Swapping Spit (Nouis) [under editing]

Chp 14-Niall's Day Alone

Niall's POV

When I wake up for the second time, it's past three in the afternoon. Wow, I slept the day away.

The house is oddly quiet and I trot out of my room, whistling a random tune. Not one of the lads are anywhere to be found. On my way to check if they're outside, I spot a note on the countertop.

In Louis' scribbley handwriting, it says,

"Ni-

We went ATV riding for a couple hours. If you need anything call me :)

Love Lou xx"

Why do those simple words cause my stomach to erupt with butterflies? Ugh, shake it off. It's nothing...nothing at all...right.

I decide to start searching for Colby. What could I do? Check the phone books...ask around town...oh! I know!

I quickly run over to the counter and grab my laptop, then jump onto the couch. I click open the Internet and wait for it to load.

In the meantime, my stomach decides that it's time for more food, so I get up and search the kitchen.

"Yum!" I exclaim as I spot some leftover brownies Harry made the other day. I bring the plate over to the couch and think of what to search on google.

I don't know Colby's last name. Only his first name and that he's around the age of 7. His father seemed really violent and had a nasty scar over his eyebrow. Maybe there was something on the Internet having to do with abusive fathers...?

On google, I type in my "Abusive fathers" and a list of news articles and clinics for seeking help from abusive relationships or situations comes up.

I click the link to the first one and find a website full of news stories involving abuse and violent behavior. After searching the different tabs, I realize that most of the stories are fairly recent. I read a couple and tears begin to prick my eyes. I can't believe there are so many stories involving violence. It's wrong.

I take a deep breath and let it out while running a hand through my ungroomed hair. I still hardly have a clue of what I'm even searching for. I know next to nothing about Colby or his situation. I'm googling abusive situations but I don't even know if Colby's father has done something recorded in the media.

"Ahhh!" I let out a frustrated scream. Why am I so caught up in this? I'm so anxious to help Colby but I have nothing to go off of.

I go to click the search bar but accidentally click images. I gasp loudly as I recognize the third picture. There's no doubt in my mind its the same man from the park! He's got the same scar across his eyebrow and the firm, hardened face. But what scares me the most is the fact that the picture is actually a mug shot.

I click the link but the site is blocked. I guess for security purposes.

But the image does have a name.

"Richard H. Jackson."

I send the mugshot to the printer and in the meantime, text Louis to see of the lads are coming home soon.

Louis texts back after I order three pizzas and says they're on their way home.

A smile creeps onto my face at the thought of not being alone anymore. I could use a distraction from all this thinking and Louis sure is an odd child, he's sure to keep me distracted.

I decide to play it cool as if I didn't just spend the last couple hours researching Louis' past. It feels so wrong that I went behind his back, but it now involves me too because that man -Richard- punched me.

I snatch the printed papers up, fold them, and stuff them deep into my pants pocket. The pizza comes soon and I pay for it.

As if on cue, the door swings open and I hear Louis scream, "HONEY I'M HOME!"

I chuckle and rush to the door. "How was ATV riding?"

"It was awesome!" Zayn exclaims. "Except my hair..." he tries to fix it but ends up heading to a mirror in the bathroom.

"I beat Harry!" Louis gloats, looking at Harry with a huge smirk.

"I know! You've only been reminding everybody the whole ride back," Harry sighs and walks into the kitchen.

Liam and Louis follow suit and I hear one of them ask, "You ordered pizza?"

"Yep!" I pop the P at the end and stroll in behind them.

I take five pieces of pepperoni mushroom slices and sit on the couch, munching down.

"So, what've you been up to all day, Nialler?" Zayn asks, plopping down next to me.

I shrug. "Nothing much. I slept practically the whole day." I decide to not mention my search for Colby and ehhh...the stuff about Louis.

"How's your bruise?" Liam asks.

"My face hurts a lot less, thanks to the painkillers," I explain. Liam kneels down in between my legs to have a look. He carefully turns my head to the side and nods.

"It looks a lot better!" he smiles.

I take another huge bite of pizza, probably getting sauce all over my face.

Liam then says, "I told Simon andhe said if anyone asks to just lie and say you fell or something."

I nod. "Ok, I fell and hit a countertop, right?"

Liam laughs and agrees.

After the rest of the lads have finished eating, Liam suddenly remembers something. "Hey, we keep forgetting to do that twitcam!"

"Oh right!" Harry exclaims.

"We could do it now?" Zayn offers.

"Sure thing," Liam says and turns his laptop on, logging into twitter. He looks at my face again and shrugs, "I geuss you can show your face on the twitcam, Niall. I mean it doesn't look that bad anymore."

I cheer and then Liam quickly posts a tweet informing the fans of a twitcam coming soon. Within seconds, they're are thousands of fans ready and we decide to start.

But just before he starts it, I yell, "Wait!" I jump off the couch and stack three more slices of pizza onto my plate and then return to my spot inbetween Zayn and Louis.

"Okay!"

Liam laughs and presses start. We wave and say, "Hello everybody!"

Harry continues, "We finally got around to doing a twitcam because we thought you guys deserved one!"

"You are truly the most amazing fans!" Zayn smiles and the rest of us agree.

"So, I was thinking we could answer some fan questions, how does that sound?" Liam says.

I nod and smile a cheeky grin. "Alright, here's a good one," Liam says after looking through the thousands of tweeted suggestions.

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Author's note

Ohhhh gosh this chapter wasn't even finished yet but I feel SOOOO bad for not updating in forever! So, here's what I've got so far... Hope you liked it :)