The Bucket List (A Niall Horan Fanfic)

Chapter tirty-tree: Sleepless Smiles, so Much Better

Everything immediately stopped; the music, the screaming, the lights. Everything came to a screeching halt as all four boys rushed to Louis' side. I only had to blink before a gurney was hurried onto stage and Louis was lifted on and wheeled away. All I could do was watch from my piano as I peered behind the stage to try and get a last glimpse of Louis' limp body before it was wheeled around the corner and out of sight. I looked to the boys. I could see it in Harry's eyes that it was all he could do to keep his feet planted on the ground and not to run after his best friend. "It's alright," Liam's shaking voice finally echoed through the quiet arena, "Louis hasn't been feeling very good today, but he'll be okay." "If you love Louis give him a big cheer so that he can get better right away," Zayn was the next to jump in on the improv. As the thousands of people roared through the arena, I had to hand it to the boys. I wouldn't have known what to do. Niall put his hands in the air and started clapping, getting the crowd to do the same as we started the next song. It couldn't have been handled better, but it took every ounce of strength in us to keep performing. None of us wanted to be there. We wanted to be with Louis. It was then that I realized that performing wasn't the same without Louis and it wouldn't be the same without any of the boys for that matter. They managed to keep the crowd going, but it wasn't a normal show by any means. Because of the stage lights, I could only see a couple hundred people, but the people that I could see looked completely shocked. Some just stood there with their mouths hanging open, some were screaming even more than normal and some kept singing and dancing around like nothing had ever happened. I don't think anyone was really sure of how to react. When the finale came, all four of the boys looked toward the entrance of the stage to see if Louis was going to come out- nothing. "Thank you for being such an amazing audience! We love each one of you and we promise you that Louis will be okay," Harry called before the floor that the boys were standing on began to descend underneath the stage. As soon as their heads had passed the floor, I watched as they jumped off their platforms and sprinted away. The lights dimmed, and the rest of the band and I did the same. Whipping my gaze back and forth, I caught a glimpse of the boys running toward and exit door and chased after them. "What happened?" I asked, coming up beside Niall. "What do you think?" he snapped. I immediately stopped as I watched the boys continuing on. I looked down at the black dress that I was wearing and laced heals. It wasn't the words that made me stop, but the tone. They didn't want me coming. He didn't want me coming. He didn't even look back to realize that I wasn't by his side anymore. Defeated, I slowly turned around to walk back to my dressing room.

I thanked the taxi driver as I got out of the cab, in front of the hospital. I was given the name of the hospital and the room number by one of the managers. It was one in the morning as I journeyed through the long empty hallways. My curled hair had deflated into waves and my makeup was smudged and worn away. My bare feet slid along the cold floors as my heels dangled from my hands and my dress that I had forgotten to change out of swished back and forth. Finally finding the room, I slowly entered to find all four brunette boys fast asleep and one blonde boy gazing into the tiled florrs, intently contemplating some invisible thought. I thought about backing out slowly and going to the hotel, but instead, I leaned against the door frame taking in the room full of ordinary sleeping boys. I let my eyes rest on Louis as I took in his frail, pail face. I watched as his chest grew tall and deflated with every breath. It took a couple seconds, but eventually Niall's head jerked up to look at me. His eyes we tired and hanging from them where dark bags. He looked at me regretfully as I stayed planted at the doorway. It was as if we were having a silent contest of who would be the one to walk over to the other. I won. I watched as he slowly got out of his seat and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me. "I'm sorry," he whispered in my hear as he buried his face into shoulder. I squeezed his stomach to let him know that I had forgiven him as I looked back at Louis fast asleep in his hospital bed. He had different wires attached to him, making him look so dependent and helpless. I think it was the stillest I had ever seen him. "Have you talked to him," I asked, still resting my head on his chest. Niall slowly released to look at me, "No." He led me to where he had been sitting and let me curl up on his lap and rest my head on the crook of his color bone. The last thing I remember was Niall lightly humming 'A Drop In The Ocean' by Ron Pope as I slowly dozed off into some unknown dream land. "I woke up to a loud, "Awwwwwe!" my eyes slowly lifted to see Louis sitting up in bed with his phone held out in front of him. "Seriously, pictures at this time. That's not very nice," I said, stretching out of the position I spent all night in, curled in a ball. Half way through the sentence, I realized that Louis was actually awake and ran to the side of his bed, throwing my arms around him. "I'm so happy you're okay," I said, pulling away. He tiredly smiled up at me as Niall came to my side. "Hey mate," Louis said, looking up at Niall as they exchanged glances. "How did the rest of the show go?" "We managed," he mumbled, rubbing his hands over his face, "Barely." "I'll be fine," Louis said, throwing on his happy Louis smile. "Unfortunately, you won't be, at least not for tomorrow's show," a somewhat familiar voice came from behind me. I turned around to see Simon Cowell. I felt my body tense up. He scares me so bad, especially the way he randomly pops up in random places out of no where. Liam, Harry, and Zayn were all starting to wake up. Simon came and stood beside me and Niall. I've talked to the rest of management and we think that it's in your best interest that you stay here for the next couple days and get some rest. Then you'll get flown into Tennessee for the show. Louis' face drooped as soon as he heard that he would be missing a show. "What have you told the press?" Harry asked stretching out in his chair. "We said that he was just very tired and run down and it caused him to faint," Simon said, ever so calmly. "So even after all this, you're not going to tell their fans that he's sick?" I asked, looking from Louis to Simon. I shrunk as soon as Simon turned to stare down at me. "We don't know exactly how serious his condition is and it's possible that Louis will need surgery. The treatment that he's on might not be enough. But the thing with teenage girls and paparazzi is that they both have an overactive imagination. There's already hundreds of stories out about last night and the last thing we need is something to make a bigger fuss about," Simon said, paralyzing me with each word. I nodded, timidly. "And if you dare tell anyone, you will be severely punished," he finished. I stared up at him, sort of confused. "I never meant -" I started. "Simon, she's harmless," Niall cut in for me. "Come on," he whispered, leading me out of the room. "Thank you," I murmured once we were out of the room and the tension. "That's why I'm here. Now let's get food. I'm starving."

