Broken || Niall Horan

Chapter 4

*Niall's POV*

"C'mon mate we're here, and they'er waiting!" I looked up from my bag of chips to see a smiling Harry. Our tour bus just arrived at the venue in Boston, and I could already hear the screaming girls. We would have to walk around them in order to get into the venue.

I hopped off the tour bus, and squinted in the late afternoon sun. We better get in there, these people are waiting for us, and we are already running late as it is. I got out last, and all the lads were way ahead of me, so I had to jog to catch up with them. I waved at the girls as I passed.

As I waved and walked, I my eyes caught this one particular girl. She stood out from the rest, I'm not sure why, maybe it was her flowing brown locks. Maybe it's the way her aqua-green eyes, though full of hurt, seemed to twinkle and shine in the light of the sun. I slowed my pace, or maybe I didn't, but whatever it was, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

I watched as she told all the girls around her to stop pushing her, her porcelain face full of worry. I coulnd't stop myself, my feet started walking in her direction. While I was making my way toward her, she looked up at me, and without even thinking, I smiled.

"Are you OK, you're not screaming like everyone else, and you look like you are in pain?" It was one of the lamest things I could've said, but I was just so nervous.

She smiled uneasily, "Uh, yeah, what is there to fan-girl over?" she shifted her body a little bit. She was right, we all were just normal people.

"I don't know," I moved my eyes down to her hands, her sleeves were rolled up, and I didn't even realise that I had stopped talking. As gently as I could I picked up her arms, she tried to pull away, but I held on. I looked back up at her eyes, they were beginning to fill with tears. I brought my gaze back to her arms, so intricately covered in scars. Trying to soothe I think myself more than her, I ran my fingers over the uneven skin.

I moved my eyes back to her face, all I could muster was a, "Why," my voice was barely a whisper, I doubt she even heard me over all the screams. She quickly pulled her hands from mine and rolled her sleeves back down.

Her gaze left mine and fell to the ground, "You, wouldn't understand." she whispered. I couldn't bare to see her like this.

I leaned over the blockade and whispered in her ear, "Then help me to understand, please." I grabbed her hand again. Paul must've noticed that something was wrong, because he came over.

"Is everything OK here?" He looked at the girl then back at me. I shook my head and gestured for him to come closer.

"She needs to see a medic, can you please help me get her out?" He nodded and radioed for backup. The girl looked back at me, a shocked expression on her face.

"What, are you going to kick me out now?"

I smiled, "Just wait," I whispered in her ear. When the backup came, they pushed the crowd back so it was just me and her, if only the moment could last forever. Paul nodded to me, and I held my hand out to her.

"C'mon, hop over," I smiled as warmly as I could. She hopped up onto the blockade and swung her legs over. Being a gentleman, I wrapped my arm around her to help her down. She gasped and jumped out of my arms. Well I feel like a dick, I hope I didn't hurt her.

"What's wrong, I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?" I was worried about her.

"No," she gasps for air, that can't be good, "It's just," she tries to inhale, "My ribs." I look at Paul to make sure it's OK to bring her inside, he nods. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and help her inside. I walked as fast as I could to the medic, I opened the door and Leah smiled at us. She looked at the girl, she continued to smile, but I could see the concern in her brown eyes.

"Hello dears, what do we have here?"

The girl answered shyly, "Uh, my, rib, is uh," Leah seemed to understand.

"It's OK, lets have a look. Can you please remove your sweatshirt?" She looked at me her eyes worried. I leaned over and whispered to Leah.

I didn't really know what to say, "She, has, uh, scars, all over, her, uh," Leah flashed a reassuring smile. She removed her sweatshirt with a little bit more persuasion, and the check up went on normally. The only thing was that her rib was cracked, and she was really skinny. She said all she had at home were toaster pastries.

The door opened, and Harry bursted in, "Niall, you coming," he stopped when his eyes landed on the girl.

"It's a long story, c'mon lets go," I whispered as we left the room. As we walked down the hall in silence, he looked at me.

"So, what was that about, she looked horrible," his gaze left my eyes and fell to the floor.

"I'll tell you later I promise, but right now we have to get ready for the concert. We are already late as it is, 5SOS is already on."