--Cayley's P.O.V--
I sat in Nikki's kitchen, trying to think of something to do. I was trying to make her happy, make both of them happy, and all I was doing was sending her into a deeper depression by mentioning to her what kind of shape Harry was in. I desperately needed to do something, but there was no way I could do it myself. I had already tried to convince her to talk to him, and obviously that had failed miserably.
I needed help.
I left her house, and ran back to the boys hotel. I took the elevator, mumbling about how slow it was. I looked up at the ceiling, tapping my foot impatiently as I waited for the elevator to stop, and the doors to slide open. When they did, I ran down the hallway, and to the door that Niall had led me to earlier. I knocked loudly, and then waited.
A few seconds later, the door was opened. I rushed in, and turned around to face the person who had opened the door. Louis. Just who I was looking for.
"Cayley, Niall isn't here right now. You're welcome to stay though." He said.
"Thanks, but I'm not here for Niall. Besides, he said I could come over whenever whether he was here or not."
"Okay, then. Then who are you here for? I'm the only one here, besides Harry."
"That's fine. You're actually the one I was needing to talk to."
"Me? What for?" I sat down, and Louis did the same.
"You're Harry's best friend, right?"
"He considers all of the boys to be his best friends." Louis said, looking at me confused.
"But you're the closest to him, right?"
"I guess you could say that. Why?"
"Nikki is my best friend. I hate seeing her the way she is right now. I tried to convince her to talk to him, but she refused. So, then I told her about how Harry had locked himself in his room, and was refusing to come out, or let anyone in. She just went into her room, and locked the door. So, we desperately need to do something."
"She's gone into hiding to?" Louis asked me.
"Yeah." He looked at the floor sadly.
"We have to do something." Louis said. "They can't keep doing this. Neither one of them are happy without the other one."
"Exactly. And since they're our best friends, I came to you for help. I'm closest to Nikki, and your closest to Harry. But neither of them will listen to us. So, what if we switched?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if I took Harry, and you took Nikki? Maybe we can cheer them up. It might be different if someone else is trying to do it." I said.
"Okay. So what do we do with them if we get them out of their rooms?" He asked me.
"I don't know. Just do whatever might cheer them up. Take Nikki for ice cream. The pet shop. Something. Just make her laugh. Take her mind off things."
"Alright. Sounds like a plan." He stood up and moved towards the door.
"What room is Harry's?" I asked him.
"Directly across the hall. I don't know how you'll get in." He said.
"I'll think of something. Oh, and you'll have to go through Nikki's bedroom window." He looked at me like 'why?' "I don't care who you are. She's not going to open that door. You'll probably have to do a lot of persuading just to get her to sit up in bed."
"This sounds fun." He mumbled. "Good luck with Harry." He said.
"Thanks. Good luck with Nikki."
"Thanks." He walked out the door, and I walked across the hallway to Harry's room. I knocked on the door. Not that that would do much good. If he was in the bedroom with the door locked, he wouldn't hear me knocking on the door from the living room. I don't know if he heard me or not, but either way, there was no answer. I stood there in front of his room, thinking of a way to get in.
An idea hit me. I looked at the number on the door, committing it to memory. I ran down the stairs, not even bothering with that slow elevator again, and up to the front desk.
"May I help you?" The man behind the desk asked.
"Yes, I was wondering if you had an extra key to room 126? I don't have mine, and can't get back in." I said. It wasn't a lie. I didn't have my key, or any key, and I couldn't get in.
"Of course." He dug through a drawer. "Here you go." He said, handing me a white, plastic card.
"Thank you, and I'm sorry for the trouble." I said.
"It's not a problem. And it's no trouble at all. It happens." I smiled at him, before rushing back to the stairs. I ran up them, and made my way to Harry's room. I slid the key in the little card thing, and it unlocked. I entered the living room. It was eerily quiet.
Surprisingly, the bedroom door was opened, but from the looks of the rest of the hotel suite, he hadn't moved from the bed since he got in it. I walked into the bedroom. I couldn't see any part of him, just the shape of his body curled into a ball under the covers. I sat down on the edge of the bed, and shook him gently.
"Harry, it's Cayley. Wake up." The cover moved, and his head popped out.
"How did you get in here?" He asked. "Louis couldn't even get in, and it's his room too."
"I guess he didn't think to go and ask for another room key." I smiled, but he didn't return it like normal. Instead, he looked away from me, and at the wall. "Are you okay?" I asked him.
"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"Harry." I said, giving him a look.
"Okay, so I'm not fine. But really, do I look like I am?" His eyes were red, and puffy, and his brown curls were all knotted together all over his head. He definately did not look fine.
"Not really." I said. He nodded.
"That's what I thought."
"You're not going to feel any better laying in here in this dark room all by yourself. Let's go out and do something. Just hang out."
