Niall, answer the door please

Niall's Never Late

Niall over balanced and pitched down the flight of stairs. Some subconscious sense of preservation had him grabbing the bannister as he fell but his grip was not strong enough  and it only wrenched his shoulder, making him spin even more as he fell, his back then his head  repeatedly hitting the steps as he continued to tumble down. He finally crashed, sprawling,  onto the cold, hard floor, his head slamming hard on the tiled surface. Then everything was still. The glass on Niall's wristwatch had smashed as he fell, stopping his watch at 4:23am.

Liam's alarm went off at 8am and he reached out to slam off the annoying sound. He sat up groggily then . flinging back the covers, swung his legs out of bed.He wanted to sleep longer but he had so much to do today if he, Niall and Louis were going clubbing tonight. He wondered if Harry wanted to join them and made a mental note to call him. First things first, he thought, and headed to the shower.

Sophia was down in the kitchen writing a list of groceries they needed. Liam walked over and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek softly.  "Do we have to?" he moaned on seeing what she was writing.

"Yes, we do, if you plan on continuing to be able to eat". Sophia said firmly before returning the kiss. "What else have you planned today?"

"Sound check, show then clubbing with the lads after. You coming?" Liam asked as he grabbed one of the slices of toast Sophia had prepared. " Not sure what club we'll go to yet. Damn, I miss the Funky Buddah. Not found another club I like as much. That place was sic."

"You're on your own, Payno. Lou, Lottie, Gemma and I are having a girls only night. We're going to eat junk food, drink a little wine and complain about our menfolk and male siblings. You lads go do some male bonding while you have the chance. Now hurry and eat your breakfast so we can get the shopping done."

Liam glanced at the clock as he helped Sophia put the groceries away. 12:30pm. Perfect! Just enough time to have some lunch before heading to the venue to do the sound checks. He was looking forward to having a good laugh with Louis over the media reports that he and Louis had  an on stage fight. Honestly, the media like to twist the truth into something today divorced from the truth. No wonder Zayn had found it all too much. Liam started to mull over the past until Sophia broke into his thoughts with the reminder he did actually need to eat. Grinning at her, Liam started to prepare lunch for them both.

"Alright lads?" Louis chirped has he grabbed his mike. Harry and Liam nodded. "Where's our little leprechaun? "  All the boys looked around as if Niall was hiding somewhere near them. "He's probably stuck in traffic and will roll in soon. Let's start without him"

"OK, let's just finish with Drag Me down then Infinity and we'll call it quits" The boys went through the two numbers with Liam and Louis taking Niall's solos between them. All the boys were now very worried  than Niall was still absent. Niall was a true professional and had never missed a sound check before. Heck Niall still performed when he was really sick so his not turning up was a major concern. Liam pulled out his phone and rang Niall's number yet  again. It still  went to voice mail. Maybe he's driving, Liam thought so send a  text. Liam glanced at his watch, it was nearly 5pm, only a few hours until they had to start getting ready for the show. Maybe he should give it 30minutes then if he hadn't heard from Niall, he'd drive over to his house. This behaviour was so unlike Niall that Liam was really beginning to feel panicked. Niall was never late and when he did something this out of character, well, it made Liam very uneasy.

"I'm going to check on Niall" Liam told Harry." This doesn't seem right. Maybe he's overslept as he's not been feeling too great these past few days and when Niall sleeps even a stadium of screaming fans wouldn't be enough to wake him up"

"Good call" Harry said in his slow, deep voice. " He probably has just overslept but you can drag his sleepy arse out of bed and bring him along. Louis reappeared at Harry's side and he was  looking worried and a little stressed.

"No response to my text or calls either" louis announced.

""That's it" Liam put his phone in his pocket and grabbed his car keys off the table. "I'll go get him and boy will I give him hell for this". Liam strode out of the dressing room and headed for his car.