Harry's journal: June 16, 2013 We played the show in Colorado today and it was honestly one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I don't even remember the last time I hadn't performed with Louis. We've all been skyping him, but we're excited for when he flies in on the eighteenth. He's already looking better... or maybe we're just trying to be really hopeful. On top of everything, I miss Christina more than anything. I just want to fly her out right now. And it's only a few more weeks until she goes back to Australia. At least I have the rest of the boys.

I hummed to myself the tune that Niall and I had written for my performance in New York as I fiddled my fingers around on my keyboard, throwing in extra bits for fun as I went along. "How do you make it look so easy," I heard a silly sounding voice as I threw my head up to see Louis, leaning against the door frame. "Louis!" I screamed as I ran away from my piano as to give him a hug, "How are you feeling?" "Better," he said, smiling at me like a big brother smiles at his baby sister. "But I have to go get my hair and makeup done, so I'll see you later," Louis said as he walked away. I ventured out of the safety of my piano room and made my way down the hallway. "I mean, she seems nice, but are you sure you know what you're doing?" I heard Zayn's voice from a room down the hallway. I edged my way down the hall, pressing my body against the cold wall so that none of the boys in the room would be able to see me. "What do you mean?" I heard Niall's defensive voice. "Don't get us wrong, we all think she's amazing and we love her like a sister," Liam's voice came in next, "We're just worried because you obviously really like her, but if she did too, she would actually show it and we don't want you to get hurt." "What are you talking about 'she doesn't show it?'" Niall asked as I looked down at the ground, straining my ears to hear every word. "Come on Niall, she hasn't even kissed you yet," Zayn's unimpressed voice said. "So..." Niall said, "Her parents took things really slow and I can tell that she's been hurt by the way she talks about boys at her high school. She's just scared." I felt my heart beating louder and harder as I backed up as if it's thumping would give my presence away. Why are they saying these things about me? "Niall, we're not saying that she's what Harry said about her, we're just saying that you might not want to trust her," Liam said, as if he was carefully choosing his words. I clenched my teeth, I still hadn't found out what Harry had said about me. "And let's be honest," Zayn continued, "In a month, she's going to leave for Julliard and to find some classical music playing boy and we'll be making our next album and before you know it, she'll have forgotten all about you." I looked around the hall frantically. I wanted to burst into the room and scream that I would never forget Niall. Even if I never saw him again, I would never forget him. Never. My fists clenched as I listened to them talk about me. I hated not being able to come to defend myself. "Plus," Liam finally finished with six words that sent me sprinting back to my piano, "You can do some much better."