Safe

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Two weeks later

I scurry around the small hospital room, checking to make sure everything is packed and ready to go. Niall has kept so much shit here, it will be impossible not to leave something. Leave. We are actually leaving this god forsaken place.

A smile spreads across my lips as I think about the fact that I will no longer have to spend my nights on that tiny couch, no longer have to sleep away from Niall, and no longer have to be in this place. Just thinking about it makes my stomach turn, and I can't imagine what it's like for the doctors to be here day in and day out. 

"You're happy today," Niall's voice cuts through my thoughts. I turn around, duffle bag on my shoulder, and face him coming out of the bathroom.

"Of course I am!" I shriek with excitment. "We're finally going home!" He lets out a small laugh and walks closer to me. 

"Yes we are, babe." His smile is the most genuine I've seen it in weeks. He looks down at me from his tall stance and it takes every single ounce of self control in me not to kiss him right there and never stop. "I'm going to go sign the discharge paperwork, and then we can go, yeah?" 

"Yes! Go! Fast!" I playfully push him out of the door and take a seat on the ever too familiar couch. The last two weeks have been such a whirlwind, and I'm so glad that they're finally over and we finally get to leave. I'm actually surprised at how happy Niall is. The first of the past two weeks brought nothing but awkward visits and lots of appointments, doctors, and medicine. Everybody kept lingering around - including Izzie, Harry, and Zayn all at the same time, mostly - and the room was extremely crowded all the time. Everyone was just happy that Niall was finally awake. 

Niall spent a lot of his time playing his guitar, and he even wrote a few songs that he really thinks could be big hits. I mostly just sat on the couch, next to his bed, or on his bed with him, listening to him play guitar and reading and re-reading my favourite of stories. He made fun of me a lot because I would become too emotionally invested in my books, and half the time he would look over to find me crying or laughing or cursing to myself. 

Whenever everyone was around, I didn't speak much. I didn't have anything to say to Izzie or Zayn. If I spoke to Harry or Perrie I thought I would surely spill their secret. Louis was acting extremely uncomfortable and weird around me all the time ever since our heart-to-heart, and I could hardly look at Eleanor without wondering what the hell was wrong with her and Louis' relationship. All I knew was that all of these people were great liars, because they all pretended like nothing was wrong through the entire week. Liam and Danielle were the only normal people there, and so I mainly spoke to them. 

Dani and I found a common interest in some of the movies and music we liked, so we spent most of our time talking about things like that. Liam is very good with card tricks, believe it or not. 

Thanksgiving rolled around and Niall was still in the hospital. I didn't mind too much, as I only ever celebrated with my mom and Izzie. My mom ended up coming to the hospital and she, Niall and I all ate together in his room. Nobody else bothered us that day. 

The day after Thanksgiving, Harry, Louis, Liam and Zayn needed to fly back to the UK for some business deals. I think it killed Niall not to go, although he would never admit that. Lucky for me, all of the girlfriends went with them - including Izzie. I hadn't spoken to her since I caught her with Zayn, and I was relieved she would be leaving for a while so I could figure things out. It was just Niall and I, and that's when I spent most of my time reading and he spent most of his playing guitar. I would go out and get us lunch everyday, we'd watch movies and talk about whatever was on our minds. The whole week was actually pretty nice, aside from the hospital and doctors and medicine thing. And as far as I knew, everyone was still in the UK.