was around. As if anyone would pay this for tissues anyway, she thought before slipping the packet into her pocket and walking out- picking up a handful more of gummies in her way.
Chewing on the sweets she looked up at the signs, trying to figure out where Niall could be. An elevator had opened and as she read that surguries were held on the third floor, she jumped in and pressed the button.
The third floor's corridor was slightly isolated, despite her thinking it'd be packed with people. She was wondering if she was in the right place, when she saw a big hunky guy walking up and down a small corridor to her right. It was obviously his bodyguard, and so she decided to take the chance and try out if her thoery was correct.
Being careful not to be seen, Ocean waited for the bodyguard to turn around to walk the other way, to slip into the room where a blond boy with a bruise on his face, lay with his eyes closed and arms loosely crossed over his rising and falling torso.
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A/N: So, since this story has hit 206 reads, I have uploaded the next chapter just like I promised! Please leave your feedback, as this is a new story and would love to hear what you guys think; are you liking it? What do you think of Ocean? Do you want to punch her in the face for making Niall end up in hospital? I certainly would, haha.
I will be dedicating chapters to reader's whose comments I find wonderful and could tell they enjoy the story, so if you want a chapter dedicated to you - do comment!
Chapter 3 will be uploaded once this story hits 300 reads!
thank you and thanks for reading! xo