"I'm fine." He said.
"We just established that you are, in fact, not fine. Come on. We hate seeing you like this. Just, let's do something. I can cheer you up." He shook his head, and rolled over, so that his back was facing me.
"I'm fine." He said again.
"Don't make me beg, Harry. I will sit here, and I will beg you, and I won't shut up until you agree to get out of this bed, and do something." I said. He grunted. "Please? Harry. Please? It'll be fun! Please, please, please?"
"No." He said. This boy was getting on my last good nerve.
"Either get out of this bed willingly, or I will remove you from it myself." I said. "And don't think I'm kidding, because I'm not. I am a black belt, and it won't take much to get you up." He groaned and sat up.
"Fine!" I grinned.
"Good. Now, go take a shower. You're hair desperately needs some conditioner." He climbed from the bed. Thankfully, he was wearing underwear. He grabbed a clean pair from his suitcase, and then trudged slowly to the bathroom.
About 20 minutes later, he came out, his hair wet. He went over to his suitcase, and picked out a pair of sweatpants, and a t-shirt.
"Harry."
"What?" He groaned.
"No. You're not wearing that. I don't know where we're going yet, but you gotta dress better than that. Here, let me help you." I said, standing up, and walking over to his suitcase. He groaned, and walked over to his bed, falling face first onto it. "Okay, so you need a pair of pants."
"I already have some on." He said.
"What?"
"I already have some on." He repeated. I looked at him, still in just his boxers.
"No, you don't." I said.
"Do I look naked?" He asked.
"No."
"Exactly. I have some on."
"Okay, no. I meant these things." I said, holding up a pair of his jeans.
"Those are called trousers." He said, raising his face up out of the pillow to look at me.
"This is America, Harry. These are pants, and those are underwear." I said, pointing to the jeans, and then his boxers. "Underwear and pants. Not pants and trousers." I picked out a pair of white jeans, and a red shirt. "How's this?" I asked. He shrugged his shoulders, laying face down in the pillows again. I sighed, and layed the outift on the bed.
"Put this on." I ordered, before walking out. I didn't want to stand there and watch him dress. I would look like a creeper. I waited, a little impatiently might I add, for him to get dressed, and finally come out. When he did, I slid the room key into my pocket, and we headed out.
"What are we doing?" He asked. I racked my brain. What did he like? I remembered Nikki talking about how cute he looked in his golfing clothes.
"How about mini golf?" I asked. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Sure." We walked to the mini golf place. This would have been a good time to have Nikki and her expert underage driving skills. At least there were no paparazzi. I'm guessing they didn't know the boys were even in America. The two of us got to the mini golf place.
At first, Harry seemed like he didn't want to be there. Mainly because he didn't. But, after a few games, he had cheered up a little. I contributed to this factor with my amazing mini golf skills. I'm just kidding. He made fun of me because I couldn't get the stupid golf ball to go in the hole. Once, I hit it, and it bounced off the hippo's head, and hit some old dude in the head.
That was truly when he started breaking out of his depression. He doubled over, laughing at me for like 5 minutes, while I just stood there.
"Yeah, yeah." I said. "I know I'm terrible. Come on, let's go to the next hole." I said.
"How does that happen?" He asked me, still laughing uncontrollably.
"I'm Cayley. How do you think it happened?" I moved on to the next hole. It took him one try, and it the ball fell in the hole. It was my turn. I lined the ball up, and then hit it. I hit it so hard it passed up the hole we were on, and went straight into the next one. "Hey! Hole in one!" I yelled.
"That doesn't count!" Harry said. "We aren't on that whole yet!"
"Then I don't have to do that one when we get there!" I said.
"Yes, you do. It doesn't count!"
"Ugh! Whatever." I said, stomping off. When we were done with mini golf, I took him out for lunch.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
Niall: How'd it go with Nikki?
Cayley: Not good. She locked herself in her room.
Niall: I'm sorry... Wanna hang out then?
Cayley: I can't. I'm hanging out with Harry.
Niall: Harry who?
Cayley: Um... Styles?
Niall: You got him to come out?
Cayley: Yes. Lou is with Nikki. I don't know how things are going there though.
Niall: Oh.
Cayley: Yeah. So, I'll talk to you later alright?
I put my phone up, and returned my attention to Harry.
"Having fun?" I asked.
"I am. What are we doing next?" He asked me. I smiled.
"Hm..." I mumbled, while thinking. "Movie?"
"Sounds great!" We finished eating, and then walked to the mall. I paid for two tickets to the Avengers even though I had already seen it. I bought some snacks, and we went to watch the movie. When it was over, Harry followed me out of the theater, and we started walking around.
"That's such an amazing movie." I said. "It gets better each time I watch it!"
"Yeah. It's pretty great." He smiled at me, and took a drink of the icee I bought him. I smiled in return. It was working! He was cheering up. I'm an epic person cheerer upper!
