petal [book 1] ❊ l.s.

eighteen - i love you

Around three in the morning, the phone that Louis gave Harry just hours before started ringing.

Harry blinked back his grogginess. He hadn't slept at all yet. He was still curled up on the living room floor, hugging his knees to his chest. At first, he thought that the buzzing of the phone was yet another figment of his imagination -- but then he saw Liam's name flashing across the screen.

He fumbled to answer the call. "Liam?"

"It's Louis," Liam's voice cut through the haze in his head. "He's awake. They're letting us see him now. I'm going to come pick you up, alright? I'll be there in ten minutes."

His voice sounded deeper over the phone, and the unfamiliarity only threw Harry even deeper into his state of confusion. The line between reality and fantasy were blurred, shifting in and out of focus. The entire night felt like some sort of dream. It all happened so fast: one minute, Louis was kissing Harry's forehead and stepping out to take a phone call, and the next, Harry was back in the backseat of Liam's car on the way to the hospital.

Again.

The city was blanketed in a darkness so thick that Harry could barely see two steps in front of him as he rushed out into the parking garage. He stumbled into Liam's car, practically falling into the backseat. Liam started driving the second that the door shut behind him.

"Hey," Niall greeted him from the passenger seat. "You alright?"

Harry nodded. "Did they tell you anything over the phone?"

"It's all bullshit," Liam snapped, harsh enough that Harry flinched even though he knew that the other boy's anger wasn't directed at him. "At first, they said he had gone out into the alley to take a call, and then a few guys jumped him. Knocked him out cold, beat him to a fucking pulp, then ran off right as the cops were showing up. Just left him there, bruised and bloody."

Harry shuddered at the thought, folding his knees to his chest and hugging himself tightly.

"Now, they're saying that there was already a fight going on, and Louis just managed to stumble into it accidentally. Apparently, a few other guys ended up in the hospital, too, and they were in the same shape as Louis. They all told the police the same story: that they had no idea who Louis was, that it was some drug-related dispute that didn't involve him at all." Liam explained, clearly frustrated as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

"That sounds like bullshit," Niall commented.

"It is bullshit."

The attackers had tried to make it seem like an accident. Harry knew better.

He almost had to jog to keep up with Liam's long strides, rushing to follow Louis's friends down the blindingly-white hospital hallway. They had been right here in this exact spot just hours ago, but it felt so far away. The time warp only continued when Harry saw the same doctor standing at the desk. The man recognized them immediately, and he pointed them in the right direction.

"Just down the hall," the doctor said. "Third room on the left."

Niall barely had a chance to blurt out a breathless "thank you" as they all rushed in the direction that the doctor had pointed.

The three boys came to a screeching stop in the doorway, and Harry had a moment to wonder if they had accidentally entered the unrealistic universe of a kids' cartoon. Then, peering over the other two boys' shoulders, he caught sight of Louis for the first time in twenty-four hours.

The blue-eyed boy cracked a smile. "Hey, lads. Sorry, I was really fucking tired last night, so I thought I should find a good place for a nice, long nap. The hospital seemed like a good place."