Leaving Dreamland [Book One]

7~ Doors Hurt

The boys were still staring at me as I stood back up, dusting myself off. I felt like a complete moron. They all probably thought the same of me too.

"Where did you go?" Liam asked, trying to tone down the incredible awkwardness.

"Uhh, just to ask my mom a question." I lied quickly. "What are you guys up to?"

"Nothing much, we were just chatting while we were waiting for you." Niall informed me.

"Oh, okay," I said. "So, umm, what should we do now?"

"Do you have an iPod speaker?" Lou asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, there's one in the suitcase over there by my desk," I said, pointing to it. Louis went over and dug through the suitcase and soon enough he pulled out my iPod speaker and stood back up. "Why do you need it?" I asked.

Louis ignored my question. "What about an extension cord or two?"

"Check the hall closet," I said, and Louis brushed by me and the boys, returning a moment later with a couple extension cords gripped in his hand along with the speaker. "So, again, why do you need those things?"

He just grinned at me and sprinted out of the room, yelling, "FOLLOW MEEEEEE!"

I rolled my eyes as a smile spread across my face. God, I loved this boy...

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Louis bolted down the stairs and rounded the corner, heading for the back door that led onto the backyard patio. All of us were running after him, wondering what the hell he was planning.

"Lou! Slow down!" Liam yelled, and Louis turned his head and stuck his tongue out at him, still running at full speed.

I watched in horror as he kept running, as I knew what was coming. "Louis! Watch ou-"

BAM!

Louis bounced off the sliding glass door and fell backwards as the cords and the speaker in his hands clattered to the ground. His head slammed against the ground and there was a sharp exhale as the wind got knocked out of him. He lay on the ground gasping for air like a fish out of water. His hand reached up to hold his head where it had hit against the floor.

We all stood there for a second and stared at Lou, allowing ourselves to take in everything that had just happened. Suddenly, Niall, Harry and Zayn burst into laughter. Liam and I, being the mature ones, ran over to Louis to see how he was.

"Louis, oh my god, are you okay?!" I asked, my eyes huge.

Louis' breathing was starting to slow back down when he slowly sat up and nodded. He touched the back of his head again and winced. Man, that was a hard fall. That's got to hurt.

"Yeah.... yeah... I'm good,” he panted, looking over at the boys, who were all still nearly wetting themselves by the stairs.

"What hurts?" asked Liam, his brow furrowed.

"Just my head, really," he said. "Got any Ibuprofen?" he asked, directing his attention back to me.

"Uhh, yeah, I think so..." I trailed off as I ran to the medicine cabinet in the kitchen and examined all of the bottles. I finally found the one marked "Ibuprofen" and dumped out two tablets into my hand. I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and hurried back over to Louis and handed them to him. He gratefully took the pills from me and shoved them in his mouth, then chugged the entire bottle of water without taking a single breath. He handed the empty bottle to Liam, and he went to throw it away.