***Niall's P.O.V.***
Navaeh slept a lot. When she was with me she was usually curled up next to me or on top of me while she slipped into a dream state. The doctors had warned me about that kind of behavior; they said that she might be that way for a few day. I was glad that I was able to keep her in the flat with me while she was in such a state. It was better that she got her rest, and I made sure to give her her peace. Whenever she would doze off I would turn down the TV and try to relax as much as I could. Even though the days were pretty empty without her conversation, I couldn't complain about the close proximity that she was keeping. It was like I had my own cuddly penguin with me half the time.
Quite often when she was sleeping, I would play with her hair and think while the sound of people talking on the TV drifted through the room. It was a nice, calming place to think about what plagued my mind, and at that moment it was what I had seen a few days prior. When Navaeh had taken off her shirt in front of me, I hadn't looked away. No, I wasn't trying to sneak a peek of anything; my eyes had just caught on a mark on her back.
Navaeh had changed in front of me before; we were close friends and neither of us really had a problem with it because we knew that the other would turn away to give some extra privacy. However, I had never actually paid very close attention to the faint marks on her back. There were scratches and scars there; the once perfect canvas had been ripped in places from abuse that I had just recently found out about. There were even bruises that were just starting to fade, and looking at it all just made me want to kill her step father even more. I'd never say this about anyone except for him: there was a special place in hell for him.
Navaeh was so wonderful; she had this little thing that she did in her sleep where she fisted at my shirt and her nose would scrunch in her sleep. It was one of the most adorable things that I had ever seen, and the innocence of it all was hard to handle. I'd look down at her with a smile, but it would soon be wiped away at the dominant thought; how could someone hurt Navaeh like that? How could you see someone so perfect and precious and just want to hit them or scratch them? How could you even think about hurting them?
A dull ringing came from Navaeh's back pocket, and the sound made her stir in her spot. Without opening her eyes or looking up at me, she reached her hand back into her pocket and got out her old flip phone. She flipped it open before pressing it to her ear, but she didn't lift her head from my shoulder. Because of our close proximity, I could hear the other side of the conversation fairly well, and I listened in at first just to see who it was.
"Hello?" she greeted and the groggy tone of her voice was very evident in the words.
"Hey, Navaeh, it's Cody," the person answered, and I tried not to let my muscles tense too noticeably. Since my arms were wrapped around Navaeh protectively, she probably felt the change. "I wanted to apologize again for missing the movie; I really wish that I could have gone." My ears perked up at his words, and the frown on my lips deepened. They had had a date? I understand why I didn't know about it; after all, we hadn't been talking at that point and he was the reason. The idea of them being alone in a dimly lit theater wasn't very comforting, though. My fists clenched despite my greatest efforts to get them to relax. Hopefully, Navaeh hadn't seen the reaction; I didn't want her to think that all of this upset me as much as it did because I was fearful of another fight or that she would push me away because she couldn't talk to me about things like that. I was supposed to be there for her, and I couldn't do that if I was letting my judgmental side get to me.
"It's fine, really," she assured him with a smile seeping into her assurance, "if you're sick then you're sick."
There was a chuckle from the other side of the phone, and then he spoke, "speaking of being sick, did you catch the bug? I didn't see you today at school." What a weak way to transition into a different subject. Plus, could he have said anything that would have made him seem any more desperate; he had been seeking her out at school and he was going to bring that up? And I couldn't be sure, but it sounded like he had an American accent. That would really just explain everything about why I didn't like him; the teenage boys in that country seemed like the worst.
"Actually, I was in the hospital," she sighed, and I felt her picking at the material of my shirt when she said the words. I was happy to see that she was being open with someone, but I just wished that it wasn't this kid. He pushed my buttons in very bad ways, and I really didn't want them to get much closer to each other.
"Oh wow," the boy breathed out on his end of the conversation, "are you okay? What happened?"
Navaeh took in a deep breath, and my tense hand rubbed against her back to try to help her to calm down. "I'm fine now, I just had a little problem with some pills," she admitted, and I had no doubt in my mind that he understood what she was implying. Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if he was a complete idiot and didn't catch the meaning of the words at all.
"Was it because of the family issues?" Cody wondered, and that made my mind spin with this odd kind of anger. How did Cody know about everything with her father? I hadn't even known about it until a few days ago and I had known her for almost a year. How did a fucking boy she just met know about something so personal? My knuckles were starting to turn white at how tight my fists were clenched, and I had to force myself to breath regularly.
"Um, yeah," she mumbled, "just a bunch of stuff, but yeah."
"I understand," Cody told her, and I resisted the urge to scoff at that statement. "If you feel like things get too tough than I won't question it. I'm glad you're okay, though." His words baffled me; he was treating the fact that she tried to kill herself like it was a paper cut. How could it even be considered that unimportant? A look down at Navaeh showed me that she was smiling at the conversation, and that fact only boiled my blood a bit more.