"So, what do you want to do now? We can go bowling, or we can go to the beach or something. It doesn't matter to me. Whatever you wanna do. Harry?" I asked. I noticed he wasn't beside me anymore. I stoppped, and turned around. He stood in front of a shop window, staring at whatever was behind it. I walked up to him, and followed his gaze.
DC shoes.
Uh oh.
"She loves DC's." He said quietly. The corners of his mouth turned up into a sad smile. "I'm sorry. I gotta go. Thanks for everything though." And then he walked away.
"Harry! Wait!" I said, I followed after him, back to the hotel. I didn't want him getting hurt. He went back in his room, and I left him alone.
I sighed, leaning against the wall. I went back to Niall's suite, and knocked on the door. The door opened, and Niall appeared. He looked at me, shocked.
"I can hang out now." I said sadly. He looked at me, and then pulled me into a hug, before pulling me into the suite and shutting the door.
--Louis' P.O.V--
I walked to Nikki's house. I looked for the window that Cayley had thrown the ice cream out of. It's on the second story. Are you kidding me? I groaned. Whatever. I was doing this to make my best friend and the girl he loves happy. I went over to the side of the house, and started climbing up the trellis.
When I reached the top, I held onto the trellis with one hand, and slid my other hand under the crack that was left from the window being left open the tiniest bit. I pushed up on the window, opening it all the way, and then slipped through the opening, and fell into her floor with a loud thump.
I stood up, brushing myself off, and adjusting my clothes, and looked around. Her walls were bare except a bunch of pictures of her and Cayley and some people I had never met before. I'm guessing that was once where our faces were. Her music was loud, and just as Cayley said, quite depressing.
I think you can do much better than me
After all the lies that I made you believe
And guilt kicks in and I start to see
The edge of the bed where your nightgown used to be
I just stood there, listening to the song that she was playing.
I told myself I won't miss you
But I remembered what it feels like beside you
I really miss your hair in my face
And the way your innocence tastes
And I think you should know this
You deserve much better than me
Oh, God. This is really depressing. When the song ended, it started again. She had it on repeat. Poor girl. I hoped she didn't think that he deserved better than her. She was perfect for Harry. And he loved her with everything he had. I crossed to the speakers that her i-pod was plugged into, and turned the music off.
She shot up out of the bed.
"Why do you keep- Louis?" We looked at each other. "What are you doing here? How did you even get in here?" I pointed my thumb in the direction of the window.
"Climbed up the side of your house, and fell through the window." She rolled her eyes.
"That answers one question. What about the most important one: What are you doing here?"
"I came to talk to you." I said. Sitting down in the floor beside her bed. She layed back down, and pulled the cover up to her face.
"Well, you should just fall back through the window, cause I don't want to talk. There's nothing to talk about."
"There's lots to talk about, Nikki. Like how Harry is refusing to come out of his room-"
"I don't want to hear it, Louis." She snapped.
"I don't care if you want to hear it or not." I snapped back. "You're going to hear it, and you aren't going to complain. Understand?" She glared at me, and then pulled her cover over her head.
"Go. Away." She said.
"No!" I yelled, standing up and yanking the cover off of her. "My best friend has locked himself in his room, and no one can get in to even see if he's alive. And if he is, he hasn't came out to eat or anything. You're refusing to talk to him, and it's not helping either of you! He's laying in his room in silence, and you're laying in your bed blaring depressing music which does not help someone to get in a better mood!"
"I'm sorry, okay?" She suddenly yelled. "I'm sorry he's hurting, but he hurt me first! So it's not my problem!"
"Tell him that." I said quietly, shocked by her outburst. "Tell him how you feel, and let him fix it."
"There's nothing to fix, Louis. It's done. I don't want to talk about this, alright?"
"We need to, though!"
"No! I'm. NOT. Talking. About it!" I looked at her, her eyes shifting from blue to grey as I stared into them.
"Okay, fine." I said. "We won't talk about it. But we aren't going to sit here in this room either. You're gonna get up, and get dressed, and we're going to do something." She raised an eyebrow at me, and didn't move. "Are you going to pick out some clothes?" I asked her. She raised the other one. "Okay, I guess I'll do it." I moved to her closet door, and when I slid it open, I noticed a bunch of posters in the floor of it, and an 'I ♥ Harry Styles' hoodie. I pretended like I hadn't noticed and started rifling through her clothes.
I took out a hot pink shirt with Love written across it, and a pair of jean shorts.
"What about this?" I asked her. She sat up in bed, and looked at it. She made a face, and shook her head. "Okay." I put it back, and kept looking. This time I found a purple shirt with hearts on the front, and white capris. "This?" She shook her head again. I sighed, and turned back to her closet.
