Everything About You

Chapter 51

I put my finger to my lips, signaling for her mother to be silent as I nodded towards a sleeping Katie. I stood up and pointed towards the hallway, motioning for her mother to follow me.

Once we stood outside, she began ranting, “How could this happen?! When I let Katie come, you promised you’d take care of her! Look at this! Is this taking care of her? What’s going on?!”

-KATIE’S POV-

I woke up to shouting coming from the hall. Vision still blurred from my sleepy state, my eyes searched the room. After a minute or two, I was positive Niall was not there and had a bad feeling he was a part of the commotion outside my room. Instinctively I stood up to find him, forgetting an IV was jammed into my arm. I groaned at the pain of it semi-ripping out and grabbed the metal pole it was attached to. Carrying it behind me, I stepped out into the hall to see Niall and my mother bickering.

“Stop!” I demanded, getting their attention as I stomped my foot on the ground.

“Katie, you shouldn’t be out here.” Niall said panicked. He grabbed the IV from me and put a hand on my back, guiding me back to my bed.

“I’m fine.” I muttered as he carefully helped me up.

“Let’s agree to let the nurse decide that from now on.”

I sighed, “Fine. What’s she doing here?”

“She is…”

Our mouths snapped shut as she entered the room.

“Oh Katie, I’m so happy you are okay! Once we are back home, everything is going to be-“

“What do you mean by ‘home’?” I interrupted. She stopped in her footsteps, her arms surrendering to her sides as she realized a hug would not be returned.

“Back in the states.”

I chuckled, “The states? That’s not my home. It never has been.”

“It has been your home since you were a baby. Katie, let me just tell you how it is going to be. You are coming with me to OUR home the second the hospital lets you leave whether or not you like it.”

Niall stepped forward, sheepishly asking to speak, “Not to be rude, but do you mind if I say something?”

“Fine.” My mother spat.

“I understand that you are her mother and want what is best for her, I want the same. You might want to take her opinion into consideration because she has a voice too. Maybe if you took a second to actuallylisten to it, you might learn a thing or two about your daughter.”

My mother gasped, her eyes growing wide, “Excuse me?”

“Katie has a heart even more beautiful than her appearance. When someone is that genuine, you should preserve it. If you force her to live a life that only brings her misery, eventually she will break. I don’t know about you, but seeing that incredible girl standing before us break into millions of pieces, would kill me. She is my everything… I can’t lose her. If this truly was what was best for her, I could let her go. If I knew that she would be better off in America I would buy the plan ticket myself because all I want for her is the best. I know for one thing that I am not the best. But I do know that if Katie stays here, she will have an incredible support system, get a good education traveling the world with us, I will give her every possible thing she needs and wants, I’ll protect her, and… I’ll love her with all of my heart through everything.”

“You weren’t able to protect her from herself.”

“Neither were you.” I shouted.

“What did you just say to me?”

“You’ve had my entire life to notice the eating disorder I had for two years, the self harm I had a problem with for over four years, not to mention the depression I’d dealt with for as long as I can remember. You didn’t see any of that!”

“I… I didn’t know.” My mother’s face softened, tears dotting her cheeks.

“You tried mom, I know you did. You did a good job but right now, I need to be here. My friends and Niall, they noticed. Not only did they notice but they didn’t judge me for it. Honestly mom, you’ve been pretty consumed with yourself since I was about 10. Your fallback has always been how I wouldn’t be happy if you weren’t, which is true, but that is not an excuse to constantly go out. You’ve been believing my fake smile for equally as long, I don’t know if that makes you gullible or me a talented actress. But all of that has happened and it’s too late to change. The past is the past, but your choice right now will affect me forever. If you force me to go back, this… where I am right now… will happen a lot more. That isn’t a threat, that’s a guarantee. I can’t help the way I feel about myself but here, I feel a whole lot better than I did there.”

“But you’re only 16.”

“I may have only been on Earth for 16 years, but we both know I’ve never been just 16.”

“I can’t ask Niall to take you in. He’s too young and it isn’t fair to him.”

I opened my mouth then clamped it shut. She was right. I bowed my head in defeat, realizing I hadn’t taken him into consideration. Niall didn’t deserve the responsibility that came with me.

I looked up as Niall began speaking, “With all due respect miss, I wouldn’t see that as ‘taking her in’, I’d see it as the beginning to a happily ever after. Katie is truly the love of my life and if she leaves, I don’t know what I’d do to be honest. She…” Niall paused to look down at me, softly stroking my cheek, “She is perfect and I want to show her that. And to be blunt, I’m in a very successful boy band so the financial aspect really doesn’t affect me. Even if she is an ocean away, I’d still feel the responsibility to keep her safe and happy because when you love someone, all of that comes along with it. Katie and I have told you how we feel so at this point, there isn’t much more we can do except hope you’ll reconsider.”

With a loud sigh my mother opened her mouth. I felt my nails dig into Niall’s skin as I tightly clutched his arm, preparing for the dreaded answer.

“Katie…”