"I'm glad to be feeling better," she replied to his words before her smile grew and she fidgeted with my shirt a little bit more. "Hey, would you be interested in catching that movie on Friday night?" her question was enough to make me want to grab the phone. The thought of them alone in a movie theater was brought up once again; a picture of this Cody boy reaching over to put his arm around Navaeh was what filled my head, and it was an unacceptable sight. I wouldn't be able to advise against it, though; she had already made the offer and I couldn't stop her from going if it was truly what she wanted to do.
"Are you kidding me? Of course," Cody answered with excitement from his side, "I was actually-."
"Navaeh, I'm hungry," I groaned to try to gain the attention that she was putting on the conversation. She actually looked up at me, and I could hear the slight mumbles of Cody continuing coming from her phone, but I tried to pay it little attention. She looked up at me with a raised brow and then let her lids close before shaking her head at me. Situating her head back to its regular position, she interrupted a babbling Cody.
"Yeah, hey, Cody, I'm so sorry but I have to go," she told him, and a smug little smile tilted my lips. I was consoled by the fact that she had chosen to pay attention to me rather than Cody. At least I was still at top priority over this new boy; that was something to be happy about. "Yeah, I'm at a friend's flat so I'll get back to you as soon as I can." And with that, she snapped the phone closed and looked back up at me. "Do you need me to get off of you so that you can go get food?" she asked me once she had slipped the phone back into her back pocket.
"No, you can stay here," I shook my head, and I wrapped my arms around her a bit tighter. She let out a slight squeal when I shifted slightly and she was brought even closer to my chest if that was possible.
"But Niall, you said you were-," she started, but I interrupted her before she could finish the sentence.
As I buried my face into her hair, I mumbled out a, "nope."
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"The look on your face was priceless," Louis laughed as we all climbed the steps to get to the front door of my flat. The boys and I had been out very late that night; it was Thursday, Navaeh had gone back to school and back to her house, and I was back into the schedule of recording and interviews. Things had been crazy for the boys and I; it was late night after late night and it was wearing down on us pretty quickly. We had to get up early in the morning the next day, and the boys and I had agreed to stay at my flat overnight so that we could all go in together.
"Yeah, well, you did slap me," Liam grumbled out, pushing Louis playfully as they all tried to get right behind me in front of the door. I had to get my keys out and unlock the door, so they had to wait for me to complete the action. A groan slipped past my lips when I remembered that I had given the key from my ring of keys to Navaeh in case she had to get into the flat for any reason. I told her that I would much rather have her spend her days at my flat then at her house with that insane step father of hers. So, I had to reach over and dig into the flower pot next to the door until my fingers grasped the cold brass key.
"That was not a slap," Louis protested while I pushed the key into the key hole, "it was a gentle tap on the cheek." I got the door open just as Liam scoffed at his statement, and they all basically trampled me to get inside and out of the cold air. For some reason, all of them froze in their spots, and I stumbled in after them to try and see what was wrong. "Niall," Louis whispered, "I think someone might be in your house."
I cocked an eyebrow at his words, but then my ears caught on the gruff speech of someone. Conversation could be heard from my living room, and I slowly crept towards that area. The boys hesitantly followed behind me, and when we passed through the kitchen I grabbed a pan that was hanging from where the pans hung above my kitchen island. It didn't make much noise, and I was thankful for that.
The light was on in the living room, and I couldn't help but to feel like I was over reacting. When I stepped through the threshold of the living room, I lowered the pan at the sight inside. The voices that we had heard in the foyer were coming from the TV, and I couldn't help but to mentally facepalm at that. It should've been the first thing that I assumed, but I had failed to make the connection. The boys were amused by the mistake as well; they chuckled to themselves even though there was a nervous edge to their laughs which gave away that they were scared before.
My eyes traveled to the couch where a petite figure had curled itself around one of the throw pillows from the couch. Her blonde hair was splayed out on the cushions around her head like a golden halo, and her face was barely visible because she was cuddling the pillow. The sight brought a smile to my lips, and I let the pan drop to the floor as I walked over to the couch in order to crouch beside her. "I thought you said she went home," Harry said, not rudely, but just from observation and previous information.
"Yeah," I shrugged in dismissal. Carefully and slowly, I reached my hand out in order to brush clumps of hair out of her face and stroke her cheek when it was exposed. The glistening of tear trails on her cheek made me pause and frown the tiniest bit, but I pushed the detail to the side. Gently, I let my hand trace to her right arm that was clutching the pillow tightly, and my thumb glided across the smooth skin. "Navaeh," I called in a hushed tone, and it earned a very small groan from her. I repeated her name until I got a very quiet 'what?' from her. "I'm going to carry you to my room so that you can sleep on the bed, okay?" it was more of a statement than a question. Regardless of her answer, I was going to take her to my room because I wasn't going to let her sleep on the couch like she was before.