I went through all of the bright colors she had, but she said no to each. Finally, when I pulled a black shirt with a skull, with roses, and rose vines wrapped through it's orifices she finally nodded. I put the shirt on her dresser, and started looking for a pair of bottoms for her to wear. After going through half of them, she finally picked a pair of holey ,dark colored, acid washed denim jeans. I handed her the clothes, and then went out into the hallway so she could change.
She walked out about ten minutes later, just when I was starting to wonder if I'd have to crawl back through the window, fully dressed. Her long hair was straightened, and hung loosely down her shoulders. She had shoes on to, so she was ready to go.
"Where do you wanna do?" I asked her.
"I feel like... bowling?"
"Bowling it is then. Let's start walking." She snorted, and I turned back to look at her. "What?"
"I ain't walking anywhere!" She said. "Hold on." She pulled her phone form her pocket, and dialed a number.
"Hey, Jayce, can I borrow your truck?" She asked. "Alright, thanks." She hung up the phone. "He'll be here in a minute."
"Who's Jayce?" I asked.
"My brother."
"I didn't know you had a brother."
"Yep. I have a sister too. But, she's married."
"Oh." She walked into the kitchen, and jumped up on the island. She started swinging her legs back and forth.
"I don't see why I have to leave the house. I was perfectly fine where I was."
"Totally, cause the depressing music screamed 'perfectly fine.' Whatever." I said. There was a loud rumbling, and she smiled.
"Ride's here." She said, and jumped from the island. I followed after her. She opened the door, and walked out. I closed it behind me, and looked out. A black Ford Ranger sat in her driveway, and behind that a red Dodge. There was a guy in the driver's side of both trucks. The one in the Ford Ranger got out as she approached.
Nikki walked up to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. She seemed, shocked, but hugged him back. He toward over her by almost a foot. The two of them looked nothing alike. She was short, blonde and had blue eyes, and he was tall, brown headed, and probably had brown eyes.
"You okay?" He asked her.
"Yeah." She said.
"Where're you going?"
"Bowling."
"Who's he?" He asked, looking over at me.
"That's Louis. He's my friend."
"He looks a little old to be your friend. How old are you?" He asked me.
"Twenty." He raised his eyebrows at me, and then looked down at Nikki.
"He's a little old for you, don't you think?" He asked her.
"He's not that kind of a friend, you freak. He's a member of that band I liked. You know the one in the pictures that were all over my walls?"
"Oh, yeah. Well, alright then. Be careful okay. I don't need this truck to be wrecked like the other one." Nikki laughed.
"As I told you before, you need to get over your fear of public toilets." He rolled his eyes, and walked to the passenger side of the red Dodge. He got in, and the driver backed out of the driveway.
"Who was that?" I asked.
"Jayce." She said simply.
"How old is he?"
"Twenty."
"And he's how tall?"
"6'2"" She climbed into the drivers side of the truck.
"Shouldn't I drive? Since I have my license."
"Just because I don't have my license doesn't mean I can't drive. I drive so well, the cops don't know I don't have my license. Besides, Jayce doesn't let people drive his truck."
"But you're driving it."
"Yeah, and I'm his sister, aren't I?" I sighed, and climbed in the passenger side.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
"STRIKE!" Nikki yelled. "What now?!" She turned around to face me. "I believe that's my third strike, Swag Masta!"
"Are you sure?" I asked, teasing her. She was beating me badly. But in my defense, she had like 4 Nos since we've been here.
"I believe I just out-swagged you." She said. "My bowling skills are just that epic."
"Yeah yeah. I'll show you out-swagged." I said. I picked up my ball, and threw it down the lane. It knocked every pin except the three on the side. "Dang it."
"You showed me alright. You showed me, showing yourself that I out-swagged you." She burst into laughter, finishing off the last bit of her Nos. "Well, time for another one." She said.
"Oh, no you don't!" I said, catching her arm. "You're about two seconds away from a heart attack. Come on. Let's do something else." We ordered some food, and left after we finished eating. "Let's go to the pet shop." I said.
"Sure?" She said, and drove to the pet shop. We got out, and walked in and started looking at the different animals. She loved the hamsters, and then we went back to where the dogs were. The two of us walked past the glass windows looking at the cute little animals.
Suddenly, she froze. I followed her gaze to some cats.
Oh, lord.
"He's obsessed with cats." She said, sadly. "It's time to go, Lou." She said. I followed her out to the truck, and she drove it back to her house. I followed her in, but she shut the bedroom door in my face, and locked me out.
"Nikki?"
"Go away, Lou. I'm fine, okay?" And the music started up, drowining out my pleas foor her to open the door.
Cayley's going to kill me.
Author's Note: Credit for this chapter goes to Cayley. Because she has amazing ideas. :) As you said earlier, your amazing ideas, and my writing skills combined are EPIC!! I love you, Cookie Monster! :)