His girl; Sequel to SNA

Chapter 21: Sirens

a/n - permission to hate me.

it's been a month

i guess you deserve an explanation!

- so this month, i've been feeling rather sad. school work has been piling up - ie: tests and revision and homework, and of course that has to be my main priority.

I haven't had much time to write, at all. I've needed to focus on school and I feel like I am basically failing.

so basically, I apologise so very much for not updating.

I know you're all so patient and understanding that I have a /kind of/ life outside of wattpad, and that it has to be put forward.

Sorry for the long AN, here's the next chapter.

xxx

**

**Olivia's POV**

Now that Niall had gone back home to visit his family, it was back to work for myself and the girls.

I'd recently opened up a bank account - I wanted to be very frugal with my money, so that I could eventually get my own place to live in.

Although I wanted to move in with Niall someday, I didn't want him to feel like he was tied down in our relationship - as long as we trusted each other, I would wait years before our commitment furthered.

Work wasn't so busy - it was the beginning of December and the first, fat flakes of snow began to fall, lasting a few fleeting minutes before melting into the ground.

Christmas was arriving soon, and I found it hard to shake off the festive spirit which came around this time every year.

I remembered last Christmas; the first Christmas in Hotel 41, and the first Christmas with Niall.

My photography courses had continued, and I was considering taking it on as a career.

I know I was an amateur, but if I was going to make enough money to pay off to Mr Jones, this would be the only way.

As far as money went now, I was a few zeros short of what I had to owe him.

Cara entered the bedroom and gave me a smile, tilting her head to the side as she looked in the mirror, putting in earrings.

Her lips, painted a burgundy red, were tilted up into a smile and Cara turned to me excitedly, "Harry's staying here for a few days." She grinned and then squeezed me, "We're going out for a meal, I can't wait! Do you think I look like I've tried too hard?" She indicated to her above-the-knee pink dress and black heels.

Her hair was in a neat bun and she had her eyeliner flicked at the corners of her eyelids.

I returned the smile, feeling happy for her. "You look brilliant, Cara. Hey, have you seen Ro-" As the words left my mouth, my phone began to ring.

The caller was Zayn. Strange.

I showed Cara before accepting the phone call, wondering why he was phoning me.

"Hey, Zayn. What's up?" I asked him curiously.

"R-rose. Have you seen her? I- I was driving from Bradford to come and see her. Things haven't been great between us and I'd been driving for hours." I hesitated as I listened to Zayn, deciding to put Zayn on speaker.

He sounded worried and...scared.

"Until I turned up the radio. The road I was driving on was full of police vehicles so I had to turn around; but then on the radio it said the traffic pile up was between a taxi and another car. Apparently there was a girl, a man and another passenger in the taxi. I'm worried, because Rose was spotted getting into a taxi a few h-hours ago."

Cara stared at me in shock - could that be Rose?!

"One second Zayn." I covered the microphone with my hand and looked at Cara, "Can you remember where she went?"

As I removed my hand from the microphone, I took a steady breath to calm my breathing. "Zayn, how far are you...from the café opposite the hotel?"

"Maybe 30 minutes?" He pondered.

"Get here as soon as you can, I think I know where Rose is." I whispered, realisation hitting me.

"What about my date?" Cara asked, adjusting her dress.

"He can come, too."

**

Zayn met us (Cara, myself and Harry) at the doorway of the café, dark glasses hiding his eyes and his hood up - not only to prevent the falling rain from hitting him, but to also remain low key.

Insisting on buying us hot drinks, Cara and I sat down while the two boys stood at the counter, scaring an unsuspecting cashier.

The clock read 7.30pm, and the last time I'd seen Rose was this afternoon.

"I'm worried about Rose. We had a huge argument last time I saw her...I regret it so much. I still care about her." Zayn murmured.

I looked at him, "We love you, Zayn, but Rose didn't deserve to be treated that way. You know she didn't." I hated to see him upset, especially at this moment, but if Rose wasn't going to tell him, I would.

Zayn hung his head in shame, "I know, I've been a d*ck. I was planning all this time...I'd drive down to the Hotel, call you guys to make sure she was there, I'd take her to the restaurant by the river and we'd talk."

Cara and I exchanged glances before I opened my mouth to speak.

Harry awkwardly sipped his coffee and glanced up at us.

"I saw Rose this afternoon. She was going...where was she going, Cara?"

Cara bit her lip, "She got in a taxi at about 4pm. She was going to meet that guy at some bar. I don't know. They were going to..." Cara sucked in a breath. "They were going to get a taxi back this evening."

Zayn's face paled and it immediately dawned on me that Rose could be in hospital; she might not be alive.

Zayn stood up and turned away, but I could still see the single tear which fell from his cheek.

**

Police cars and ambulances were primarily all I could see.

Lights were flashing in the unmistakable sequence of red, blue, red, blue - it was making my head hurt.

The familiar throbbing in my head reminded me of the last time I'd had an epileptic fit - something I was determined to fight against when Rose needed us most.

My heart began thumping wildly as we dodged our way through the cars and to where the cars had first collided.

A policeman looked at us sternly, "You shouldn't be here."

"My girlfriend was in that taxi." Zayn said, with Harry, Cara and I behind him.

"Well, I'm afraid you can't be here."

After a while of bartering, Zayn asked, "Can you tell me how she is? Where she is? Is she okay? Please."

The policeman sighed, "One minute."

We waited patiently as the policeman conferred with a paramedic.

Harry was patting Zayn on the back, talking to him and trying to console him.

"It'll be fine. Rose is a fighter, she's gonna be okay. I promise you."

"Rose Taylor." The officer returned. "She's been admitted to hospital with some injuries to her upper body. The others in the car were in a more critical condition."

He gave us an apologetic smile and it wasn't long before Cara and I began to cry.

Zayn fell to the floor, crying.

As the sirens wailed, all four of us stood, hoping to God that our friend would be okay.