As she groaned in protest to my actions, I slid my arms underneath her and drew her towards my chest as I supported her under her knees and on her back. Her arms wrapped around my neck sleepily, and she nuzzled herself into me as I stood to my full height and looked down at her. "I'm not tired," she mumbled even though she was already slipping back into sleep.
A small chuckle slipped past my lips before I pressed them to her forehead sweetly, "yeah, sure. Just go back to sleep, princess." I kept my grip on her firm as I turned, and I came face to face with a smug looking group of boys. They all were giving me this kind of look that tells you that they don't believe something, but I couldn't see what it would be in response to. "What?" I wondered with a slight blush rising to my cheeks from being the center of attention.
"Oh, nothing, just admiring your cute little relationship there," Louis shrugged as the teasing words fell from his lips, and I looked down at Navaeh before snapping my gaze back to them. The blush had grown even more, and I was looking for a way to hide it from them, but it was impossible when I was holding Navaeh. "We can leave if you and your girlfriend need some time alone to cuddle."
"We're just friends," I grumbled out before walking past them and into the kitchen. I was trying to be careful as I went through doorways, and when I finally got to my room I laid her down on the bed. Immediately, she rolled onto her side and curled into the fetal position like she always seemed to do when no one was there to hold her. I was tempted to disregard the boys for a while and join her for a short nap, but instead I patted her on the head and headed back to the living room to face the judgingly amused stares of the boys.
Sure enough, when I stepped into the room they were all looking to me with goofy smiles on their faces. "Did you kiss her goodnight?" Liam chimed in with his own teasing remark, and I sent a glare his way. They meant no harm by saying what they were saying, but I was being unreasonably embarrassed by it all. I just grabbed the remote to the TV and turned up the volume in order to drown out their words. Tonight would be fun...
A yawn slipped from my lips as I slid beneath the familiar covers of my bed. The TV in my room was turned on, but the volume was turned down so that words jumbled together and you could only guess on what the people on the screen were talking about. The lulling noise was all I would need to put me to sleep after I wrapped my arms around Navaeh and pulled her closer to me. So, I rolled over and reached to bring her towards me, but I froze in the middle of scooting her closer when she yelped in pain.
With a worried frown taking over my previously tired features, I scooted myself closer to her and looked down at her face to find her wincing. "Navaeh, what's wrong? Did I hurt you?" I questioned with a bit of a frantic edge to my words.
A tear squeezed its way out of her tightly closed eyes, and I carefully wiped it away after she shook her head to answer my question. "Niall," she whined out, "it hurts." And I didn't have to question her about that; from the way that she was acting and the way that she said the words I could tell that the pain was intense.
"What hurts?" I wondered
"My arm and my stomach," her breath came out shakily, and she was barely moving from her spot. It was probably from the fear of making it hurt even more, and it pained me to see her in such a state.
"I'll get you some medicine, okay?" I told her, and she nodded. Quickly, I threw the covers back and rose from the bed so that I could get to my bathroom. I pulled open the medicine cabinet and grabbed the bottle that held medicine usually reserved for the days that I had a hangover. It was the only pain medicine that I had that I could give to her; the rest of the medication was all specifically for my knee and I didn't feel comfortable enough to give it to her since I wasn't a doctor and I didn't know whether or not it would help. So, I poured a few of the pills into the palm of my hand and brought them back to where she was laying down. Eagerly, she took them from me and swallowed them dry. I crouched beside the bed and looked to her with the frown still lining my lips.
"Thank you," she whispered to me, but the pain wouldn't go away immediately, and it definitely hadn't started to yet judging from the cringe still on her face.
"He hurt you again," I stated; I didn't need to have her agree with it because I knew that it was true. There was almost no other explanation for her to have that much pain in two different places. "It's my fault, isn't it? Because I insisted that you had to stay with me while getting better; he didn't like that did he?" I demanded the answers one after another; it was almost like I wanted the blame in this situation because I knew it had to be my fault. She had told me that something like this would happen, and I still hadn't listened to her.
"Niall, no," she tried to argue, but I was already convinced that I was right. With a sigh, I rose from my spot next to the bed and walked back over to my side of the bed. Carefully, I got onto the bed before scooting over to her, and resting my forehead on her back. "Niall, please don't blame yourself," she pleaded with me. I only nodded against her back even though I was doing just that, and I didn't think I would be able to stop. How could I not blame myself? Sure, having a few days away from the horrid house with me was fine, but when I was sending her back to that hell it didn't seem like it would be worth it. It was like temporary happiness and false hope, and neither of those was very desirable.
"Please don't go back," I proposed my own beg, and I could feel her let out a drawn out sigh.
"I have to."