Running Bases With You

Chapter 55

{unedited}

*Louis' POV*

I'm shaken awake from a slumber I didn't realize I fell in to. My eyes peel open unwillingly and I struggle to sit up due to my painfully stiff muscles from sleeping in a confining hospital waiting room chair.

"Louis. Annabeth just got out of surgery."

My eyes shoot open, and I suddenly feel wide awake. The sentence, as if like magic, is like a bucket of ice water to the face.

She's finally out. It's finally over.

"Can I see her?" I immediately ask, quickly standing up from the uncomfortable chair.

"They let Talia go back already, but they said we have to wait until she wakes up." Niall explains, rubbing his fatigued eyes.

I stretch my arms and legs, wincing slightly. "How long was I out?"

"The whole time she was in surgery. So, a little over two hours." He explains.

I follow him as he walks over to a small corner of the room where Liam, Harry, and Zayn are standing, sipping on paper cups of steaming hot coffee.

"Did you have a good nap?" Harry asks, a smirk pulling at his lips.

"Not really. I still feel as shitty as I did when I woke up this morning." I frown, rubbing my eyes again. "Where did you get that coffee?"

Liam points down the hallway at a table. "Down there. Fair warning though, it tastes like liquefied tar."

I grimace, but I make the walk down the long corridor anyway since I am in desperate and dire need of a morning pick-up. My steps are short and slow, my feet practically dragging themselves against their will because of the little energy I have to donate into movement. I sigh when I reach the table, clearly telling the boys made a raid beforehand.

"Really, Liam?" I shout down the hallway.

His head peaks around the edge of the wall and I shake my head in annoyance.

"Could you not have left any normal sugar for someone else?" I whine.

The bastard left all the nasty, bitter tasting, fake sugar that no one likes to use.

"Hey! It wasn't just me!" He laughs, tossing his open arm in the arm.

"Oh, don't play innocent! Everyone knows you hog the damn sugar every time you get coffee! Why can't you just drink it black, like Zayn?" I chuckle, throwing my arms in the air.

"'Cos it's disgusting!" I hear a vague shout from Harry around the corner in Liam's defense, making me roll my eyes.

"Yeah, I guess you do have a point. But seriously! Leave me some real sugar next time, would you?" I ask, laughing at myself because I know they definitely won't even think about doing that.

I pour what's left of the coffee into a paper cup and add creamer and a few packets of Splenda, much to my disliking. I mix it together with the thin plastic stirrer and take a sip. I feel myself cringing in disgust; Liam was right. It does taste strangely similar to tar.

Not that I know what tar actually tastes like..

I walk back down the corridor with my coffee in hand, taking short sips along the way. Even though it tastes like tar, I can't deny the buzz of energy I'm starting to feel. By the time I make it back to the lads, I'm already feeling more awake and alive than before.