The New Nerd - Niall Horan

Part 21

We arrived the place I feared the most — the hospital. A lump started to grow in my throat and with every minute I swallowed, it would all make the lump grow bigger. Fear of what happened to him started to spread out in every limb, muscle and nerve.

“Are you okay?” Marcel asked calmly, yet his fear was noticeable. The thought of visiting Niall was no longer tempting. He probably didn’t want to see me either. For all I could know, he could still be annoyed with me when it came to my “freaky stare” or when I cancelled the plans we had together because I had to visiting my grand parents.

I looked towards Marcel and shook my head, “I don’t want to go inside.” In shock, Marcel’s eyes widened.

“(Y/N), listen,” he made his voice clear, “Even though he told me not to tell you doesn’t mean he don’t need you, because he surely does,” he tried to calm me down.

“He’s probably mad at me for cancelling our plans,” I punished myself by thinking of how disappointed he must have been.

“He doesn’t need me, he needs a friend like you,” I looked up at Marcel with unsure eyes.

Without saying anything, Marcel grabbed my hand and forced me inside. My thoughts went for a run again and before I knew it, we were on our way to his room. I felt my hands start to shake in nervousness and fear, thinking of what I was about to see. I didn’t know anything about his condition. Half of his face could be gone, or he could have lost a leg, I knew absolutely nothing.

Marcel opened the door for me, causing me to close my eyes. How badly I wanted to see him was overwhelming, but also frightening.

“(Y/N),” a familiar, yet darker voice whispered, “Baby,” he murmured again, and by that one word, my eyes opened. It has been far too long since he called me that.

In front of me laid the boy I adored most in the world on a bed. He was laying straight in the bed like a powerless, old man.

I walked over to him and sat down on the chair, like he did to me when I was the one laying in the hospital bed after the bus accident.

“Niall,” I whispered with a stuttering voice, after being close to tears just by seeing how miserable he looked. His eyes were closed, but a smile was already formed on his face. His hand soon reached out to mine, but sadly lost its power, causing it to land in my hand.

“I’ve missed you,” I confessed and lifted his hand up to caress my cheek. His hand made a little movement, probably to signalize the feeling of my tears drying on his hand.

“Missed… you…too,” he barely managed to let out of his dry lips. I scanned the room to find some water when a glass with a straw caught my attention on his nightstand next to me. I picked it up and forced the straw between his lips, making him suck at it lightly.

Marcel came over to me and laid a hand on my shoulder, “I’m sorry, lad. She literally begged for an answer,” Marcel committed, causing Niall to smile again.

“She’s a real pain, isn’t she?” Niall joked sarcastically. However, he ended up coughing at his own joke. My body jumped as I remembered the same, strange couch from two weeks earlier, when I handed him my jacket.

“Yeah…” Marcel chuckled weakly. I felt sorry for, not only Niall, but Marcel as well. It probably wasn’t easy to see his best friend lay in a bed weaker than ever, but still trying to act like the joyful boy he truly was. Niall was like a fairy without pixie dust, losing the sparkle in his eyes.